Anyone Living Plan B?

[Kim451]

Retired 9 months ago and started on Plan A but skyrocketing HOA fees are already making it impossible to continue. Plan B was to scope out a place in FL, but I'm thinking instead of going with No Plan - thumbing my nose at the "retirement is NOT the time to wing it!" advice that I see in retirement articles. Sell most of the Stuff; put what I want to keep in storage; and go drift around until something feels right. Checking on what it takes to sign up for housesitting gigs now.

I AM rather tired of traveling alone but no family ties, and friends are scattered around the globe, so will see how long drifting lasts. But as long as I keep the fund for buying a new place intact, and my friend in GA is willing to let me use one of her spare bedrooms if needed, I don't see any real drawbacks to this idea...

Odd though: I was always one of those people who planned everything in detail wayyyy in advance!

[PointBreeze]

Plan A was to retire at FRA (66 and 10 months)

Then Dear Partner (DP), who is 15 years older, developed serious health problems and new boss arrived making job miserable. I stuck it out 4.5 years, and then decided life was too short. I could retire at 58 and we would be comfortable, but maybe not go to Europe for vacation.

Plan B was to fully retire at 58
Then former colleagues (who escaped miserable boss to other companies) asked to hire me as a consultant.

Plan C is to be semi-retired until mid 2019 - age 60
Current plan is to continue to work part-time as consultant. I'm making enough to barely touch retirement money (DP has SS), but still low enough to get sizable ACA subsidy, and working from home let's me spend time with DP and help out my 83-year-old parents. Life is good!

At this rate, I fully expect a plan D...

[38Chevy454]

Still on Plan A. That was both DW and me retire, and move cross country to be near family. We built a nice house, with a big detached garage for me to work in for my old car hobby. Right now all is going according to Plan A.


Only potential sort of Plan B would be a change to snowbird south in future years. We already have the big motorhome, so it just becomes a choice if we want to do that.

[friar1610]

Plan A was to relocate from Baltimore-Washington area to New England when we were through working. We moved to VT as one daughter and her family were living there. A year later they moved to MA, then CA for a year and back to MA (all job related). We remained in VT for a total of 8 years and then "moved South" to MA where we've been 5+ years. Don't know if that's Plan B or A.1.

Finances and other aspects of retirement are essentially the same.

[marko]

Man plans and God laughs.

Our plan B was driven by family issues rather than financial. (maybe a lesson for all you OMY'ers)

Plan A: Winter in Florida with a month skiing the Alps, summer north of Boston with a summer month in Provence. We did that for my first 10 years of RE.

Due to my brother's serious stroke (and no one else to manage his life...I'm not his caregiver but he needs me around) and mom a spry 89, we've stayed closer to home with shorter trips abroad.

We still do Europe and moved our skiing to Utah but tend to make them 10 day trips; just don't want to leave those two alone for too long. Mom and bro come to Florida with us for the winter now.

My own health issues have also made me reconsider how far from a hospital I want to be; the days of a week on a boat-access-only island are less appealing than before.

It all works out but a bit of a change of plan for us.

[iloveyoga]

I have thought about this thread a bit and I come back to read from time to time. Life is always full of plans A, B, and C.

[akck]

Our plan A was to move to the Oregon or Washington coast, but after a few trips there, the reality of 1-2 hour drives for specialist medical care later in life, have nixed that plan. While we have no specific plan B, we are retired in place as we can still do any traveling from here with one extra connecting flight.