New here, retired in 50s, where is everyone?

[RVplusDog]

Hello!

My DH and I retired a couple of years ago in our 50s. We are currently traveling FT in our RV. We initially thought we’d find some ideal location in which to spend the majority of our time, but complicated and rare medical issues really limit our choices.

We now think we will probably purchase a small maintenance free home outside of Cleveland OH (which has the medical experts we need). We hope to be able to continue the RVing in the summer & winter to enjoy other areas & optimal weather.

We seem to be WAY younger than anyone else we are meeting - and far different in both activities and philosophies/politics & life experiences. None of our families or friends are retired early.

I’ll be reading the forums to learn how others are finding their “tribes” and perhaps find IRL connections also. We will also continue to glean ideas on improving our finances etc.

Thx -

CC & co

 

[ER Eddie]

Yeah, that seems like one of the challenges of early retirement. Most of the people you meet (who are also retired) are considerably older.

Welcome.

 

[braumeister]

I feel safe in saying that you'll find every possible sort of person here in these forums, so while you're searching IRL you can enjoy this remarkably diverse crowd. Spend some time reading here and you'll be very pleasantly surprised, I think.

 

[harley]

HWe now think we will probably purchase a small maintenance free home outside of Cleveland OH (which has the medical experts we need). We hope to be able to continue the RVing in the summer & winter to enjoy other areas & optimal weather.

I'm assuming a condo. I've never met a maintenance free single family home, or even a townhouse.

We seem to be WAY younger than anyone else we are meeting - and far different in both activities and philosophies/politics & life experiences. None of our families or friends are retired early.

Yeah, that seems like one of the challenges of early retirement. Most of the people you meet (who are also retired) are considerably older.

Well, speaking from experience, don't worry about it. It won't last. When we FIREd at age 50, we felt the same way. But 12 years flew by, and now people near our age are retired. Funny how that works.


And welcome to the forum.

 

[Ed B]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Dtail]

RVplusDog
Welcome to the site. Retired last year at 57. Just joined the site last month.
Great advice here by many participants.

 

[RVplusDog]

Thanks everyone for the welcomes & the responses!

 

[woodguy00]

Welcome

We are looking at ER this summer and will be also taking up the full time RV lifestyle but in our mid fifties. I must admit I'm concerned over playing perpetual wanderer as my DW sees it. How long did you spend in one location or were you constantly moving about? Any volunteer stints along the way? Love to hear about your experiences.

 

[flintnational]

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, you found us. There are only a few thousand early retirees in the country and we all hang out here!

 

[Nightcap]

Hello!

My DH and I retired a couple of years ago in our 50s. We are currently traveling FT in our RV. We initially thought we’d find some ideal location in which to spend the majority of our time, but complicated and rare medical issues really limit our choices.

We now think we will probably purchase a small maintenance free home outside of Cleveland OH (which has the medical experts we need). We hope to be able to continue the RVing in the summer & winter to enjoy other areas & optimal weather.

We seem to be WAY younger than anyone else we are meeting - and far different in both activities and philosophies/politics & life experiences. None of our families or friends are retired early.

I’ll be reading the forums to learn how others are finding their “tribes” and perhaps find IRL connections also. We will also continue to glean ideas on improving our finances etc.

Thx -

CC & co

There are really only a dozen of us. We do it with mirrors.

We're among the youngsters in our social set, but at this age, it doesn't really matter much. We'll get there soon enough. Look at the Irish Funny Pages some time and you'll see people your age popping off all over the place. Seriously, we lost neighbor last year who was only about a year or so older than me. She was looking forward to retirement.

 

[HI Bill]

I'm 52, and planning to retire at 54. The only person I know who retired earlier than 54 who's still unemployed, is a former Oracle employee who got lots of company stock and retired in his 40s. Everyone else is working. I did know a few early retirees who all retired around 50, but they've all gone back to work, or left Hawaii. I guess early planning for FI, and early planning to have something to keep you busy in retirement is a rare thing, indeed! I can understand your plight. I have an eye condition and require injections every 7 weeks, which puts a crimp in our travel plans and limits the places in the world where we can retire.

 

[Breedlove]

Retiring to Cleveland , no other medical centers in warmer climates have that expertise. We used to live in Solon Ohio , we are so glad we ended up in Texas . The RV people out there are all ages . Just get out there and have fun !

 

[folivier]

There are plenty of younger people full timing in their RV's. I retired at 55 and we spent a couple years full timing. Here are a few places to look into: rvillage.com
rvnetwork.com (Escapees)
rvnet.com

 

[38Chevy454]

Welcome to the forum. I have been living in my motorhome past 6 months waiting for new house to be finished. Finally moved in this week. There are plenty of people out there that you can become friends and hang out with, don't limit to just around your age. Most RV'ers tend to be a little older traditional age retirees, but have fun and no reason you will feel too young.

There is a sister forum to this one, iRV2 Forums that has a lot of good info, including sub-forums for full timers and discussions on locations.

I agree that no such thing as maintenance free home. Even a condo has some inside items that are your responsibility.

 

[UtahSkier]

HI RVplusDog

I am based in SLC and have an RV as well. Checkout my Motorhome 2017 thread in the travel section.

Stayed tuned for the soon to be created "Motorhome 2018" thread as well. This year DW and I will be traveling to

Moab in April
Idaho, Montana and Wyoming in June/July
Colorado and New Mexico and Southern Utah in September/October.

While we meet lots of people, we never meet them again (rarely anyway).

