Buying a vineyard, riding a motorcycle cross-country, and brewing truly fantastic coffee were among the many in-retirement splurges Morningstar.com readers cited in a recent thread in the Investing During Retirement forum of Morningstar.com's Discuss boards. In addition to asking posters to cite their biggest in-retirement splurge, I also asked them to note how they had planned for the additional expense and whether it had been worth their while.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given that there's a robust contingent of frugal types on our website, some readers noted that they were more inclined to spend extra cash on must-haves rather than nice-to-haves. But others readily shared tales of deploying cash toward indulgences big and small and noted that they'd happily do it all over again if they could. Still others waxed philosophical, urging their fellow retirees to splurge before it's too late and to consider nonfinancial splurges as well as those that require a large cash outlay.

To read the complete thread--an especially rollicking one complete with mentions of llamas, pro baseball players, and hot rods--or to chime in with your own in-retirement splurge, click here (http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/p/306023/3256725.aspx#3256725).

'A Sit-Down Mexican Restaurant Instead of Taco Bell'At least a few posters weren't at all down with the notion of splurging, period. Truthteller's post hinted at the very difficult market environment that has confronted today's retirees. "Splurge? Are you kidding me? I retired in Spring 2008. Fixed-income yield was stolen by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department later that same year. It hasn't come back, and won't for a long time. I'm living on less than half of what I expected to live on. Splurge? Yeah, it's called buying groceries."

Cats22 wrote simply, "We're not big 'splurgers': never have been and never will be."

FidlStix, in what I'm pretty sure is a tongue-in-cheek post, wrote, "Our biggest splurge is occasionally going to a sit-down Mexican restaurant instead of Taco Bell when we eat out."

Paulbrown noted that not splurging can provide its own gift: peace of mind. "I can't really find anything I splurged on. I just have a frugal wife who keeps me in line. Nice being comfortable at ages 76 and 78."

For other posters, what splurges they have made have been strictly utilitarian. LuckyDogwrote, "I guess that this sounds very practical, but our 'big splurge' last year was that we stopped heating the house with wood, bought a new furnace, new house windows, and a concrete floor for the barn. Life is good."

Rescarr, meanwhile, "tore up and changed out two bathrooms. The work was done by myself with the assistance of another craftsman. And the money came out of a home equity loan which was paid off rather quickly with no effect on my retirement pensions or my portfolio."

'Moral: Make Hay While the Sun Shines!'Other posters defined "splurge" more conventionally. Travel, either snowbirding or visiting exotic locales overseas, topped many posters' lists of their biggest in-retirement splurges.

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What Have You Splurged on in Retirement