Living and Saving

I had an uncle who lived a good and frugal live. Didn't do crazy stuff, saved up for a nice early retirement. Even did some consulting at the start of his retirement. Ready to really settle down, enjoy the golden years, play with the grand kids. Three months later he died from pancreatic cancer.

What I take from this is to never forget to enjoy life. I'm frugal by nature, and very disciplined when it comes to investing. But at the same time, I make sure my family and I do the things we enjoy, even if they are costly. Sometimes these things make my financial heart cringe. But the emotional return on investment are memories that my kids will carry for the rest of their lives. So we do the 500+ dollar per day ski trips. We do the swim with the dolphin adventures. We don't go crazy -- there are limits. We will take the cheaper flight at the odd time with the lay-over. We'll take the hotel or room that's a bit farther from things or not as big. So we balance the finances out with the experiences.



My kids are 7 and 9. I expect that by the time they are 17 or 18, that it's probably not cool to go on summer vacation with your parents and they'll go with friends. That means that we only have 8 summer trips left with the kids. We have a rough wish list of places we want to take them. Some require older kids because of the environment or health risks. Some require scuba-certification which starts at 12.
I admire several other bloggers that are frugal investors, and have goals to save a large percentage of their income. I think it's a great idea, and it will certainly help to retire early, and live of the passive income generated by the dividend portfolio. In my case, with a small family, I want to make sure we enjoy all that life has to offer.
So in addition to setting your financial goals, don't forget to set some life goals as well -- some can't wait until you retire!