Too young too retire

Just came across this website today and it seems pretty useful for those of us who are ER'd but trying to figure out what it all means.

www.2young2retire.com

It focuses on what to do when you don't need to deal with the "daily grind of working life".

Family,

Doubt they'll get a lot of takers from this site.

[retire@40]

I've been planning my ER and FI for the past 20 years so I already know what it all means. I'm always open to new ideas, but I don't need a book to tell me what to do after retiring. I already got a lot of free ideas here on this forum.

[dex]

You know I think they inavertily hit on something. Baby boomers are going to live longer and will have to find out what to do with themselves for one reason or another.
Some will need to find employment because they need the money.
Some will need to work because that is all they know.
Some will need to work because they retired; did what they wanted to do and now want to work.

People will be living longer in the future and in better health than now. There are challenges with that.

My mother lives in a retirement home. She is 86. The people there are not very active but it is the future. More and more people living in group homes to take care of themselves. What are we all going to do?

I remember a Twilight Zone Show (I really liked that show) where there was a character who lived from the time of the Pharos to the 1960s without aging. He got bored with life and wanted to die. I think that will be a real issue in the future. People who are healthy but just tired of life.
Don't get me wrong! I'm not depressed. I haven't retired yet - next year - I have a lot of things I want to do. If anything I'm tired of putting off what I want to do because of work.
The point is that with the freeedom of early retirement and longer/healther life we do need to continue to challenge, learn, grow, and develop.

"A relationship is like a shark. It moves foward or it dies." Woody Allen
I think that is a part of early retirement.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Robert Heinleins "Time Enough For Love". A good read. Character who lives through many generations. He comes up with a lot of fairly amusing ways to keep himself from becoming bored.

[Bob_Smith]

More and more people living in group homes to take care of themselves.

Dex, what is a group home? I've seen others write that Joe Dominguez lived in a group home. In Iowa, when we say "group home", we are referring to homes for disabled people that are staffed by employees who provide supervision (often for mentally retarded clients), and it's paid for by federal/state/county funds. We also have nursing homes with apartments attached, but these are generally for the elderly who need assistance of some kind. Everyone else lives in either a single family house or an apartment/condo. Is a group home a different animal?

Re. "bored", I will never run out of things to do, even
though some of my favorite activities have ended or
at least declined. I find that a lot of what is on my very long to-do list looks like work. Non-paying work at that. I just
want to loaf and have fun. Unfortunately, my fussy
Type A genes never let up. I see projects and chores
everywhere. Oh, I can avoid tackling them
all right, but it bothers me until they get done. I do not
expect this will ever abate.

John Galt

[indymom]

In Indiana there are facilities where you pay a buyin fee (usually large) and then a monthly amount that covers almost everthing. There are "cottages", apartments of various kinds, assisted living, and a skilled nursing segment. You can retire to, say, an apartment. If you need assisted living, you move there, or to skilled nursing, then back to the apt., etc. They have various interest groups, a bus to frequently desired stops, and such.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

what is a group home?

You need one of these when you retire with too little money, try a silly "system" or avoid risk to too great a degree.

When you start running out of money, you have to move in with a bunch of other people and split the rent on a crappy house, eat a lot of spaghetti, and routinely wash off tin foil and plastic wrap for reuse.

But you're "free".

I think I just summed up Dominguez' book, yes?

Another side effect of when you realize that your life is meaningless is that you spend all of your free time trolling on internet discussion sites among people who didnt blow it like you did.

[nwsteve]

When you start running out of money, you have to move in with a bunch of other people and split the rent on a crappy house, eat a lot of spaghetti, and routinely wash off tin foil and plastic wrap for reuse

Group Home??
Uhmmm....Sounds like to me a lot like my off campus housing at college.
Oh well, they say we live our lives on the way out the same as when we start.
nwsteve

[Bob_Smith]

OK, I get it now - just people sharing a house and expenses. I have known college kids, young adults, and extended families who have done that. I have never known or heard of unrelated, middle-age+ people doing it though - besides Joe Dominguez.

[Hyperborea]

OK, I get it now - just people sharing a house and expenses. I have known college kids, young adults, and extended families who have done that. I have never known or heard of unrelated, middle-age+ people doing it though - besides Joe Dominguez.

I've heard of them out here in California - I knew someone who was considering it. It's sort of like a modern day version of a commune. Or perhaps even like a co-op but with even closer living arrangements. It can make for low cost living and for some it might be a nice lifestyle. What you don't want is to be forced into doing it out of necessity because of poor planning.

Here in Maryland we have several beautiful Continuing Care Retirement Communities. You pay a large fee to purchase an apartment, but it is refunded (often 100%) to your estate. Then there is a monthly fee. Some include 1 meal, others all 3. One that I am interested in has over 100 clubs/activities, on-site medical care, several dining rooms, cafes, etc. There are over 2,000 residents, most with cars and very independent. As you age and need more care, you move to the next level, but you never have to leave there.

[indymom]

That sounds similar to what I was thinking of that we have in Indiana, but in expanded form. The concept sounds good to me, but not right now. Maybe in ten years or so.

[haha]

OK, I get it now - just people sharing a house and expenses. I have known college kids, young adults, and extended families who have done that. I have never known or heard of unrelated, middle-age+ people doing it though - besides Joe Dominguez.

Lots of these in Seattle,. I would imagine that to be the case wherever there is interesting city life, and expensive housing. I have done it off and on, before and after marriage. I stopped when we had kids when I was about 35.

May do it again, though. There are definitely issues, but you don''t get lonesome, and you don't get stuck in your ways.

I have never heard of this type of arrangement where the people weren't pretty liberal leaning, in most senses of that word.

Come to think of it, I guess a Mormon multifamily is a group home, with a decidedly conservative slant. Maybe a biker enclave would also fit the description of a group home.

Anyway, it can be a good thing, but probably not for everyone!

Mikey

[hocus]

It can make for low cost living and for some it might be a nice lifestyle. *What you don't want is to be forced into doing it out of necessity because of poor planning.

I think that's the key distinction, Hyperborea. If it is something that sounds good to you, it's great to have it available as an option. If it is something that does not possess appeal, you for sure do not want to put yourself into circumstances where it is an option you need to pursue.

[Bob_Smith]

Mikey, just curious - how do you go about finding people to move in with? Is it typically friends getting together, or do people advertise?

"Group homes"-- my parents were always puzzled by this, until they visited. During and after college, in my 20s, I lived in lots of houses with 1-3 other 20-somethings. When I moved to a new job in a new town, it was a way to find instant community and friendships.

Generally these were other recent college grads or graduate students who wanted the benefits of living in a house (usually older homes near town centers, where you can bike or walk everywhere) rather than being stuck in an overpriced apartment. I paid $200-$300/ month in rent plus shared the utilities.

In one house, I had a beautiful garden with grape trellises and raspeberry plants. The house had beautfiul wood floors and one of my roommates was a botanist and the house was filled with neat plants. It was one of the best times of my life. I now live with my husband and sometimes miss those days with friends always stopping by and weekend potlucks and shared meals.

I have a good group of female friends (now scattered around the country) and we joke that when we retire, since we will likely outlive our husbands, we will share a house together again. It would be wonderful!

Bob,

you ask where to find these sorts of shared homes? Good places are bulletin boards in housing offices on college campuses (for those in their 20s-30s - often roommates are grad students), the classified ads under "Roommate wanted," co-op grocery stores with bulletin boards, coffeeshop bulletin boards.

Easiest to find this sort of living arrangement in college towns or towns with a large population of younger folks- mountain towns, etc.