Major Life Style Modifications

[DrRoy]

We are going to start paying up for better class air travel.

 

[Alan]

We retired at age 55 and in February I will be 65 so 10 years in retirement. Our spending has been about 90% higher than when we were working. The first 6 years we spent ~6 months of the year traveling, mostly out of country, then we moved to England in 2017 and bought our "forever house". (We are dual UK/US citizens).

Spending this last couple of years has dropped to 50% higher than when we were working even though we still do lots of travel. (this year we spent the month of March cruising through the Panama Canal followed by time in California with our daughter, then 2 weeks in the Scilly Isles, 2 weeks in the south of France, a week in Paris followed by a week in London plus various short breaks in England and Scotland).

We have started gifting money to our 2 kids (no grandchildren and not likely to be any) and plan to continue to do so rather than leaving them with a very large inheritance.

 

[HFWR]

Only retired four years, so still too early, IMHO, to stray from 4%. After four years of withdrawals, I’m still up 18%, so the answer is “it depends”.

As for getting to Lear jet territory, that’s virtually impossible, but hell yeah I’d spend more!

 

[nash031]

It's interesting, because as I've approached my (first) ER target date, we are about 10% ahead of where I targeted. Market runup, etc. etc. I've decided to take a gap-filling job at least until my girls are in school as I might go nuts if I'm home with them all day every day.

Wife and I have looked at some numbers, and we could hit "wildest dream" type numbers in about five years with our projected income and relatively modest returns. An eight-figure net worth is not out of the question prior to retirement, not something either of us imagined... but then we're not even sure it would change how we live or want to live all that much anyway. Wife would want to be more philanthropic. I'd want to drive a nicer car and buy bikes whenever the spirit so moved me. Neither of those is really going to move the needle financially... philanthropy would move it spiritually, and I think that's where we'd look to "invest" our prospective fortune rather than the private island/lear jet/yacht/etc.

 

[ckelly78z]

I'm fairly comfortable with my own farm, and life living in a frugal way. Don't get me wrong, we would buy some new cars, and go on more international trips, but we would most likely help my children/grandchildren get established, and live better.

 

[Mdlerth]

Unfortunately, Catwoman would still be out of my league

3x what I need? 4x? Piffle! It would change nothing.

Now, if I had 1000x then we're talking about a real difference. I'd build a stately mansion atop the Batcave.

 

[pacergal]

IF I had 3-4X more, then, yes I would spend more--gifts to charity and kids, probably more expensive trips.

As it is, we have enough to keep us happy, and presumably we will have some left to pass on.

 

[jollystomper]

...Having reserves for inflation, unplanned medical care, family help, or market meltdowns are a given, but what amount of excess is reasonable? 2x the need, 3x, 4x?

...
I'm curious about the spend the dough concept out there. Have any of you made abrupt and major changes like moving from a ranch house to your private island or traded in your VW bug for a Lear jet? And if so do you miss the old life?

To the first question, everyone has to decide for themselves what is "excess". Firecalc tells me we have about 3x more than is needed for our desired spending. My decision on how much to save/invest beyond out "basic" needs was to have enough so that the whims of the market would not impact our spending requirements for a comfortable retirement. As time goes on and it seems like "too much excess" , it just becomes money to use to help our kids or others.



To the second question, we haven't made any real changes. To paraphrase the saying "mo money, mo problems", "mo stuff, "mo problems". Major increases in lifestyle tend to have a "maintenance" cost that is not clear, or considered in advance. For example, I recall reading the story of a family who won a million dollar home in a medium/low cost area, which sounds great, but then they had to deal with the costs of maintenance for that size home, and that took the fun out of it and ultimately they downsized to a smaller home. We tried to strike a balance between upgrading our lifestyle enough so that maintenance of that would not become an issue or undue cost.

 

[Sunset]

..... We tried to strike a balance between upgrading our lifestyle enough so that maintenance of that would not become an issue or undue cost.

Exactly.
We could buy a few more cars, a motor-home, some ski boats, etc, but I dread the hassle and maintenance of all that stuff.

Currently we have a cottage, and every year I have to plan and pay for repairs etc, and it's more of a hassle than owning our house, as we are not there much and it's far away.

 

[seraphim]

We spend more time travelling in the camper, eating out, etc. not a great deal more. one year I went a bit overboard and put a lot money into a classic car., and we gifted our son a decent down payment on a condo. Otherwise, not much.

 

[ychuck46]

Thought about it as well

On our next cruise, for example, we will be in a suite instead of a balcony cabin.

I have thought about the same but just can't bring myself to pay the upcharge. Sometimes the frugal nature just can't be overcome.

 

[ychuck46]

My issue as well

We could buy a few more cars, a motor-home, some ski boats, etc, but I dread the hassle and maintenance of all that stuff.

I would like to have a few more toys as well but the maintenance keeps me from doing so. We have enough for our needs anyways, so a boat or some other money pit is not really needed.

 

[Dtail]

Would love a Lamborghini, but rarely see one in these parts, so would be fearful of crime.
Better version would be to join an exotic car club plus the same thing with a boat.

 

[Souschef]

I have thought about the same but just can't bring myself to pay the upcharge. Sometimes the frugal nature just can't be overcome.

