Couple in early 50s retire with £3.4m in savings but are tired of the ‘cheap’ life | Personal Finance | Finance

Mindy explained: “We don’t want to just keep throwing money on the pile and keep being cheap.”

Despite having millions in the bank, the couple shared times where they’ve experienced financial anxiety due to their choices.

While recently out for breakfast with their teenage daughter, the overall bill came to $99 including a tip.

Carl explained the anxiety they felt at spending nearly $100 in one sitting was a byproduct of the years of frugality spent attempting to reach FIRE.

He added: “You can only do so much in the day, and when you spend precious minutes of your life, especially if you get older, when you’re 50, you could be using that time to do other things.

“So maybe any purchase under a certain amount, you shouldn’t even think about or consider. You shouldn’t waste any mind space considering it.”

During the interview, Mr Sethi encouraged the couple to be less uptight about their future and to spend more.

The podcast host was critical of the FIRE movement, particularly for the guilt it makes participants feels and how they can equate spending with “losing control”.

Mindy responded saying the couple had “a cautiousness when it comes to money, a hesitancy to do anything but preserve.”

She said: “I feel security in the investments, but I don’t want to touch them. They’re for the future.”

Carl and Mindy achieved FIRE by their early fifties after they flipped property which lead them to put away $10,000 in savings.

Furthermore, the couple had managed to aquire $925,000 in assets and total earnings of $4.2million.