When working towards FIRE, I at times thought that any money that wasn’t optimized was wasted because it didn’t go towards my end goal. For example, if I bought a plane ticket and the next day (for some reason) the cost of that ticket dropped 20%, I thought my decision was suboptimal.
Now I have a completely different definition of optimal. I used to try and make the best monetary decision and in retirement, my priorities have changed entirely. This wasn’t a huge surprise to me since obviously people’s priorities can and do change throughout their life, but I didn’t expect mine to change so drastically in a short amount of time. Especially since I thought that I would be keeping a close eye on my budget the first 5-10 years of retirement, to try and combat sequence of returns risk in the case of a bad market.
But nope – I was totally wrong! I became a different person after quitting my job. For example:
[Purchasing flights to Mexico✈️🇲🇽]
Me: Hmmm – this flight is $163, but this other one is $225 and an hour shorter…Yeah – fuck it💸.
My Brain: Who is she🤯?!? pic.twitter.com/65wcZCMCpk— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) November 14, 2021
My New Travel Rules
Instead of doing anything and everything to save a buck or two, I now have strict rules for things like air travel and I don’t care how much more I pay to meet them 🙂 . These rules revolve around my comfort and minimizing negative effects to my sleep and stress level. They include:
- No early flights (and I now consider before 12pm early 🙂 )
- No red eyes (unless used strategically for first class international travel)
- No connections
- Arrive at a reasonable hour
Rule #1 (No early flights)
This rule came about because I realized that if I had a 6am flight for example, I would leave my house at 3am and my body would inevitably not be down to randomly change my bedtime to 7pm to compensate, so I’d get less than 8 hours of sleep and never sleep deeply because I would be afraid I would not hear my alarm. All of that would equal basically missing a night of sleep, which would make my mood during travel (with all of its inevitable surprises), less than ideal. So – NOPE! 12pm or bust!
Rule #2 (No red eyes)
This rule popped up for a similar reason. Spending my sleeping hours on a plane where I most likely won’t sleep, (unless I’m in first class), would just lead me to be delirious and sleep deprived when I reach my destination instead of excited to hang with my loved ones and explore my new location. So red eyes are no more 🙂 .
Rule #3 (No connections)
This rule was less quick to become a solid requirement, but I realized that having a connection was just introducing another way air travel could (and often would) go wrong. It also obviously lengthens the time of any trip. So I don’t do connections if at all possible. For example, I bought my ticket to Argentina specifically from NYC without knowing if that’s the part of the country I would be in just because it’s a non-stop flight. I then worked the rest of my travel around that plan and it worked out wonderfully 🙂 .
Rule #4 (Arrive at a reasonable hour)
This rule came about after a year of our nomad travels. I grew up in Atlanta and then lived in NYC and Seattle as an adult, all major flight hubs. It didn’t occur to me until I experienced it, that other cities (like Santa Fe, NM for example) are quite small and sleepy. We arrived close to midnight into Santa Fe after a wild trip and half a day of delays only to discover – there was no way for us to get home 🙂 .
Lyfts/Ubers weren’t around at that time of night because everyone was asleep. There was no public transit to get into the city, and I was literally googling how long it would take to walk when someone who claimed to work for the airline and was heading home for the night, offered to drive us. We took him up on it (I wouldn’t have usually, but my partner was there and 2-vs-1 seemed like pretty good odds). But without that act of kindness from a stranger, who (luckily) turned out not to be a creep, we would have been stranded. So I plan accordingly when we need to rely on a city’s infrastructure or an app to get around.
Flight Filters
So my new optimal is whatever makes my life the easiest and the least stressful. When I search for flights now, I set filters to eliminate early flights, late ones and ones with connections. I now value my time and well-being way more than money 🙂 .
Hilariously I thought I would be the opposite in retirement since I now have time to take naps or rest instead to jumping right back into work as soon as my plane lands, but that hasn’t been the case. Maybe not having work hanging over me helped clear the fog in my mind and make me realize what’s actually important.
How lazy am I🤔?
I would rather pay cash for domestic flights than travel hack them by getting new cards. It was a fun game in my accumulation phase, but now I can't be bothered unless I'm saving $20,000 on a First Class international flight🤷🏾♀️#WorstFIREBloggerEver pic.twitter.com/iaczFGUV67— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) October 26, 2021
Slow Travel Pinball
Another way I thought I would be more monetarily optimal in retirement was slow traveling in a straight line. Moving slowly throughout a state or country obviously costs less because I would be taking short Lyft, bus or train rides between places.