I understand completely, as it is a struggle for me sometimes. BUT DW loves the extra room and privacy. Happy wife, happy life.
Also, either we go in a suite, or our kids will

 

[Idnar7]

Beware of life changes. A friend has stage 4 lung cancer. They both worked at a Mega and have good pensions. She is going broke from the chemo she has to travel 300 miles for. Friends have started a go fund me account for her. Very sad.

 

[Souschef]

Beware of life changes. A friend has stage 4 lung cancer. They both worked at a Mega and have good pensions. She is going broke from the chemo she has to travel 300 miles for. Friends have started a go fund me account for her. Very sad.

Please contact the local Angel Flight organization. They can probably fly her both ways.
I fly for Angel Flight West, and I know there are other chapters all over the US.

 

[Senator]

When I retired, I made sure I counted rental income as being half of what it was, and my spending being 2x what I was spending. It has worked out great.

I spend easily 2-3x the amount I had while working, and I have not yet touched my principle, pension, or SS. I did buy a platinum truck, when prior to that I only had an XLT.

Purchased a new house in FL, a 2017 Ford F350 Platinum Ultimate, a Keystone Alpine 5th wheel. And a bunch of other medium priced items. No debt. I travel 6-8 months out of the year away from MN, so I changed to a FL resident.

I am planning on purchasing a Kubota MX5200HST to "Tame the land" at my FL place to get 2-3 horses. And will likely upgrade to a larger place in 2-3 years. Meanwhile rents are headed up, property and stock values are up, and healthcare is still free for me and my DGF.

I may even buy a hot air balloon. I need to spend more, the issue is that you can have millions in real estate and not be able to afford a cup of coffee.

 

[Hermit]

It's pretty hard to live a Hermit lifestyle in the mountain backcountry and spend gobs of money. I guess I am not doing too bad though, having spent double my planned amount each year since retirement!

 

[HFWR]

My pre-planning was probably overly pessimistic, and it appears I have quite a bit more discretionary than planned. It’s still early in the game (FIRE+4), so it’s undetermined whether I’ll feel compelled to spend significantly more.

On the other hand, after many years of frugal, I’m learning to loosen a bit.

 

[SunnyOne]

On the cusp of retirement, so this thread is of great interest to me.

I notice many here talking about the burden of maintaining whatever we own. Really makes the case for hotel based stays away from home or the condo life for the primary home...although maintenance fees could be a concern.

Secondly, some talk about going on vacation, LOL - isn't retirement a permanent vacation? . How can you tell the difference?

 

[athena53]

I retired in May, 2014 and my investments, after withdrawals, are up 3%/year. [Ending value/Beginning value)^(1/5.5)-1 =3%.] Those were bull market years; if I'd retired in early 2008 the result would have been far different. So, I'm still cautious because of that, because there will be "bumps" such as needing to replace a car occasionally, and because I want to provide for the scary LTC scenario.

If some unknown relative left me a few $million I would donate more to charity and maybe buy a little condo in some European city, but that's not happening.

 

[JDARNELL]

Secondly, some talk about going on vacation, LOL - isn't retirement a permanent vacation? . How can you tell the difference?

When you eventually come home and have to deal with administrative items no matter how much you tried to automate everything. It’s those times you realize why did I even come back.

 

[PoorOldCountryBoy]

I am curious what people think about living your entire life accumulating enough to feel good about that passive income and suddenly see those amounts growing exponentially and exceeding your basic needs for your normal cushy life costs.

Having reserves for inflation, unplanned medical care, family help, or market meltdowns are a given, but what amount of excess is reasonable? 2x the need, 3x, 4x?

When I think about the very rich like Carnegie, or even Warren Buffet, it seems they gave a part of a huge amount that I assumed covered their fixed costs and much more.

I still have younger family we can help and I suppose I could gift a charity or two that I have supported in the past.

I'm curious about the spend the dough concept out there. Have any of you made abrupt and major changes like moving from a ranch house to your private island or traded in your VW bug for a Lear jet? And if so do you miss the old life?

Lear jets are soooo 2000's. We prefer G6's.

You sound like you could get hooked into paying for kids and not be able to extract yourselves because you're just too nice. It might serve you well to talk with a financial planner about this. Just one appointment, a couple hundred bucks and peace of mind. A good one could give you some rules of thumb to follow.

One friend had a good solution - he wanted to fund 100K a year to charitable causes but did not know if that was wise, so he started with 10K and moved things up by 10 K per year. As things turned out, he found 30K a year was much more realistic. It was a lot easier for them not to have to tell charities sorry you're shut off. YMMV

 

[Ronstar]

I'm curious about the spend the dough concept out there. Have any of you made abrupt and major changes like moving from a ranch house to your private island or traded in your VW bug for a Lear jet? And if so do you miss the old life?

We're probably going to buy a new house within the next few years - probably cost about twice the value of our current home. I'm trying to make sure that the new place will have everything that the current place has so as to not feel that we are missing something after the move. No plans to buy any expensive cars or go on any long expensive trips.

 

[Dtail]

On the cusp of retirement, so this thread is of great interest to me.

I notice many here talking about the burden of maintaining whatever we own. Really makes the case for hotel based stays away from home or the condo life for the primary home...although maintenance fees could be a concern.

Secondly, some talk about going on vacation, LOL - isn't retirement a permanent vacation? . How can you tell the difference?

Exactly what I said when driving home from our cruise. We are going from a vacation back to retirement. Is there really a major difference?