Saving too Much

[haha]

I believe this thread will turn out to be an excellent gong telling us that harder times are coming.

When a group of frugalistas are vying to come up with more and more lavish ways to spend money, it's like the guy with a signboard-End Times are near!

Ha

 

[Walt34]

I think the issue is great savers are good at deferred gratification.

I'm having issues spending too. After waiting so long for both the pension and SS to come online, and having LBYM so long, it is actually hard to break from past practices for both of us. Even though we look at the spreadsheet and see that the money is there, it is still hard to spend it on other than more or less necessary stuff.

That said, I have been practicing on breaking that mold and so has DW. With more practice, we'll learn.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I'm having issues spending too. After waiting so long for both the pension and SS to come online, and having LBYM so long, it is actually hard to break from past practices for both of us. Even though we look at the spreadsheet and see that the money is there, it is still hard to spend it on other than more or less necessary stuff.

That said, I have been practicing on breaking that mold and so has DW. With more practice, we'll learn.

Didn't you own an airplane at one time? That, my friend, is NOT a necessary expense!

I know...I owned one. It was one of the funnest things money could buy (that's legal) but yeah, it could never be considered frugal!

 

[NW-Bound]

I believe this thread will turn out to be an excellent gong telling us that harder times are coming.

When a group of frugalistas are vying to come up with more and more lavish ways to spend money, it's like the guy with a signboard-End Times are near!

Ha

I am still waiting for the proclamation of the Oracle of New Orleans on 7/9/2016 to take effect. Last time, there was a delay of a few trading days when we scratched our head saying that she had lost her power.

The market surge has reduced my cash holding from more than 44.238% down to 43.703% today. I am itching to buy, but the market keeps going like the Eveready bunny.

Speaking of spending, this frugalista has not been successful with reducing spending as he wishes, so has no plan to spend more. Quicken says that for the last 36 months, I spent $50,023 on home repair/upgrade, and $30,828 for gift/charity. The above are not part of my planned expenses. I do not spend on myself that much.

 

[W2R]

I'm still learning to give myself permission to spend on stuff that I can afford. Mostly with travel. Like - it's OK to spend up for stuff that will make a trip more convenient or comfortable or enjoyable.

In other words - it's not automatic.

I'm still learning to give myself permission to have spent so much on buying, fixing up, and moving into my Dream House. Every now and then I get "the willies" - - mild terror at having spent so much. Then I get out my spreadsheet and FIRECalc, re-compute everything, and discover that everything is still just fine.

The only down side is that while some of you are experiencing lifetime record high portfolio values, I'm just experiencing my highest values within the past year. But it's still enough.

 

[Walt34]

Didn't you own an airplane at one time? That, my friend, is NOT a necessary expense!

I know...I owned one. It was one of the funnest things money could buy (that's legal) but yeah, it could never be considered frugal!

Yes, I did own a Piper Tri-Pacer for a couple of years. Took every spare nickel I had to run but it sure was fun!

Actually, now I own four airplanes and three helicopters. The largest airplane has a wingspan of about 23 inches and the largest helicopter has a rotor diameter of about 22 inches. I'm finding I like the Pitts S-1S the best.

The big heli was the most expensive, at $300. Oh, they're all radio control models. Years ago I found that for me R/C was 80%-90% of the fun of full size aircraft at a small fraction of the cost. I just started with helicopters and so far I'm not very good with them, they're a far different beast.

Ask pilots who fly both R/C and full-size and most will say that R/C is every bit as challenging, if not more so, than full-size.

Oops, kinda wandered a bit off-topic there....

 

[RobbieB]

I'm looking forward to blowing lots of dough on my house!

When that's done I'll go boat shopping -

 

[Cobra9777]

We spend about 30% less than what FIRECalc and i-ORP say we can safely spend. We've also deferred some large expenditures, mostly due to an abundance of caution, having just retired a few years ago. The large expenditures are a much-needed car replacement, international travel, several home improvement projects, and a couple of new machines I really want for the woodworking shop.

We are perfectly happy with our basic level of spending and lifestyle. But I also think these larger items would increase our enjoyment of ER to some degree. For us at least, the LBYM instincts not only carried over into ER, but actually kicked into high gear when the big paycheck stopped. We're slowly getting past that as we watch the plan working as designed.

 

[nash031]

This just seems like one of the problems I'd be OK with having.

 

[ejman]

Sometimes this LBYM really drives me nuts. I've been perfectly happy with my non smart cell phone with zero capabilities other than functioning as a phone for many years. Then a certain Trombonier mentions a $20 smart phone and I go ahead and buy the damn thing with a Tracfone 180 minutes card for another $20. I figure I'll play a little with it put it down and never think about it again. NOOO! I start playing with it and find I like it - this is really cool. Now I'm thinking of bigger and better and costlier mo' data, mo' memory, mo' display . Jeez where does this stop...

 

[Koolau]

6% is mighty fine if you retire at 67

Retired earlier than that, but now past that age. Still spending less than 4% as it is theoretically possible to live for 30 more years. If I and/or DW live that long, I'm sure we WILL need a good chunk of our savings to deal with such things as health care. After about age 75, I believe we will be rationed to the more palliative kinds of treatment rather than life-extending treatment (unless we self fund).

