Dream big, work hard and live simply - that has been our life' motto and it served us well.

I married my wife slightly more than 30 years ago. It was important we shared the same values in terms of our beliefs and what we wanted out of our lives - from the get-go.

We treated money as important only to allow us to live a comfortable yet non ostentatious lifestyle. We wanted our children to live and grow up in a good environment and attend good schools with good resources and facilities. We also wanted to see the world and experience different cultures - during our working life as well as in retirement.

So with those goals, we set out to work for our dreams. Working hard and saving diligently enabled us to invest regularly. When promotion came and our salaries increased, we maintained our lifestyle and not succumb to lifestyle inflation.

Giving in to lifestyle inflation is a very common and natural outcome of higher income. We see that in our colleagues, friends and neighbors. They upgraded their cars from Jap cars to expensive continental cars, bought expensive branded watches and bags, dine regularly at high end restaurants etc...

We resisted that kind of lifestyle and stick it out with our comfortable but simple lifestyle. One indulgence we have was to reward ourselves with a car (Jap car) each. My wife and I have our own cars for over 25 years already - starting with used cars. The other indulgence was to travel once or twice a year. One big trip to US/Europe and a shorter trip to neighboring countries.

People upgrade their homes to bigger homes. We bought property for investments - to make money, not to live in nor to show off.

Like you, when we started out, we planned to retire by 55. So we built up our savings, and invest toward achieving that goal. At 55, and upon achieving financial independence (FI), working became optional for us. When work became optional, we saw it with different perspectives. Not competing for promotion/bonuses meant that work became more enjoyable. When you enjoy your work, you tend to do better and end up with better bonuses.

So yes, plan for retirement, work hard and save hard to achieve it. You will likely achieve it sooner than planned. And when you do achieve it, you will find that working is not that bad after all, and you might end up working some more! Just like us.