Most people are always talking about saving money but they have no ideas [apart from the obvious like paying college fees, buying a house and stuff] how they'll use their savings. So supposing you've saved enough and have retired what do you plan to do with your savings? Start a business? Invest in real estate?
If I'm retired I'll probably not want to do anything anymore lol. I'll probably invest the money and get some favorable returns. I'll then use the money I earned to improve upon my lifestyle like eat better food, entertainment, sleep, and other things.
My dream would be a house at the beach. This is assuming I have enough stashed away for a middle-class retirement income. And with the markets ups and downs, who knows what it will be like when we start living on our savings. Although we don't currently have that detailed in our retirement plan, it is an idea my wife and I have had for some years. We do own some investment property already so when the time comes we may try to cash out and switch to the beach house. That along with our personal residence may pay a significant part of the beach house, although additional money will have to be diverted from investments to cover it all.
Invest it. Stock market, maybe real estate at some point etc. Basically making my money work for me. In the long run this is beneficial, the point when I'll stop investing more is when I think that I'll have enough of income from my investments to live comfortably with that. Then I can spend all the money I earn on traveling etc.
I think the best thing the money will buy for me is security. Knowing that I could quit my day job at any time and not be in any financial difficulty would be such a relief - it allows you freedom to make much tougher and bolder choices without fear of any major consequence. I don't really intend to buy many material possessions though - I could do that right now and get myself into debt or live paycheck to paycheck, but I'd rather not and have the freedom in the not-so-distant future.
The best thing to do with your money is to use it to gain even MORE money Obviously, this is more easily done the more money you've saved up. Even having around only $10k saved up is enough money to get the ball rolling however. You don't need to be an expert investor to slowly increase your money. Just invest in the sp500 long term and you'd be up over 30%
Personally I save money just to keep myself to have enough money to live on in case anything happens to my job. It will be so sad that you have been working for over 10 years and when you are laid off you do not have any money to survive for even a month. Currently I can do over 6 months without employment and still maintain my normal lifestyle.
I have a dream of investing in a rambling old guest house at the end of the world somewhere. I would like to have a place where I can live and earn money from my guests. I visualise it as a place for artists, eccentrics and others who don't fit in. I'd like to provide some kind of haven for them where they always feel welcome and cared for. And above all, I would like to make it affordable so that people can come and stay for a few months if they want to.
