For the record, I'm not saying you can't go on vacation or ever go out to eat or whatever, you should just prioritize it behind your savings, because compound interest is so fucking effective on money you save in your 20s and 30s and so much less effective on money you save in your 50s and from what I've seen most people do little to nothing for retirement in their 20s.
Cars are a great example of this. You can get a reliable used car that will get you to work every day and need little to no repairs for $10-15k yet people I know who are definitely not rich are buying cars that cost $50k and paying interest on them. When you look at the amount of "happiness" that a 50k car brings you vs. having 5-10 times that amount in your retirement account down the road it's really questionable. Some friends of mine spent $60K putting a small pool in their backyard in the middle of the 2008 stock market crash. If they had invested that money then it would have more than doubled...probably tripled by now and I really wonder how much they use that pool vs. the amount of time they spend maintaining it.
Personally, I think happiness comes from things you accomplish, things you build, and your family, not from how fast your car does 0-60 or going to a museum in a foreign country. A fancy car makes you happy for a week or two after you buy it, but eventually it's just the thing that gets you to work every day. I'm not saying you need to be Warren Buffett with $60B in the bank and still living in a small, old house and using coupons when you go out to dinner but you have to look at vacations and such as an extravagance, not as a priority and don't compromise stuff that's important for stuff that's not.
It's definitely a balance. I have been driving the same $8,000 (12k miles when I bought it) used car for 9 years now. No glamour to it at all, ugly as all fuck, but I have probably spent less money per mile up to this point in my life than most of my friends around my age have, and all without ever having to limit myself or say no to things simply for a lack of a car. I've always had a car, it was just always cheaper to operate than my friends.
Deciding, back in '08, to buy this car and then ride it into the ground was a fantastic decision. It's still only at 94k miles so I have reason to believe I can ride it out for several more years to come. Later in life maybe I can buy the nicer car I'd want if I work and save for it, but for now I am totally okay with my bucket on 4 wheels.
I began saving for retirement at 24 and can already support myself at a low level for 10 years if I retired tomorrow. I hope to increase the number of years and the level of support. Medical is the only scary thing, but I suppose we're all in that boat. I do have a growing HSA, for what that's worth.
That said, I went to Costa Rica last summer with my gal and I honestly would not trade that back for the money spent. I would do it again. The money was a thing, to be sure, but we are still young and like others say, we are still working and will be for a long time to come. So long as we stay balanced we should hopefully be able to go every 2-3 years on a medium-ish vacation, all while still saving for later life. (I consider Costa Rica to be a medium sized destination. Large sized would be Europe or China or something.)
I'm aiming to be where my Dad is at. He just retied and has at least $500k set aside. He can live long and comfortably at this point, is going to Europe next year after doing Alaska and Branson this year, and can maybe even leave a little for his family at the end. That's the right way to go, imo.
That being said, I mostly agree with your last paragraph. That is truly the more important thing.
How you spend your time is more important than how much money you spend
in that time.
