UPDATE: Jan 06, 2009 See Bottom of Page

Guest Post: Finance Your Adventure

GM Baker, Professional Adventurer

So the guys at Redefine the Experience are amazing at finding fun and incredible things to do that add adventure to anyone’s life, namely mine. (Thank you!)

The problem is, while these posts are fun to read, finances are tough right now and taking advantage of some of these adventure suggestions is very unlikely. Now I am 100% for taking adventures that cost NO MONEY and be sure to expect NO MONEY Adventure Challenges soon.

Other adventures that have some cost involved are not an option to many families that are just doing their best to pay the bills; even if it means bringing the family closer together and letting go of some tension. This must be remedied.

Some people may even say that setting aside money for adventure romps in this economy would be irresponsible. Well they’re wrong. Dead wrong.

This could be the absolute WORST thing you could do and please allow me to explain why. Then, I am happy to explain how.

Why: No matter what the economy is like right now, you must protect your state of mind. This is one of the biggest benefits that experiencing adventures, however small, can give us.  (As we’ve learned from previous posts.) We have so much negativity surrounding our work, home and family life and it’s constantly validated by outside sources that may give in to such panic.

In situations like these, breaking out from the glassy eyed routine and familiarity of grief and panic is crucial. It’s necessary. It MUST be done.  Because when you take yourself and your family out of this fog, a world of clear fresh fun is open to you.

Freedom is a natural side effect of going against the norm.

“OK GM, we get it. We are ready to choose an adventure. Now what the hell do we do?”

Here’s how it works: (You do not need to be good at math or excel at all!  We have made this form incredibly easy to use!)

Download

1. Download the Finance Your Own Adventure worksheet
2. Complete the “Monthly Expenses” part of the worksheet
3. Choose an adventure that you want to experience
4. Decide the length of financing: how many months you’ll pay your “adventure” fund
5. Enter the adventure description: For a trip, you can break out meals/gas/hotel/ect
6. Enter the cost
7. Enter the frequency: One Time=a big event, trip  |  Monthly=Something you’ll do every month like guitar lessons
8. Check ‘Y’ to the left of the adventure so it includes it in the total, otherwise it won’t
9. Make the “Daily Adventure Finance Payment” into a jar or better yet a bank account.

You can set up an automatic daily withdrawal to a savings account for free at almost any bank.

My bank even let’s me “split” up my savings into categories. So if I have $2.45 a day going into “NYC Broadway Adventure,” then that’s where it goes!

10. Check against my examples BELOW and email the RTE guys with any questions.

Click these pics to see the RTE Finance Your Next Adventure Worksheet in action:

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How to Self Finance Your Next Adventure:

Time: 6 months Cost: $109 per / $218 total One Time = $2 a day to finance my adventure!

Time: 4 months Cost: $816 One Time = $6.70 a day to finance my adventure.

Time: 1 year  Cost: $840 a year ($35 per lesson * 2 a month) $70 Monthly = $2.30 per day

So what happens if you do not have the current income to cover this new adventure?

Well, you have a couple of options:

1. Cut back on any non essential expenses until you’ve saved for the adventure
2. Such as, Cable TV (Maybe just lower the service level)
3. Increase the length of time
4. I don’t recommend doing this because it is important to experience adventures as often as possible! I’d rather see people making shorter time frames.
5. Is there another “starter” adventure?
6. You can always climb Patagonia and plan for it as a longer term adventure.
7. What can you do this month that will help you prepare?

Just so you know, the idea isn’t entirely new.  Many thanks to Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week who actually created a very in depth lifestyle plan version.  You can check that out below:

JARED GORALNICK of Technotheory.com did an amazing job explaining the exact instructions to the Dreamline Worksheet so there’s no need to recreate them. Check them out here.

Tell us all about the adventure you’re planning!

UPDATE: Jan 06, 2009: New Tim Ferriss CD

Secrets of the 4-Hour Workweek – How To Work Less, Make a Lot More Money And Live Like A Millionaire (Genius Network Interview of Tim Ferriss)