 

[GoodWishes]

Welcome

DH retired at age 51 and I retired a year later at 53. We joined many activities like a hiking group, volunteering. We are often among the youngest. It doesn't matter. We enjoy our activites even though some people are many years older than us. It is not so much the age but more the common activities/philosophies. You will find people who enjoy similar activities. Or as others pointed out, you will get older and meet retirees your age soon enough.

 

[GravitySucks]

Welcome.
Five or ten years from now they'll all be about your age.

 

[Finance Dave]

welcome to the forum. I've never RV'd but have wanted to try. Maybe someday.

 

[RVplusDog]

Thx again, _long_ replies

Flintnational: thanks, that is what I was hoping

Breedlove: yeah, hard to believe right?! When we started FT & sold the sticks-n-bricks I was dead set on never going back. BUT a couple of years and 10s of thousands of road miles later - CLE looks much better compared to many of our other options. We will still travel & snowbird - I need to escape heat (above low 80s) AND cold (below 30ish). So spring & fall at that CLE base, plus it’s there for DH to visit his kids or if either of us needs Drs. BTW we are in TX at the moment also. We were in an RV resort close to Houston for 5-6 weeks for medical issues: all the other full timers were working :-(. We are now on our way to FL, where we’ll establish a new domicile and stay until late March.

Folivier: we haven’t met retired RVers within 5-10 years of our age. So far, all the younger RVers have been still working, and all the older RVers have been unenthusiastic about hanging out with energetic us in our 50s. Thx for the online suggestions, maybe I’ll start or look for FIRE threads there.

38Chevy454: yeah we try to hang out with the older folks - we don’t have the hang ups but many of them do... I actually had a lady tell me I was too young to be at an RV rally! I don’t have anything in common with the people that only want to talk about grandkids, so that doesn’t help either. I’ll have to start another thread on IRV2 for FIRE folks. I tried a thread with the early-retiree full timers but there were only about a half dozen of us and all agreed it’s an issue. I did an age survey there also, but I should have included the retired category because that brings such a change in lifestyle /schedule.

Utahskier: hey there!! We love Utah & were married in Park City . We stayed about a month in Heber City this summer - we have friends in Midway but they work :-(. We will be back out west in June, probably Heber City, then Bigfork/Kalispell, then Banff etc. I’ll join your other threads thanks!

Woodguy: if you are not sure about FT and you like your current house, you might want to keep it for a while. Most people who retire & start fulltiming do a year or two of “vacation mode” traveling where they move every week or so, then often transition to a month or more in one location. We have been RVing for about 20 years, so we have some preferred locations already and a lot of areas ruled out because they’re just not to our taste. In the winter we like to spend more than a month in one place. I prefer the RGV in Texas but there are no advanced medical facilities close enough for us. We will likely spend most upcoming winters in Florida. Spring and fall are our favorite times of the year and we move a lot. We have a big RV so spots can be hard to find, so we reserve early for peak seasons and popular areas. If you want to PM me I can tell you more

Thanks again everyone!

 

[IMATERP]

Greetings RV+

I'm 57 and just recently ER'd in the Tar Heel State. Wife is still earning a paycheck and it's absolutely okay.

A number of years ago - I learned that it was okay to be different and that I did not have to compare myself to others. When, I did that, I always felt inferior because I only saw others outsides (material stuff and bragging rights stuff.). I wasn't privy to how much debt others had or really what made them happy.

When I did my own soul - searching, I identified what would make me happy and set realistic goals to achieve them. My wife and I have our own home paid off in a 55+ community, a little nest egg, small pensions, state provided healthcare, many friends (older and younger,) our health, etc...

As a newbie to the ER thing, it takes a bit of time to develop some of the new found adventures to fill my day. It starts with some exercise, then a bit of social networking and computer time, participation in a meditation or spiritual group, a new class through our local adult education, etc. the bottom line is that it is important for me to be active - and not as covered on who am I am being active with.

That's my .02 as a newbie - you have the opportunity to define your ER any way you want and do what makes you happy.

I

 

[Palmtree]

I know what you mean. Me and the wife retired mid 50's. Sold the house and moved to a lake community in SC. Most of the retired people we hang with are older. It's OK, but I wish we had more friends our age to socialize with.

 

[Milton]

Fun reading

 

[HI Bill]

My wife and I are scuba divers. Every time I board a liveaboard dive vessel (where you sleep, eat, and dive from), I'm struck by the thought that divers, world-wide, are essentially the same, whether young or old. They all love nature, diving, fish, adventure, travel, and have a thirst for knowledge. The only difference is that the older folks do fewer dives per day. There are some cultural differences, where divers from some areas tend to not respect the reef and its inhabitants like those from others. But I've seen divers with terrible finning and weighting and other bad techniques who destroy the habitat from all areas as well. Get on a dive boat, and I expect to see Dirk Pitt novels, and fish ID books!

 

[Out of Steam]

Hello!
We initially thought we’d find some ideal location in which to spend the majority of our time, but complicated and rare medical issues really limit our choices.

We now think we will probably purchase a small maintenance free home outside of Cleveland OH (which has the medical experts we need).

We're not dealing with any rare issues, but they are serious enough that we should be within an hour of a major medical center--preferably an academic one. I'm not picky, but my wife would also be very unhappy without several choices of specialists and hospitals. Adding a 150-200 mile round trip or a hotel night to a monthly visit to a specialist would be a major drain on a retirement.

It really does the one out of considering a lot of the conventional retirement places.