Being frugal is good but please be nice to yourselves. You haven’t really owned the money until you’ve spent it. My kids will get their inheritance but after we’ve had a GREAT time. Your kids will fly first class if you don’t. My DD’s family(including 2.5yr old twins) are living it up already…
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mental-mistakes-we-make-with-retirement-spending-1492999921
While searching the Wall Street Journal Retiree Articles I found this:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/where-retirees-underestimate-spending-1524061487#=
If the link doesn’t work, google the article title with WSJ “Where Retirees Underestimate Spending”. Updated April 18, 2018.
There is a picture at the front of the article showing 7 different ‘buckets’ of retirement financial planning.
One thing I think about with major spending/decisions now and deferring until retirement is the tax consequences and how to plan to spread the spending over calendar years for less tax impact.
My ‘goal’ is to pass as much money to offspring as my parents passed onto me. Dad owned a business and was very good with his investments; mom lived 13 years beyond dad and with brother overseeing her care and managing the rental properties, estate stayed intact. There were 5 of us ‘kids’; we just have 2 children so my goal should be obtainable.
One doesn’t know what health crises one can have.
One usually hopes the next generation can live at least as well as we have lived.
However many of us will outlive the age of our parents, and do need to have the $$ to not run out of $$.
We were able to give our children very good experiences compatible with others in their circles. More than what we had as kids, but we had similar experiences to those in our circles.
We have our first grand-child. Parents have a lot on their plate, but they are happy and can live frugally/reasonably to their income and debt. We are financially in much better shape than SIL’s parents, and we have taught our children more on finances/investing. So SIL is learning, and DD is great at budgeting.
Print edition of the WSJ article regarding retirees underestimating spending was in print April 23, 2018. Noted a correction on a graph which had out of pocket household health spending, and didn’t include insurance premiums.
I found some good insights and cash handling techniques in the article from several of the sources.
Sorry, paywall prevents viewing, though the article sounds interesting.
Google “Where Retirees Underestimate Spending” and go to the link that way.
Many sites allow access to their articles through a search engine even when they are normally behind a paywall.
If you google the title, the very first link (from Google) will let you read the article.
WSJ wants me to subscribe before reading any more of their articles. Another one that seems worthwhile is “The Mental Mistakes We Make With Retirement Spending” from April 2017. After a few months, WSJ may let me read 10 articles again w/o ordering…
Shucks, no luck, aggressive paywall keeps blocking after 1st sentence.
Delete WSJ cookies in your browser and you will probably be able to get in.
WSJ is a bit of a hassle, even as a subscriber. NYT keeps me logged in for years, but WSJ kicks me out and forces me to log back in far too often.
You can try reading the article here.
http://stegnerinvestments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/WSJ-stegner.pdf
Thanks @cbreeze! I was able to read your link. Food for thought.
Is there a link to the WSJ prior retiree article, the one about not being prepared? I have not found one yet
No disrespect @sosconcern but I have never thought about passing my wealth to my children. I see my il’s and they have always been frugal people. Never wanted to spend too much. Spent the early part of their retirement, helping their son with his small business and watching his children (not mine, we lived out of town and the other lived down the road). Never had much time to go on more than the occasional vacation, down to Florida to visit friends who moved there once a year.
Now I feel like certain things have passed them by. The sons business is established, their kids are grown. Everyone has their own interests now, the kids are working out of town, the parents are enjoying their empty nest to the fullest.
My il’s do not have the energy or desire to travel much anymore. Their friends are dying and opportunities to visit have dwindled. My mil wanted to go out west and wanted us to go with them but they want to travel cheaply and I just don’t see how my fil could do it mobility wise.
My il’s have plenty of money and no where to spend it. They kept thinking they’ll do things in the future. It passed them by.
I really want to try and experience retirement to its fullest. To be active and to do things while I can. I don’t want my il’s money.
I don’t want to run out of money but I’d like to be a little selfish and spend it on ourselves. My kids are doing great, they have great lives. I am so thankful they don’t need our help right now. (My retired friends dirty little secrets are how so many of them are still helping out their children financially).
We are helping one child financially but the other doesn’t need it. We are enjoying life—dining out, some travel, buying what we like. We will likely leave significant assets to our kids anyway, but hutch is fine with us. If we can provide ed funds for any grandkids, that would make me happy as well.
@deb922 my ILs were quite frugal too, especially FIL. There were some trips MIL would have liked to have taken but FIL couldn’t ever see spending the money, then age and health issues made the decision for them. Then they couldn’t see spending on home health care that they both sorely needed. After a lifetime of penny pinching, FIL preferred having money to spending it. Not my idea of a great life.
What they left behind we didn’t need, and BIL blew through in record time. It really didn’t change anyone’s life.
So yes, enjoy your life now, it’s the only one you have. If your money can’t buy you enjoyment now what good is it? We plan to have enough to pay for our care through a pretty long retirement, and hope there is some left over. There may be a lot left over. But it won’t be because we were afraid to spend on ourselves.
An interesting article on “pensionalizing” one’s retirement money:
https://www.seattletimes.com/explore/careers/no-pension-you-can-pensionize-your-savings/
We’ve always told our son that we didn’t work hard to make him rich. Instead, we’ve educated him to the best of our ability to prepare him to make a good life for himself and his future family. He will inherit whatever assets are left after we’ve tried our best to die with a dollar. His life is on him, and he’s fine with that.
like @ChoatieMom, my primary objective was to give my kids the education, skills and tools to lead fulfilling lives. They are on their way. ShawSon’s new venture is doing very well so far --it has probably doubled in value over six months – and his lead VC has floated a very attractive offer to them. But, both kids live in cities with very expensive real estate. My plan has been to help them with down-payments when they buy houses if they need the help. I’m also starting this year or next to replenish the 529 Plans so they can be used for grandkids. Whether there is more left over for the kids probably depends on how we spend and whether my business continues to do well. In optimistic forecasts, there will be quite a bit left in the trust for them (and potentially their progeny).
We live pretty well. This summer, we are visiting friends in Martha’s Vineyard this weekend, will head to London for work (and ShawWife will join me for food and theater) and then on to Zurich. In addition to a bunch of work,I will do my strategic planning for life retreat with my friend/colleague (we’ve done it for the past 30 years) in Boulder, hiking in Lake O’Hara and visit relatives in Calgary/Canmore, a niece’s wedding in Toronto and another one in Portland, OR and then a work trip to Australia. For better and for worse, I will become Gold for life on BA on next week’s trip (which is like Executive Platinum on American). Relative to many of my friends, I think we’ve been relatively frugal (it’s relative and we’ve been spending more over the last few years). But, I really don’t feel like I need to step up spending in any way.
Someone recently asked me how much I was planning to leave to my kids. I told them I’d be happy if I managed to save enough for myself (and husband) to be financially independent until we die.
Yes, of course we would like to leave something for the kids, but I am hoping the education we provided will be better than an inheritance.