Time

We're in a bit of a fry-up here regarding the outlay of money to take a cruise. We've just had to make the final payment.

The question is: Do you save every last cent for what might befall you in old age? Or do you spend like a demon and end up destitute before The Final Check Out? My dad always said my sister and I would inherit not much, due to all his and my mother's money going to "enema bags" in their old age; in fact, they had some left over, which my sister and I were grateful to receive.

Jerry, the fiscal conservative, feels that we should spend no money that's been tucked away, ever. Saving is a goal unto itself. He's thinking no more trips for a couple of years after this one. I say, but in the mean time the clock is ticking.

I'd appreciate some votes on this matter.

A related story: At the hairdresser's the other day, the man who cuts my hair motioned for me to look at the woman in the next chair, a small, older woman. He said she had worn the same jeans and Nike shoes to weekly hair appointments for 15 years. When the woman left the chair, he beckoned to her haircutter, and asked him to verify that the woman had indeed worn the same jeans and shoes for 15 years. Oh, yes, said the man. It's true. And she's quite wealthy. Recently, her 37-year old Maytag washer had given out. This lady had done a calculation and figured out that at her age (69) she would do better to go to a laundromat the rest of her life than to pay for a new washing machine.

I was stunned. Had she looked at an actuarial table? And had she ever taken a cruise?