Purchases Retirees Regret? - Ask Yourself These 3 Questions FIRST

Timestamps:
0:00 3 Questions To Ask Yourself to Avoid Spending Regret
1:02 The Problem with "Purchase Regret" Advice
1:57 Clear Takeaway in Happiness + Spending Data
2:58 Question #1
5:27 Question #2
7:38 Question #3

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Always remember, "You Don't Need More Money; You Need a Better Plan"

[ld]

Good video and discussion Eric. I've been reetired for 13 years. We don't travel due to wife's heath condition. I do quite a bit of gifting to various family members, helping them when needed and when it will have a bigger impact on them and an appreciation for it. I have spent more money in the past few years than I would have ever imagined and have a lot of happiness and absolutely no regrets. Larry, Central Valley, Ca.

[randolphh]

We are retired for 4 years. We have multiple toys including 2 boats and a couple sports cars. Everything was purchased well before retirement. We are finding that we are having trouble using everything as much as desired, mostly because we are traveling a lot, but also because we are off the hamster wheel and life has pleasantly slowed down.
Carrying costs on our toys are minimal and everything is payed for. I’m realizing we need to shed a couple items slowly, especially before we buy an RV which is also on the agenda.(in the meantime RV rental is going pretty well)
For us it is mostly the fun we have doing things with our toys that makes them worthwhile, and I’m also a person that loves to tinker on cars and boats.
“Things” for us give pleasure and enjoyment. Sure there is some outflow, but no desire to die rich. Also well aware that our active years are finite.

[craigheitman]

I particularly enjoyed the part where you differentiate between the value people place on various purchases. How true! In this case the goose and the gander don’t always see the same value in the same purchase. I’ve been riding motorcycles for all my adult life and a good portion on my youth, just yesterday I was out enjoying my latest ride. Going down one of the local dirt roads I saw two kids, 12-14 years old heading towards me on a well used dirt bike… the grin on both their faces took me back 60 years to where I began riding. Memories!

[jdollar]

We retired in 2020.
We bought an RV.
We went in with a friend and bought a "Gentleman's Farm."
We already live on a farm and raise most of our own food.
We use our RV many times each year but generally just weekend trips. We also didn't go out and spend $85000 on our RV.
We don't go to the farm as much as we would like, but it has more than doubled in value.
We kept our home in town when we moved here in 2020. We have it rented and pocket $600 a month after expenses. We will probably sell it soon because the upkeep and worry really isn't worth it. I can put the money in the bank and make more money each month.
We haven't yet bought anything that we regret. Looking at a new HD truck gives me chills. $65-70k for a truck?
I have a good friend who sold his business in 2018 and put a ton of money in the bank, well in excess of $ 20 million. He bought 3 rental properties on a big lake and rented them through VRBO. In 2022, he netted over $200k, but he stopped renting them in 2023 because the hassle and worry wasn't worth it. He has 2 of them for sale right now.
We are in a position where spending $300k on a boat wouldn't hurt us financially, but would we get $300k worth of memories out of it? We may decide to do the Great Loop in a couple of years and then the expense would be worth it.
Right now, we feel that taking multiple "vacations" trumps spending on a tangible asset.
We spent 2 weeks in Montana in January.
We spent 10 days in S Florida in May.
We are spending 2 weeks in Alaska in August.
We are spending 3 weeks in S Mexico in December/January.
All of the money we spend on these trips could be used to buy that $60k truck or a $100k RV, but, for us, the memories we make on these trips is most important.

[finneganmagee]

Good points especially about helping the kids with their first home.

Helping too much is exactly why I plan on helping with a sizable down payment but not buying it outright.

There are lessons in the struggle..while at the same time making things a little easier in the current housing market.

It’s a balance.

[janethunt]

Excellent point about upkeep and ongoing expenses. Also, I would tread carefully into anything that is a new endeavor that you think you want to do. You might not like it.

[tgamron]

The worst things to buy are items with recurring costs like taxes and insurance.

[Paul-GrnHil]

Eric, this is one of your best videos. You are sharing the process of how to make good choices. For my wife and I the benefits of travel are the great memories. We also have decided to aggressively fund our grandkids 529 education accounts.

[banditone]

I think these are good lessons regardless of retirement status. We had a small lakehouse and a boat that I loved and we had it while my daughter was a teenager and we made many good memories there. As time went by our lifestyle no longer had us spending much time there and it became a maintenance burden and we weren't getting full value out of it, so we sold them both. It helped that I made a killing on the house, but the lesson is the same. Everyone has to take a hard look in the mirror and make sure they understand their own personality and lifestyle to know whether they will get "full value" out of that expense.

[rickstephan]

2017 - still working and after much consideration bought a used 17" 'combo' fishing/ski boat and got good use out of it for several years (even after an irritating, intermittent fuel issue crept in).
2022 Nov. - retired and decided to upgrade the boat (primarily for more capacity for grandchildren with the intent of creating memories).
2023 - Severe case of analysis paralysis (new vs. used, best model, options, etc.)
2024 - Finally pulled the trigger on a new boat and on the initial launch my adult son drove it up on the rocks. Relatively minor damage, but a major bummer.
Bottom Line: I don't understand why, but I have buyer's remorse. It's extremely frustrating because it was anything but an impulse purchase. I can only hope making some memories changes that.

[mikebayless]

I think giving to children is an excellent idea! 🤗

[kaytee]

Important retirement content. Thank you.

[Random-ldwg]

you mentioned road bikes before so let me tell you about my relatively large purchase a few days ago. my current road bike is from 2006. i have been thinking of getting an endurance road bike for a few yrs, i usually punt it off yr after yr( oh riding season is coming to an end, I'll do it next yr or current bike is still working well). i saw there was a 20% off sale on the bike i have been thinking about. i rented the same model and decided to get it. i was thinking if i didn't see the online sale that i wouldn't think about buying one at this time. i realized i bought the current bike when i was 40 and still remember the early rides from it and that in 12 yrs i will be 70. i decided to buy it but i still went with the comp level vs the expert which was nicer even though i could afford the higher end trim especially now compared to buying the comp level 18 yrs ago as i always thought the comp was a good value for me(nice enough but not the greatest). this will allow me to ride more comfortably for hopefully a lot of yrs so dollars cost/ hours in the saddle will be low.

i started Die with Zero this morning but i always have thought how much of my time something cost and how much utility i will get from something.

[consciouscrypto]

I had a troubling dream last night in which I bought a thoroughly impractical car and soon after realized I probably would lose a ton on resale. This video then popped up today, first time I've ever seen your channel. I guess I'll be sticking with my current car a few more years. At least not buying a 2 seater sports car to replace it.

[pensacola]

As retirees we don't spend much except on traveling.We have a $50k annual travel budget, and we have no regrets.
Absolutely NO second home. We've been there, and I didn't like it.
Good content.

[Gandoff]

Facial hair is in style now. Looks good dude!

[Havmik]

The one thing I have never regretted spending on is a razor.

[edwardloizides]

Not to be arrogant but if you are buying lawnmowers you shouldn’t be buying two of anything and probably are not well off . Really ? Lawn mower?