Lifestyle, diminishing returns and changes in personal income conundrum.

[Winspear]

Early retirement might be a worthwhile goal to pursue. Relief from the stress & misery of work is a pretty nice luxury.

This! That should be the primary thing to do with money in general, as far as I'm concerned. It's good that you like your work - I do too. But is it something you would pay money to do? If not, you should work towards not doing it. 50 is not young

 

[narad]

50 is not young

Dude, I was just about to hit you up for some xmas picks but now you come in here blaspheming...

 

[Andromalia]

I'm 50 in 3 months and some are still asking me when I'll become an adult, so...

 

[Edika]

One thing I've come to realise, is thing that interest us always justify the added cost, especially when the money is there. If you're not interested in watches, cars, clothes or to show how well off you are, then it feels like a rip-off to buy something that costs x amount of times more to something that doesthe same job.

But does that apply to guitars? A 4-5K Les Paul Custom does basically the same job as 600 Epiphone LP custom. I bet you can justify the cost difference there. I'm not saying it as a bad thing.

But yeah, donations to worthy causes have a better impact but not necessary the best returns. Unless you get good tax deductibles so win win.

 

[Drew]

The crux of it is, I don't have anything else to do with the money. I have retirement funds, life insurance, social security etc covered. I already own my place. I feel that every avenue of spending I have left is to become a victim and I don't really want to become one.

You and I are in broadly similar situations, save that I'm roughly 10 years younger than you, and I'm more comfortable spending money on things I care about than you are (as an example, I drive a 2005 Toyota Camry that's probably worth no more than a couple grand these days... but my main guitars are the Strat I've owned forever, and a pair of Suhrs, and my road bike was north of $10k). I spend on things I care about, don't on things I don't. In practice, that's bikes, guitars, cooking tools, and I guess my house.

Time is the only thing you don't get back. Your being in infamously pinko socialist France might change this a little (and seriously how are you having trouble with too much money given French tax rates? )... but, while I don't want to make TOO many sacrifices when it comes to experiences now (I was in Mexico last week, Valle de Guadalupe, with my wife, which was an amazing trip, though I suppose to be fair not all that expensive), I do throw everything I can at retirement savings. I max out my 401k, make the max allowable IRA deductions, and have been adding to a post-tax brokerage account too. I joked when I was younger about retiring at 35, but the top priority I have now for excess money is making sure it's there when I need it when I DO get to stop working.

Because life is FAR too short to spend it at a desk from 8 to 5 five days a week.

 

[jaxadam]

The only thing I would like to add is that I try to strike a balance between spending/saving/lifestyle/experiences. We live pretty far below our means which is already a good start, but I'm finding out that trying to keep up with our young kids in our 40s means I'm probably not going to be dune buggying, skydiving, and backpacking through Europe at 62 1/2, so I may as well do some of that fun "retirement" stuff now. Also, I have a buddy who was a financial manager for a certain couple, and they lived very frugally, same house, same cars, no vacations, no spending, no nothing. By the time they retired he died a few months later. So 30 years of saving for nothing.

 

[Siggevaio]

If I made a lot of money I wouldn't buy expensive things. I would work less. Just enjoy life as you please. Don't feel like it's expected to get nice things just because You make a lot of money.

 

[Andromalia]

(and seriously how are you having trouble with too much money given French tax rates?

French tax rates are fine. When I lived in Ireland, I barely had to pay any national tax, and no local tax, but garbage removal was 4x as expensive. There's not a free lunch to be seen anywhere.

Because life is FAR too short to spend it at a desk from 8 to 5 five days a week.

I do have the luxury to do a job I enjoy doing nowadays so retirement isn't high on my list. Maybe I'll get bored of it eventually, but given I'm 49 there's a good chance I'll be close to retirement age anyway. I'm getting enough offers that I can pick between interest and income pretty easily.