We hadn't planned to retire at 40, but we did. We had the savings to support it. But managing those resources has proven to be another thing.

Our most recent oops: most $ are tied up in investments, 401K, etc. But for our cash, MD sets aside a portion for us to live on annually, and puts the remainder in a high yield CD or other short term investment. So, this last year he dumped most of our accesible cash into a CD for 9 months, with a penalty for early withdrawal, but good return.

The PROBLEM, is that he did not do a bottoms up analysis of what we were ACTUALLY spending each month, our "burn rate", and he did not leave any slack for unexpected expenses. So, the amount he left us to spend each month was less than we were spending, and we were so side tracked with medical and other issues that he did not flag this to me, or perhaps himself, until half way through the 9 months. So, now we are finding every way we can to reduce costs until the CD reaches term.

It's actually a relief for me, I grew up so poor, and yes, sometime after becoming established in our careers and dealing with life threatening issues, the "small" savings, like couponing and using everything we buy, fell to the background.

These last two months, we've cut our grocery/Costco bill from $500 a week (NOT PROUD OF THAT NUMBER!) to $100 a week. We've cut the prescriptions from $2K a month to just over $1K. Lots of little things, watching ads, cutting coupons, maximizing savings. I enjoy it, it feels like a HUGE reward. And it's the way I was raised, so no more guilt about spending on luxuries.

But, the holidays will be a bit strange. Family is used to us spoiling them with large gifts. I know MDs parents went through this when they retired. The extra $$ just isn't there for all these things once you have no income and are living on savings. But since we are so young, no one understands. It's like, get back to work so you can give us what we need. My parents and family aren't rude about it, but the children don't get much from the rest of the family. This will be the first year we haven't gotten them their dream gift.