Perhaps the issue of saving too much (or spending too little) is based on OUR (those on this forum) fear of running out of money. Most here consider THAT possibility as MUCH worse than dying with "too much" money left over. My take: I'm enjoying my ER and am reasonably comfortable with my cash burn. Therefore I rarely think about leaving too much on the table. Full disclosure, I DO think of it more often than I did 10 years ago. YMMV

 

[NW-Bound]

Sometimes this LBYM really drives me nuts. I've been perfectly happy with my non smart cell phone with zero capabilities other than functioning as a phone for many years. Then a certain Trombonier mentions a $20 smart phone and I go ahead and buy the damn thing with a Tracfone 180 minutes card for another $20. I figure I'll play a little with it put it down and never think about it again. NOOO! I start playing with it and find I like it - this is really cool. Now I'm thinking of bigger and better and costlier mo' data, mo' memory, mo' display . Jeez where does this stop...

Eh, you cannot spend all your waking hours listening to your electrostatic speakers. Just another toy is not going to break you. Come on! And I recall that you say you don't travel either. What are you going to do with all that money?

 

[old woman]

I saved too much by accident. I had enough in 2008 but then recession so worked longer, recovery and extra savings to double enough then mom died suddenly so inheritance.
I retired 2.5 years ago and have made 143K on investments and spent 70K so up 73K so far from more than double enough.
Most of the 70K I withdrew I gave away as gifts and got a new roof. Day to day spending is cheap, same old house and car, SS covers the mortgage and food so only need about 10K-15K from investments for taxes and insurance and utilities so a 1-2% withdrawal rate.

 

[ejman]

Eh, you cannot spend all your waking hours listening to your electrostatic speakers. Just another toy is not going to break you. Come on! And I recall that you say you don't travel either. What are you going to do with all that money?

That is what I find bizarre about this whole thing. I don't think twice (well, maybe just a little...) about spending significant (to me) money in a hobby/passion (music and my HiFi system) that has brought me much pleasure my whole life. But outside my comfort zone I'm currently agonizing whether this cellphone or that or this plan or other are better and I'm talking about really tiny amounts of money (is a $100 cellphone really better than a $150 one?- this and that plan better and so forth). Oh well, first world silly problems. Sorry for the derail over and out.

 

[RobbieB]

You did not derail, you are on topic. The topic is we are so frugal we forgot how to blow dough.

And the answer is "blow more dough". Buy a 6 inch phone for $500 -

I always endeavor to "help" the members here with creative ideas to have more fun by blowing more dough.

 

[Jack_Pine]

We will have no problem spending at an appropriate and safe level when the time comes. No problem at all...............That's what we worked and planned for.

 

[6miths]

Order placed;


1 Russian Osetra Caviar Karat 3.5 oz (100g) $255.00
1 Mother of Pearl Caviar Spoon - Small
1 Paddlefish Caviar Metal Tin 4.4 oz (125g) $89.00
1 CREME FRAiCHE 8oz (227g) $5.99
1 Premium Norwegian Smoked Salmon 4 oz (113g) $11.25
Subtotal: $361.24
Discount: -$10.62
Shipping: FedEx Standard Overnight

Ha, burned another $350 -

Extravagant would have been going with same day delivery!

 

[RobbieB]

At $350 I got free delivery -

 

[ejman]

You did not derail, you are on topic. The topic is we are so frugal we forgot how to blow dough.

And the answer is "blow more dough". Buy a 6 inch phone for $500 -

I always endeavor to "help" the members here with creative ideas to have more fun by blowing more dough.

Well, you are a "bad" influence re the LBYM theme of this forum but in the spirit of this thread you are certainly a good disciple of Mr. Kitces's

 

[cyber888]

My goal in life is to have $0.01 balance in my retirement account the day I pass into the next world. haha.

Withdrawing 5% is not a problem. Spend that money ! Get that social security early and stay healthy.

 

[RobbieB]

That's the spirit and the goal! Die broke and you win.

Well, maybe not that broke, a couple hundred grand would be nice just in case -

 

[Markola]

...and your last check should be to the undertaker. And it should bounce.

 

[RobbieB]

Brutal.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Our goal on an ongoing basis is to optimize expenses and increase little side income streams and freebies. I would like to reach the point where all the little side incomes added up cover our expenses (without much ongoing work) but that would be a stretch. But then I have the rest of my life to work on it so if I live long enough maybe I can pull it off. We live pretty much as we did before we retired so I don't see a point in spending more. We have a house full of stuff we're trying to declutter and go out a lot now. We just have cheap hobbies like hiking and seeing plays on the discount nights.

Here is a related study from Berkeley Greater Good Science Center on when spending does make people in general happy:

"In fact, a recent wave of research suggests that money can buy happiness—if we spend it in the right ways. Dishing out cash for experiences rather than material goods can give us a boost, as can spending on other people. And we’ll get the biggest happiness bang for our (literal) buck if we indulge in many small treats rather than a few big splurges.
Now, a new paper published in Psychological Science suggests that money can also buy happiness when we spend it on products that fit our personality"

We do follow the spending on experiences and the many small treats model, like lunch out, a trip to an art museum or a hike in the Redwoods. But the lunch is with a Groupon, the art museum is free with an annual pass and my favorite Redwood park is free on weekdays.

 

[Drake3287]

I haven't read all the comments but I think this is more common then many think, I certainly include myself in those that have saved (and still saving) to much.

I retired a couple of years ago with a defined government retirement plan (California) and easily live off of it including having a couple of extra thousand dollars each month that I just put in an ever growing bank account.

I also have a very sizable investment and cash savings that I can't even for see tapping into.

I think people like myself that have saved all their life find it hard to spend the savings once you get there. In my case I'm on the fence about buying a vacation/second home. I still live a great life and certainly spend my share of money including traveling but still find it hard to come to grips about spending it all.

I would never talk to anyone I know about this simply because it would be embarrassing and make me look like I'm bragging. (I'm not)