Phase 2: ?

Phase 1 of the Master Plan was all about plotting and saving. The Husband and I thought and talked, talked and thought for months about one question: What do we want out of life? As the answer became clearer, we worked on plotting our course to that life, and financing that course.

So what was that answer? Simplicity. A life where I can spend every day with my children. A life where The Husband can do the work he loves on his own terms. A life filled with cats and books and nature. A life where our home is a refuge that calms our spirits, rather than a receptacle that holds our possessions. A life that does not revolve around money and things and busyness. A simple life.

At the outset, I was discouraged and felt it would be completely impossible to finance our way to this life. But a dream is a powerful thing, especially once you start to believe it’s attainable. We met and exceeded our financial goal, and we did so ahead of schedule. This has been a journey that has changed everything I ever thought about money.

We are about to set off for Phase 2 of our adventure. We will move to our new home in one week. The Husband will be launching his firm, Wright Law, the next day. We are so grateful for all the ways our friends and family have supported us throughout Phase 1. We look forward to sharing more as Phase 2 unfolds in the next few months.

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The Master Plan

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.