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Free Toolkit Manifesto - Provide simple, accessible, customizable planning tools


Free CPT's (Contender Planning Tools) that cover radical solutions to life's challenges are a key part of this blog. A blog post will accompany each tool and a how to use guide. Is this a new concept - definitely not. My objective may be different though : "Provide, free, clear simple, very user friendly planning tools with the specific goal of the Pursuit of Happiness". I know this is a very ambitious, difficult, complex if not impossible task but I sincerely hope it will be a fun collaborative effort and interesting to see where it ends up.
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Winston Churchill
Qualified???? - CLSAD (Contender Life Skills and Disasters)

How have I learnt how to plan \ create ad-hock tools? 12 years work in process design has laid a solid foundation. I have found that business tools are readily transferable into social life. The challenge is to simplify and adapt their purpose.

I have read a huge number of business books gone on numerous training courses. A vast amount of information and too much to remember and apply. I applied, succeeded and messed up in places but then adapted and ultimately worked hard to get results in work. The same is true in my personal life and a later post covers some of the bad decisions the Tribe have learnt from.

Does this qualify me to have a go at a bunch of tools for life? Definitely not but someones got to do it. I am willing to have a go, try them out in real life situations to find out

Tool Contents - CBBT (Contender Big Bag of Tricks) 

CBBT includes planning, strategy building, risk planning, tracking, calculations, graphs and diagrams. They cover the key points from the start of the planning process to the final long term goal (it is almost always a good idea to state your long term goal and work backwards).

I have found that having a plan that you can update easily with checks \ action lists is extremely important. This makes sure you do not miss the obvious and you stay on track. A plan helps you to be realistic with yourself. A regularly reviewed plan gives you a sense of control and comfort that you are going in the right direction. If you are off track you can adapt and not panic onto bad decisions.
The format I have chosen for the planning tools is Open Office as it is free to install and is a good suite of software. Most of the tools will be a spreadsheet as they are very good for maintaining lists as well as performing calculations.  

I have quite a list of tool kits (plans, lists, calculations) for the CBBT. I intend to develop (some from experience and others will be a first go). There will be plenty of THE.CONTENDER to play with :)

  1. THE.CONTENDER Financial Planning
    1. Financial Independence
    2. Mortgage versus renting (debate)
    3. Budgeting
    4. Asset allocation - shares, bonds, rental, property
    5. Thrift - what do you really need to live?
  2. Life Planning
    1. Education
    2. Holidays
    3. Hobbies
    4. Life Skills
    5. Continuous learning
    6. Work planning \ promotion planning
    7. Moving checklist \ planning
  3. Business planning
    1. Simple project planning
    2. Detailed project Planning
    3. Business skills and development plan
    4. Getting ahead checklist
    5. Performance management - getting noticed
    6. Mentoring
  4. THE.CONTENDER Health Plan
    1. Keeping the THE.CONTENDER Fit
    2. Healing
    3. Alternative health remedies
  5. Information Gathering
  6. Others......
Next up the first toolkit planning for financial independence - my proposed way to work out your golden retirement number and how to formulate a plan to get there.

Here is some humor to finish up on


After all the talk - tools at the ready!

THE CONTENDER

NEXT UP – FINANCIAL PLANNING

Welcome New Contender Readers! Take a look around. Start at the first article, browse the all posts or just go for a Random Post

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Are you planning for financial independence and wondering what to do with it. If so is any of the content on this blog of use to you? I would appreciate any comments you have. All the best C

Welcome to FISH !
You have come here looking for answers. How to get out of debt? How to save and invest? How to retire early and how you want to live in retirement.

Well this is the right place for you as out tribe has been through all of these steps. We no longer work for a corporate employer and have saved enough to retire early. How we did this is shared here on this site for you.

Our little tribe found out these secrets to financial independence in our late 20’s. Since then we have taken early retirement, in our late 30's, in just 7 years. We now live in the South West of France with our two young children.

Along the way I decided to share everything I learnt. My articles and tips on aggressive saving and compound investing are there to help you meet your financial goals fast. I discuss ways to help you decide what you want by building a life plan. This helps to work out how to get where you want to be whilst avoiding the pitfalls along the way.

My expertise was built up working in blue chip corporate jobs, extensive reading and putting it into practice. I have condensed this knowledge into simple strategies to help you meet your goals and not those of the bank or the place you work.

There are free planning tools on this site that help you make a life plan. A plan for your future. The tools calculate how to reach your financial goals in a timeline that suits you. The tools help set out your life goals, make them happen and how to exceed them.

There are tips on how to simplifying your life to remove day to day headaches. These include ways to pay off debt fast buy eliminating wasteful spending habits. How to reduce your monthly bills through choices that actually improve your health and wellbeing. Identifying things you don’t need that sap your time and wallet.

There are little sustainability projects to reduce your dependence on shops and utilities whilst saving money to spend on things you want.

All of these little steps will show you how save 50%+ of your salary so you can meet your goal whatever it is. This huge saving rate can be compounded for very early retirement. I am sure you will find something here for you.

Darren Lee (A.K.A the Contender as in my blog)

 
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