I often hear myself quoting Scarlett O’Hara from the movie Gone with the Wind, “Well, tomorrow is another day.” Or, “I don’t want to think about that today, I’ll deal with that tomorrow.” Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow…..but tomorrow never comes.

All over the news, farmers are lamenting about how they don’t have enough water to keep their crops at full production and most have already scaled back their growing season. This past weekend I drove north and saw dust bowls where farms use to stand with my very own eyes.

Every time I read blogs that focus on early retirement, the running theme is to save half your income for X amount of years. From a financial perspective, that makes sense, but there are two things that seem like “must have’s” in order to do this:

Taking a close look at your finances with your partner, spouse, or significant other may not sound like fun times, so I kept the financial information as succinct and to the point as possible. I’ve organized the topics in an easy-to-read format, added quizzes to lighten the mood, and included resources for further reading.

I’m smoking my quarterly goals this year so far. Part of my success has been that my goals were realistic and attainable, the other part has been that this year has been good to me so far. A few things that have worked to my advantage: