I never really liked the vehicles I owned. They were an expressionless lot, including a Volkswagen beetle, Mercury Capri, Toyota SR5 pickup, Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion. I would like to say that they took me where I needed to go, but it was not always so. All the cars, except the Camry, were unreliable, which sometimes made my life stressful and difficult. Of course, keeping those cars for many years didn’t help.
When I think about it, I also don’t like the houses I lived in. They included small apartments, without many of the standard conveniences you would expect when renting or buying a home.
Some of my apartments were terrible. In 1979, I rented an apartment located in an alley above a garage. The apartment had poor insulation. It would be so cold in winter, it looked like the North Pole, and it would be so hot in summer that it looked like Death Valley. It was so small that a friend who visited asked if the place had a bathroom.
It was not the safest place to live. A drug dealer lived in the apartment next to me, my car was broken into more than once and one day someone stole my clothes from the laundry. I stayed there for six years, enduring all the discomfort and problems that surrounded me.
The small 789 square foot condo I bought in 1985 was an upgrade, but it was not a place you would like to stay for 35 years, which is what I did. A young woman, about the same age as I was when I moved to that apartment over the garage, bought my apartment earlier this year. Her realtor informed me that this was just an initial home for her and she was likely to move in five years. When I moved to my current home, I realized all the comforts I lost during those years living in that small condo.
I made good money working for a large aerospace company, so I didn’t have to live like this. But I chose – because I wanted to save money. When I look at my investment portfolio today, I have more money than I need for a comfortable and secure retirement. In fact, I probably saved a lot.
You may ask, “Can anyone save a lot of money? Is there such a phenomenon in personal finance? ” I think so.
When it comes to saving for retirement, you need to strike a balance between giving up smaller rewards today for bigger rewards later. But you don’t want to delay gratification to such an extent that it makes life more difficult than it should be. And that’s what I did to accumulate the big pile of money that I will probably never need. Part of that money would have been better spent in my early years.
After I retired, I hired a low-cost financial advisor to manage my investments. Hiring that financial advisor got me thinking about my relationship with money.
One day, we were exceeding my budget for the year. I could tell that he was encouraging me to spend more. He asked me if I wanted to buy a new car.
“I don’t believe it,” I said.
He replied jokingly, “How about a boat?”
“No, I don’t fish.” I interrupted him. “I must say that I am getting married.”
“Congratulations, you could certainly buy her a nice ring,” said my advisor. “Why don’t we add that to your budget for this year?”
Since then, I have added a few more items to my annual budget.
Result: I’m trying to live the moment more, enjoy life more. You shouldn’t always be thinking about your future self – because there is no point in saving money if you are not willing to spend it.
This column originally appeared on the Humble Dollar and was republished with permission.
Dennis Friedman retired from Boeing Satellite Systems after a 30-year manufacturing career. A self-styled “humble investor”, he enjoys reading historical and personal finance novels. His previous articles include Live It Up, Don’t Delay and Try Not to Slip. Follow Dennis on Twitter @DMFrie.