7 years FIRE'd and doing way better than expected. Why does that worry me?

[getwilde]

OP, I'm a chronic saver in a position similar to you. I just finished the book "Die With Zero" by Bill Perkins, and it's changed my mindset. I need to stop saving, and start "de-accumulating," spending more on memorable experiences, living inheritances, etc. I highly recommend that book.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

To OP: do you track your spend $? For sure some costs have gone up, but my tracking shows my investments up considerably more than my spend. Thus, it makes it easier to splurge.

Matters how tight your initial retirement decision was. If all the analysis said pull the trigger originally, they are likely now saying you can easily spend more.

 

[marko]

Re'd 19 years ago with $X. Over the past 19, spent that same $X. Now have $2X+.

Now at age 72 I'm realizing that I'll never live long enough to put a dent in it and I can’t get ahead of it! (Now what do I do?!)

You do start to feel OK with spending out of your comfort range but it takes a little time. (Just reserved a hotel suite in Chicago. $4k for 2 nights)

 

[Letj]

Wow Marko. Did you add to the stash along the way?

 

[Retire52]

I'm getting the urge to splurge but still struggle with actually doing that. I guess I'm asking is this normal? And should I feel "safe" letting the reins loose?

Similar experience in the 7 yrs I've been retired. Seen our NW increase by 25% in real dollars while maintaining about 3.5% withdrawals from our initial NW. DW got frustrated with me for not adjusting for the growth in our nest egg, and inspite of my risk averse tendencies, I ultimately agreed with her that we should loosen the purse strings. We now pull 4% of our current NW.

A few considerations help me to accept this increased spend. One, our assets need to last 7 years less. Two, having seen our 2 years worth of withdrawals in cash withstand the pandemic market down turn. So, we now have adjusted our cash upward to match the higher spending helps me sleep at night. Last, I know we can adjust our spending down if all hell breaks loose in the economy as I am cautious about keeping our fixed expences level. Most of our increased spending are variable expences like travel, entertainment, cars and such that we can ratchet down.

 

[marko]

Wow Marko. Did you add to the stash along the way?

Nope. But Mr Market did. I'm pretty sure this is a fairly common result for many on this forum. I think it comes out to about a 6% yoy gain...not hard to do.