Will this savings account convince my wife?
In a lot of couples pursuing FIRE one is more “on fire” than the partner. This is also the case for us. My wife is not against the idea of early retirement, but she would like to continue working. Her spending is sensible, but to cut certain expenses is a hot topic. From time to time I bring these topics up – constant dripping wears away the stone.
A few months ago I had an idea. We both want our next car to be a camper van. We almost bought one a few months ago. My idea was to open a separate savings account and transfer each month the amounts of all saved expenses. When we cancelled our sport club membership, we now transfer the exact same sum each month to our new savings account. Also, when we sell something on Ebay (or our local equivalent of Craigslist). Or when one of us earns extra money.
From the beginning of 2016 we saved already over 2.000 Euros. Saved expenses is just below 40 Euros (one month of sport club membership), but this will hopefully grow. I hope this will motivate my wife to look for (regular) expenses we can cut.
How did you bring your wife onboard?
EurFI - European way to Financial Independence 
Financial Independence 13:27 on 2016-07-29 Permalink |
I found it difficult to get her interested in transferring money to a dedicated account or keep accurate track of it. I simply do it myself. What we do is to have our expenses track every month and see how our savings grow, if they do.
the challenge is to agree of what needs to be cut. sometimes she gets quite excited and could quickly cut to achieve the goal sooner. As this is not sustainable we need to negotiate what we want together.
I keep reminding her that we are still lucky to have option of savings, not everybody can do it. the thing is to stay happy on the way to the goal.
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eurfi 20:30 on 2016-07-31 Permalink |
Has she also the goal to retire? My wife doesn’t want to quit her job. But I assume she would want to if I do it (and have lots of fun with the kids).
Why not use “good mood” to agree on cutting expenses? I assume you know what the most useless expenses are.
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Financial Independence 1:54 on 2016-08-03 Permalink
Looking at our savings rates (which is likely to slow down this year for the next 4 years) it is unlikely that either of us would be able to retire or achieve financial independence to maintain current life style. Back in 2010 i was dreaming of retiring based on 7% return a year. This has not been the case and math is an awkward thing – I can actually see when I could possibly get there based on the past progress. I will be 65-70 at the time.
I am also pondering on example for the kids. It is joy to be around them when they a little, but later in life they would like to see a role model. Sitting at home on a modest income is probably difficult to do. I keep saving as much as I can do comfortably and having this nest egg will keep my mind at piece.
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July 2016 – net worth and expenses | EurFI - European way to Financial Independence 20:26 on 2016-07-31 Permalink |
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Two Years of Blogging – Lessons from Thinking about FI | EurFI - European way to Financial Independence 10:07 on 2016-09-08 Permalink |
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