If you are between 30-50 .. how do you feel about your nest egg?

[FreeJoe]

24. I can see how you'd take it that way

I was just making a point about my personal insanity. I went through some personally financially difficult times in my early twenties. As a consequence, I've always been afraid that I'm going to be broke again someday. I have more money saved today that I ever dreamed possible but I still worry about scenarios where it runs out for some reason. I worry less each year, but I will probably still worry about it until I'm literally too old to care.

I see some of the same insanity in my parents. Here's a good example. They stopped by my house while on an eight week vacation that included six weeks of touring in Europe. They aren't multi-millionaires, but they have a great pension and good savings, so they can afford to live well. Anyway, my dad stopped to get gas in a little town about 20 miles from my house because it was cheaper there the last time he visited. When he got near my house, he saw that gas was now a few cents cheaper where I lived. So here is this guy on a $10,000 vacation, driving a new Lexus, and his whole day is ruined because he spent $1 more gas by getting it at the wrong station. It seriously ruined his day. Why? Because he lived cheap for so many years that the habits and psychology are deeply ingrained in him. Any time he thinks he's overpaid for something, it drives him crazy.

I'm not that bad. We still live below our means, but we don't live nearly as frugally as we did when my wife and I were kids. Heck, when I was a kid, we were a family of six living in Texas and our family car was a VW Beetle with no AC. As the youngest, I used to sit in the luggage space behind the back seat. And yes, an upholstered seat over an engine and below a window is an uncomfortable place to be on a 100 degree day. Even as well as we live, I still get reflexively cheap about things. We go to the theater for the Sunday matinee and sneak in grocery store candy rather than buy theater candy. I think I had a net worth over $1,000,000 and was still buying base model cars with manual transmissions and no power doors or windows. Even with a low six figure income, my wife and I used to sleep in the car at rest stops sometimes while we were traveling because we didn't want to pay the $20 for a campground. When you've gotten used to being a miser and worrying about money, it can be hard to break the habit.