Subject: Re: What differs in retirement?

Yeah, I first used the Fidelity retirement tool a while ago when my previous employer used Fidelity for their retirement plan. I think I've used most every free tool around. Of course the one big unknown is always predicting the future such as your expenses. You can input your current ones but they could go down or up depending on health and inflation.

I'm still getting used to being married and not 100% in control of all of my expenses. While my wife doesn't spend a lot on herself, she gets carried away with gifts for others. I've been working on 'fixing' that issue.

Money has always come and gone for me. I've never followed a budget, tracked expenses, etc. but just kind of know if I'm spending too much to clamp down on things. (And while I've made decent money it has never been something crazy since much of my pay came from government jobs). I would make sure to have money go directly into investments from my paycheck and once that happened I would almost never withdraw that money (except in rare home purchases). I think my wife had to live off much lower income and tended to spend whatever was in her bank account since in most cases she needed it. Sometimes I felt like Jerry Seinfeld where Elaine once threw a $20 out the window and then Jerry later finds a $20 elsewhere. Of course none of my purchases were high end. I think the biggest has always been eating out but that is one that can be easily curtailed in retirement if need be.

Thanks for the comments.