I really appreciate the replies so far. I am really going back and forth on this one, but I kinda suspected what people in a forum on a web site dedicated to saving would probably have to say (as opposed to what feedback I'd probably get back after posting all my numbers in the BMW forums).
Your replies have given me pause to reflect on what my long-term saving goals are. There is no way to know what the economy will do, and I'm sure even though I have a fairly secure job, bad things can and do happen economically to change the rules of the game.
I didn't mention my mortgage payment- I have a payment of about $3500/mo including taxes and insurance that is part of my monthly expenditures (about 11.7% of my gross monthly payments). I guess I took some satisfaction that, even though this may appear gigantic to some (it would have seemed that way to me a few years ago) it is quite modest compared with some friends that earn quite a bit less.
I talked with my wife about the idea of retiring at age 40, or 50. I didn't mention here that my job, while stressful at times, has me working rarely over 30 hours a week, with 7 weeks of vacation time a year. I think it's a pace I could keep up for a long time. It isn't retirement pace, but when we talk about retirement, I'm not sure why people talk about retiring at 40 or 50. Again, maybe this is something that I'll regret saying later and I don't want to offend anyone here, but if I retired at 40 or 50 I think my wife would go nuts with me around all the time (already I'm probably around too much
) and I think I'd go nuts not feeling all too productive in some profession. But the point is well taken to save as much as we can while we are earning. I guess I'll just have to figure how much.
Just a side note: I went through school with the encouraging words always saying "Sacrifice now, enjoy later". I don't think this was promising a lifelong spending spree. However, I've found that if you debate the merits of saving versus spending, in the long run, saving will always win out on higher moral grounds. But as Keynes said, (I believe) "In the long run, we're all dead." I know too many people who have overspent their entire lives into oblivion, which is tragic. However, I know personally people who've done the opposite- started out frugally, got into a habit of pinching pennies, but couldn't ever get to the point where they turn the corner to enjoying any of their saving, and lived our their lives with a lot of unspent money in the bank--tragic in a different sort of way if you ask me. Is retirement supposed to be that point- or do you just never turn that corner? Probably no solid answer for everybody.