Priorities

When I was, like, younger and still under the delusion that youth and time were on my side (umm...so only like a year ago), I thought: life is short, I should enjoy it to the max and not worry about money because I can always make it when I'm older! So I went and blew all of my liquid savings on a trip around the world. At the time, I didn't know the economy would tank and my investments would drop by half or that I'd ever have to worry about job security. But things ended up working out and I was presented with the opportunity to fulfill my dream of living abroad in Asia. However, I'm faced with a dilemma - have I now reached that stage of older where I should be saving up for my non-existent children's college tuition and my retirement, or am I still at the (young) stage where I should enjoy life to the max and not worry about saving money so much?

The housing options in Tokyo basically boil down to this: I can live in a 250-300 sq. ft. shoebox without a view and try to pay off my grad school debt and rebuild my savings/investment cushion, OR I can live in a posh serviced apartment in a luxury building in a posh area and live it up during my brief time in Tokyo but not save that much money (it's one or the other for me because the midway options aren't really worth it). If I was 24 or 25, I'd take the latter, no question, because after all...you can always make money when you're older! But I'm beginning to think that as I approach the big 3-0, I have officially reached "older" and need to start being extra-frugal with my money, especially since the events of the last 6 months or so have shown that the job security in my industry is not so secure after all and the precipitous loss of my net worth have shown that...well, you can never ever save enough money.

What's my priority? Enjoying life as much as possible now? Or saving/preparing for the future?