The Buckets of Money® Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life

Epilogue: KEEP YOUR EYE ON ENJOYMENT

Have we hit bottom? Is the nascent recovery "V-shaped," "U-shaped," or a double-bottomed "W-shaped"? Will the market retest its lows? Will personal bankruptcies climb and employment fall? Is the dollar imploding? Will gold hit the stratosphere?

I don't know the answers to those and many other pressing economic questions. What I do know is that—in the long term—they're probably not all that pressing. What I truly believe is that if you proceed diligently and intelligently in the direction of your dreams, you've got a decent shot at achieving them. And those dreams should include, but not be limited to, your financial well-being.

I may be among the few financial commentators in stressing this, but I think you need to keep this dollar stuff in perspective. Sure, "Money is coined liberty," as Dostoevsky wrote, and I hope Buckets of Money will give you money and liberty in abundance. But you also need engagement and connection with people and pursuits. If you're never rich in anything but friends, family, and worthwhile things to do, you're still pretty rich.

Happiness is a state of mind, not a state of wealth. "Success is getting what you want," Warren Buffett tells us. "Happiness is wanting what you get."

For me, happiness involves being so deeply involved in the moment that we don't have the opportunity to think about anything but the task at hand. Or, to put it another way: Happiness is probably more a bunch of little, enjoyable moments than a series ...