55 and hoping the timing is realistic

[sunnysideup]

I am 55, DH is 58 and our only child will graduate college in 2013. We have no debt and have been saving at a good rate, have 2 smaller pensions coming through at 62 and 65. Our goal is to leave our very high cost state for a warmer climate and lower cost of living by the end of 2014. We definitely live beneath our means. FIRECALC says we can make it based on our projected income needs--our only concern is that elephant in the room--medical costs/insurance.

Our toughest challenge has been DH's employment, he has been laid off several times since 2001 and is currently without job. Fortunately, my career has done very well in that same timeframe, so our savings is still moving along to our goal. Both of us plan to try "semi-retirement", to continue to work in some capacity, consulting or PT work after the move, but of course that may or may not work as well as we hope, so we are cautious to make the move without adequate "assurance" (I use the term carefully) that we will have enough money to last.

Prior to registering I was reading alot in the FAQs and notice that most of the posts are pre-Obamacare and pre the recession of 2007-08. I would love to see updated FAQs to reflect the times. Of course, I will be reading all the forums and will continue to learn from all of you.

I have one question that I need to figure out where to post. We love to travel and take 3-4 trips every year. I would say part of that is the much needed down-time from a stressful job. I wonder if we will become home-bodies once we retire? That is, we will have so much more time to enjoy ourselves and consequently travel less? I would love to hear if others who vacationed/traveled while working found themselves doing more or less when retired?

Nice to meet you.

Norma

 

[Midpack]

Welcome aboard Norma. I graduated HS in NJ, but that was forever ago.

I suspect you'll get all sorts of responses to your question. We've steadily decreased our travel (frequency, distance & accommodation level) over our adult lives even before retiring (recently), partly LBYM and over the years we've been fortunate to see more and more of the places we wanted to see (fewer places we're curious about). Even less travel now, though partly due to feeling our way with actual retirement spending. Once we're more comfy with retirement investing and income, it wouldn't surprise me if we spend a little more including a little more travel. There are a few places we can't get enough of in the US (Nantucket, SF/Napa, San Diego) and other cultures/countries we'd like to experience.

 

[Sirka]

... I wonder if we will become home-bodies once we retire? That is, we will have so much more time to enjoy ourselves and consequently travel less? I would love to hear if others who vacationed/traveled while working found themselves doing more or less when retired?

Nice to meet you.

Norma

Welcome a board. You will have more time to travel, I would say. We always took a vacation to travel and camp every year and we still do. It is for a longer time though. We went from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 months a year. On a long weekends, when asked about where we are going, we say, we are already here - in the local mountains.

Yes, it is easy to become home-bodies, but grand kids keep us busy.

 

[MichaelB]

Hi Norma, welcome to the forum. Many of us are early retirees concerned about access to affordable health care. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act addresses much of this, but as you know full implementation is still ahead of us. Until then we will continue to deal as best we can. When it is fully in place we will also stop by and update the FAQ section.

 

[Alan]

Prior to registering I was reading alot in the FAQs and notice that most of the posts are pre-Obamacare and pre the recession of 2007-08. I would love to see updated FAQs to reflect the times. Of course, I will be reading all the forums and will continue to learn from all of you.

I have one question that I need to figure out where to post. We love to travel and take 3-4 trips every year. I would say part of that is the much needed down-time from a stressful job. I wonder if we will become home-bodies once we retire? That is, we will have so much more time to enjoy ourselves and consequently travel less? I would love to hear if others who vacationed/traveled while working found themselves doing more or less when retired?

Nice to meet you.

Norma

Welcome to the site Norma, it sounds like you are well set.

As to the FAQs, they were written after the great depression and many other recessions, plus FIRECALC data is up to date with the 2008 crash, so I guess there is not much to be added that has not already been said about boom and bust economies, timing of retirement etc.

As for the upcoming healthcare changes, well, that hasn't happened yet so while there have been many questions and threads on it, all the discussion is mostly speculation.

