Learning to spend after years of saving...

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

I guess I need to look at spending just like I did when I was looking at OMY earnings. So using the 4% SWR - everything I spend I won't have that much going forward. So if I spend blow 10k on whatever, that's only $400 bucks a year. That's still hard for me to wrap my head around!

[Nature Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pacergal I have a quote, I think I read it from someone here on the forum: "You are no longer in a saving mode, you are in a slow spend down mode" It has helped me remember that this time in my life is what we worked and saved for, and its OK to spend.

This spoke to me, too.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Throwdownmyaceinthehole I guess I need to look at spending just like I did when I was looking at OMY earnings. So using the 4% SWR - everything I spend I won't have that much going forward. So if I spend blow 10k on whatever, that's only $400 bucks a year. That's still hard for me to wrap my head around!

Yes. I look at things that way too.

And that's one of the reasons I don't reinvest unspent funds back into my investment portfolio. Say I had $10,000 left over after a year of spending. If I reinvest it in my portfolio, then it only increases my future annual income by a measly $400 a year. Instead I can boost the next year's travel by $10,000amd plan an extra trip or whatever.

[Van-Guard23]

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Originally Posted by Moemg Start off slowly by upgrading to premium economy and then slowly work your way into business class for the really long flights . I also am extremely thrifty but my days of coach on long flights are over .

Maybe this would be the way to go...baby steps. I was thinking of upgrading DW's seats for her flight from the mainland back to HI next month, until I almost choked on the price of first class seats - 3x the price of her economy/coach seats (over $1000). I told DW about the price of first class seats and how it almost knocked me over...and she agreed we could better spend that money on something else. This is how we've always gone about things during the accumulation phase and it's downright difficult to shed that habit...but baby steps perhaps might be in our near future.

[Van-Guard23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational When you spend your travel dollar, spending more will buy you not only a more comfortable product, but it also buys you a different social situation. In other words, you'll be sitting with people that don't mind spending three times the price to get to the same place as those in the cattle section. But the purpose of this post was to explore the "other than air travel" things. For instance, if you go on a fancy package tour, you're not just getting all of the hotels, transfers, meals, and air-tight logistics, you're also getting people that don't want to deal with those travel details. Maybe they don't have time to manage the travel logistics. Or the patience.

Well, I actually don't mind planning our trips down to the smallest detail, hence we try to avoid group travel as much as possible. It requires quite a bit of homework but I don't mind that at all. But I get it...we are considering a package tour for our future international trips.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational Could it be that there's not only a reluctance to spend the money, but also a bit of discomfort in being in a social setting with people who spend money in a way that you've never done (until now)?

There might be some of that, but I don't think it's something we consciously think about. More than anything, we often feel we can spend that money we would spend on upgraded seats or for a fancy tour on something else we might value more.
But as we get older and less tolerant of inconveniences and get more comfortable in splurging on ourselves during retirement, we we would undoubtedly spend a lot more on ourselves...just don't know when that would be.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Van-Guard23 Well, I actually don't mind planning our trips down to the smallest detail, hence we try to avoid group travel as much as possible. It requires quite a bit of homework but I don't mind that at all. But I get it...we are considering a package tour for our future international trips.

Yeah, it's an absolutely enormous amount of work - and the inspiration for my sig line!

But I mainly do it because we prefer to travel independently when practical.

We've been upgrading though. Nicer hotels and better rooms, first class train travel, taxis if we have luggage, the occasional private tour day trip when needed.

And for certain types of more specialized travel or in visiting areas I am completely unfamiliar with, I have no problem with an organized tour, as long as it is small group oriented. I'm not going to try to organize my own African Safari or Galapagos trip, etc., for example.

And sometimes I just neeed a break!

[bmcgonig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Van-Guard23 Maybe this would be the way to go...baby steps. I was thinking of upgrading DW's seats for her flight from the mainland back to HI next month, until I almost choked on the price of first class seats - 3x the price of her economy/coach seats (over $1000). I told DW about the price of first class seats and how it almost knocked me over...and she agreed we could better spend that money on something else. This is how we've always gone about things during the accumulation phase and it's downright difficult to shed that habit...but baby steps perhaps might be in our near future.

