My husband has this annoying habit of saying “we can’t afford X,” when I know damn well we can, because I do our taxes every year and I know how much money we make and I have an idea how fat his savings account is. I once asked him how much money we need to save for retirement, and he gave me a blank look and said “as much as possible.” He’s not operating from a position of logic, he’s just hoarding money and only spending it on things that have value to him. He makes about 10 times as much money as I do which translates to him getting a much bigger say and what we do with our money, unfortunately for me. We could actually afford to retire pretty soon by my math, but since he sees no reason to stop working, I doubt it will happen.