Comments on: It Adds On To Your Career

By: AnnJo

AnnJo — Mon, 30 May 2011 15:18:52 +0000

I don’t regret a penny spent on opera tickets or traveling throughout Central and South America, Europe or the U.S. If I hadn’t wasted money on lattes, eating lunches out instead of brown-bagging it, and other wasteful, pointless habits, I could be retired now and traveling more.

Not a single one of those lattes or lunches, much less all of them collectively, built enduring memories the way the travel or the opera has.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 27 May 2011 18:40:44 +0000

@Alex: Another benefit of traveling the world while you’re still young is that you have the entire rest of your life to benefit from the experience. When you go to Paris when you’re 25, you spend most of your life knowing what Paris looks like; when you go when you’re 75, you don’t. That seems like a small thing, but it’s really not, especially if you spend enough time there and pay enough attention to really get some insight into what Parisians’ lives are like and how they’re different from (or similar to) what you know back home.

I’m not really a big fan of the idea that “you must travel when you’re in your early 20s because it will be impossible later, and besides, old people are all frail and useless and can’t appreciate anything” (I’m not saying that that’s what you’re saying, Alex), but there are good reasons to travel while you’re young if you’re able to.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:12:40 +0000

Hell yes I would rather tack on an extra year of work to the end of my career in order to take several trips to various places around the world now. I want to experience these things while I am young, in good health and sound mind, and before I have the responsibilities of children and a mortgage. In my view the richness those experiences will add to my life is very much worth working a little longer. I’ve still got a safety net and a retirement fund. I’m pretty confident I won’t be lying there on my deathbed going “Damn! I wish I’d never gone to Paris when I was 25!”.

By: littlepitcher

littlepitcher — Thu, 26 May 2011 17:04:41 +0000

Recent research points out that both health and mental acuity decline faster in retirees than in those who continue working till death, when both groups are in equivalent health at retirement age.
After having been blacklisted out of work so that a real estate shark could attempt to acquire my paid off house, I know the value of physical and mental effort. It may pay better to save for a post-retirement business (and attorney) than for leisure, i.e. better to burn out than rust out.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:30:30 +0000

@Annie — that does say much for those of us living with health problems now! Life doesn’t end just because people aren’t in perfect health. You find ways to thrive no matter what the challenges.

We all want to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible, which is why it puzzles me that people don’t spend as much time and effort maintaining their health as they do their finances. Exercising a few hours a week may just be a better investment than working those hours instead.

By: joan

joan — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:28:34 +0000

“Every time you buy something today, it effectively tacks some time on to the end of your working career.” I’m going to sticky-note this to my credit card!

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:10:19 +0000

I agree with Johanna. You can’t save every penny you earn, because your quality of life will suffer until you “have enough”.

On the other hand, don’t be like 90% of Americans and never save a dime. I’m convinced that if our nation had better financial sense and saved more money, we wouldn’t be in so much debt today.

By: David

David — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:42:02 +0000

“Banks, being smart, not stupid like the Feds, bundled and sold those toxic loans to other institutions.”

Those other institutions being, presumably, greengrocers, hardware stores, Parent Teachers Associations, bell-ringing societies and circuses. Or were any of them, by any remote chance, banks?

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:38:36 +0000

Balance is key. I recently went to the funeral of a childhood friend who died suddenly (early 40s, leaving several young children). While it is great to be saving for the future, one can never forget that it all can be taken away in an instant.

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 26 May 2011 11:50:14 +0000

I agree with everyone that says a healthy balance is what you should strive for. I like to save and spend. The older you get the more you are likely to develop some kind of health problem and then your life is about taking care of yourself and no fun. If you balance the fun now and put away for later, you won’t regret any decisions you make and you will thank yourself in the end. I know i will thank myself when i am older.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Thu, 26 May 2011 10:10:39 +0000

#12 Ricardo, It wasn’t really the Starbucks coffee habit although you’re right, everyone talks about the latte factor in keeping Americans from saving, which it does. The root cause of the housing collapse was the Federal Government’s “Community Reinvestment act” which forced banks to lend money to people (usually minorities) who could not afford to repay the loans. If a bank wanted to expand, make changes, keep off the Fed’s harassment list, they indulged the Feds rules and the bank made mortgages to people who would never repay the loans. Banks, being smart, not stupid like the Feds, bundled and sold those toxic loans to other institutions. Everyone pretended that the Fed was doing a good thing to insure that people who could not afford a house bought a house. Eventually the number of bad loans on which the underpriviledged were defaulting became so big, that the whole house of cards collapsed. If the Fed hadn’t enforced the Community Reinvestment Act, the banks would have continued to make the traditional “20% down and you must have documented income to repay the loan” conditons before making any loans, and the house prices would not have mushroomed as they did. Thank you Federal Government.

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:41:52 +0000

As others have said above, the balance between today and tomorrow is the key word. In this text the main message is that you are making choices in your life even when you do not think about it. The funny part is that I’ve read so many times about this little cup of coffee in financial texts that I start thinking that this American habit (not houses) was the reason for the collapse of the U.S. economy.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:12:36 +0000

I agree with Johanna. A balance is critical. You could die tomorrow (although you probably won’t) or you could live for many years (more likely). Denying yourself a little pleasure, like a daily cup of coffee (if it matters to you and you can afford it), doesn’t make sense to me. Most people won’t take the couple of bucks they save on coffee and put it in a savings account; it ends up getting spent on lunch, extra toppings on a pizza, or whatever.

By: moom

moom — Thu, 26 May 2011 03:41:22 +0000

Trent – I don’t think you are planning on ending your “career” earlier if you save more money now. Your career is writing and I thought you loved doing that. The bottom line is though that it doesn’t make sense to work like crazy and be frugal like crazy when you are young in order to retire later because you might die or be injured before you can enjoy things. On the other hand, it’s not a good idea not to save when you are young because you might not be able to work hard when you are older but you may live a long time. So you need to earn decent money, save some, and enjoy life throughout life. All the extreme plans don’t make sense in the uncertain world we actually live in.

By: con

con — Thu, 26 May 2011 02:59:04 +0000

I like saving most but spending a little now. Makes me appreciate things more if I have to think about it. Of course, I don’t make a lot of money and I started saving late in life, so that is also mandatory for me. But it works.

By: Amy Saves

Amy Saves — Wed, 25 May 2011 23:49:33 +0000

I like being able to enjoy things now. Who knows when the world is going to end? :P

Seriously though, I think saving some and spending some is the key for me. It’s all about balance.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Wed, 25 May 2011 22:51:35 +0000

Best post in a while, Trent. It’s an interesting point of view to consider.

By: Steven

Steven — Wed, 25 May 2011 22:04:10 +0000

What are you sacrificing now by delayed gratification of the fruits of your labors?

By: chuck

chuck — Wed, 25 May 2011 22:03:31 +0000

i think it also depends on if u like your job. i hate what i do and don’t want to do it a minute longer than i have to so this post was really good advise.

By: beth

beth — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:38:31 +0000

We actually had a conversation very similar to this recently. Living in one of the epicenters of the housing meltdown, it became very obvious to us that pulling a chunk out of our retirement savings in order to buy a house in cash made a lot of sense, even it ultimately means we will work a few years longer down the road. And that was the literal choice we made, “do we get rid of rent and mortgage payments forever, knowing that amount of money is not in savings earning interest, or do we keep renting and have a slightly larger nest egg?” We ultimately realized that the interest we weren’t paying on a mortgage, plus the lack of stress about always making enough income to cover a house payment, plus the hope that the house will once again be worth at least a little more than we paid for it, was worth the potential risk of a lower balance in 20 years.