Switching from saving to spending, how did you do it?

skyking1 said:
I cheated.
We had purchased property a few years back and concurrent with my retirement, I have been building a house with cash.
Entire bucket and boat loads of cash.
My dilemma will be switching off my spending machine when we have a habitable abode. I have become inured to $20,000 visa bills, when the old standard was $2000.
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Those eyewatering CC bills are going towards an asset that's likely to appreciate. Essentially you're doing savings/investing in a less liquid form... not too different from writing, in your case, $18,000/month checks to Vanguard or Fidelity. You're also in effect working, but instead of W2 or 1099, your productive labor adds to the value of your asset.

The challenge is how to intentionally start destroying wealth, by spending it on nonrecoverable things (entertainment, dining, travel, or other frivolities).
 
Closet_Gamer said:
I try to remember 5 things:

1 - I have a plan that accounts for contingencies

2 - Each thing unto its time: a time to save and time to spend

3 - You only live once

4 - Tomorrow is not guaranteed, either in Health or in the simple question of whether you will still be here

5 - If a second depression hits and I lose 80% of my money, I would rather have spent 100% of some portion of it creating awesome memories than still have 20% of that portion and no memories.

I’m 16 months into FIRE and so far that, along with a solid commitment to my budget, is how I’ve handled this.

Others with more experience will undoubtedly have better perspectives!
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I love #5.....thanks for sharing that wisdom
 
Thank you for all these comments and sharing of your experiences. DW seems to be less concerned and she is booking her third European cruise with her Church group.

Maybe I just worry too much. Should probably take Charlie Harper's way of life. Just drink more and all will be good.

Anyone start drinking more after retirement?
 
As behavioral economics tells us, we tend to carry price "anchors" in our head. For example, I have a hard time paying more than $900 for an airline roundtrip ticket or $200 for a hotel room. When I start to pay thousands to upgrade these without thinking about it, then I'll know I've truly loosened up. I suspect that time will come when I begin to take Social Security -- assuming the program remains intact (which better be the case). At that point, I think my inherently frugal mindset will shift entirely to finding ways to spend up to my safe maximum.
 
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^ every time I am presented with a chance to upgrade a flight or experience, I attempt to weigh the likelihood that this will be the only chance I get to take that trip.
I used to think about the return trips more.
 
Reading this got me to thinking. I have been a casket bearer in at least 20 funerals. Mostly old friends of the family. I can only think of one that didn't die with a lot of money. The one that didn't have much money didn't need much money to live the way he wanted. He was probably the happiest of them all.
 
Stormy Kromer said:
Reading this got me to thinking. I have been a casket bearer in at least 20 funerals. Mostly old friends of the family. I can only think of one that didn't die with a lot of money. The one that didn't have much money didn't need much money to live the way he wanted. He was probably the happiest of them all.
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Epictetus: "Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
 
It can be really hard. I remember buying a coffee right after I ER’d. I paid with cash and I was reluctant to let go of the bill.
 
I'm retiring this year at 68 in Sep/Oct (TBD, depending on a few triggers). Even this year I maxed out 401-K deductions at 100% so I'm done with that for 2025, the last deferred tax retirement savings I will ever make.

I don't think we will change our spending much even though we could. The knowledge that we could is very satisfying and we are both proud of our FI. We just spent our lives as grown adults saving and ended up over-saving, mainly due to the stock market.

We are remodeling a new old house now and the term "spending" is an understatement. We don't have a budget. We will pay whatever it takes to get it right. The only thing I told my wife and the architect is we will never over-spend what the neighborhood will absorb, that is we will never have the fanciest, priciest or best home in the neighborhood but we will be at or near the top but never exceeding it. It would be easy to do that with excessive finishes on the interior and exterior, too. This is our BTD moment when transitioning to spending mode from saving mode.
 
It's definitely a process that doesn't come naturally or easily. I was forced into spending more than I wanted to a few times and I weathered those storms. I think those excursions outside my comfort zone helped loosen the purse springs. Having said that, I still struggle to spend on what I know I can "make do" spending less (So I don't fly first class though I could - I HAVE moved all the way up to economy PLUS).
 
We're about halfway there. We currently spend almost exactly all of our income from pensions and social security (which spending includes things like taxes on Roth conversions), so we're not "saving" anymore, as we once did, but we're not spending from our portfolio either. Maybe we will one day, but I can't think of more things I want to do or have, so maybe not.
 
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We always did LBYM but did not consider that we deprived ourselves of current lifestyle for future lifestyle. So we saved/invested to the point that we had accumulated enough to support the lifestyle and had cushion for unexpected shocks.

That, and I ran extensive scenarios in my mind. "If 50% market loss, then that result. We're okay. If a repeat of 2022, then that result. We're okay." This is now starting to abate, after one year of retirement.
 
No adjustment for us. Before we retired, we spent a ton and saved quite a bit as well. After we retired, we set aside $1M to tide us over until retirement income streams kick in - SS and annuities. It was supposed to last us 7 years but we blew through it in 4 to 5 years. We have kept our same lifestyle and keep withdrawing from our savings and we still have more now than when we retired 9 years ago.
 
Mark2024 said:
Maybe I just worry too much. Should probably take Charlie Harper's way of life. Just drink more and all will be good.

Anyone start drinking more after retirement?
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I'm thinking about it. My "Barista FIRE" job is actually quite taxing, but if/when that ends, I do plan on increasing my alcohol consumption. When somewhat tipsy, I'm less volatile, less agitated, more serenely accepting of the proverbial slings-and-arrows. Seems like an overall better strategy to cope, if not to thrive. For what more could one ask?
 
