"Almost Rich"

I sometime think like that too JimmyZ57. For us its more since the crash in 2008 which disrupted our plans and set us back about 4 years (we held on and have since recovered but lost those years in growth of our nest egg). I was hoping to retire earlier. We have become quite frugal, which has personally now become a hobby lol.

But I do often wonder now about balancing being frugal and travelling like we used to. We have 'stuff' and don't really need more (except maybe a 'New' iPad :p). These days I enjoy going to HD, Future Shop etc and coming out empty handed while everyone else is loaded up. I like the comfort these days of knowing the house is paid for, we don't have car payments and we keep trimming our fixed expenses. Living within ones means can be pretty rewarding within itself. It is much easier sleeping these days than back in 2008. Thats worth a lot.

In your case you mention you are just arriving at 40. I'd say you are in pretty good shape and still have lots of years to enjoy the fruits of your labour! (you are more than a decade and a half younger than us). If you can, perhaps consider splurging on a trip or whatever you like once in a while.

Having a job you enjoy would probably add the most enjoyment to your life at this point.

I work for myself and have to balance between making $$$'s versus enjoying life. Living frugally means we get to enjoy more of the latter.

The lifestyle vs frugality topic has been foremost in my mind of late. I recently had a crisis of indecision on whether or not to buy a $1500 flat screen TV when my old one blew up. I decided to repair it for $200 instead. A good "frugal" choice, yes. But I really WANTED a new one.

My wife and I save 70% of our montly income - we sock away about $6500 monthly. We have in excess of 200k sitting in our HISA, lots in RRSP's and non-reg, own our vacation property outright. No car payments. Tiny mortgage. No kids. 1.5 million in net worth and I balk at spending $1500. Logically, it seems foolish.

The end game for all this saving has been to allow me to retire in my 40's. On our present course, certainly possible. But my recent inability to "treat" myself with a new TV has me wondering if I have lost my way.

Better TVs are coming out, you want the amazing DLNA + Airplay support, IPS LCD with full LED backlighting, micro bezel. Just stave off the urge for one more year, you can do it! :)

Jon I was at Tiffanys in Las Vegas Monday night holding a $56,000 piece of jewelry which I had the cash to buy.I held it in my hand and must have spent an hour there admiring it ,my husband was slouched in the chair not giving a care if i bought it or not .I hate myself today lol

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Originally Posted by ddkay

Better TVs are coming out, you want the amazing DLNA + Airplay support, IPS LCD with full LED backlighting, micro bezel. Just stave off the urge for one more year, you can do it! :)

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Boy do I have to do some reading. I'm still powering a plasma!

Jon: i think if u still feel cool abt it you are doing the right thing. And if u can retire with more than $1-2m net cash in your 40s you r in the top 1%. True we dont need to be absolutely miser and crimp on everything. Some claim life is short why shortchanged our enjoyment. However, I prefer the frugal way although i can afford most stuff. I dont watch tv, I dislike DIY so i dont have fancy for gadgets. I dont have a hi maintenance spouse, so it helps. I feel liberated because of some degree of financial indepedance. Im mindful of big bills ahead as we aged and when our aged parents succumbed to a major illness and we need to help care for financially. I can enjoy good music online or a cheapo radio or Mac coffee instead of starbucks. Since you have already repaired your tv, milk it till the end!

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Originally Posted by Jon_Snow

The lifestyle vs frugality topic has been foremost in my mind of late. I recently had a crisis of indecision on whether or not to buy a $1500 flat screen TV when my old one blew up. I decided to repair it for $200 instead. A good "frugal" choice, yes. But I really WANTED a new one.

My wife and I save 70% of our montly income - we sock away about $6500 monthly. We have in excess of 200k sitting in our HISA, lots in RRSP's and non-reg, own our vacation property outright. No car payments. Tiny mortgage. No kids. 1.5 million in net worth and I balk at spending $1500. Logically, it seems foolish.

The end game for all this saving has been to allow me to retire in my 40's. On our present course, certainly possible. But my recent inability to "treat" myself with a new TV has me wondering if I have lost my way.

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Even if you have a lot of cash, there is something to be said for getting reasonable value for your money. In your case, you were able to do a cheap repair and got your "old" tv back.

Given that your current tv sounds pretty decent, is the difference between between your dream tv and your current tv worth paying $1500 (minus repair cost)?

I would have done the same thing.

Now if the cheap repair option had not been available and you couldn't pull the trigger on a new tv, then you might have a problem.

I think you should create list of regrets that you would have if you discovered you had a terminal illness. Then start working on making sure you would have no regrets on that list. I bought a colour TV after I had a detached retina because the thought of never seeing it shock me up. That was in 1968. Since then I have always maintained a readiness for unexpected bad news.

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Originally Posted by Square Root

The one advantage of private schools is that it is generally easier to expell problem kids as they can revert to the public system. Trying to expell a problem kid from the public system is much more difficult I think.

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Try expelling a kid from private school, after the familly donated a million or so for a new library, etc.

Sometimes it's more difficult.

Private schools have more drug problems too.

Networking is the only advantage to private school. But that only gets you so,far. In the real,world you make your own way.

Teachers are paid less in private school. You get what you pay for.

@prairie guy I disagree with most of what you said. Have any data to back it up? pretty obvious that $million dollar donations are rare if not non existant. The quality of education at my daughter's private high school was superb. Would and probably will do it again.

Yeah, I disagree with most of prairie guy's statements too, except that teachers in private schools do tend to be paid less, or at least they did when I was looking into working as a teacher (which truth be told was many years ago). But I think it's wrong to assume that the better teachers are going to chase after higher salaries and therefore work in public schools. In many cases I think you'd find that some gifted teachers want to spend more time teaching than filling out paperwork and dealing with the bureaucracies of a public school system, or they may be attracted to the better resources and smaller student-to-teachers ratios available at some private schools. That said, I had some truly gifted teachers in my public school and several of my friends and acquaintances are great teachers who work at public schools. I don't think either system is better at attracting the best.

I adopted a formula when I first finished university (I was 23 I think) that has served me really well :-

~10% retirement (give or take)
~10% savings (big ticket necessities like car purchase, home upgrade etc. come out of this bucket).
~10% charity (give or take)
70% to live on. Vacations etc. come out of this bucket too.

If my income goes up, I can increase my lifestyle. If my income comes down, I can cut back on my lifestyle. But automating the savings part has made budget so much easier. As far as I am concerned, my income is 70% of what it actually is. Other 30% is off-limit to me.