How do you balance living frugally with enjoying life?

Anne Scheiber

I just read about a woman named Anne Scheiber, a so-called "regular" woman who amassed a fortune through investing. 

After retiring in the mid 1940s from the IRS, Anne invested her $5,000 of savings into a portfolio that ended up being worth ~$22 million around her death 50 years later in the mid-1990s. 

Anne was apparently a recluse - "She lived quietly in her rent-stabilized studio apartment on West 56th Street that was bereft of luxuries: paint was peeling, the furniture was old and dust covered the bookcases. She walked everywhere, often in the same black coat and matronly hat. Ben Clark, her lawyer, said she never had a sweetheart and seldom went out, except to visit her broker."

I'm not going to lie - Anne kind of reminds me of myself.  I'm not a recluse but I definitely live a very minimalist lifestyle. And I invest like crazy. I'm like one of those people on that TV show Hoarders except instead of hoarding things, I hoard money. I don't even like to travel all that much - I prefer car roadtrips across America instead of international travel. For me, it's the company that matters more than what we're doing. 

I have no idea if anyone told Anne to live it up. If I knew her, I'd probably tell her that. But I'd tell her to do it in a reasonable manner - maybe upgrade her living space, dine out at nice restaurants, all that. Don't move to Vegas and start dropping $20K every night. I'm glad she was able to donate her fortune to Yeshiva University (after I pass away, my money will be donated to cat shelters and organizations that focus creating bionic eyes) but it would have been great if she had some fun with her money. Maybe she did and we just don't know it!

In any case, it's certainly better to be smart with money management than to be mindless about it. If you are, don't forget to have some fun as well. You deserve it!