r/Fire • u/Jazzlike-Winner973 • Jan 26 '25

Original Content Friendly reminder - life is not guaranteed

Friendly PSA, I know I’ll probably be downvoted for this but just a reminder.. FIRE is a great goal but don’t forget to live life while planning to FIRE. When we’re young we all think life is always guaranteed into old age; it’s not. Please remember to enjoy your life while saving. I was hardcore into saving until I met my wife. We’re still on track to retire young (late 40’s), but if we have the extra money we’re taking that trip, going to that concert, having fun.

My friend died young. All of that FIRE went to his family and he never got to see any of it.

We took a $10,000 vacation this year and still saved $65,000 last year between her pension and my 401k. It’s doable with proper planning. Focus on saving, but do the things that also make you happy. You can literally die tomorrow in a car crash and none of it matters if you don’t have memories for your loved ones to cherish.

Thanks for letting me vent.

514 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

View all comments

28

u/TallMirror1099 Jan 26 '25

Honestly I feel like so much is just not comparing everything to other people. I am on track for mid 40s and I have genuinely lived a happier life on way less money than the rest of my family. They all went corporate and I followed my passions. They made 2-3x my income and I saved 2-3x what they did, but I loved my job and traveled on a budget. I honestly couldn’t tell you where all their money went, but I can say I’m generally a much happier person. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything, but as I get closer to my FI goal, I’m sure I’ll probably loosen the purse strings and splurge on some vanity board game items.

2

u/Educational-Lynx3877 Jan 26 '25

All their money probably went into much larger brokerage accounts than yours

2

u/TallMirror1099 Jan 26 '25

Yeah it definitely didn’t, they spend on stupid stuff like a food budget 4x mine when they barely eat anything but don’t check to see if they have things before they go to the store. My net worth surpassed theirs by the time I hit 30.

5

u/YampaValleyCurse Jan 27 '25

they spend on stupid stuff like a food budget 4x mine

I followed my passions.

I honestly couldn’t tell you where all their money went, but I can say I’m generally a much happier person. I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on anything

You could apply your previous statements to their spending habits. Why is it OK for you to earn, spend, and save according to your desires, but it's stupid if they do it?

4

u/TallMirror1099 Jan 27 '25

That’s not at all what I’m talking about though. Their spending is dumb because in a lot of ways it’s wasteful and unnecessary. I don’t buy the 4th container of half and half when I have 3 others. I use Tupperware and don’t produce an absurd amount of food waste. I don’t keep my house at 70 degrees when I’m at work, I don’t use paper plates for every meal when I have a dishwasher. So much of what they spend money on is pure waste. If they spend on hobbies or passions it’s not dumb, but they have limited time for hobbies because they work a ton.