Creating a Life Plan Timeline

“Most twenty somethings can’t write the last sentence of their lives, but when pressed, they usually can identify things they want in their thirties, or forties, or sixties – or things they don’t want – and work backward from there. This is how you have your own multigenerational epic with a happy ending. This is how you live your life in real time.” – Meg Jay, The Defining Decade

Task:

1. On a whiteboard or sheet of blank paper, draw out a timeline of your life. Label it by your age (ex: 20, 30, 40, etc.) from your current age to age 70.
2. On your timeline, place the following life events at the age you would like to be when they occur.
   • Finish schooling
   • First job
   • Retirement
   • Buy your first or next car
   • Be debt-free (outside of house and car loans)
3. If your age is not one labeled by the timeline, write your specific age on the dash.