It's the Moopy and Mopey Show

Another character: Middle-aged guy who buckles down to create some personal wealth/retirement savings for himself and his wife. He reads all about personal finance, divines the secrets of investing and spends hours, no days, putting together a detailed spreadsheet calculating his future wealth. Problem is, his plan relies heavily on SAVING. And wifey doesn't like to save, she wants to SHOP. In fact it's a major hobby, one she practices with family and friends, which also makes it an EMOTIONAL need for her. Not shopping would take a lot of joy out of her life. Sooooo, hubby's financial strategy and longterm dreams of financial independence come into direct collision with wifey's near-term goals for her personal happiness. What can they do? How much investment does hubby now have to make, not only in his career to make the money he plans to save, but in educating wifey about money (of which she knows little), how his scheme will work, and how it will ultimately (but NOT immediately) make her happy. Mmmmmm. Tough one. She knows she's relatively happy now, with her current spending allowance, though she would like some new furniture and gee, when they have kids she really doesn't want to have to work, but then that's what marriage is for, right? Hubby can work! He really seems to like it (he's doing it all the time) so what's the big deal? And who doesn't work, anyway? Why would I give up shopping, fixing up our home, and going on vacation now, all so we can sit around 15 years from now and get in each other's hair?