I was recently asked how my new life as DINK was going for me. It was then that I learned the acronym for the new life I was leading: Double Income, No Kids. I responded to the question, “quite well!” After getting married three months ago and my wife starting her new job, we’ve entered in to a special phase of a lot of young married couples’ lives. And we’re planning on enjoying every minute of it. With great power comes great responsibility, and here’s how we are planning on enjoying it (and how I think you should too!)

It’s more than just the money

I hope that from reading this blog that you haven’t gotten the impression that all I think about is money. Far from it. I’m a big believer in leading a balanced and full life, and just think that having your money in order helps you lead a more balanced and fuller life. Living the DINK lifestyle is a special time. It’s just you and your spouse, living the dream. You’ll both get home from work and (in theory) have no responsibilities and can enjoy time together. Use this time to your advantage and make the most of it. We won’t be able to live this lifestyle again until our future kids (yikes) are off to college. Enjoy every day with each other and have fun.

Date Night and more

All this income sitting around, you might as well enjoy it! No kids mean less activities and things to do. Get out and enjoy your money. Find things you both enjoy doing and go do them! Try all the new restaurants, go see movies, and travel around the country or even the world. Buy nice gifts for each other and make that house your home. You’ll hopefully be reaping the benefits of being roommates; saving on rent, utilities and food, and will have a lot more disposable income. Put that disposable income to work! (Our economy would certainly appreciate it!)

Set your BHAG

A BHAG is a big, hairy, audacious goal. Setting a big goal like this as DINKs will truly motivate and put your money to work. Got some student loan debt piling up? A couple of credit card bills wearing you down? Trying to stock your $10K emergency fund? Thinking about buying a house? These are all solid goals that you can, and should set for yourself. We have far less responsibilities and duties in this stage of our lives, so we should stockpile our money (don’t spend all of it on date night) as fast as we can. Before long we’ll have a mortgage, kids or graduate school knocking at our doors and asking for our money. My wife and I, (DINKs) have set two goals for ourselves. We’d love to knock out my wife’s student loan debt in the next 18 months and would love to buy a house next summer. Crazy talk. She’s pretty deep in student loan debt and buying a house ain’t cheap. To accomplish these goals, we’re trying to set aside nearly 40% of our income in savings (retirement included). We’re also trying to take 15% and put to her debt. Together that’s 65% of our income. Wow, both big and audacious. We think we can do it though, and we’ve got few things hindering us from doing so.

Enjoy these couple of years (or however long it may be). Don’t take a day for granted and make the most of this time you share. Take that extra income and few responsibilities and put that money to work. Probably never again in your life will you be able to save so much of your money. Set your BHAG and work towards it. Your future selves with thank you.

DINKs and loving it!

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