Living it up a little before retiring?

LoneAspen said:
I've owned Jeeps since 1992 when I first moved to Colorado years ago. First was a Cherokee (the original boxy one), and currently I own a 2004 Grand Cherokee with 173k miles on it. Best vehicle I've ever owned.
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So glad to hear that! We have a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, our first Jeep ever. We would consider ourselves very lucky to have it last that long. As would our Major Expenditures account . . . I see a possible world cruise in our future should that indeed turn out to be the case.
 
Samsung 65" UHD just dropped to $3200. Will be splurging on this. Death to L(well)BYM :D!
 
I purchased some of my hobby toys over the past five years knowing 2014 ER was on the horizon (kayak, bike, backpack & snow travel gear). Also joined Mountaineers and took/passed several courses so that I can participate in hikes, scrambles, backpack/kayak trips, etcetera. Blessed to live in the great NW, so my calendar is already full with upcoming activities - so it was a good investment!
 
OP - We purchased items that we would use in retirement prior to retirement - such as a new truck and camper, canoe, etc. now we can use them for travel without worrying about paying for them. We didn't increase our lifestyle because we enjoyed the lifestyle we had. Don't need expensive restaurants - just good ones. We just wanted to travel more, which required the time only available in retirement. So no, we really didn't splurge before retirement. We arranged things so we can splurge NOW.


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I didn't spend a lot anticipating retiring - but I did rearrange money in anticipation.
Paid off mortgage early.
Set aside a lump sum for our dream vacation next year.
I couldn't take this vacation while working since it's a long one - the whole summer.
 
Not really. We like to travel and always took vacations prior to retirement.

But retirement offered us the opportunity to take extended trips, to take advantage of short notice travel offers etc.

It has been three years now. I am only just getting out of the frugal mood after realizing that we are in a very good financial position. But old habits are hard to break.
 
I've been wanting to get:

A couple of jet skis
A couple of dirt bikes
A beach-comber golf cart
A center-console boat
A small tow-able RV
A Jeep, Xterra, or diesel pickup (can't make up my mind).

Problem is, I have nowhere to keep the first 5 items. Yet.
 
I am also worried about not being able to enjoy my retirement life if something unexpected to happen. So I do plan at least one overseas travel each year. This year, we are going to Panama for the Thanksgiving week.
 
As I approached FI I've been mentally shifting my spend patterns. Basically everything stays constant except my travel budget: I bumped that up by quite a bit.

I went on an Antarctic cruise for $8k for example in 2010, which for me is an insane amount to spend for only 10 days. Had to force myself quite hard to go for that.

In the next (few?) years my intention is to continue the shift. The idea is that I'll feel much more comfortable spending money while still earning vs. dipping into capital saved up for what in essence is discretionary spending. Especially in the initial years when my risk is highest and the eventual outcome is most uncertain.

So in essence, mentally I'll be working to afford travel from now on. That makes it more fun too. Just adding another few % to the pile "just to be sure" kind of lost its appeal ..
 
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Totoro said:
As I approached FI I've been mentally shifting my spend patterns. Basically everything stays constant except my travel budget: I bumped that up by quite a bit.

I went on an Antarctic cruise for $8k for example in 2010, which for me is an insane amount to spend for only 10 days. Had to force myself quite hard to go for that.

In the next (few?) years my intention is to continue the shift. The idea is that I'll feel much more comfortable spending money while still earning vs. dipping into capital saved up for what in essence is discretionary spending. Especially in the initial years when my risk is highest and the eventual outcome is most uncertain.

So in essence, mentally I'll be working to afford travel from now on. That makes it more fun too. Just adding another few % to the pile "just to be sure" kind of lost its appeal ..
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Exactly.

