I've been with my current employer for almost six years. During my first year, I set some five year goals involving promotions, job responsibilities, income, and skills development. Six years later, I have (a bit surprisingly) met all those goals. During that time we have also had two wonderful children, a new-used-car-loan, and a modest remodel. Our position in life has changed considerably and we find ourselves in that awkward place right after a set of accomplishments where we're floating a bit between our accomplishments and our next set of (as of yet undefined) five-year goals.

I've found that despite feeling that the digits representing my annual salary should amount to a comfortable life-style, the ever-increasing costs of materials, insurance, medical coverage, and other services quickly overshadow those now less-impressive digits. The demands of a growing family, such as a larger vehicle, more square footage, increased travel costs, and lots and lots of parental time that in a past life could be used to accomplish money-saving do-it-yourself maintenance on the family home and vehicles, further devalues those pretentious digits.

I've talked with my employer and set another set of ambitious five-year goals. Lou and I are in discussions trying to define realistic five, 10, and longer-term goals. However, the immediate goal is simple - increase income. Googling for things like "grow your income" is worse than searching for a needle in a haystack, the results being so skewed with get-rich-quick scams and other mindless-drivel for the masses. I'd welcome any links to quality personal finance, career management, etc. news sites, blogs, or books those of you that read this far have accumulated. Can I realize this vision of my future in my head as a technical leader and part-time individual contributor - or do I need to explore other career paths...