Quote:
Originally Posted by Mosbonian
The other day at work we were discussing saving for retirement and amassing a large sum for retirement.....one of the guys was talking about his Father in Law and how he had lived frugally, saved wisely and had set himself up for a very comfortable retirement.
He retired at age 65 like he had planned....5 months after he retired he was playing golf on a course in Phoenix while on a trip with his wife and had a heart attack. He never made it off the golf course alive.
About 3 months after burying his Father In Law, his wife went over to check on her Mom since she hadn't heard from her for a couple of days and found her dead.
He lamented how they had lived so frugally, sent their kids to college, and saved wisely so they could enjoy retirement and never got the chance to. What was worse was watching how the kids fought over dispersal of the estate.
Sometimes even if you make the best plans it still doesn't mean everything will turn out like you plan. You still have to plan for retirement but don't forget to enjoy your life along the way.
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That's my thinking right now. I'm saving like crazy for retirement because it scares me to death that I'll run out of money when I'm 80, but at the same time I don't want to save like crazy and then drop dead at 65. So I'm having some fun with it just in case, even though I recognize the tradeoff. Every $1,000 I spend now is a week later that I can retire, but there's no guarantee that I'll be alive tomorrow, much less 15 years from now.