I think for me, this is probably why I don’t mind carrying the debt for a longer period, I would be taking the same amount of vacation before vs after being debt free.
I’d end up just buying more stupid crap that I don’t really need. I’d rather have more cash flow month-to-month for little things (frequent time off) and invest.
Despite being in a much better financial position today, I feel like I've gotten much more frugal than in the past. Back when I had a student loan, car payment, and mortgage, I was a lot more liberal with my spending. Didn't bat an eye at the occasional $100+ dinner, sporting event, concert, electronic purchases, etc. Maybe it was because I haven't really experienced any of that yet as I was in my mid/late 20s, but now its rare (pandemic or not) that I would do any of those things. I'm more or less jaded about the whole fine dining thing now when I look at the cost of one $200 dinner can literally feed 2 people for a week.
I don't really buy stuff anymore but if I upgrade any of my electronics I make sure to sell or trade in the old model in order to reduce clutter. I'd like to say that I have the "digital nomad" mindset and take inventory of what I actually need in my everyday life.
I used to gamble a lot too (not a ton but would lose anywhere between $200 to $500 every Vegas trip) but buying stocks has mostly replaced that bad habit lol
It's definitely important to have goals. Looking back it felt very rewarding going through the process of knocking down my loans one by one. I had set reasonable goals where I would pay off a particular loan or get it down to a certain balance by x month or x year. If an unplanned expense came up sometimes I would get stressed out because it might delay my goal which goes to show the entire journey was filled with a lot of different emotions.
I had set the mortgage to be THE goal which I've spent almost 5 years paying down and reaching every milestone was a dopamine hit. Instead of SNL's "weekend update" I'd show my wife the mortgage balance update lol. The most impactful goal was definitely getting the balance down from six to five digits.
At this moment in time I haven't set any specific investing goals. With the unpredictability of the job market I really have no idea how much longer I'll be a pharmacist for (not being dramatic, just realistic). I've been having more and more thoughts about what I might want to do or go to school for in case of job loss. Experience only goes so far in pharmacy especially when too much of it can work against you. I don't think I'd be interested in the almost futile job hunt when the more sensible option is to just walk away, and that's okay.
