Just read an article posing the very interesting question "would we really retire if we are 45 years old and we reach our million dollar dream?" Well, yes emphatically yes, 44 in fact! The author goes on to give an example, when it's time to get married, do you really want to spend the money on that full-blown wedding?
This reminds me of when Doug and I got engaged 16 years ago. I told him don't buy me a ring yet, I want a house. Later, when we had recovered from the expense of the house (and the wedding, yes we did spend the money on a full-blown wedding, I admit), I said "don't buy me a ring yet, we need a car." Then later, when we recovered from the expense of the new car, I decided no ring, I want a new deck. And it went on and on like that.
I remember explaining all this to my sister-in-law when she asked me "WHEN are you EVER going to get a ring!" She then told me that if we started now, and put some money aside, then, when it eventually got to be big enough, we could buy a ring. What she didn't seem to get is that we HAD the money to buy the ring, there was just always something I wanted more than that piece of jewelry!
And so it is with retirement. I could keep working and continue to buy cool stuff, extravagant vacations, basically whatever I want whenever I want it, but there's something I want more than the stuff, time! I want retirement!
And now I pose the question, did not spending the money all those years ago on that ring help me to reach the million dollar dream of retirement a year early? I think so!
Comments