Well it turns out, my life still revolves around the schedules of others (in a good way), so instead of taking 6 months to slowly work my way through the northwest for example, I flew there for 5 weeks to attend a wedding and then went to the east coast for another family engagement. Once again, being monetarily optimal didn’t turn out to be my primary goal – being there for the people I love is.
Extra Nights In Airbnbs
Check out in Airbnbs is usually at 11am, but my trains and flights are often in the afternoon or evening. I have in the past asked for a late check out, but at times, I just book an extra night in that Airbnb. This also helps in case our flight is delayed or cancelled – I know we have a place to sleep. I find this to be easier for me since I don’t think you can ask for a late check out until after you book and if we didn’t get it, we would have to go somewhere less comfortable with our bags (like a coffee shop) and wait for hours. That doesn’t sound fun 🙂 . Instead, I spend a little extra money for our comfort.
Me: We have to choose an Airbnb for our second month in Mexico🇲🇽. My fancy Mom requested a $3,000/month 2 bdr villa for the first month🏖️, but I assume you want to get back on budget for the second month?
Partner: Meh – let's just stay in the villa another month.
Me: DAMN – ok🤯! pic.twitter.com/1DcrBvENnD— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) November 18, 2021
Less Frugal Finances
And finally, my finances. The change in my definition of optimal has reached all the way there. While I used to beat myself up if I made a financial mistake that cost me money, now I intentionally take the less optimal route if I prefer it…I know, who am I? There are a few things I see a sufficient ROI in and do, such as travel hacking international first class flights and Roth IRA Conversions.
I just started my first Roth Conversion Ladder🪜…on literally the last day possible🤣. If that's not procrastination I don't know what is🤷🏾♀️. I guess we'll see in April if I fucked it up since we stupidly can no longer re-characterize conversions. Oh well, now it's nap time😴! pic.twitter.com/sBcJCAno88
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) December 31, 2021
But there are also things I don’t feel like doing, such as using coupons, going after bank bonuses or (currently) tax gain harvesting. All of these things would save or make me money without a huge amount of effort, but I just…don’t feel like it 🙂 .
Conclusion
While I was writing this it strangely felt like a list of the ways I’m not as frugal as I could be, but by the end I realized it’s actually a list showcasing my shifting priorities. I expected my priorities to shift with age, but not in less than 2 years 🙂 . However, I’m proud of myself that I was able to realize that money is not the only consideration (or even my top consideration) when making a choice.
What’s your definition of optimal?
no red eyes? no wake up at 04:00? no connections? This starts to smell a kind of luxury for me 🙂 – can’t wait that luxury.
Just joking, a little jealous but nice to see the life goes slower and better. I am still in aggressive accumulative phase, saving as much as possible involves cheaper flights, economy class and all. Indeed, no mile point cards available in this side of europe so I have to do what I can do.
Haha it is indeed a luxury 🙂 . And I’m with you – that was me in the accumulation phase as well.
All seem pretty reasonable to me. One must value themselves and their time. It appears that’s what you are doing. Ive always been a no connections if possible gal as I hate flying and I feel like connections make it that much worse. So for me the extra cost has always been worth it. I say well done! Keep on enjoying life!
Haha thank you!
I agree with most of your list!
One I do differently is the flight start time. With the general stress on the travel system these days, I prefer an early flight which has had less time to get messed up that day.
I really like your idea of keeping the lodging for an extra day and will keep that in mind!
I had a splurge choice to make recently: the only flight I could get was a red-eye, so I opted to spend 20k more miles to get business class and a lie-flat bed. Now I’m almost looking forward to a red-eye!
One travel option I’ve adopted is the beauty of the one-way ticket. I know I want to be in a city by a certain day, but I don’t know yet what will come after – so I just get the first half set, and deal with the departure flight after my plans get settled. I used the two one-way option a lot for holiday travel, too – if a flight got messed up I could do something different and it wouldn’t mess up the rest of my flights.
Makes sense! I personally don’t mind if a later flight is delayed/cancelled because I use my Chase credit card to get a free hotel, car and room service so it’s a sweet situation instead of a sucky one 🙂 . And oooh that lie-flat bed does sound exciting! And for only 20K more points? Nice!
That’s super cool about the one-way ticket. Looking back I am on almost 100% one-way tickets since we’re never returning to the same place. I hadn’t thought of that as a hack until now though – thanks for opening my eyes!
