About to Order, Engine Failure Questions

[CA139]

Ha, (not in a funny way) I missed that. A lot of those 6,000 words are about postponing life's finer things until a future date and its solid advice for sure. I hedged my bets a little and indulged in all sorts of detours and shenanigans and created some incredible memories and experiences that I never could have done (or enjoyed) later in life. Finding the right balance of (financially) planning to live to 90 while at the same time living for the moment was critical for me. Retirement is bad for your health and you never know when your card will come up.

The plan changes. For a while I have been on the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 plan. High earner so basically to live on 1/3 or less of my after tax income, invest (not save because cash doesn't beat inflation) 1/3 as if I will live another 50 years, and spend the last 1/3 as if I would live only another 50 hours.

In my earlier days because we could do very little with small children I invested most of my disposable income which was lot especially during the 2007-2009 bear market which was a huge boon. Starting siginificant accumulation in your mid 20's and into early 30's set me up very well for now in my late 40's because it had the longest time to grow.

As time went by we started to travel, do more stuff, buy more "toys" but I am still living well below my means. We have definitely seen some lifestyle creep but still to 1/3 of our after tax. You can't take it with you so for the last few years my after lifestyle/bill/tuition/grocery disposable income has been 50/50 instead of investing most of it like 15 years ago.

There's that magic point where your investments grow every year more as a function of their returns than the raw number of what you can invest into your nest egg. This has been the case the last 5 years, obviously buoyed by the stock bull market but its a significant marker because I have no retirement plans but the assets are taking care of themselves. And if I have no pans for retirement and the kids college is already paid for. You only live once, can't take it with you.

 

[CA139]

Congrats on finding that most excellent wife.

The only time she ever drove me nuts is with our most recent car purchase. She felt bad about having to slog around a minivan for 15 years and turning 50 this year wanted something "nice" or "fun" but as a non car nut she really doesn't understand what she wants. She loves the Corolla but doesn't know about the Blackwing or Supra. They will magically appear hopefully a few months before her big 5-0 later this year.

She used to drive a Civic DX Coupe, the base model with no power steering nor A/C and manual transmission loving it. She can drive stick. We traded it in for a minivan as it was almost 15 years old and falling apart So now she is happy with the Corolla as it feels spirghtly and go karty like her Civic just so much better. She's happy for us to "let go" because now is the time financially to start really enjoying it.

OMG I had a bunch of girlfriends one after the other before her where I wanted to dig a hole and cover myself with dirt to get away from their craziness/manipulation. Spending time with crazy people like that made me want to lock myself in a padded room with straight jacket even though most of them needed just that. What a quarter century of happiness it has been to share my life with her....