I built into our original plan that we would spend more early in retirement and taper off as we get older. Travel would account for the early spending bump. I’ve been retired for 10+ years and so far, we are following the spending plan. This year (actually towards the end of last year), we are at the point where pension/SSA income exceeds daily expenses and is now covering part of travel expenses. So it appears we’re still on track with our plan. The WEP and GPO elimination further helps our plan.

Two caveats here are we have pensions that have partial inflation proofing and have double medical coverage supplementing Medicare, so we have very little out of pocket medical costs. In any case, we can always cut back on expenses if our IRAs drastically drop.
 
We're in our second FIRE year, and we're spending about as we did before FIRE. I track our expenses, and they came in "under budget" our first year, a bit to my surprise. It so happens that the "budget" I had in mind, basically living as we had been, works well in FIREcalc and other calculators. We're not spending wildly but still take little trips; we're finally about to take one sizable trip, but it's a road trip, not exactly first-class air fare and European city hotels. We are planning a European trip in 2026. We have home improvements in mind, but I'm still wary of pulling the trigger on those until we're a few years into this. So I'm still cautious with this spending life now, though we're not depriving ourselves or bored, usually. I've adjusted well to spending that savings, better than I thought, because, as others said, our NW is still rising (current quarter notwithstanding). We'll see how it keeps going!
 
Diogenes said:
I'm thinking about it. My "Barista FIRE" job is actually quite taxing, but if/when that ends, I do plan on increasing my alcohol consumption. When somewhat tipsy, I'm less volatile, less agitated, more serenely accepting of the proverbial slings-and-arrows. Seems like an overall better strategy to cope, if not to thrive. For what more could one ask?
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You will have more problems with increasing alcohol consumption - watch for that liver cirrhosis.
 
Ronstar said:
Just keep telling yourself “If you don’t spend your money, someone else will.”

As I get older, this phrase gains more meaning, and has helped me to loosen up on spending.
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As my wife said “if you don’t spend it your kids will!”
Believe me, our kids would spend it, fast! I think frugality skips a generation.
 
I keep spending more on extravagances that I never thought would be possible, but my NW continues to increase and offsets whatever I spend. My goal is to outspend the amount my NW increases and maybe this year that will happen. Set the goal and do whatever you have to do to exceed it. The more you do it, the easier it will become. Practice makes perfect.
 
FIYes said:
Life long habit of frugality here. I don’t regret it, because it has gotten me to where I am today. I was probably more frugal than necessary when I first retired, but now I have more of a blow the dough mentality. I have had the good fortune of seeing my net worth increase during retirement. Now I realize that I am running out of time more quickly than money.
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Same here. I was always driven by a fear of being old and poor. I'm now 72 and my assets have increased on average by 2.8%/year AFTER withdrawals. I've pretty much done what I wanted since retirement- other than travel my needs and wants are modest- but as time goes by I realize that "you can't take it with you". I gift DS and DDIL $15-$20K/year, no questions asked, take the family on a vacation or two every year, and have greatly increased my charitable giving. I'm adding enough annually to my 3 grandchildren's 529 accounts that they'll be fully funded for a 4-year out-of-state public university by the time the oldest (now 12) turns 18. They're still going to be stuck with the awful tax consequences of having to withdraw from a large inherited IRA over 10 years (under current law).

Good problem to have. I don't regret driving modest cars till they were no longer reliable and not squandering money in areas not important to me over all those years.
 
Mark2024 said:
If everything goes as planned, I will enter retirement in a couple of months. As we are planning our activities after my retirement, I found that I am very hesitant to spend any $. Even minor spending such as a California Zephyr trip or a decent bottle of wine are giving me headaches.

By researching on the internet, I found this is a common situation for new retirees. Would love to hear about your experiences. Is there one major factor/trigger that enabled you to do the switch ?
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I am not yet FIRE'D but will soon.

I can't say when my trigger flipped, or even that it has completely.

It's much better now than when I was in hard core accumulation mode.

One thing helped me a lot, which was reading "Die with Zero." It resonated very strongly.

The other thing was buying my daughter a car 2 years ago, and the realization that I didn't burst into flames every month when the payment was zapped from my savings account. I don't even notice the money missing and she LOVES her car, plus, her mother and I have peace of mind she's driving something new and save.

I still struggle spending $5 for a bottle of water at a MLB game (old habits die hard) but don't blink paying for really good seats (we are on an odyssey to see a game in every stadium).
 
Gumby said:
We're about halfway there. We currently spend almost exactly all of our income from pensions and social security (which spending includes things like taxes on Roth conversions), so we're not "saving" anymore, as we once did, but we're not spending from our portfolio either. Maybe we will one day, but I can't think of more things I want to do or have, so maybe not.
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I could live comfortable on my SS and fixed income interest but I'm still drawing down from my base, "having fun while I can". My draw down has slowed in the past few years (as I have) and I expect will stop in a few more years as my age takes it's toll. I'll be back in the accumulation mode again in a couple of years. Maybe I'll just gift more to the DD unless I can find ways for an older guy to BTD.
 
I don't wish it on anyone, but any health scare can make you reconsider your spending. And/or one day you might realize you're mortal - e.g. I turned 70 last year and I assume I probably have about 10 good active years left. Odds are I will live (much) longer, but quality years will slowly run out.
 
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