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I agree with everything you've said. Don't have debt (or make it a priority to repay), and reduce consumption. You might be surprised see how much less you re

• moron4hire 11y ago
  Well, there is reducing consumption and then there is prioritizing consumption. I think we fall more into prioritizing consumption. We do make quite a lot more than most people in the country, say nothing about the world, and we spend it all (in different ways, including on our retirement), but how we spend it is important. If you want to have a fun lifestyle, you have to cut your living expenses. Housing is pretty much everyone's biggest expense, which is silly because houses aren't "fun". I don't know anyone who has parties often enough to justify large living spaces. I do really like hosting parties, but I can do that in a park or a private room in a restaurant more easily than at home, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than keeping a large dining room and living room all the time. I also think of it as being brutally honest and pragmatic with yourself. You have to decide for yourself how you will live your life and not let other people's expectations decide for you. Want to be a literal rockstar? You can do it if you give up on the same sort of vacations your coworkers are taking. Don't want to give up on vacations? Admit to yourself you like vacations more than being a rockstar and give up on spending money on being a rockstar. I think a lot of people distract themselves with spending money on things that they think they are supposed to want, but ultimately aren't actually what they want. For example, despite what they might say out loud, a lot of people really just want to sit at home and watch TV. That's absolutely fine. Just admit it to yourself and stop spending money on fishing equipment that you never use. Then you'd be able to sink the money into a massive home theater system instead, something you'd actually get to enjoy on a regular basis. If you try to do both, you'll end up in over your head in debt and not getting to fish or have a big home theater. We have friends who are trying to "do both" on travel and a large house. We have been to their place for parties twice in the last year. They've been to our place for parties twice as well. We didn't have quite as many people, but I think that also made for a better party. They don't make any more than we do, they are constantly in debt, it's ruining their marriage, and now she just got pregnant so their income is about to get cut in half. He just took a job he hates because they will need the money. If my wife gets pregnant, our options will be to... stop booking international flights. And that's what we're planning on. We're actively planning on shifting how we enjoy ourselves to accommodate our means. Luckily, we both really like board games. I've personally put off playing games over the last few years so I could focus on travel, get the most out of it, then switch to gaming together when we settle down. Whatever it is you do, do it completely. Don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing :)