My spouse (27F) and I (26M) have had some job changes to achieve a better work/life balance after the birth of our first child. The past few years we have made retirement saving a priority (current portfolio balance 200k). After changing careers our household income has dropped from just over 200k/yr to just under 130k/yr. We have adjusted our investment percentage so we are still saving just as much as we were when our income was 200k+. But are now feeling like we are spinning our wheels saving money for when we’re 60 instead of enjoying our life. Any advice from parents that took a pay cut to be more involved with their children would be greatly appreciated!
Feeling “retirement rich but life poor”
byu/Think_Ad8102 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Think_Ad8102
3 Comments
You made a choice, and one I respect, but that choice has impacts elsewhere. I do not know how much you are saving for retirement so it’s possible that could peel back a little, but if you are making 70k less so you have more time, that is the “luxury” you are “spending” on.
Find a retirement calculator and determine how much you can pull back on retirement savings. It’s great you have $200k already. That should grow exponentially over the years.
We took a 30% paycut as well after having a kid… and have scaled back on saving significantly. We feel like it’s what’s right for our family though as we’re still set to be FI relatively early, just not as early as before. I think spending money to make your life easier and create lifelong memories is worth it, but it is a hit to your wallet… if I weren’t here next week or month, I’m sure I wouldn’t care that I saved extra money but would rather have gotten to see my kid super excited or happy about an experience we were both a part of. Part of learning to be happy for me was learning not to be too miserly with money as that bleeds into stressing and not being present/spontaneous.