Wonderful article. I was frugal for many years, retired at 58 and have now been enjoy fruits, without worrying about the cost (to a point). I pretty much have the same list.
Feels dam good to splurge a bit when you know you have enough!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂 . Congratulations on your retirement and enjoying the fruits of your labor! It does indeed feel good 🙂 .
I like your rules! We prioritize comfort more now that we are older and more comfortable financially. It isn’t worth $60 to endure a connection anymore. I still take money into consideration, though. We just came back from Thailand and our flight left at midnight with a 7 hours layover in Korea. That was a rough travel day, but we made it.
Oh, I paid $30 for late checkout this time. I did that before. Previously, I’d just check out at noon and wander around until it was time to go. This time, we needed the extra comfort of the hotel room.
Nice! That’s cool that you prioritize comfort while still thinking about the money. Sounds like a good balance.
I’m with you on a lot of these rules already, though I broke the early flights rule earlier this week to save some money and maximise the time off I’ll be taking for the trip. I anticipate regretting it (I already regret agreeing to the trip in the first place, but that’s a separate story) but hopefully it’ll work out anyway.
Red-eye flights, early flights, connections – it’s all so stressful. Life is too short and none of us are getting younger. Cheers to easy travelling.
Totally fair – I did the same to maximize time off when I was working. And oh no – I hope you enjoy the trip! Cheers.
Good for you! Sometimes it’s hard to break the frugal habits (it me!). We haven’t flown in a while, but Spousal Unit has been rather insistent than we should start flying business class for long overseas flights. And I know it would be better for our health & comfort. Just gotta shift that mindset…
Haha as you can guess I’m with Spousal Unit on this one – I can’t believe how much better biz and first class feels on long flights. It’s kind of ridiculous 🙂 .
I used to be so frugal by necessity through college and starting out. Once I paid off my student loans and had decent savings, I through it out the window. I realized there’s so much to enjoy in life and comfort in travel is important to me. I love your rules and I am going to incorporate them when I travel as well.
Totally makes sense 🙂 . And if you try out those rule let me know how it goes!
I feel this! There was a country I wanted to visit this year (Luxembourg) that’s so tiny there’s no easy + cheap way to get there. Instead of taking a long, exhausting route (which I would have done in past years) I simply… booked the easy direct flight that cost a lot more. Those extra dollars/euros were well worth it for the convenience alone, but also because I had a new abundance of time and energy for my destinations. Since neither of us are lavishly overspending, ain’t nothing wrong with living less than ideally 🙂
Look at you go! And yeah that’s a good perspective – it’s not like I’m buying a Porsche every month or something 😉 .
I joined the extra day club as well for late flights- i.e. booking an extra night so you’re not wandering around all day. Also learned about the site called dayuse that lets you book hotels for just that reason, as an alternative.
Still actually prefer an overnight long haul flight to make the time appear to go by faster. Prefer not to spend waking hours trapped in a seat.
Have even booked refundable backup tickets when getting tricky flights 🙂
Am also shocked/ impressed you passed up a travel hack opportunity lol. But shifting priorities is the name of the game 🙂
Great list!
That’s SO cool!! I’ve never heard of DayUse before. I’ll definitely check it out. And fair on being trapped in a seat. I don’t mind what time I’m on the plane since I’m in biz class and I probably won’t sleep more than 25% of the flight because I want to enjoy the luxury of it 🙂 . And yeah I’ve passed up A LOT of travel hacking opportunities since retiring. I only do it for fancy international flights these days.
Nice! I approve of all of these rules, LOL. 🙂 Though I do admit to sometimes deliberately choosing an early flight over a late flight because, as another commenter pointed out, it’s less likely to be delayed. At this point in my life, I just want to get where I’m going on time, so it can be worth it even for this night owl to wake up early for a flight (plus I can usually sleep in the next day).
I was confused by the no connections rule, but I assume you’ll just be in New York for a few days (or weeks, or months, haha) in advance of the nonstop flight to Argentina. Which sounds really great! As much as I don’t want to get up early to fly, I despise connections even more. I can’t stand having to get off the plane, wait around, then get on another plane. And don’t get me started about the worrying if I’ll miss the connecting flight! 😬
Totally makes sense – we all have our different priorities 🙂 . And yeah the Argentina worked out really nicely. I’m going to visit some family in Jersey and then head to NYC for a few days to see my old friends before setting sail to South America!