As 2011 draws to a close and I think about what I would like 2012 to look like my mind has been over Christmas – in a rather un-Christian way – pondering money. It seems to be a human dilemma to constantly feel like we don’t have enough money, even though we live with riches our grandparents could not possibly have imagined in their youth. Certainly my grandfather, who was born in 1898 into a family that struggled to make ends meet, must have marvelled at the comforts of modern life at the end of his days. I live on the border of the higher rate of income tax but I still feel like I have to be extremely careful every month. There is no Manna from Heaven to pay for the bloody gas and electricity.
2011 has been, to steal a friend’s phrase a “year of the cutback”. I set myself an extremely tough target to reduce the burden of debt from my spreadsheet. Remarkably, I haven’t missed it by much. Contemplating my calculator at lunchtime another target suddenly appears in reach. If I carried on being a tight bastard for another year then by the end of 2012 I could have a nice round number in my bank account.
But, stealing another friend’s phrase, isn’t this all rather a case of “numbers on a screen”? I sometimes fear that by concentrating so hard on being sensible I will wake up one day with a decent bank balance regretting that I have not enjoyed myself very much. It could be even worse: I might have chipped away at the mortgage, be feeling financially more confident and independent and then get hit by a proverbial bus. It could be even worse: I might financially bore myself to an early grave.
I was doing some back of the envelope calculations and worked out that I could give myself enough pocket money each month to do the sorts of things I like doing, but then realised that I hadn’t included a holiday in 2012. A year without a holiday? Rubbish! Another year with my ancient laptop? I’ll be lucky. Then I remembered the plan is already off course because a fat bill from my freeholder is due thanks to some electrical work which is to start any minute. And what if my income changes for whatever reason? Would I feel dependent on having a lodger when, quite honestly, I would rather have the place to myself? And with no space in the budget for home improvements I might be living on my own in a miserable slum before the year is out. And all these issues built on the very flimsy premise that we all get through the year without a major financial or economic apocalypse.
No.
No.
No.
The plan for 2012: to have no plan for 2012.
Happy New Year!
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