Quote:
Originally Posted by BarryRX
All my life I have been saving money towards my retirement. Now that I am retired, I have a certain income each month. What I should be doing is spending that monthly income, but I can't seem to break old habits and I try to save at least 15% of that income each month. I was just wondering if anyone else is still a "serial saver"?
|
I understand what you mean. We are in the same boat sort of. We don't consciously save, but we don't spend all our pension and/or social security either, and we haven't touched our savings. In fact my portfolio has gone up by about $140K since I retired 4 years ago, and I imagine my husband's has too. We travel extensively, and buy a few clothes, go out to eat once a week, but we tend to be frugal, a habit that you seem to have. We've never been the type to buy the most expensive house on the street; we don't drive fancy cars; we do most all maintenance around the house ourselves, and I guess it just has added up over the years. Its a difficult habit to break. I estimate my savings will outlive me, which I don't want, but its hard to change your personality to purchase material things, when its really not in your nature to do so. In fact, I find some people who have such a need for material excess to be shallow and pretentious, and I tend to avoid them.