Pinching pennies can get tiring after a while. Just ask Mindy and Carl, an early 50s-something couple who joined the FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) movement six years ago with $4.3 million saved. They recently sat down with personal finance guru Ramit Sethi for his podcast, “I Will Teach You To Be Rich,” where they explained that living frugally may be more stress than it’s worth.
”We don’t want to just keep throwing money on the pile and keep being cheap,” Mindy said. “I do look at everything based on how much it costs, and I don’t need to. I shouldn’t.”
She and Carl recalled a time when they were out to breakfast and their daughter bought the most expensive item on the menu (for $20), resulting in a $99 bill with tip—not a big dent in their millions, but something that amounted to a lot of financial anxiety for them nonetheless.