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Originally Posted by hesperus This is something I'm increasingly unwilling to endure, and much more willing to spend more on - especially with long flights. I never cared for airline travel much after 9/11, and with the way airlines currently stuff passengers into coach/economy class now, those days are over.

That's what I started to do. Baby steps. I fly back and forth to Ireland a lot and always buy the exit row for a mere 80$. I can stretch my legs forever. United to London charges about 200$ for the same seat which is still worth it. Paying maybe a 1000 more for business isn't worth it to me as long as I get the legroom. Regular coach is suffocating at this age. So if I couldn't get these seats I feel I would have to pay up for business, but not like it

[FI_RElater]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I got the Costco ones once and they lacked flavor. It's not that they tasted "off" as in fishy, but they lacked flavor. Really good crab has a rich smooth flavor that is not subtle at all. I'm ordering from these guys, never tried them before, but they are in Alaska.

Since retiring and moving out west, now in second year, I've gotten the local caught Dungeness crab -- it's been as low as $5/lb!! and enjoyed them (although spouse can't because of shellfish allergy).

Since retirement I also get the porterhouse rather than the cheap cuts--- we've earned our dinners .

AFA spending- - the bad news: we're spending more than the first year; the good news-- we're still under 2% SWR!! (and that's after new heat pump and A/C units and outsourcing the deck refurbishing and staining)
We did buy a pellet grill-- we both love it, much better than the gas or charcoal version. I can just start it up, prep the meat, and enjoy my mountain view while it cooks-- with the obligatory vino or brew, of course

( still in early 60's, although with pension and a few mil, so not opening up too much yet)

[FI_RElater]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational When you spend your travel dollar, spending more will buy you not only a more comfortable product, but it also buys you a different social situation. In other words, you'll be sitting with people that don't mind spending three times the price to get to the same place as those in the cattle section. But the purpose of this post was to explore the "other than air travel" things. For instance, if you go on a fancy package tour, you're not just getting all of the hotels, transfers, meals, and air-tight logistics, you're also getting people that don't want to deal with those travel details. Maybe they don't have time to manage the travel logistics. Or the patience. Could it be that there's not only a reluctance to spend the money, but also a bit of discomfort in being in a social setting with people who spend money in a way that you've never done (until now)? Generalizing here, but my BIL's working class neighborhood is "way more fun" than my white collar neighborhood could ever imagine to be

I remember when in Monte Carlo / Monaco on a business junket while staying at the local hotel with its private beach and looking over at the public beach next door. I was thinking "I wonder what they think of this?".... so I walked into the public beach and looked over to where we were staying. (We also had had a private reception in the casino gardens-- and observed the gawking tourists looking at us in our, shall we say, more formal attire .... quite memorable, and showed the long road we've traveled). {so, yes, I can definitely see the potential awkwardness in being with those that have... hmmmm,.....plenty. (We're doing good but not quite to that level )}

[audreyh1]

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Originally Posted by bmcgonig That's what I started to do. Baby steps. I fly back and forth to Ireland a lot and always buy the exit row for a mere 80$. I can stretch my legs forever. United to London charges about 200$ for the same seat which is still worth it. Paying maybe a 1000 more for business isn't worth it to me as long as I get the legroom. Regular coach is suffocating at this age. So if I couldn't get these seats I feel I would have to pay up for business, but not like it

If you fly United a lot have you checked out the economy plus annual subscription?

[Perryinva]

Great thread!! Something we ponder as well. Some things are easy to spend on. Long flight air travel (greater than 4 hours) now that we are 60+ is either business class or premium economy. Overnight European flights we do business class. Of course, so far, every flight has been discounted with CC miles or points. We could never bring ourselves to pay full price for anything. But that is more common sense than frugal, I feel. Exact same item, lower price.

DW REd at 56, has been retired for 8 years, and 5 years younger, I'm still doing OMY, as I just can't give up the pension increases that each year earns, even though we've met our savings and secure income goals. She wants me to retire ASAP, and I am resisting. We both have decent pensions that will easily pay our living expenses plus much more. My SS will be max, hers about half. Those alone will bring us to $115k/yr with no debt, and something over a mil saved.