Having lived LBYM most of my life, it will be hard for me to plunk $8k ($16k for DW and me) down on a travel in ER. Hell, it's hard now when I am making & saving 6 figure amount each year. So, I am trying to splurge now when I can, and do OMY so that I can do it in ER, too.
 
flyingaway said:
I am also worried about not being able to enjoy my retirement life if something unexpected to happen. So I do plan at least one overseas travel each year. This year, we are going to Panama for the Thanksgiving week.
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Flyingaway - Have fun in Panama! Are you staying in the city, by the beaches, or in the mountains? November 28 is a holiday but it is being observed on Monday, Dec 1 so it will be a long weekend. The city should be calm that weekend as a lot people will go to the beaches for the long weekend.

I've been living in Panama for 14 years now. Great country.
 
We have been good savers and that's why she's ERed and I have two years to 55 and early benefits kick in. My regret now is that I wasn't a GREAT saver so I could have cut off these last two or three years and maybe not need retiree-medical and pension checks (immediately).
 
While waiting at my dentist office this morning, I read some story about Brittany Maynard (the one with brain cancer who died at the doctor's assistance early month). I watched news report about her last month, but a written story is different. It basically tells me that nothing should be taken for granted, one should enjoy his/her life when there are still chances.

I am projected to reach FI in about 5 years. But I have been having a 2nd thought about saving too much recently. So I have told my wife that we should not sacrifice our current life for something uncertain in the future. We are still in plan to reach FI in about 5 years, however, we have relaxed somehow since the beginning of this year. Regular trips to casinos in a neighboring state, one overseas trip every year. We plan to have at least two overseas trips after this year, depending upon where my younger son goes to college next year.
 
chonga said:
Flyingaway - Have fun in Panama! Are you staying in the city, by the beaches, or in the mountains? November 28 is a holiday but it is being observed on Monday, Dec 1 so it will be a long weekend. The city should be calm that weekend as a lot people will go to the beaches for the long weekend.

I've been living in Panama for 14 years now. Great country.
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Thanks for the information.

We will be staying in Panama City and do a few nearby excursions. The Panama trip is not well planned though. We were planning to go to Dominic Republic, but the ticket price just went up so much, plus adding an over-night stopover, before I made the final decision to purchase.
 
I find this thread quite interesting. I have been retired 4 years now and DH is retiring in Jan 2015 (for tax reasons he is waiting until Jan). We had the boat and sold after the kids were out of the house. My DH has gotten a fishing boat and although I hate to fish I do go with him occasionally. We had the condo in the mountains for (6) years sold it for (3) times what we paid for it. (That money is now our cash emergency fund if needed). I had an aortic valve replacement in May of 2013. After thinking about not surviving the surgery I realized how short life is.

(3) weeks after my surgery we purchased a travel trailer and have taken many short trips in it. We did not realize how much we really like camping. The people are nice you get to see so much more than a week here or there. We walk and ride bikes a lot and really enjoy it.

We traveled a lot before I retired a week in Boston, a week in Hawaii etc. Had a great time but not enough time. When DH retires in Jan we will be taking "a retirement celebration trip" in the RV with no time limit in sight!

You have to balance your work life and "living" life. Life is short for sure, you can save now for the future and still do fun trips etc. Each individual has to decide for themselves what works for them.
 
Planned for it for a while and finally booked our European vacation for April 2015 last night. Planned to retire next year but was wary of spending money before retiring. Going to Paris, London then Barcelona with DW and 14 yr old son. Finally decided to do it after realizing I will be spending less than 1% of portfolio and traveling and time spent with them is priceless. Guess I will live it up before retiring,,(even for only 2 weeks).
 
Some may call this a necessity or hobby. Not being a photo/video cam enthusiast, I call spending $500 on a camera a splurging. I've bought gopro hero4 black 4k video camera. I was thinking about it for 2 months (gopro or Panasonic Luxmix 4k camera) and finally decided to buy gopro. They are completely different cameras and I chose gopro b/c I think it fits my life style better. The camera will complement the 4k UHD TV I've purchased this year.

( ... and custom fitted a set of golf clubs - a necessity )
 
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