I have a client, nice old lady, a widow, in her 70's and while working on her computer she started talking about her life and times. She warned me about working too much and told me her tale of woe.
She and her husband worked all their lives, raised a family and saved their money. Their plan was to retire early at 55-60 and then travel the world once kids were grown. All was going according to plan and they both retired but then her husband got colon cancer and died 6 months after he retired before they took a single trip.
She wasn't bitter but clearly regretted deferring life for work, and she did not want me to make the same mistake. After her husband died she tried to travel but said it was just too difficult to carry on without her husband. Sad to see her living with a broken heart.
This is a very sad story, and something I caution my parents about as well. Unfortunately, the retirement age before you get any benefits keeps rising.
Yeah, but if you're smart and plan ahead you can do things like take breaks from work, and it doesn't even need to be the super-fancy live-it-up European vacation. Or even just retire before 65ish and live off your own savings before tapping government benefits. These are both options available to you...
Its not one or zero, Its not like suffer on the short run to enjoy on the longer or vice versa.
You need to plan both for the longer and shorter terms in life. I wouldn't be OK if I get a exotic vacation every now and then but a horrible time when I get old. Or the vice versa.
I think whats appropriate in life is to have short sprints of hectic work schedule where you can make you moderately big cash, then save and invest a part of it for retirement. Enjoy the rest to the fullest.
Heck, I've been on three international vacations in the last year, and I have plenty of friends who have done even more. If you're in the US it's easy (and not that expensive) to fly to some random European country for a week.
The deferred life plan isn't just about taking international holidays, of course. I have the freedom to jet off to random destinations at the drop of the hat because I don't have a wife or kids; I've deferred that aspect of my life in favor of another one.
You gotta defer something. You can defer the kids or you can defer the globetrotting lifestyle. You can defer the freedom and job satisfaction or you can defer the material wealth.
She and her husband worked all their lives, raised a family and saved their money. Their plan was to retire early at 55-60 and then travel the world once kids were grown. All was going according to plan and they both retired but then her husband got colon cancer and died 6 months after he retired before they took a single trip.
She wasn't bitter but clearly regretted deferring life for work, and she did not want me to make the same mistake. After her husband died she tried to travel but said it was just too difficult to carry on without her husband. Sad to see her living with a broken heart.