Love won't pay the bills, but money won't buy you love.

Though it may be a few years off yet, Shannon and I frequently daydream together about retirement. We talk in great detail about where we will be and what our lives will be like. We fantasize about our freedom and even about becoming grandparents one day. This isn't just some "wouldn't it be nice..." discussion that gets tossed aside. It's what we want. And we also talk about the work it will take to get there. We don't have all the answers. The road ahead hasn't finished being constructed yet. We need to have more vision board one on one's and more planning sessions with financial advisors. We need to invest the time, and the effort in making this goal, this dream, an achievable reality. The wealth required to live out our dream.

I believe that I possess two types of wealth. The first is monetary wealth. The wealth that helps put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and keeps the bill collectors off the front step. This wealth comes with sacrifice, usually in the form of a job, 40 to 60 hours a week doing something that hopefully isn't too tedious.

I'm not head over heels with my job to speak. It's long, hard hours, and it's a mix of days and nights. It's physically demanding, and it's a 24/7/365 rain or shine, anything goes, type of work. When I'm on the clock, it keeps me from the ones I love. But my family supports me and recognizes the effort involved, and that makes it easier to bear. I've often referred to my job as a "part-time" means of employment. It allows me to contribute to my main "full-time" gig, i.e., being a husband and a father. The upside to my current source of income is that I'm off as much as I work. I work half a year and still surpass a 40-hour workweek. This allows me to focus on my family and myself. It gives me time to help out around the house and work on projects. Projects that hopefully will replace the current ax to the grind. OurBlendedHerd is one of those ideas. Working together with my wife and it's been amazing. I'm still learning as we go, but I don't regret a single moment. I'm excited to get some other wheels in motion! Along with benefits and ensuring a certain quality of life, I understand the need and the importance of "working for the man". But no job in the world provides the other type of wealth that I personally believe makes me a rich and blessed man. There's a saying that "you aren't wealthy until you have something that money can't buy". That source of wealth for me is my family. Hands down. Being a husband and father may not pay the bills. But it does fill my heart to the point of overflowing. Overflowing that I can't help but pay forward back to them. I absolutely detest lilies. Their fragrance just turns me off, but my wife loves them. And her love of them, and more importantly, her love of randomly receiving them from me, is far greater than my hatred for the flower. A few bucks spent brought the flowers into the house. But recognizing that she loves them (and buying them "just because") brought investment into our marriage. I'm wasting my time if I'm not adding value to my wife and daughter's lives. Remember how I mentioned my family supports me and my efforts involved with my job? That's the value being invested into me by my family. That will keep me going even on the hardest of days. It's that investment that makes me a rich man. A blessed man. Just as we need to be financially responsible with money, we need to be responsible for the wealth of the family. Investing my time and my efforts as a husband and a father will give a greater return on my family's quality of life. Quality money cannot buy. Mike - The Herdfather