Don’t Let Retirement Ruin Your Life
Dec 21st, 2009 by Nut
It’s the end of the year and that means a lot of you will be getting bonuses. If you’re ultra responsible and personal-finance savvy, you will no doubt take a nice chunk of that bonus and drop it into a retirement account like a Roth IRA or a 401(k) (see the difference between the two here).
Which is a great idea: it’s never too soon to start thinking about retirement.
I’m here to tell you that, while worrying about retirement is definitely the responsible thing to do, it can also ruin your life.
Skydiving and Retirement
I’ve always wanted to go skydiving. I still haven’t done it, and the main reason is because it’s so expensive. Over $150 for a few minutes of death-defying action hardly seems like a good deal.
As someone who constantly analyzes the return on investment of the money I spend, this looks like a terrible deal.
So instead of blowing $150 on skydiving, I save it and do the responsible thing like putting it into a Roth IRA.
That means that when I’m 65 I’ll be flush with cash (knock on wood) so I can enjoy the rest of my life without worrying about how to make ends meet.
But I can guarantee one thing: I won’t go skydiving at 65 if I haven’t already.
There are some things in life you need money for and some things you need youth for. Skydiving most is one of those latter things.
If you have a little bit of money while you’re young, that’s the time to pull the trigger on stuff like this. It doesn’t matter how much money you have when you’re old, you can’t buy youth.
It’s not an easy idea to get into your head at age 28 because:
- I’m young and will always be young!
- I want to do the responsible thing
- I’m paranoid and don’t want to be broke as an old man
Don’t let planning for retirement keep you from doing the things you want to do in your life, especially if you have the money. You’ll make more money as you get older, but you won’t get any younger.
What other kinds of things can you think of that we should do while we’re young that are near impossible as we get older?
Image by Dawvon
So you are willing to spend money on MMA lessons, but not $150.00 to go sky diving? Sky diving is an event that you will always remembet. Getting beat up during MMA lessons is not a memorable event. If you want I will hit you in the face for free and then you can go sky diving with the money you save.
Josh: good luck getting anywhere near my face after I take an MMA class!
Retirement is important but also living your life is important. You have to find that balance between now and then and spending a little money now to enjoy life and have awesome experiences that will last a lifetime are certainly worth it.