Thanks Paul, i didnt want to appear more dense than usual if it was a retorical question and i spouted off all the following.
In my mind, the phrase "the simple life" seems applicable. As i indicated earlier, money is not the ultimate goal for me. I want to have enough to provide a comfortable environment for my (future) family but i have absolutely no desire to live extravagently. In old age, i dont want to look back on my life and regret that i didnt spend enough time with the family. I dont want to say to myself, 'why did i work so much' I want to be able to have time to build solid relationships with the family and whoever God may put in my path... perfect example, my mentor. We randomly crossed paths and he was open to our relationship. I want to have time for things like this.
I want to be able to send the children to college and treat the wife to nice things occasionally. In my market our 2500 sq ft house was built for just shy of $200k. In my mind, that is plenty sufficient. I have no desire to ride a bmw or the like and trust that my wife will hold the same position. My only weakness is that I want to be able to take the winters off and go skiing. Ive always said that vacation property was going to be my retirement porfolio with few other financial instruments.
One other thing, Im a very competitive cyclist. I would be very very upset if work caused me to give up that aspect of my life.
Hopefully this gives you some insight into how i want to live... at least that was how i interpreted your question.