The prime directive my dad handed down was simple: "Don't touch the capital." I'm not sure if he ever said those exact words, so maybe it's in my DNA -- where it long lay dormant, while I didn't have capital to spend. Anyway, I didn't put money in the impregnable fortress my dad required. It came in; it went out. My main thing, for equilibrium, has just been avoiding debt. Paying bills on time, (often the nick of time) even when that priority dictated deft balancing. Saving also felt imperative, if only a thin margin of safety.
Our house project has slowly been shifting the numbers. So far, each incremental expense -- designing, surveying, engineering, permitting -- has been paid in full, up front; but once the digger shows up, everything escalates. There's no telling how long we'll be paying out, before we can move into (new) house A and sell (current) house B. Should we bite into the sacred capital? There are other ways. Strategies. Leverage. In theory, it all sounds quite do-able. Logical. Smart, even.
The trick is, trust. Trusting myself, that is -- my own ability to suck it up and sleep at night, despite mounting bills and interest payments. Timing is vague; pricing moves indelibly upwards.
How much bald-faced uncertainty are we talking about? We have estimates. They are not iron-clad. Even a fixed bid would be vulnerable to any change order, kicking in at "time & materials." So, don't change anything, right? This should be easy! After two years of planning, I mean.
Oh, but are still some grey areas. More than a few. Lots of decisions/purchases that cannot be made in advance. Choose a refrigerator model in 2014 and it likely won't be available in 2017, much less at the same price. (Buying it 3 years ahead of schedule, also not a great option.)
We are steadfastly treading a lovely looking, if hazy, path that may end abruptly at the edge of a cliff. Over a deep abyss.
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