One of our favorite things to do is hiking. Very low cost.

We make a fun money budget each month. And we have a vacation fund.

yolo but w/in reason. Meaning you can't do it all or spend it all. But find what's important to you and go for it. We like to be comfortable at home so we bought the house we really wanted with good furniture. But we aren't interested in cars so it's the run of the mill cars for us. Also travel is important to us. We are going to italy for 12 days over spring break with the kids. We are traveling all over and want to live t up while there. I'd rather do that than buy a BMW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Witnessing elderly people forced to live and die in pathetic conditions because they have no money is strong motivation to save as aggressively as possible.

Yes, i see this every day in my job in healthcare.
However, I still am of the YOLO bent. I'd rather enjoy my money/resources in my youth (i.e. <60) and risk poverty in old age.
We max two 401ks but otherwise pretty much spend every cent.

If you're doing two 401ks to the IRS max over much of your career, I don't think you're risking poverty. This strikes me as the right balance.

We have a long-term financial plan that includes how much we need to put toward each goal (retirement, college funds, paying off mortgage, etc.) each year to stay on track. Once we've planned for those payments, whatever is leftover can be used for fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Witnessing elderly people forced to live and die in pathetic conditions because they have no money is strong motivation to save as aggressively as possible.

Yes, i see this every day in my job in healthcare.
However, I still am of the YOLO bent. I'd rather enjoy my money/resources in my youth (i.e. <60) and risk poverty in old age.
We max two 401ks but otherwise pretty much spend every cent.

Spend on traveling or material things (clothes, shoes, electronics, etc...?)

Traveling internationally yearly and buying a reasonable second home. Plus renovating our primary home over time as projects come up.
Nothing is done extravagantly but we do things that bring us joy.
100% of the mindset that you only live once!

Our parents. DH and my parents are awful with money. Every unexpected expense was a catastrophe. I do not want to live like that. I have fun but within reason. When I was just out of school, I'd splurge on a cab ride and a dinner out. Now that we have more money, it could be a vacation or expensive concert tickets. You can't YOLO all the time if you want to be stable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Witnessing elderly people forced to live and die in pathetic conditions because they have no money is strong motivation to save as aggressively as possible.

Yes, i see this every day in my job in healthcare.
However, I still am of the YOLO bent. I'd rather enjoy my money/resources in my youth (i.e. <60) and risk poverty in old age.
We max two 401ks but otherwise pretty much spend every cent.

Spend on traveling or material things (clothes, shoes, electronics, etc...?)

Anonymous wrote:Witnessing elderly people forced to live and die in pathetic conditions because they have no money is strong motivation to save as aggressively as possible.

Yes, i see this every day in my job in healthcare.
However, I still am of the YOLO bent. I'd rather enjoy my money/resources in my youth (i.e. <60) and risk poverty in old age.
We max two 401ks but otherwise pretty much spend every cent.

Witnessing elderly people forced to live and die in pathetic conditions because they have no money is strong motivation to save as aggressively as possible.

We make a 2 year vacation budget and stick to it. One year we do something cheaper/domestic and the next year more exotic.

Having lived through long-term unemployment and underemployment early in my career, I feel much more of a sense of urgency about saving for the future than I do about having fun in the present. After I reach my personal goals for savings (fully funded emergency fund, max set aside each year for 401k, etc) then I feel more comfortable using what's left over for 'fun', but if it's not a lot then we just find ways to have fun that aren't expensive.

I think my personal feelings also come from watching my parents live very much in the moment and fail to save and end up retired and living with stress from not enough income to support the lifestyle that they'd like and no way to improve the situation.

Anonymous wrote:For those who are not rich, how do you balance the urgency of having fun in the present vs saving and planning for the future?

Plenty of fun things to do for free - save it.

What does your budget tell you? Do you have a budget?

For those who are not rich, how do you balance the urgency of having fun in the present vs saving and planning for the future?