At age 35, I often struggle to figure out what is better to do today versus wait for tomorrow. Every year as a mature and get older, options close, roads not taken are forever closed off to me. If you overshoot your exit, you can’t back up on the highway. There is no turning around the clock of time. I will never be as young as I currently am, I will become less physically able to do certain things that I once had the potential to do while I was younger.

Time per se is not a bad thing. A little money saved each week over time adds up and compounds both as an investment and with interest. Money opens up options, and buying with cash is always much cheaper and flexible than credit. Cash just goes so much farther.

While by no means should I take the first exit on the highway, I should be a thoughtful observer of every exit that I pass on by. A some point the highway of life may come to an abrupt end – accidents, cancer, heart attacks – sometimes strike people much too young. But honestly I know it’s worth the risk as their are better exits ahead on the straight and narrow highway, and just because a sign is shiny and new doesn’t mean that is the exit you want to your ultimate destination.

My conservative estimate is that I will likely live until age 70. Maybe longer, maybe less. In ten years from now I’ll have 20 years in with the state, fifteen it will be 25. I’m generally happy with my course, I have a great job, a beautiful office with million dollar views of the mountains. I think I’m fairly good at my job. So even if I decide at age 45 or 50 to do something else, I’ll have many options still ahead of me. But I should really pay attention to what’s coming up on the highway of life, and give every passing exit another thought before leaving it forever in the rear view mirror.