What the Future Holds...

From time time, I am taken with the thought that there are men a few years ahead of me who know things I do not know and who have walked where I am walking or where I shall soon walk.  Each season of life has some surprises that if I had looked far enough ahead or consulted someone ahead of me, I might have seen coming and prepared for in a better fashion.

Consider some to the following scenarios...
Retirement Savings - when you are in your first career job in your early 20's putting money aside for retirement seems impossible, but later in life you learn the value of time related to compounding interest and why it would have been a great idea to have let your money work for you over time instead of trying hard to play catch up when it feels too late.

Life Insurance - again, in those young years many cannot see how inexpensive life insurance is when they are young and healthy only to discover later in life that increasing costs and matters like insurability matter.

Weight Loss and Gain...Who knew in those early years of marriage how metabolism would slow when you go past 40 and how easy the pounds add up over the years? ...then how much work it would be to take them off.  I was amazed to learn on this journey that taking it off was 80-85% portion control and diet and only 15-20% exercise.  It is hard to know what you don't know.  All of us can use others around us to help us learn what we don't know.

Taxes...this was my eye opener while visiting the tax man yesterday.  Heads up to a few of you reading this.  If you have children, the year they turn 17, you lose your child tax credit - that's a considerable amount of money.  When they marry, you lose  another deduction - not so surprising, but I as surprised to learn that with a son marrying in December of 2011, the net result would be the loss of the HOPE Education Tax credit as well for college expenses paid in 2010.  WOW!  I never considered the impact of a few days on the tax bill.  I am not sure that my additional taxes will eliminate the national debt, but I will certainly feel a pinch in the pocketbook. (even with all of that, we would not change a thing regarding a beautiful December wedding and a delightful, Godly daughter in law!)

What else is coming?  I am turning 50 this year!  I am interested in  learning from some of those ahead of me what I might look for in the next decade.  Proverbs 13:20 says, "He who walks with the wise, will be wise; the companion of fools will suffer harm."