Has any MT'er ever said: "Today, I have enough money."

Depends on what you mean.

Enough to FIRE? Not me. I’m sure some have gotten to that point.

But my wife and I had “enough” money about two years ago. No car payments, emergency savings, extra towards retirement, and room to spend on extraneous things like clothes, dates, and vacations. Nothing luxurious or brag-worthy. But freedom is a word I’d use.

What I did next was a mistake. I should have been more conservative about potential long term emergencies. I defined emergency as “need a few thousand to handle something in the house.” I did not plan for buying two cars in an inflated used car environment. I did not plan for nearly everything in my budget to increase outside of my control.

Now, we’re not drowning, but the past year or so has been tough. I wish I had planned for something like this. Hindsight and all. But it would have been nice to have more for my vehicles instead of the $700/month I’m now paying for two vehicles.

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I did not plan for buying two cars in an inflated used car environment

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Why did you need to buy 2 cars? Were your cars old and approaching their end of life? Did you have inadequate insurance and the vehicles were damaged? If that is the case this isn't an emergency but a lack of planning.

Maybe it truly was an emergency but people call many things an emergency that could have been avoided with adequate planning.

If your 20 year old cars finally bite the dust, that isn't an emergency. You should have been planning on having to replace it in the near future. This goes for anything. If your roof is 25 years old, you should probably have some funds set aside for a replacement or a plan on how to pay for a new roof.

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Why did you need to buy 2 cars? Were your cars old and approaching their end of life? Did you have inadequate insurance and the vehicles were damaged? If that is the case this isn't an emergency but a lack of planning.

Maybe it truly was an emergency but people call many things an emergency that could have been avoided with adequate planning.

If your 20 year old cars finally bite the dust, that isn't an emergency. You should have been planning on having to replace it in the near future. This goes for anything. If your roof is 25 years old, you should probably have some funds set aside for a replacement or a plan on how to pay for a new roof.

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He literally said in his response he failed to plan appropriately.

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What I did next was a mistake.

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I did not plan for buying two cars in an inflated used car environment.

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I did not plan for nearly everything in my budget to increase outside of my control.

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I wish I had planned for something like this.

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Has any MT'er ever said: "Today, I have enough money."

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I hope I do that. My wife and I (early 40s) are both physicians and we own a few short term rentals that we use for fun in vacation areas (they make a little money, but mostly goes back into updating the homes). We have 14 years to go on our house, 12 on a whole life insurance policy, and our youngest will be 21 in 15 years. We max out on retirement contributions. We work hard and want to keep improving our house. We probably have $75k in improvements we would like to make, and we will probably need a new roof within 5 years.

We don’t have tons of extra money (no brokerage account), and we take decent (not luxurious) vacations. Neither of us can cut back on work and still continue with our plans. I am nervous that in 15 years I will still feel the need to continue to make money and not dial it back - but to your point, at that point in my life, I should say “enough.” But I’m not sure I’ll have the strength to relax

I was on track to retire in 2 years until people elected a group of idiots to run the country.

Today, I have enough money....

to make it until tomorrow. I'm good.

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Why would anyone say that? Just as in assessing our physical or emotional health, no one should say, “I am healthy enough.”

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(1+k)^n has no finish line

But the psychology of money does. Here is mine:

When I can do what I want, when I want, with whom I want, for as long as I want

For example only, as I recognize this is personal

I always have enough money for today's wants and needs. It's tomorrow's wants and needs that drive me crazy.

WikiTiger