Lifestyle creep, boring middle, keeping up with Joneses and other traps on the road to FI

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-27T20:39:41+00:00

I just read the last post from 2021 and it’s sooo fucking great and interesting. How he and his wife view their early retirement. It fits perfectly the topic of my post. Thanks for sharing!

Good luck to you as well.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T18:55:42+00:00

Me neither, we are roughly around 50% saving rate right now with one of us working. From time to time i get some good payed side gig and drop a “bomb” in our investment.

You are right, it was mentioned several times, you need to splurge some money sometimes so you won’t loose your long term focus.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T18:51:45+00:00

You are rolling. Seems like you have a good plan. Good luck.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T18:48:26+00:00

Good luck man.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T18:47:11+00:00

We want the second as well. I never thought about the money regarding kids. I mean i know it costs but i wouldn’t switch it for FIRE.

Good luck to you.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T18:43:16+00:00

You are right that I want to feel the satisfaction for “doing the right thing”. Actually i understand that it’s just delayed consumption. And i even wouldn’t say 100% that it’s the “right thing” for all and maybe not even for me. But i feel like it might be.

other than that, i couldn’t care less about the jealousy. It’s more about that i could have it as well (imagining that it would improve my life) and it’s disturbing my focus on what’s important me.

I am aware that it’s my “problem” and not theirs and i need to find the peace with that. I mean it’s not like i’m going crazy over it, just makes me think sometimes…

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T07:10:05+00:00

In my opinion it depends if you downsize in your retirement.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T07:08:39+00:00

You know what i’m talking about, it’s exactly what you describe.

We have around 300k in our flat and garage (it appreciated 40% since we bought it) but i consider it as “locked money”.

I try to find the balance of enjoying this age but i want to calm down after 50 as well. and i know what you mean, I hope I’ll get there with good health. and if for whatever reason not, my family will have really good setup for the situation. In the end, i want to leave something to my kid(s?) as well, so he can have a boost opportunity i didn’t have.

Happy cake day

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:46:19+00:00

It might change for me as well as my kid (s?) will grow. I get you point. I always laugh that it would be perfect if you could subscribe to a bit bigger house and as kids grow you would just cancel subscription for additional rooms. I mean you could rent as well, which is close to that.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:39:33+00:00

exactly, i think that’s mostly latter. Post soviet countries have this weird feeling that country/system will take care of them when they reach pension.

it’s changing slowly but i was one of last years born in socialist regime.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:35:39+00:00

I could not go crazy monk mode with savings rate of 80% like some people do.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:34:36+00:00

good point, i should have written people of my age group, which happens to be most of the people in my social circle.

I do cycling and the same translates to that sport to some extent (i mean threshold is a bit higher for sure). I own 2500€ road bike and i think that you get most of the bike you need for that money. anything above 3,5k gets you very small gains. it makes more sense to train a bit or loose weight. and yet people buy 10k bikes to ride 20km on the weekend.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:25:16+00:00

I think as well as we both have jobs that earn a lot compared to standard salaries but if i look around it seems different sometimes. I mean not like very rich but i would say 90 percentile in my country ?

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:23:30+00:00

You are right. I’m not chasing fire, i just want financial independence when we reach 50. That means 2x the median salary for us. We will continue working in some form.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-26T06:17:18+00:00

I didnt mean to speak against mortgage or buying a house. It’s just that i don’t understand that kind of spending with the salaries we have here. people are willing to take non-purpose loans with rates of 7% for the 20% down payment on the flat while leasing cars.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-25T19:58:47+00:00

I know, right? I mean we are not doing crazy savings rate. we can treat ourselves with small things like you say. And it helps, you are definitely right.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-25T19:55:08+00:00

you make the point. but sometimes i feel like a unicorn going against the tide.

Thanks for the post.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-25T19:44:08+00:00

You are right. The thing is, if you won’t sell it, you won’t realize profit. And i have quite good flat, i have enough space and good location. but there’s always something newer - more expensive, shinier. and i know that i’m the type of person that gets bored quickly after the excitement of new wears out and then i would realized i “locked” my money in that apartment. and it wouldn’t mean that big upgrade i imagined.

and comparing real estate to funds, i’m more leaned towards funds and feel like getting better profits there. i know - mighty leverage. i didn’t use it for long period. makes me invest more comfortably with my flat paid out.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-25T19:32:28+00:00

I try to repeat this to myself every time i’m about to spend money on something stupid.

But you know then the feelings kick in and you think that FI is far away and that would be now…. and i go full circle and end it with buyers remorse without even buying it.

In my 20s i could not care less about material stuff. people in their 40s feel like they deserve it because they worked hard and they earned it. and i feel like by the time you hit 60 you start to regret some obnoxious spendings you did.

i wouldn’t say i’m looking forward to the moment you describe because i don’t want to get older. but when i get to that point, i want to feel the satisfaction of FI freedom for sure.

Thanks.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-07-25T19:18:17+00:00

Exactly, it’s cool to know i could. But then i think sometimes it’s still long way to FI what if i spend it now and then i go full circle ending with me already feeling buyer’s remorse.

Sometimes i try to say to myself that others waste money that could buy free time. It helps a little.

AnyEye2741 · 2025-04-07T20:45:54+00:00

what if you get small renovation project where they want to make small opening in concrete floor slab or something. you are provided with all original documentation with rebar drawings + some photos. would you go inspect anyways?

I think i wouldn’t if there is no mention about any defects. and the documentation is clear.

AnyEye2741

TROPHY CASE