I’ve mentioned some “major life goals” that inspired our newfound financial outlook. One of these goals I covered in my first post–my staying home with Little Guy. Now we’re finally in a place to share our Master Plan more broadly, so here you go!
Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, I have really wanted to be closer to my family and friends in Minnesota. I’ve missed them over the years, obviously, but when I finished working I felt their absence more than ever. We didn’t want Little Guy to grow up without these people and their support, company, and general awesomeness in his everyday life.
At the same time, The Husband has always been ready to practice law on his own. He worked for himself by necessity in the past and did amazing, despite having no experience and being unsure what practice area to focus on. Since starting at his current firm, he has really discovered a great fit in elder law and estate planning. He even writes an awesome Medicaid blog that you should check out!
One day we were talking about our life, and we realized we weren’t quite satisfied with it. Where both of us wanted to be long-term was not where our current life was taking us. We wanted to live our life more deliberately, and really thought about what we wanted out of our future. We devised our Master Plan–move to the Twin Cities area (Wisconsin-side) by July of 2018. There, The Husband will start a solo practice as an estate planning and Medicaid attorney.
What The Husband wants, and what I want for him, is a solo practice of his own. We love the personal and professional freedom this will give him, and the opportunity is ripe right now. Little Guy is a very little guy, so we’re not taking him away from friends or switching schools; our expenses and space needs aren’t much right now, and will only grow as time goes on. The risks are smaller now than they will be at any time in the future, and the payoff for those risks is the life we want.
Because we’ll be plunging into the unknown (and unsalaried), we set a major savings goal: three months’ expenses, moving expenses, and Minnesota bar exam fees in the bank in one year or less. Through constant efforts at frugalizing our lifestyle and getting less stupid about money, we are well on our way to that goal after just three months.
We’re very excited about this (somewhat crazy) dream of ours. And I’m excited to share with all of you the strange and sundry ways we’re making it happen.
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I’m a little late to this post, but it sounds like you have a beautiful dream, and you are eager to get on to it. I have to be honest with you that three months of expenses is dangerously low for this kind of transition, especially given that it sounds like you all have debt too. My family has been through a MAJOR career and geographic move so I promise I am speaking from experience.
It’s just one stay-at-home-money-savvy mother’s opinion to another, but you are taking a big risk there. Ideally I would really encourage you to use what I am guessing might be a pretty respectable salary as a lawyer (your husband) and intensely attack debt and then build at least 6 months of savings before taking on a such a big change. If you are in that much of a rush, I beg of you to at least set aside 6 months of expenses before jumping. Our world is teaching us to follow our dreams at the expense of common sense practices and it’s nuts. You two are clearly intelligent, so put it to work and let patience and diligently budgeting and saving for the short term be the ticket to the life you crave. Just my opinion. God bless you and good luck! I’d love to brainstorm with you if you would like any support in planning this beautiful and exciting next phase of your lives.
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