Are Five Year Plans necessary?

I am at a really weird place in my life, looking to make some drastic changes. However I know that I have a bad habit of saying things but never doing anything about it. For example I want to leave my current job but I haven't done anything yet to make this an actual possibility, ie find a better job. Someone recently advised to me that before I leave my current job I should make sure I have a 5 year plan to survive and while I don't really believe in 5 Year Plans (who knows where they will be in 5 years really?) I do believe in making sure that I can support myself and have the basic needs to live decently. I don't ask for much really. I would be fine living in a rural neighborhood as long as there is a gas station, grocery store, hospital, department store for apparel needs, gym, bank in reasonable distance from where I live. This is something on my long term list amongst other things like complete independence which is very important to me, then I have things like traveling overseas to some of the places I have wanted to visit like Switzerland and Germany, these are not that important. Anyways the whole point of this post was to get some feedback from you guys on what you think of 5 Year Plans, necessary or not? What's on your 5 Year Plan? I realize that some of our 5 Year Plans might be completely different than others because of our different situations so I'm curious. I have conquering my social anxiety on there too, but that is an everyday goal really.

Excuse me if I'm dumb but I'm not sure I understand the concept of the 5 years plan. Did the person mean that you should have enough money to live during 5 years without having a job before you leave your current one, or that you need to plan the next 5 years of your existence before leaving your current job? Or anything else that I didn't get? :question:

I don't bother to come up with 5-year plans or any sort of plans for myself because I've been feeling depressed and suicidal a lot. It's ironic because I learn this stuff in school a lot, in my business courses, but I never made use of them. But if I had a 5 year plan, it would be something like this:

1) get a job
2) pay off student loans

That's it.

rules... ppfft

Good question Pacific Loner. They weren't specific actually, they just said that they heard I wanted to leave my job and I said yes and they said "do you have a 5 year plan? make sure you have one before you leave," and I said ok. I'm assuming they meant make sure I am financially stable for the next 5 years since I won't be relying on the same income as I am now. That's what people mean usually when they say 5 year plan, however I interpret it a little differently. I see it as long term goals. You know when people say where do you see yourself 5, 20 years from now? That's what I take away from it. Of course I don't tend to believe in them because like I said whose to know where they will be in 5 years, whose to know where any of us will be in 5 years? Maybe I'm a bit pessimistic, but I like to think about the here and now. I'm not big on planning for the future. If I can accomplish what I set out to do for an entire week, then that is good enough for me really.

Pacific_Loner said:

Excuse me if I'm dumb but I'm not sure I understand the concept of the 5 years plan. Did the person mean that you should have enough money to live during 5 years without having a job before you leave your current one, or that you need to plan the next 5 years of your existence before leaving your current job? Or anything else that I didn't get? :question:

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I think it's probably a good idea.

Sure you don't know where you're going to be in 5 years but it's important to know what you want out of life and if you just say 'well, I'll see what happens' then you might not be able to find the motivation to do anything and you can actually lose sight of why you're even alive.

It's good to have goals... they don't have to be hugely ambitious or all about money and basic things, but you should have them. Just think about what kind of life you want to have and what you think life is all about, and then think about how you can achieve those things without compromising your principles.

ALSO

If you're talking about money, then you should start saving/investing NOW. 5 years of stable investments at say 15% annual returns will make a HUGE difference... and after 20 years, depending on how much you put in, the difference could well be over 100k-- that's not something you should be doing without. If you die it won't matter either way and failing that it could go to a good cause, but if you don't die it will matter and your quality of life in retirement could be much lower.

I wish I had started in my 20s.

GirLIntroverted said:

Of course I don't tend to believe in them because like I said whose to know where they will be in 5 years, whose to know where any of us will be in 5 years? Maybe I'm a bit pessimistic, but I like to think about the here and now. I'm not big on planning for the future. If I can accomplish what I set out to do for an entire week, then that is good enough for me really.

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Yeah I don't think it's that important to plan so far ahead either. Of course it's no secret that finding a job when you already have one is a lot easier, so you might want to think about that before leaving your current one, but as long as you make sure you give yourself enough latitude to be able to deal with yourself and other responsabilities for the next year, I feel like it's way enough...

"Life is what happens while you are making other plans."

5 year plans are good, gives you something to aim for, but doesn't need to be set in stone.

But write one anyway. Seeing it on paper will make it come alive, or maybe you will even decide it wasn't such a good idea.

Work enough, but not too hard. Save money, but don't become a miser. Travel, not only to safe places. Love people, but expect to have your heart broken. Do many things, make many mistakes. Try again.

Some wisdom from Bill Watterson. I'm now rethinking my career because of this. - Imgur

At 51, it's one day at a time. 5 years needs to go as slowly as possible that's my plan.

By planning, you may discover what things are really important to you and then you can start to put your energy and thoughts into doing these things. The fantastic and often overlooked thing about plans, in my opinion, is that they are dynamic and fluid. They can change as you change or adapt to changes in your circumstances. Planning can allow you to harness your strengths and even discover others you never knew you had. The flip side of this is that if your plans seem to be not coming to fruition, you have a chance of finding out what your weaknesses (or rather areas where you are 'not as strong') and incorporating what it is that you need to do to still follow your plan.

I guess it is like you taking ownership for your life rather than life (other people etc ) taking control of you