★ Rockstar Money Challenge #1: What's Your "Why"?

will be issuing a new money challenge to us all. These challenges will be simple, fun, and most importantly, will help you take another step towards growing your wealth. If it can be challenged, we will challenge it!

Your part is to accept each challenge and check it off your to-do list by the end of the week.

Think of it like getting a gold star in elementary school, only these stars actually help you retire earlier ;) We hope you'll then go into the forums and share your answers with us so we can all learn and be inspired by them. Here's the first challenge - take it away, Derek!

This Week’s Challenge: Find Your "Why"

We're starting with the main point of it all - the reason you're on this site right now and are so eager to improve your finances. Why do you want to learn about (and hopefully save) money so badly? What's the end goal with it all? The answer to this is your "why". Dig deep and go beyond "I want to get out of debt" or "I want to retire early". Think about what it all truly means to you. Why do you spend so much time thinking about this stuff? Why do you care so much? How does it all really affect your life?

Take some time to think through your "why". Then, write it down somewhere where you’ll see it every day.

It can be a word, a sentence, a full paragraph or an entire book! What's important is that it's YOURS, and it drives all future actions going forward. Once written down, hop into our forums and share a picture of it! (Or at least tell us what your "why" is.) Our hope is that it inspires others to do the same, and ultimately motivate us all to keep striving for our best. Here’s my "why"... ! – Derek, Master of Challenges

*UPDATE*

What a great start to the missions! So many of you accomplishing 'em this week - well done. Here are some of our favorites:

My "why" = Security for me & my family. My husband almost died of septic shock - he was on a ventilator in a coma for a week, away from home for a month in the hospital and rehab, had visiting nurses, more surgeries, and so on and so on. For me, that really crystallized the role of money in my life. The emergency fund/emergency plan ensured we could pay the bills. And now I know exactly why I'm saving and investing. -Chief Mom Officer (read the whole story)

Here's My Why: I don't want to be stuck having to work for the rest of my life. I want the flexibility to spend more time with family, to have my own family, and travel the world. My why is because I want to spend more of my time living and less time working. -The Finance Spa

Here's a great one from Miss Mazuma using her dog as a model!

My "why" is that my family has a history of health issues and short life spans, so if I followed the traditional retirement path, there's a possibility that I would have only a decade or less of retirement. I don't want to spend my life living and working on someone else's terms and never get the chance to do the things that I want to do. -Katrian

My childhood was non existent due to spending several years on the run in war torn Bosnia before we finally managed to escape to Germany. The loss of 30% of my whole family was extremely painful. 3 countries and several languages later my WHY is simple: I never want my children to experience not having a childhood. I never want them to worry about food, water, shelter and the most basic necessities in life. -Frugal Cop

Keep sharing your "Whys!" Either here or in the forums.