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Comment by webwielder2 | Hacker News Reader

Feeling bad that you’re not using your time to the max is one of the worst ways to use your time.

You can spend a minute to think about it though; I know too many people who were going to really enjoy themselves after getting their pension only to find out they actually hate not working or that they in fact hate their hobbies (fishing might be nice 1 hour a month when you are relaxing from work, but suddenly having 16 hours 7 days a week to fish drives many insane) (and so wasting 10+ years being angry, depressed and searching) or dying too quickly after. It is strange how people who never 'had a little house in Spain (or whatever) in that pitoresk village' plan their entire life to that that point thinking it is nirvana while they could have done that all along.

I know millionaire managers/directors of my age (around 50) say this for the past 20+ years and when I ask why they do not do it now because a) you might not like it b) you might not make it, they seem to find many excuses, some of which are even money related (and they have millions now).

So many people are saving up their happiness for a day when they feel like they can finally be allowed to truly be happy. Sometimes, the day never comes, and the happiness has expired.

About 10 years ago I moved onto a wonderfully quiet street that has only old people. All three of my immediate neighbors (either side plus straight across the street) were couples that had just retired and had been saving for a long time in order to go traveling. Two of the men got too sick to travel and died within a year. The remaining man got sick and almost died, but he’s hanging on. He and his wife both too sick to travel. My wife now reminds me weekly that we need to get our travel and adventure in now before we retire, and not wait. Actively working on it…

The early part of life is the best time to spend money on travel and experiences. In the late part of life, one should spend money on the material things that provide passive satisfaction and don’t require too much physical effort. People often get these backwards.

The problem is if you spend all your money when you are young, you won't have any to spend on "material things that provide passive satisfaction" when you are old. Time value of money and compounding gains is a powerful thing.

On the other hand, if you are old and wealthy, you may be too frail to do anything.

It's a tricky balance, with no guarantees.

People are so afraid of being an old frail man too poor to live that they hoard every dollar they have, not realizing they’ll be dead soon anyway.

Yes, and the last part is why I'm more interested in passing an inheritance to my kids than I am with doing anything with the money myself. The money my parents left me largely paid for my kids' college education. I haven't really spent it on anything else; I have everything I really need, and feel like "paying forward" is the best thing I can do with it.

Watch a couple of YouTubers that live in the road in their RV. Same story: woman had worked in a hospital and saw an old couple who had just begun living their lives in their "golden years" but the wife ended up dying — the husband was floored at this turn of events in their plans.

he YouTubers hit the road while they still could. Are enjoying themselves in a way many of us (still) only dream about.

Life is short, kids.

I appreciate the idea, but what about preparing for the future? Money spent now doesn’t compound for later. I’m concerned about not being a burden later or leaving my wife without enough. There is surely a balance but without a crystal ball I wonder how to find it.

There's life insurance.

I guess that helps the wife, but not if we both live into old age and hope to be comfortable.

Travel is the last thing I would want to do, especially if I'm old, but that's just me.

The rest of it is pretty accurate. My dad lived about 3 years after he retired, half of that he was too sick to do very much. My mom lived another 6 years after that but the last couple of years were not what anyone would really call living.

Don't assume you'll be a vital, active, world traveler at age 80. It might work out that way, it might not.

Also unfruitful is clicking backwards to 1958.

Quick tip: clicking on the year gets you to pick the year at least - no way I was going to click all the way back one month at a time.

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