u/Wild-Economics-4209

I’m curious if anyone else has gone through this, but neither of my parents made it to 70 (cancer for both). I can vividly remember when they retired around late 50s / 60 years old and those first few years they were significantly happier. They went back and lived in Europe for a few months where they grew up, spent more time coming to visit me, etc. They laughed and smiled more. Then health became an issue for years and ruined their retirement. After my dad died my mom struggled emotionally then only made it a few years herself.

Anyway, I’m now in my late 30s sitting at around 7.5M net worth with 2 kids. It’s not fat by common standards, but it is if I live to the same age as my parents. Now obviously I hope my wife makes it much longer than me and it doesn’t guarantee I die before 70 also, but I have found that since their deaths I have been thinking a lot more about making sure I have time to travel and focus a lot on my own health. Currently I don’t sleep well and struggle to find time for exercise. But as long as my wife and I have work from home corporate jobs we’re just like why not keep it going. We make around 370k combined.

I’m just curious to see if anyone else has experienced something similar and how that has impacted your decision making process around pulling the trigger earlier.

Curious if anyone else here has experienced this kind of class/culture whiplash.

I grew up in a fairly modest area. My parents were very frugal, good people, and I definitely did not grow up feeling wealthy or socially polished. Through work, saving, and investing, I’m now in a position where I could buy a multi-million-dollar home and potentially retire.

The strange part is that the neighborhoods with the best schools and safest environment for kids are, unsurprisingly, much wealthier than where I grew up. But I sometimes find the culture in those areas hard to relate to… more status-conscious, more performative, and occasionally just insufferable. Obviously there are good and bad people everywhere, and I’m not trying to paint everyone with one brush. It’s just new to me.

Has anyone else struggled with moving into much wealthier circles for practical family reasons… schools, safety, quality of life… while feeling culturally out of place?