The Elephant in the Room: Sharing the Secrets for Pursuing Real Financial Success

Chapter 8. The Plan

I was so anxious to get to the restaurant, I parked as fast as I could and sprinted to the front door. Aunt Katherine was sitting at the table, waiting for me, as always, and our lunch was already there, too. After a few minutes, Jennifer joined us on her lunch break from school.

We all huddled together. "We wrote out our goals," I said right away. "We did it! I feel so much better."

Aunt Katherine smiled. "Sounds like you're having fun now."

"We are! And we're ready for the next step." I pushed our goal sheet across the table. "Take it home and look at it. See if there's anything I'm missing."

Aunt Katherine looked down. "It seems like you covered a lot," she said. "There are two full pages here!"

I nodded. It had taken us several hours, but it was fun to dream, to talk about the second vacation home we'd have, once the kids were off to college.

"The budget was a dose of reality though," Jennifer said.

"It's easy to dream, isn't it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but that's all it is without the resources. Just a dream." I winked at Aunt Kath, "Goals are bound up by behavior."

"This is great. Michael, we've talked about the role behavior plays in financial success and what traits can affect behavior. Now it's time to talk about something that can tie those traits into positive behavior. George and I were always rediscovering how beneficial a basic plan could be in helping us get to where we wanted to go. You've got the goals, and now you and Jennifer need a plan to make sure those ...