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This AARP article shows how some couples have managed to have a nice retirement and enough cash to enjoy it.
Those on fixed incomes have seen their retirement savings shrink by 30 to 40 percent in the market meltdown. No wonder the country is in a belt-tightening mood, with consumer spending down to the lowest levels in decades.
But people like Sky Yardley and his wife, Jane Dwinell, aren’t panicking about today’s tough economic times—they learned long ago to live well on less. A few years ago, the Montpelier, Vt., couple saved enough to quit their jobs, volunteer on projects that interest them, and cruise the canals of France on their 28-foot houseboat for several months each year.
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/personalfinance/articles/fabulously_f...
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This part spoke to me.
When he was in his 30s, Thrower became disenchanted with the American dream—the pressure to buy the big house filled with fancy furniture. “I’d see this dead look in people’s eyes from working the 9-to-5 grind,” he says. “Keeping up with the Joneses will only drive you nuts.”
I've never been the type to keep up with the Joneses but he's right. Who's to blame, us or the society we live in? I think it's us personally. We can always make better choices the next day if we made bad ones the day, month or year before. All work and continually trying to be better than your neighbor with no time for anything else isn't healthy.
There will always be someone that, by luck or good financial management, has it better than you. Accept that and you'll be much happier with whatever you have.
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There will always be someone that, by luck or good financial management, has it better than you. Accept that and you'll be much happier with whatever you have.
Well said! :) It's interesting they talked about the timebanks site. We had a thread on that here. It's nice to see what good comes of taking part in that. The selling tickets to get to see a concert is a fantastic idea.
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I think the better you are at simplifying your life the easier it is to save money. My problem is buying things on the spur of the moment when I get an idea in my head. I've got a rowing machine in the spare room that never gets used. That came out of my getting fit fad that fizzled out fast. Okay, I didn't buy it new but it still cost me a pretty penny. I could have walked round the block and that would have been both simple and free.
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Saving for anything like retirement, a new house, a new car etc. is simply a matter of delayed gratification.
Don't spend that extra dollar today so that you can spend ten dollars in the future. It's something that we teach our kids at Halloween time (don't eat all of the candy tonight Brian) but, somehow, have difficulty applying to ourselves at times.
©2009
Good article. Thanks. :) I wish I'd been smart enough to plan early in life for retirement. When you're in your twenties you think you have plenty of time to start doing that. You don't! The quicker you start saving for it and get used to setting that money aside monthly, the better.
Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are. - Alfred Austin