I have had to rework my cash flow several times since college and have never gotten to the point where it felt like everything is covered. Rather than try to keep up with every little item split, I have decided to try a percent-based split. After several iterations, my flow chart looked like a tree, so I decided to clear the personal references and add some color to make a #happytree

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Frelicrecord.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2FBob-Happy-Trees-Ross.jpg

https://whimsical.com/financial-tree-Kg3VWKsdFZBgAxShkGkMJC

After filling in the initial pieces, it struck me that a life without balance in both areas misses out, just in different ways. The person who just fills up their branches with more and more, neglecting the roots will someday have a storm to go through that could easily uproot them, leaving financial chaos. However, there is certainly at this moment a 70s or so old man or woman who has all the financial roots one could ever need, and no life lived to show for it. Simply having the funds doesn’t bring happiness. Spending (and sharing) on the things, people, and experiences you enjoy unlocks the real value of money in life.

@Bronson Boone February 10, 2022

P.S. I wrote about the process that brought me here in a deep dive on my Coda Page! If you're interested, you can see the iterations it went through there.

https://coda.io/@bronsonaboone/outer-orbit-projects/cash-flow-tree-3