We've never lived wealthy, and bought our first, ordered the way we wanted it new car ever, for a whopping $30k, had dealt intending to pay cash and was offered a better price if we went financing with them. Based on our credit score we got the lowest rate of 0.5% financing, and I still put down $10k even though there was no reason. I should have financed more as we are getting 1.05% on the cash accounts...just hate car payments, haven't had one in many years.

Net income in retirement will easily exceed what we were used to, when employed, by just on not paying in to SS & Med, lower taxes, and no longer automatically saving.

[Live And Learn]

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Originally Posted by RobbieB Hehe, I don't even return stuff anymore. I do a lot of DIY and I'll go buy some stuff for a project and later change my mind and go a different way. I just buy new stuff and toss the old (still brand new) stuff inna trash. It's not worth the time to return it.

Ouch. I don't like seeing waste like this. I wonder if there is a non profit that would return stuff for you and donate the money .... if I were thinking about w&rking again I might even do that myself

[RobbieB]

It's really not that big of a deal. I'm building a new subwoofer for the home theater and I bought 4 PVC caps to make the feet from. Later thought ABS would be better (black already) and tossed the PVC. Big loss, a couple bucks.

[Hermit]

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Originally Posted by Perryinva Great thread!! Something we ponder as well. Some things are easy to spend on. Long flight air travel (greater than 4 hours) now that we are 60+ is either business class or premium economy. Overnight European flights we do business class. Of course, so far, every flight has been discounted with CC miles or points. We could never bring ourselves to pay full price for anything. But that is more common sense than frugal, I feel. Exact same item, lower price. DW REd at 56, has been retired for 8 years, and 5 years younger, I'm still doing OMY, as I just can't give up the pension increases that each year earns, even though we've met our savings and secure income goals. She wants me to retire ASAP, and I am resisting. We both have decent pensions that will easily pay our living expenses plus much more. My SS will be max, hers about half. Those alone will bring us to $115k/yr with no debt, and something over a mil saved. We've never lived wealthy, and bought our first, ordered the way we wanted it new car ever, for a whopping $30k, had dealt intending to pay cash and was offered a better price if we went financing with them. Based on our credit score we got the lowest rate of 0.5% financing, and I still put down $10k even though there was no reason. I should have financed more as we are getting 1.05% on the cash accounts...just hate car payments, haven't had one in many years. Net income in retirement will easily exceed what we were used to, when employed, by just on not paying in to SS & Med, lower taxes, and no longer automatically saving.

Thank You!

(Its folks like you who will keep my SS fully funded.)

[brett]

It is still with me. Changed my cell plan to pay as you go since I do not use the phone five or six months a year. Don't have, don't need data either.

But, on the other side of the ledger just bought a Solara convertable today. Always wanted one, they are out of production. Found a great low mileage used one private sale and picked it up. The double garage is looking smaller.

[GravitySucks]

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Originally Posted by Live And Learn Ouch. I don't like seeing waste like this. I wonder if there is a non profit that would return stuff for you and donate the money .... if I were thinking about w&rking again I might even do that myself

Habitat for Humanity runs ReStore. DGF used to get her stuff there often. I donated things like ceiling light fixtures and leftover molding.

[RobbieB]

Another special came up and 8 lbs of "super colossal" (biggest you can get) are arriving tomorrow.

Daily Seafood E-Mail Special

We made sure to "clean out" the last of the mere colossal legs yesterday -

[Scuba]

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Originally Posted by RobbieB Another special came up and 8 lbs of "super colossal" (biggest you can get) are arriving tomorrow. Daily Seafood E-Mail Special We made sure to "clean out" the last of the mere colossal legs yesterday -

Bummer - sale ended 8-16. Sounds like delicious crab legs - enjoy!!

[RobbieB]

Yup, 1 day email special for previous customers and "sign-ups" only.

Go buy something on the internet and you'll be "wired for life" with specials -

[Scuba]

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Originally Posted by RobbieB Yup, 1 day email special for previous customers and "sign-ups" only. Go buy something on the internet and you'll be "wired for life" with specials -

Good suggestion, thanks!