And in case that wasn’t clear, let me put it another way: FAD DIETS DON’T WORK!

Coming from a (reforming) fatty, take my advice: focusing on certain food groups to the detriment of others won’t solve weight problems. Moderation in all things is key. And I’m not some ‘always-thin-can-eat-whatever-I-want-and-not-gain-weight’ person, I’m a bona fide fat guy. Not morbidly obese, but with a BMI of over 30.

Since the middle of July (42 days ago), I’ve dropped nearly 18 pounds. Sure, I used to eat pizza once a week and I’ve only had it once in the last month and a half, but you can’t have weight loss without some restrictions.

The point is to be sensible. At first, I took a mathematical approach (with the help of the free site fitday.com) – I literally counted every calorie that entered my body (holy cow, alcohol carries a lot of calories) and how much I burned daily (which fitday helps with). Take in less than you burn and voila! You lose weight.

Counting calories, though, can be tedious (at best). About two weeks ago I decided to take a less extreme approach, and am happily on the “No S Diet” now. Check it out at nosdiet.com.

Note I’m not affiliated with either of these sites, they helped me in my goal.

And I had some GREAT aged Irish Cheddar last night. And probably more often than we should, my wife and I split a bottle of wine with dinner.

I’m not suffering. Sure, sometimes I get hungry between meals. So what? You can live with being hungry. Drink more water.

Sorry to rant, but weight loss is SIMPLE if you take the time to think before ordering that Big Mac and fries. Just eat reasonably! Don’t snack, and don’t go back for seconds.

I don’t mean to lecture, and didn’t at all mean to go off like that, but it sounded like Sara has the same problem a lot of us do – she focuses on the latest ‘fad’ diets, which inevitably lead to failure. Failure will lead to self-loathing, which (for me) has always led to ‘giving up’.

Create new habits! Just like being frugal with money is a challenge that pays off, so is being frugal with food. (incidentally, being frugal with food is much easier for me than being frugal with money, so if you feel like ranting back at me, feel free!).

Thanks for the soapbox. Keep up the mailbag, Trent!

She’s been saving 50% of her income since age 21 and is now 41, but does not see her way clear to saving $2 million in total within another 24 years. However, she wants reassurance that, if she continues to save 50% of her income until retirement, she’ll be okay *even if she has only 1/4 of the amount you recommended*.

She makes the valid point that saving that much right from the beginning is highly unusual. Surely anyone who can save half their income must be okay in the end. And I think she’s right, even without the valid aspects that you, K and Doug touch on.

Anybody who can save that much money is obviously focused, disciplined and not overly materialistic. Those qualities will help Lola manage on whatever amount she manages to save.

But it’s also true that she will probably continue to receive small increases in pay along the way, so that 50% of her income 24 years from now will probably be significantly larger than than 50% of her current pay. And if there is a significant degree of inflation over time, there will likely be increases in interest too.

So she probably will have more money than she thinks she will, but her expenses may also be larger. The impact increases in the cost of living will have on Lola in retirement depend on how dependent she is on gas, utilities, grocery stores, etc. The more self sufficient she is (cycling, growing a vegetable garden, etc.) the less she’ll be affected. If, on the other hand, she plans to travel extensively or lives in an area with very hot summers and cold winters she might find it very difficult.

Doug’s point about Social Security and other benefits is extremely important. If she truly only needs $24,000 to live on in retirement and makes $18,000 in Social Security she’ll be fine with around a half million in retirement funds. Yes, this depends on whether Social Security continues to be funded 20 odd years down the road, but people have been proclaiming its imminent demise for probably 30 years and it’s still around.

I just don’t see the point in continuing to present her with that $2 million figure, which she sees as unattainable based on what she has been able to do to date.

Longtime reader, first time commenter! Great blog
I have two questions,

If you ever became very wealthy–say a multimillionaire earlier than you project–would you forgo frugality or do you think there is something intrinsically good about it, even for the wealthy. If you wouldn’t completely forgo frugality, are there any areas in your life where you would spend to your heart’s content?

