My wife says she is sick of my planning for the future and wants to have fun NOW! We are 40 and 39 yrs old. We are kicking around the idea of spending about $100k or so to buy a chalet/home in ski country. Is this a wise thing to do? And are there tax advantages or disadvantages in doing this?

Go to the board and write 1,000 times, "Deductions are a BAD thing." that should answer the tax question. You may save something on taxes, but not nearly as much as you'll spend.

Moving on to the marriage counselor side of things, you do have a problem. Your wife sounds a lot like my friends once I found money religion and was saving close to 50% of my gross income. They understood what I was doing when I retired at 48.

But I had no one but myself to think about. So sure, have some fun without losing sight of your goals, which should be joint ones. I just think you can buy a lot of ski trips that include 24 hour room service for what it would cost you to own a home that you'd spend much of your visits maintaining. And if you two get the SCUBA bug one winter you won't feel obligated to go skiing.

In short, I've never understood the allure of the vacation home.

Phil
Rule Your Retirement Home Fool