Curious. Roughly what multiple of current or retirement expenses do you have? Also, what did you spend on now that you wouldn’t have 5 years ago?This is all just my guess, but it's my guess because I felt the same way for a lot of years.
You feel bad because you don't really have enough saved to sustain it in perpetuity with the option to stop working, do something different, etc. You are aware that the spending can only exist so long as you are willing to spend (in your own words) another 10-15 years to get to the point where you feel financially free. So every dollar spent is a reminder you've got another 10-15 year journey to go and a job loss, recession, or something means your financial life trajectory could be altered.
Fwiw my attitude towards spending completely changed once I had saved enough where I felt really secure. I don't really need to be working at this point but I'm making more money than ever, less stressed than ever, and have zero guilt on the types of things that would have sent me into a panic even 5 years ago. So, in my experience, more money did fix the problem.
Edit: that said, I'm pretty sure some people never reach that point. For me it probably took an amount larger than most would consider "safe" where it sunk in that there was more than enough. I guess that's a personal thing, but at least for me there was definitely a point where I felt like "oh, ok, we don't have to stress anymore, let's enjoy the fruits of our labor now"
Dunno. Maybe some of that resonates. My $0.02. Or is it a nickel now because no more pennies?
Statistics: Posted by Wannaretireearly — Wed Feb 12, 2025 12:01 am — Replies 64 — Views 7533