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Within a ten-minute walk of my vacation home there’s a lovely nine-hole golf course, its main lateral hazard being the river made famous as the source of water for Bushmills Irish whiskey. I haven’t lost a ball to the River Bush since I retired. That isn’t because I’ve gotten any better at golf. It’s because I’ve recently realized I haven’t played the course since losing my regular wage after retirement.
Instead, I’ve subconsciously started playing a nine-hole links course twenty minutes’ drive away. The only explanation I can come up with is that my mind has nudged me toward this new “regular” course because it’s half the price for a round. I’ve been hoodwinked by my own frugal mind, and I didn’t even notice it happening.
It isn’t just golf, either. Once I started looking, I noticed Suzie and I had become regulars at the various restaurant brands run by my daughter’s employer—establishments we barely used to visit before retirement.The reason took no digging at all: the family discount is 50%. Same story, different setting.
Nobody decided anything out loud. My spending had simply found the cheapest respectable version of the thing I wanted, and my conscious mind was the last to hear about it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what’s happened. A frugal instinct kicking in unconsciously is, in its own way, just a sensible mind adapting sensibly to a new stage of life.
But once I spotted the pattern, I started seeing it everywhere. It’s made me ask myself a question. How much of my retirement is now being shaped by discounts and half-prices I never consciously chose, rather than by what I’d actually pick if money wasn’t whispering in my ear?
Now that I’ve noticed, I think it’s about time I changed things up. My next round of golf is going to be the more expensive river course, and I’ll take a meal at its nineteenth hole, probably a 16oz steak. Be damned the cost of the food or the half-dozen balls I’ll probably lose to the river.
Although, there’s a slight wrinkle in my plan. Somewhere along the way, I’ve actually grown to enjoy the challenge of the links course. So, I can’t honestly say I’m rescuing my “true” preferences from the clutches of my frugal subconscious.
Which leaves me wondering: has retirement rewritten any of your habits without asking your permission first? And if you’ve caught it happening, did you correct course, or decide the cheaper version was the one you actually preferred all along?
Two observations Mark. The feeling subsides the longer you are retired. I felt it in the beginning, but now I just don’t care.
But there is another secret I use. Buckets of money. We used multiple bank accounts each with a dedicated purpose and for no other reason. One purpose is designated “travel” but since that is now limited it has broader use like spending during our time on the Cape with family and dining out. There is no anxiety when the money comes from that account.
Connie has her own checking account with a monthly allocation from my pension so how she spends it is not questioned.
Another account is simply ongoing monthly bills, property taxes and miscellaneous. Monthly end credit card bills are paid from this account.
The point is how we will pay for spending, including golf, is known before we spend it. So no guilt.
The key though is that we know exactly how much our income will be each month and where it will be allocated. Our bank moves the money around at the beginning of each month.
Richard, believe it or not, I use a very similar system. One account for recurring bills, another for big-ticket items, and a third for personal spending. I even have dedicated monthly income from annuities coming in. Of course, my subconscious blithely ignores this wonderfully constructed setup—but as you say, hopefully time will do its job and this new reality will eventually sink in.
Technically, wouldn’t it be the tenth hole at this course? 🙂
Joe, that’s a very good point—and you made me smile. It conjured up an image of a grill and a keg of beer sitting on the 10th green. In reality, it’s an 18-hole course; the back nine uses the same fairways, just with separate tee boxes. I normally only play the first nine—I never bring enough balls to last through 18 😉