When it comes to balancing the responsibilities of both work and family life, many of us find ourselves in a gray area. Hard work and dedication to our jobs usually result in tangible rewards such as higher pay or a corner office. The same dedication to our personal lives often results in rewards such as stronger family relationships. The struggle to keep both our personal and professional obligations in perspective is known as the work-life balance. Many of us assume that a proper balance is always 50/50. Unfortunately, the ratio between work and personal life can be closer to 70/30 or even 80/20. What many business experts suggest avoiding is an all-consuming 90/10 or higher. It is true that there are only so many hours in a day, so for most people the majority of those hours are going to be dedicated to work, either out of financial necessity or pure enjoyment. Finding a balance is not necessarily about reducing the total number of hours spent at work, but rather finding better ways to incorporate personal time into the equation. A driven executive may feel perfectly comfortable working 80 or more hours a week, but he or she still needs to set aside time for family obligations, vacations and the occasional sanity break. The pendulum of the work-life balance can move in the opposite direction, however. Some people find themselves working remotely on a regular basis or pursuing self-employment opportunities. Without supervision, many at-home workers find themselves with a completely different problem: finding the discipline to dedicate at least 50 percent of their time to work obligations can be a challenge. While a 90/10 work-to-life ratio can be damaging to one's mental and physical health, a similar life-to-work ratio can be damaging to one's financial health. The best way to determine if your own work-life balance is acceptable may be to take a personal inventory of your life as it stands right now. There is no single ideal work-life balance plan which works for everyone, but if you sense that your work