snoopy7548
Diamond Member
- Jan 1, 2005
- 8,126
- 5,151
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I know a guy who plans to retire at 50. He is super cheap and when he and his wife actually go on vacations, they’re cheap and crappy vacations. They don’t eat at nice restaurants. I could keep going, but you get the picture.
I’d like to retire early, but I’m not going to sacrifice a quality life now in hopes of being able to “live it up” later. Planning for the future, IMO, also has to take into account that you may not have that future or may have issues preventing your planned future from happening, so you have to live in the present too. For one, you may never make it to retirement - you may die in an accident, of a terminal illness, etc. Secondly, if you’re still in relatively good shape, don’t hate your job, and make decent money, why not keep working and piling up more and more savings? Many studies show that retiring and having no job results in depression and early death for many people.
The guy I mentioned earlier who claims he will retire at 50 - I guarantee that when 50 rolls around and he retires, he will be an even bigger cheapass and his wife will bitch about him to my wife even more.
Because I don't want to wait until I'm in poor or declining shape to retire. I don't want to spend half my life sitting in a chair staring at a computer screen; if I get bored or restless, I'd like to have the option of going for a hike, going for a drive, or working on my hobbies, not walking around the office for five minutes.
A lot of Americans know nothing other than work and are horrible at planning. They live to work, whether that's due to financial reasons or because they love what they do, and now without it they have no idea how to fill that 40 hour void each week. This is why the quote, "build the life you want and then save for it" is probably the most important one. Do you really want to sit at home all day watching TV, or do you want to restore classic cars, see the country/world, or sell arts and crafts?
Though I guess if you love what you do, you may continue to do it while in retirement, whether that's through starting your own business/consulting, or making a hobby out of it. There's no rule that says you need to stop what you do for a living just because you've retired. You now have the freedom to work on it at your own pace and by your own rules; you are the now the sole reason for success or failure.
I agree that there's no point in retiring if you're depriving yourself of everything now. Why live like a pauper just so you can continue to live like a pauper? The only difference is you now have to figure out what to do with eight hours each day; thinking about how frugal you are will get old extremely quickly.
