Anyone else here just content to live within their means?

[Aurora Elegance]

Most people I know have dreams of being extremely wealthy. They aspire to live in big mansions, with the latest in all of today's commodities, and almost innumerable sums of money. Or more realistically, most people seek high-paying jobs for the sake of having a crap load of money and power.

There was a point in my life where I wanted to be extremely rich. I wanted the latest shoes, cars, clothes, accessories, etc. and I wanted to live in large mansions (one for each season ). I can't quite explain why but I guess as I got older, I lost that desire. It would be nice to have all of that wealth but it's not that important to me anymore. I'm content with living modestly and within my means. Of course, I do have wants for material things (mostly anime, books, CDs, and video games) but they don't really drive my goals.

So, anyone else feel that way?

[livius drusus]

Yup. When I was younger, I was totally obsessed with being rich and having the latest and greatest shit. Not anymore. Now I just want time. I want to be able to afford my own time. That's it.

[Godless Wonder]

I have enough money. What I don't have enough of is free time. I'm perfectly content with the things I have. My family asks me what I would like for Christmas, and I honestly have a very hard time thinking of anything I want. I mean, I have 15 guitars. What the fuck do I need 15 guitars for? Do I need a 16th? Hell no, of course not. Yet I've just recently bought another. I can't find something better to spend my money on.

But, it would be pretty cool not to have to trudge into work Monday morning to be mostly bored, frustrated and, did I mention bored, for eight hours, give or take. So, if I won the lottery (if I played it) I probably wouldn't buy a great big house, and a fancy car, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be going in to work tomorrow, either.

I think that it's the life-sucking jobs (and in my experience, all jobs are life sucking) that people are wanting to escape when they wish for a big pile of money.

[Dingfod]

I dream of living in a spartan mansion (http://www.jayperkins.com/spartan/). You may ask what is a spartan mansion or how can a mansion be spartan? Follow the link, you'll see.

http://www.jayperkins.com/spartan/Dcp00787.jpg I want to park my spartan mansion out in the sagebrush on a high plateau in Southwest Colorado, put an easy chair out front under the awning, sit there and sip sun tea from mason jars, listening to a car radio hooked to the trailer's 12 volt battery, recharged by a solar panel. What else could a guy need?

[Godless Wonder]

Huh. I figured a spartan mansion might be something more like this insanity (http://www.bishopcastle.org/).

[pescifish]

I live within my means (only debt at this point in time is a mortgage payment that is about 10% of my gross monthly salary). So that means my means can support my heavy duty consumerism bug. I don't care about being wealthy, but I like stuff. I love where I live, but would like to fix it up some more -- that takes money. I give away stuff and money a lot. I am already working on reducing my living expenses such that I can retire at 55. I love my job but I would like more free time. Ideally if I could keep doing the same job I do now, but only 20 hours a week at the same hourly rate, I'd be a happy camper.

[Dingfod]

Due to the decimation of my 401K because of some Enron-like shennanigans, I could retire right now, if I could live on $200-300 a month*, which would increase to $595-695 when I reach 65 because of another company retirement which is supposedly locked in with a fixed monthly annuity, providing the annuity provider doesn't go into default by then. I'm not counting on Social Security at age 62 or 67 because I don't know if there will even be any with another 13-18 years of Republican rule.

*Actually, if it were just me, living alone in a one-room shack close enough to get groceries without having a vehicle, I probably could live on that small amount, my cable internet would eat into the money a bunch. Oh, well, I'd buy the generic mustard instead of French's.

[LadyShea]

After we lost our stock position (that was gonna be our big payday) due to a number of factors, we have had several years to reevaluate what is really important to us. Luckily we had made a couple of real estate choices that paid off, and we are able to sell everything, move to our Alabama land, get our boat, and live on minimum wages if necessary. I have some nice things already, and the only dream I am having to give up is the world travel...sure we'll be able to take trips now and again, but that was my real reason for wanting to be "rich", I wanted to travel without worrying if the money spent on a trip should have gone to something else. I have never felt the need for mansions and am not a clothes horse (I have a weakness for nice handbags and luggage and formal wear, but know how to find even those at a bargain).

