Money changes people. I found myself shocked at how much it changed my brother's otherwise fun-loving and relaxed behavior recently.

Last weekend, I was out playing golf with my three brothers. I started discussing some new learning I was digesting from an excellent blog that suggested significantly reducing spending, investing heavily, and therefore making retiring early not only realistic but very attainable. 

As soon as I mentioned some of these strategies, my two older brothers seemed as if they were offended by that type of strategy. My older brother immediately shot out "I need to live a little! What use is money if I can't spend it on having a good time!" My other older brother echoed the sentiment with "You go ahead and save up all your money and I'll be ready to spend it when you are ready to put it to use."

I was very surprised by this reaction given I generally consider both of my older brothers to be very smart and competent humans who I love and trust deeply. Then I took a step back and realized that I had inadvertently suggested that the whole way they'd been living their lives was wrong.

To them I say,

Relax bros.

To the rest of you (and also to them, too) I say,

Save up and save yourselves.