Has anyone ever regretted saving too much money and not enjoying life?

[Spiffster]

Interesting thread. I would say that we are very good savers, maxing out 401k and Roth contributions. We do have some taxable accounts that are growing in size and were actually earmarked for discretionary spending... but now that I have enough cash in these accounts to buy a that fairly new (used) Porsche Cayman I have always wanted (im 37 BTW)... I find myself a bit torn. That and the idea of spending that much money on a car seems to freak my wife out. She wants to put it towards paying off our house (our only debt). I think we are ahead of the game, the house is so low interest (3.75) and this purchase would be ok. What to do... what to do...

[tripods68]

Interesting thread. I would say that we are very good savers, maxing out 401k and Roth contributions. We do have some taxable accounts that are growing in size and were actually earmarked for discretionary spending... but now that I have enough cash in these accounts to buy a that fairly new (used) Porsche Cayman I have always wanted (im 37 BTW)... I find myself a bit torn. That and the idea of spending that much money on a car seems to freak my wife out. She wants to put it towards paying off our house (our only debt). I think we are ahead of the game, the house is so low interest (3.75) and this purchase would be ok. What to do... what to do...

You're wife is very practical. A car will lose tremendous value over time compared to a house.

[ahlerka]

But have you thought on how much enjoyment you can get by driving this car, at least for the first year or two? so what if the value will go down... of course your wife opinion counts and careful calculation and joint decision required in this case.

[Spiffster]

You're wife is very practical. A car will lose tremendous value over time compared to a house.

Well thats a bit obvious... The car falls under the "enjoying life" category, while the house falls under the debt (and tax shelter) category, hence my dilemma. I do realise the prudent, responsible thing to do would be to pay down the house, but how fun is that? I will add that we currently owe around 180k on the house, while recent sales for a similar house in this neighborhood are around 450k. So its not like we are upside-down on the house or anything at all like that. We have been living way below our means, at least up to this point ;-).

[clatoden99]

My parents very much regret saving too much money. They never had a very high income, but saved obsessively and now take 2-3 international vacations per year and multiple domestic vacations, and are a lot wealthier then many people in their church that had significantly higher incomes throughout their lives.
We didn't have a hard life, but my parents have said several times they regret focusing too much on money and not enough on building memories with their children.
While it doesn't take much money to do some fun things as a family, they were unwilling to spend money to have a hotdog barbeque at the park, or buy a kite to fly at the beach, or pay for beach parking.
So they probably had a savings to income ratio that many here would be jealous of, many sacrifices were made in order to accomplish that.

[tripods68]

Well thats a bit obvious... The car falls under the "enjoying life" category, while the house falls under the debt (and tax shelter) category, hence my dilemma. I do realise the prudent, responsible thing to do would be to pay down the house, but how fun is that? I will add that we currently owe around 180k on the house, while recent sales for a similar house in this neighborhood are around 450k. So its not like we are upside-down on the house or anything at all like that. We have been living way below our means, at least up to this point ;-).

Being "prudent" and "responsible" isn't fun to a lot of people. But being practical has a greater VALUE because it avoid the risk of the unknown. That's goes along way, than simply 'having fun'. Both of you have to be in the same page. I'm not knocking you for wanting to have fun. You can do anything you want. You have your finances in order. But I've been in similar scenario few years ago for exact same reason. I wanted fun family SUV that we could do "off road" on weekends. We were ready to signed but completely backed down in the end once common sense took hold of us--considering external factors that were happening at that time. We were entering the 2008 recession. We had secured jobs with DUAL income to pay for it--but practical sense and risk of the unknown helped form our decision better :-)

Then last year we found the practical SUV both wife and I completely 100% in agreement that meets our lifestyle. Now we have it albeit--used little beat up and with some TLC--it served our needs today. I had to wait a little longer but it was worth it.

[sandrark]

We handle it by setting percentage targets: 15-18% of our gross income to retirement, and another 4% to things like taxes and planned improvements.

The we set aside $300 per month for vacations, and $100 for gifts. When the accounts get up to the amounts we need, we book the trip or buy the gifts.

Make it a planned budgetary item, so you don't have to decide "in the moment." The decision is already made that this expenditure is planned and OK.

[MonkeyMama]

I've only seen the upside to being a saver. The upside is good! But I also think that the balance side of things has always come really easy to us. We live life to the fullest and we save a lot. Win-win.

Of course, I never view savings as money we set aside and never enjoy. That's not the case. We have large piles of money that we can and have chosen to enjoy here and there throughout our life. We aren't "hoard it all to the end" types. We are more, "we don't have to spend it up front" types.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

For us we have a pretty good life and still save. Much like some of the other I enjoy the finer things in life. I have a cleaner again, I enjoy eating out, I enjoy travel, etc. So savings first but honestly I've been pretty honest I like the nice things in life.

Life is too short to keep scrimping. I could cut our grocery bill in half by eating rice and beans and no fresh fruit or veggies. But life is meant to be lived.

[FLA]

I get spend-y at times but haven't been for a long time, although I just replaced a dead iPhone today. I'm pretty frugal and I saved a lot for retirement. And yes, I did not do or buy some things I wanted or really wanted for my kids. But we did enough, we had more than enough.

Thank God I saved hard because I became ill and disabled at 45. That retirement money is gonna save my butt. So IMHO, get a good stash going before you spend big. You never know what the future holds

[ahlerka]

It is interesting, but this thread shows me two type of people (1) who save hard and hope to spend later in their life. This type is the one who does not see saving as sacrifice as they have a hope, but also do regret that they do not enjoying the life in full potential.
(2) and the second type is who safe and spend, but probably do it so wisely - some sort of reached the balance between the two.

The most common advice is to make more money and make saving less of a burden for yourself and family members. Well easy to advice, can be hard to implement

P.S. I don't try to upset anyone or do any typology, just thinking loudly. Feel free to share your opinion

[dojo]

We don't just save.

We save for things we love (daughter, travel etc.). And then we save long term.

I never compromise our happiness just for some numbers, but we're not reckless either. As long as you find some balance in life and savings, you are OK.

[FelicitaHarper]

Well even though I haven't made that much money, but even if I do I will make sure that I won't regret it!

[TexasHusker]

Continues saving is tiring, you have to constantly think about money and you can become so focused on saving pennies and completely lose the enjoyment of spending money (even the enjoyment of buying nice things for yourself and others). It does feel good sometimes. Has anyone ever said to themselves "screw the saving attitude, I am here to live and enjoy" How do you manage enjoyment and constant pressure to save more and more?

We went through this a few years ago. It depends on how you look at money. If you view money as security, you can never amass enough.

If you look at money as a tool - to help others AND give you some material things, it's easier.

Our rule was give 10%, invest 10%, and enjoy the rest. We've stuck to that for 25 years and so far so good.

[dawnwes]

No because we still enjoy life. We just budget.

DH's bonus is small, roughly $5,000 or so, but after taxes we only see about $3,000. That is our vacation budget for the year. We typically use it to go to Disney World. Last year we opted for Universal and because we got some great deals, we were able to go 3 times with Annual Passes.

Otherwise, we are in pretty good shape. Budgeted savings, budgeted retirement on track, and ability to buy some extras we enjoy.

I am looking to go back to work, mostly because I like working, but also because we want to pay for college for the kids and not have loans.

Now, DH's parents socked it all away. They are millionaires, literally, still live in the house with 47 year old gold carpet, no A/C, and 1970 kitchen cabinets. They never took vacations, never seemed to spend or enjoy things, etc.....

There has to be a balance.