[viscousmemories]

I used to be obsessed with being wealthy when I was a kid, in response to having been incredibly poor. I had a taste of "wealth" for a few years (not the millions kind of wealth, but having a house, all the electronic toys I wanted, the ability to go out to eat regularly, etc.) and it wasn't enough for me. These days I derive more pleasure from learning something new than I do from spending money. Oddly.

[godfry n. glad]

I remember desiring to be "independently wealthy," but it was for the "independent" part, more than the wealthy part.

It became clear to me that if I wanted to become wealthy, I'd either have to learn how to demean others or work excessive hours, or both. I dialed my dreams back to "comfortable" and reached that stage in my late 30s. I've been content ever since...'cept for the loss of the wife to cancer.

godfry

[dave_a]

Growing up moderately poor and then starting out in my adult life as moderately poor I wanted to make more money. Today I do make more money and while I am not a rich person, I am comfortable with my income and lifestyle.

If I were to go back to my previous income level though I don't think I could be content. My present income means the difference in the quality of neighborhood I live in, the school my kid will go to, how comfortable I can be leaving the grill on the patio without chaining it to something, whether I will be worried if my wife goes on a walk by herself etc.

There are material possessions I have now that I couldn't have afforded before, but those aren't the main thing for me, rather it is the ability to live in a safe area around people who value the same things as I do that is important. So yes, I am content, but my income is important to me and if it were significantly less I would not be content.

I do dream (and plan) to retire as early as possible though.

[Blake]

Yeah, it's not the money, it's the time.

Sure, I'd like to have more than I've got. But like LadyShea said, it's about the travel, not about the stuff. I mean, I could have more DVDs and books, but I haven't read or watched all the ones I've got--so what the hell. It's about time--time to fuck off, or become politically involved with a specific issue, or whatever. It's not about the stuff.

[LianaLi]

Yeah. Work has a really hard time motivating me, because they keep using money, and I really just don't care about it. You must perform x, y, & z goals to get tuition reimbursement. That's nice. I have student loans to pay for that. If you perform x, y, & z goals, you will get incentive pay. That's nice. Would it be nice to buy the formals I find, that I can only wear to random dance events? Yes. Do I need them? No. Would it be nice to be able to pay for things to live and use like an L-desk, custom bookshelving, ect. without having to worry about making payments? Yes. But I make do with what I have.

I'm far more worried about understanding my own finances, reducing my credit card debt, which, granted, isn't big, and could be paid off with a single semester's unsubsidized student loan, and finding my own goals- which don't often include money. I am, by far, happiest creating the crafts that make people wonder why the hell I'm in banking or biochemistry instead of trying to make my name known as an artist or designer. Ideally, I'd love a job which allowed me to do the things I enjoyed, like creating, designing, and drawing, at hours I chose, so that my time was my own to work with. Or a job where I felt I was constantly learning about, working with, and contributing to things I consider important, like the leap-frogging world of biochemistry. God, I love learning about that stuff. I don't honestly know if I'm going to be content running or working on experiments 40 hours a week, and then turning around to report and implement those findings. Which kind of scares me, since I'm only a year away from graduating. Time to hie myself over to a lab!

I'm young. I have a decade or two to sort things out, methinks.

-Liana

[dave_a]

I'm young. I have a decade or two to sort things out, methinks.

-Liana

Ah to be young and ignorant again. Sigh. You have a couple decades to figure it out if you wish to spend 20 years (1/4th of your lifespan) doing something you take no pleasure in and derive no reward from.

Otherwise you need to have figured it out awhile ago.

Consider what you love. Can you make a good living at it? Yes, good do that. No? Welcome to the real world. Figure out what you dislike the least that pays the most and do that. Start saving for retirement now if you haven't already.

That's how it works. :P

[Petra]

Let's just say that I can really relate to this guy (http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4047&n=2).