Anyone Living Plan B?

[Bamaman]

Plan A was to downsize our big Atlanta area home and move to Ultra LCOL NW Alabama to a slightly smaller but much less expensive house. We already had our inherited lake house across town.

Plan B was when the wife got ants in her pants for a really big house bought really right as a foreclosure. We sold our other house 10 months later for top dollar. We also have a fifth wheel trailer in the NW Georgia mountains.

Now we find ourselves permanently raising a 7 year granddaughter, and she's in a private school. While we do take one international trip yearly, from here on out Brynley's going to be going with us. And we don't get to our RV as often as we would like due to school functions. We just pray for good long term health for us.

[Independent]

I'm working toward Plan B.

Plan A was lots of travel and some modest "blow the dough" spending. A car upgrade, and maybe even a house upgrade.

Then, my wife got breast cancer soon after I retired. That was a 1 1/2 delay (yep, 9 years later she is doing fine). By then, the wheels were coming off in two of our kids lives. I've spent a lot of time with one due to a disabled grandson. And, a lot of money with another due to a disabled son. I never imagined either of those.

Plan B was to live quietly, ageing in place, spending time in low cost activities like the library, gardening, local bicycling, and the local gym. That is happening.
Fortunately, the internet is even better than the local library. And, I've spent more time with the other grandsons than I would have in Plan A, that's a plus.

[RobbieB]

Since I had no plan, I guess I'm still on plan A? I mean if you have no plan...

Must be the first plan that doesn't exist eh? Maybe. One can only hope.

[FUEGO]

Doing Plan A more or less. Except we added a ton more travel into our plans. Turns out it doesn't cost that much more to travel for 2 months each summer vs. stay at home and consume utilities, groceries, entertainment expenses, etc.

5 years ago (before retirement), I wouldn't have predicted we would be traveling this much. But that was when our kids were still really young (age 1, 7, and 8) and travel was a lot harder. As they have aged the traveling suddenly got a lot easier and more enjoyable. Go figure...

Financially we're doing way better than Plan A ever anticipated. The portfolio is up close to 50% from when I quit working. And I started a blog plus very very part time consulting biz that has generated enough income to cover a big part of our routine expenses without a lot of work on my part.

Plan B involved some form of expense cutting, part time work, or doing something creative for health insurance. Plan C was to move to a less desirable country to lower costs (and get access to health insurance if it was no longer feasible in the US). Fortunately none of that has been necessary.

[Souschef]

After my wife died, I was sort of on autopilot. I took a couple of trips to places she had no desire to go. I was still w*king, as I had no other way to fill the days.
After my last trip alone, I wrote the following at the end of my trip story: At this point my life is at a crossroads. I have no idea when my next trip is or where it will be to. Time will tell
When I came back from that trip, I said I had no idea where I would be going next, but I did not want to be traveling alone again. Well, life is funny that way, because I met a wonderful lady named KL, who is a widow and has sons about the same age as mine.She became my Plan A and we will celebrating our 11th anniversary next week.

[HadEnuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef After my wife died, I was sort of on autopilot. I took a couple of trips to places she had no desire to go. I was still w*king, as I had no other way to fill the days. After my last trip alone, I wrote the following at the end of my trip story: At this point my life is at a crossroads. I have no idea when my next trip is or where it will be to. Time will tell When I came back from that trip, I said I had no idea where I would be going next, but I did not want to be traveling alone again. Well, life is funny that way, because I met a wonderful lady named KL, who is a widow and has sons about the same age as mine.She became my Plan A and we will celebrating our 11th anniversary next week.

Very happy for you!
My DW has lost two close siblings in the last 2 years, and it has given me pause to consider where I'd be if I were to lose her. Nowhere, I'm afraid.
"Man plans, God laughs"...all too true.

[HFWR]

No real Plan B when I FIREd, though the outline of one is slowly revealing itself, maybe...

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef After my wife died, I was sort of on autopilot. I took a couple of trips to places she had no desire to go. I was still w*king, as I had no other way to fill the days. After my last trip alone, I wrote the following at the end of my trip story: At this point my life is at a crossroads. I have no idea when my next trip is or where it will be to. Time will tell When I came back from that trip, I said I had no idea where I would be going next, but I did not want to be traveling alone again. Well, life is funny that way, because I met a wonderful lady named KL, who is a widow and has sons about the same age as mine.She became my Plan A and we will celebrating our 11th anniversary next week.