Do you ever thinking about posting to The Simple Dollar just once per day? That might give you more time for your other writing projects and not cost you too much in readers or quality.

Thanks for sharing all your knowledge and experience.

Sincerely,

Maria

To ward off impulse buying, attempt to think of a price you’d be willing to pay for it before looking at the price tag. It worked really well tonight and might work for others, though would likely become really laborious if done a lot. It’s also likely unnecessary for items that you purchase very often – you already should have a strong sense of their market value without stopping to think.

My sister is in the process of starting a goat dairy and is experimenting in her own kitchen with various goat cheese recipes.
She is planning to do this for a “retirement career” on a larger scale once she leaves the job she has had for almost 30 years.

I haven’t actually tried Wii Fit – it just seems less interesting (and I don’t want to spend the money to find out!). (And about the repetition on DDR, well, I’d rather hop around on the DDR mat than actually jog/run/treadmill, so it still works better than nothing.)

Also, of all the reasons you want him to share, start with the ones that will resonate best with him. Another way for the marriage to be a partnership? A way for you to make more informed decisions about how to spend and what it’s possible to save for? Ideas you’d like to try? Fear of not knowing what to do if something should happen to him (getting sick, etc.)?

If you still can’t get him to talk, maybe there are other compromises you can make. Just getting him to write down account numbers someplace where you can access them? Getting a certain percentage of the income to make decisions on yourself? Calculating how much can go into a dream fund?

If you are 40 today and retirement is 25 years away for you, and assuming 4% annual inflation from now till that day – the 2033 equivalent of $480K is $1.28 million. And that’s just what you need to maintain your current standard of living.

Chances are that with all this frugality, all this saving, you are hoping to enjoy your retirement. Maybe take up a hobby, maybe travel a little. The reality is that if you don’t do both of these, you’ll likely end up extremely board and frustrated with retirement. But to do these things, you’ll need more money (think of what a flight to Europe is going to cost 25 years from now!).

Also keep in mind the fact that Social Security has a snowball’s chance in hell of still being around 25 years from now – so unless you’ve got income from a rental property coming through the door every month or you work for one of the seemingly half-a-dozen companies in America who actually have a pension any more – the full burden of your retirement will be on you.

Let’s not even begin to get into what the cost of health-care will be in 25 years.

I think $2mm is right on the money – maybe even a bit low.

–Billy

After moving into a house with an antenna, our TV habits did not revert. We still plan and evaluate the content we’re about to watch before turning it on. We try not to watch series we’ve never seen before to avoid becoming “hooked.” Since we don’t watch ads for those series, that’s very easy.

We can’t stand commercials now that we’re no longer used to them. They use loud sounds, jarring graphics, and lightning-fast changes of topic and scene. I hadn’t realized how conditioned we were to watch them and absorb their message unconsciously. Now, if we have to watch them, we mute them. While they’re muted they don’t command attention and we can talk, read a bit of a book or do a quick chore.

Toastmasters! I know Trent mentioned it, but I just want to second it whole-heartedly. There are very likely to be clubs in your local area, and you can check out a few and find one where you like the atmosphere (go to toastmasters.org for a local listing).

When you join a club, you will get a manual, which helps you practice different aspects of public speaking (i.e. organization, use of voice, use of gestures, and so on).

And of course the audience will be friendly and want you to succeed, and they will do their best to help you become a better speaker.

There’s no better place to learn than Toastmasters!

K gives good advice. What other sources of income will you have when you retire? Will you work part time? Will you have social security? If so, consider that income when making plans. For instance, $1500 from social security per month would provide you with $18,000 annual income. Couple that with the $19,200 from your retirement plan (4% x $480,000) and you might be fine. Some people expect to spend less during retirement, some more, so those expectations should also be considered.

Doug