Yea probably true. Didn't really expect my post to get the attention it has. Probably could have worded it better. My parents were careful with money, but not

Yea probably true. Didn't really expect my post to get the attention it has. Probably could have worded it better. My parents were careful with money, but not necessarily frugal. I think part of it was the fact that my mom (and probably my dad at least at one point) had a pension to look forward to. I've thought before a lot on how that probably changes the calculus quite a bit. I seem to have picked up some pathological fear of not having enough, so I probably live excessively below my means. Growing up, I didn't even know that normal people could invest money in the stock market. Even now, I have friends that look at me sort of funny when I mention having a significant amount of money in the market. Usually they ask why I don't do something useful to it like buy a nicer house, car, etc.