just don't make current you hate future you.
I’m liking that, Cheddar Stacker. I’m taking that to mean don’t overly restrict your life, your fun now because you might want to have even more expensive fun later. I think Suze Orman gets it wrong when she tells countless people the equivalent of, ‘You don’t have enough now, work another 10 years and then you can fly first class to your Greek cruise when you are retired.’
I’m feeling it the other way around too. Don’t hijack your future needs because you pissed away the money on indulgences now. It takes effort not to think about my friends and family who are pissing away their future stability now. So I guess finding the balance is the thing. Not to go too far overboard in either direction, but also not to accept the others idea of moderation. I guess some things you just gotta work on figuring out yourself. So I am appreciating the forums help.
TheScmett right now, staying FIREd is a main, but not only goal. I left work a little over a year ago. I didn’t feel my finances were good enough for FI, frankly. But they were good enough that I had FU money to take a travel opportunity which was too good to let pass. I figured if necessary, I’d find something once I got home. Now my net worth is better now than it was when I quit. But I am noticing I am spending more than the 4% SWR. I’m ok with my spending for normal and typical things (while I continue to strive to increase my badassity). But the extra stuff; travel, moving expenses, rental property expenses and taxes has been difficult to get a handle on. That’s where I can use the help around how to quantify allowances for.
Maybe part of the answer is to just keep living, and keep monitoring, don’t be too hard on myself, and be flexible, be ready to take interesting paid gigs as they surface.