Like yourselves we loved traveling before we ER'ed and our experience is that our traveling is MUCH more extensive than it was before. We are into our 3rd year of retirement now and have lots of travel booked again this year plus are already planning long vacations in Ireland and Europe next year, then Australia and New Zealand in 2014. However, I'm sure we will slow down eventually, and I can certainly understand those who like to stay close to home once they are ER'ed and have no need to "get away" from the rat race.

 

[militaryman]

Where did you travel to?

If you vacationed to warmer beach area destinations while working and you are looking to relocate to a similar favorite spot in retirement then indeed those travel needs might logically be somewhat satiated ....

 

[Nords]

I would love to hear if others who vacationed/traveled while working found themselves doing more or less when retired?

When we were working, almost all of our travel was for business. Oddly enough, in retirement we usually feel most comfortable when we're traveling for a "business" reason like a conference or a wedding or our daughter's college families weekend.

We're still mastering the art of deciding "Hey, let's go to Bangkok tomorrow for a month!"

But almost inevitably when we get to our destination, locals ask us "If you're from Hawaii then why the heck are you vacationing here?!?"

 

[Koolau]

But almost inevitably when we get to our destination, locals ask us "If you're from Hawaii then why the heck are you vacationing here?!?"

Yeah, I get that a lot, too. Since we moved to Paradise, we feel both that we are "home" AND on "vacation" most of the time. But, on that score, YMMV.

Out of curiosity, what state(s) are you looking at that are warmer and lower tax. I hear good things on both accounts about TX and FL. HI, not so much (well, it IS definitely warmer than where I retired).

Regarding Health Care, that's the one area of ER which, to me, would be a deal breaker. If I had not received Megacorp supplemented HC, I would not have retired until I had completely nailed down some form of at least catastrophic HC insurance. Who knows what OB care will turn out to be and you are a way off from MC. As the resident glass-half-empty poster, my suggestion is to get this one item under control before pulling the plug. Don't forget that you will fall under the rules of the state you decide to live in (at least until OB care is settled and implemented, etc.) YMMV on this one as well. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[sunnysideup]

Where did you travel to?

If you vacationed to warmer beach area destinations while working and you are looking to relocate to a similar favorite spot in retirement then indeed those travel needs might logically be somewhat satiated ....

Good point. We travel for relaxation to beach areas (HI, SC, FL and the caribbean), but we also do long weekends in cities for cultural events/museums/good food. Have done several trips to Europe and may go back at some point for an extended stay once we are done with work.

We are not sure if we will end up close to a beach, but you are correct we wouln't need to vacation there if we were able to go whenever we wanted.

 

[normab]

Yeah, I get that a lot, too. Since we moved to Paradise, we feel both that we are "home" AND on "vacation" most of the time. But, on that score, YMMV.

Out of curiosity, what state(s) are you looking at that are warmer and lower tax. I hear good things on both accounts about TX and FL. HI, not so much (well, it IS definitely warmer than where I retired).

Regarding Health Care, that's the one area of ER which, to me, would be a deal breaker. If I had not received Megacorp supplemented HC, I would not have retired until I had completely nailed down some form of at least catastrophic HC insurance. Who knows what OB care will turn out to be and you are a way off from MC. As the resident glass-half-empty poster, my suggestion is to get this one item under control before pulling the plug. Don't forget that you will fall under the rules of the state you decide to live in (at least until OB care is settled and implemented, etc.) YMMV on this one as well. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

We are looking at FL and SC for the most part. Elderly parents with a good family history of longevity are already in FL and we might head there first. (PS we do have long term care policies based on family history...)

I appreciate your comments on healthcare. One of the reasons we hope to semi-retire with some additional income is to eliminate much of the concern. We would of course do COBRA at first, which itself is pricey. Additional income would supplement the cost of healthcare, especially if we go the high deductible route.

I guess the good news is that since our plan is to wait until 2014, we will already know what the state of mandated healthcare is prior to making the leap.