Your story always gives me hope.

[Shredder]

I was "retired" in 04 due to health reasons, and since then our plans have changed a lot. At one time we wanted to hike long distant trails, I barely think about that now. Stuff happens.

Now we have a largish place with lots of room and wildlife (elk, deer out back). And kids in 3 states, two on opposite coasts with grand kids. But at some point in time, even though i love it here, I'll tire of all the work and upkeep, and downsize, expecting to travel more.

But this is life, and we'll take what we get, adapt and move on.

[aja8888]

Plan A was to stay put in Texas and maybe travel a lot (U.S. Only).

DW got real ill in 2017 and became physically handicapped and travel is a real hard time.

Plan B is to stay here and do the best we can.

That's OK though.

[brett]

We never really had a Plan B. We tend to be very pragmatic. So, we are still working our original plan but with changes here and there as required.

We our plan was to travel frequently for extended periods. We are spontaneous travellers. The extended periods changed from four months to two months. Grandchildren changed that plus DW's preference for shorter trips.. We were benched for almost 10 months because of a medical challenge however we are now back on track so to speak. We are spending more since our assets have grown at a faster rate than planned.

Not certain if this constitutes plan B or not. I spent my career in an industry that changed every six months or so. Change is not a stranger to us so we tend to make the best of what we have, take advantage of opportunities, embrace change, and keep moving forward with our lives. Don't really see any alternative to this for us.

[ShokWaveRider]

No plan here, like Robbie. We adapt as we have to. We have impending events where we review our situation. We would like to downsize the house for example but cannot find anywhere better than we are now. So we put up with the extra expenses until something pops up.

[happy2bretired]

My husband and I planned for my retirement at the end of 2006. We really didn’t have a plan A,we were just winging it.
Well, then my plan B started in January of 2006, before plan A ever started. My husband died in January of 2006 and I retired.

[NYEXPAT]

I may have had a plan? It's been 31 years now and I do not recall if I had one or just ran out of letters in the alphabet!

[Koolau]

Plan A was to (truly) EsR (maybe age 30 or 35) and buy naked land on the Big Island (plan A light was to live on a beach under a blue tarp - don't laugh, lots of folks here do that, even w*rking folks, but that's another story.) After some land, we thought maybe we could get part time j*bs to make a small build or a trailer (don't know that Hawaii actually has any trailers - don't recall seeing one). SO IOW we would just "exist" in Paradise.

We reevaluated quickly and realized we were not "suited" to be "poor" even in Paradise. Plan B was to wait until true ER (about 51) with modest pension and good savings. Of course, things work out differently than most of us plan, so our big move didn't come until a few years past our goal. BUT plan B is a mainland life-style (as in, enough money to live where we want in Paradise, travel when we want, eat what we want, etc. etc.) You really need to know yourself or you might end up clear at plan C or even D. As Dirty Harry said "A Man's got to know his limitations." YMMV

[LARS]

I've pretty much taken to heart John Lennon's quip, and managed my life accordingly: Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.

[Nature Lover]

Plan A was to keep working.....so yes, living a Plan B (retired @ 55).
I expect there'll be a Plan C, D, etc....as the years go by; but I'm thrilled with Plan B!

[UnrealizedPotential]

I can't say I really had a plan. Nothing precise anyways. I have ideas that I might try to implement in the future, but I am not sure I'd call it a plan, because who knows what the future holds. Heck, I thought I would be working until 2022. Ha! Didn't happen. I was out in 2016.


So far be it from me to try and come up with anything even remotely resembling a plan. I just take it one day at a time. I must be doing something right, I'm still here holding things together.

[ychuck46]

Definitely Plan A. We purposely moved to a low cost Southern state from NY shortly before I retired, and shortly after my wife had retired. Loving life in a great part of the country, and loving saving all the $ year after year we are gone from our former fiscally irresponsible state.

[Huston55]

Financially, we’re still on Plan A. But, in terms of location, we’re definitely on Plan B. For our last 10+ working years, we took many of our vacations to places we were considering for retirement; all US & literally coast-to-coast. For most of that time, coastal Florida (where we’d previously lived) was at the top of our list. Then, lo & behold, we decided to return to the SF Bay Area.

So, Plan B (SF Bay Area) is where we are, and it’s working out well. We downsized (but, it’s 2 of us + a small fur child), and it’s actually wonderful. Have to give DW all the credit; it was her idea. Esposa feliz, vida feliz!