For those in retirement age and who splurged or was over conservative in your youth....

[Heffalump2761]

My husband retired last year, early, I continued to work my choice as I love my job and was not ready to retire. Unfortunately he died very suddenly, without any warning in July. However because we had been sensible I have been left in the position of never having to worry about money either now or in retirement. This is a massive relief at a time when you do not need any further stresses or problems to deal with.
Did being sensible mean never having a vacation or doing without things yes and no. When we were young yes but once we had some money behind us in savings then no. We had great vacations some expensive, some cheap - both kinds gave great memories. So we charted a medium course and at least now I am left on my own I can still afford good vacations - 18 days in Japan next year and still have all the memories. But I would add that the best memories are not from expensive holidays but come from the day to day stuff and things like picnics in the summer, days out to local places and just being together.

 

[crisi]

I'm 52 and semi retired - I work part time from home at a business I accidently ended up with partial ownership of - so basically, I'm doing a part time job as a favor. I have two kids - one is 20 and living at home and working while he determines that getting some sort of post secondary education is a good idea (he's getting there), the other is a Freshman at a small private liberal arts school. I was financially conservative while they were young, but we made good money.

I'm really happy I was financially conservative. My daughter will get through four years of college without debt thanks to my frugality - she has a scholarship, but she doesn't have to worry about keeping it.

My favorite memories with my kids don't usually involve vacations - I remember making brownies with them when they were at the age where more brownie ended up on kids than in the pan. I remember my son's baseball games and my daughter's plays. I remember swimming lessons and playing catch and raking leaves. We've had some great vacations - I remember surfing in Hawaii and climbing castles in Germany and a wonderful trip to Washington DC- but its the daily members that really matter.

And in the end I want kids who say "my parents did their best by me" - that includes making sure that we aren't a burden to them. It makes sure that they get a good start on life without student loans (or minimal loans), its making sure they've had access to opportunities.....for my kids, they don't care whether the room is Deluxe or Moderate or offsite or if there is a veranda on a cruise ship - I care about those things. They don't care if we eat out at nice restaurants or not - they are as happy going out for pizza as they are going out for $60 steak.

And when life threw me a curveball and I had to leave my stressful career for a lower stress life, I did so without giving up anything. It was easy to cut my salary out of the budget, and we had a foundation of savings that pays in interest and dividends until we actually reach retirement age.

 

[barkley]

I remember making brownies with them when they were at the age where more brownie ended up on kids than in the pan.

brownie batter can be baked?????? WOW-learn something new every dayheck my kids had no idea that the concoction for rice krispies treats was supposed to be put into the fridge and hardened b/c it always got eaten before we could do that step in the directions.

And when life threw me a curve ball and I had to leave my stressful career for a lower stress life, I did so without giving up anything. It was easy to cut my salary out of the budget, and we had a foundation of savings that pays in interest and dividends until we actually reach retirement age.

same thing happened here-and it was at that point in time when our previous financial decisions, esp. to buy a much lower cost home than what everyone had said we could afford were reinforced as some of the best life choices we had made. we feel VERY fortunate to not have seen a tremendous change in lifestyle when that curve ball beaned me in my early 40's then ricocheted and beaned dh in his late 30's. could have been utter devastation but with a little planning and LOTS of luck it's not been the end of the world.

take care.

 

[crisi]

Yeah, but if you had $10M invested and withdrew at 3%, that would be $300k a year without ever touching a penny of the original investment. Plus, hopefully you are not going to need the $100k nursing home every year for an extended period. And with $10M you could afford to dip into the original investment if you needed.

I am not being argumentative with you at all, it just seems she pulled this number out of thin air. This is the kind of stuff that just discourages people from saving at all. My mother is retired (and my single as my parents divorced and she never remarried). She has no where near $10M and is doing just fine. You would have to earn $100k a year for a 100 years to even accumulated $10M and that would not even include taxes. So yeah, that number is not realistic for the vast majority of folks.

The first million is the hard part. (And really, it is. We have a couple million, and the first million took FOREVER, and then compounding takes over and the second is much faster)

 

[crisi]

What I don't understand is how one spouse can be retired if the other is still tied to a job. The retired spouse can't fully appreciate the benefits -- for example, can't take off on a last-minute vacation when the prices are low -- because the other is still working. I could see both spouses working part-time, but I don't really see how one spouse being retired without the other can be a team mentality.

Its great! My husband does some international travel for his job - our kids are adults - our son is home to look after the dogs - I go with him - we were in England this Fall and look like we will be in Africa in March and Australia in June (I am not doing his upcoming domestic Winter schedule). He works long hours from home - I do all the housekeeping and lawn care, get all the grocery shopping done, make sure he is fed, take care of our finances, so that when he is off, he is off. And he can work from anywhere with an internet connection - so if a last minute travel deal is too good to pass up, as long as there is connectivity - he can go and work from a beach - although even with deals, travel gets expensive quickly. If I worked a real job, I couldn't travel with him - he'd be off and I'd be working.

My retirement hobby is knitting. It isn't like thats something he is going to fully appreciate the time I get to do it. And when our kids were little, I worked full time and got 90% of the kid responsibilities (as usually happens - "honey, where is the kids' doctor, what's the phone number, how do I make an appointment?")

 

[morgan98]

The first million is the hard part. (And really, it is. We have a couple million, and the first million took FOREVER, and then compounding takes over and the second is much faster)

I 100% agree with this...but saving $2.5-$3.0M is not the same as saving $10M. My whole point is that very, very few are going to start with $0 and end up with $10M.

 

[crisi]

I 100% agree with this...but saving $2.5-$3.0M is not the same as saving $10M. My whole point is that very, very few are going to start with $0 and end up with $10M.

Very few will if they don't try. But there are plenty of two professional career couples who $10M in savings is completely doable - but you have to skip expensive cars, expensive vacations, and the very latest in kitchen countertops. And frankly, if you don't need it, don't bother - its about balance. But its completely doable for a LOT of people - if you were say, a Finance Director at a Fortune 500 company and your partners was an partner with a big law firm.