Retirement celebratory splurge?

[The Cosmic Avenger]

This has been talked about here and there, but I haven't see a thread devoted to it.

Do you plan to have a big, celebratory expense when you retire, or did you if you've already FIREd? My partner and I are talking about a 4-6 month round-the-world cruise, or an RV or boat, or maybe a vacation home. (Don't feel left out if you're leanFIRE, any scale of trip or purchase can be a celebration! Our honeymoon was an amazing trip, and we did it for fairly cheap back then. You do you!)

And if you're feeling chatty, how did you handle the expense financially? I'm wondering about the tax implications of such a big withdrawal. We don't have enough in non-retirement accounts for those expenses AND to carry us to full retirement age.

But mostly I just want to hear your plans or what you actually did!

 

[COcheesehead]

Planning to buy a new Jeep Rubicon next Spring. It’s a $50k expenditure. We can afford it. I plan to use funds from a maturing muni so no tax consequence. We’ll keep it for 10 years or more. As a saver, it makes me a tad queasy, but it all fits not only into the budget, but what we plan to do in FIRE which is explore the Western US, hike to archeological, Native American historical and geological wonder sites. The Jeep will help us get into the backcountry.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I bought a new flute the first time I quit at the end of 2014. $9K. My old flute was a purchase I made when I started practicing pediatrics and finally wasn't completely broke in 1988. It's one of my main reasons to stop the OMY nonsense. The main reasons are health and happiness.

 

[braumeister]

Planning to buy a new Jeep Rubicon next Spring.

You might want to talk with Hermit about that. He has had lots of maintenance issues with his.

 

[Chuckanut]

No Big celebration unless you count taking two overseas vacations in one year a celebration. In the year following my retirement I visited both Turkey and Bulgaria.

Both were very interesting, but Turkey stood out as one of the best trips I have done. The Turkish people are wonderful, the country's history very interesting, the food great and the culture enjoyable different. I enjoyed everything about the trip, even being woken at 5:00 AM by the call to prayer.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes, there was a specific thread for this. A few years old but probably still relevant.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/big-splurge-on-retirement-66851.html

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

@COcheesehead: Sounds like a great investment that you will get a lot of use out of!

@EastWest Gal: Wow, I had no idea flutes could be that expensive!

@Chuckanut: ooh, I love to travel anywhere, those both sound great! And if it was a "we've just retired" splurge, it counts, no matter how long...a big trip can take up to a year to schedule anyway, right?

 

[W2R]

I retired on 11/9/2009. Part of my retirement planning, to help protect myself from sequence-of-returns risk, was to begin retirement with a brand new vehicle that wouldn't need to be replaced for at least a decade. I had already set aside the money for it outside of my nest egg over the years, and I bought a brand new Toyota Venza in January 2010.

Also, on 11/9, Frank took me out to dinner. We do that for each other when one of us has a birthday or something to celebrate.

But you know what? EVERY DAY was a retirement celebration. Just going to the gym during working hours was fantastic. And driving past my former workplace? Be still my heart. Retired life was, and is, just wonderful for me.

 

[Teacher Terry]

The first year we just destressed. Ever since we have been taking 2 big vacations/year. Life is good!

 

[Souschef]

Two days after I retired, we were on a plane to join a 14 day tour of South America. It was not as expensive as a new car, but the feeling of freedom of not having to worry about w@rk when I got back was priceless.

 

[audreyh1]

I bought myself a new vehicle, an SUV, before retiring. We loaded up a large stash for funding travel for the first 2 years or so - so I guess you could call that a big celebration. The travel splurge lasted 3 years! We bought some expensive camera equipment a few months after retiring, although selling the second car offset half of that expense.

 

[Chuckanut]

Very true. And had I gone immediately upon retiring I would be visiting in the heat of the summer. Not so good. Being a new retired bum I waited for the Spring and Fall to take my trips.

I did take a trip the Summer after I retired but I don't count it since technically I was under-contract until the last day of August. Such is the world of teaching.

 

[mtheulen]

My last day of work is 9/12/2018.Done at 3:30 pm on a one way flight to the midwest at 7:10 pm.Going to spend time with family and friends, might even help with the soybean harvest.
When iam ready i will fly back here to the desert and soak up the retirement sunshine!
Have my hybrid bike all ready to go to ride the canals.(once it cools down)

 

[street]

I did no splurging not even did I go out to eat. LOL

 

[scrabbler1]

I did no splurging not even did I go out to eat. LOL

Same here. It was just another day for me.

 

[Car-Guy]

Not a dime. Retiring was my gift! But since retiring (less than a decade ago) we have sold two houses, bought some land, built our new home and moved to the county, travel anytime we want and buy at least one new car a year. I don't consider any of that a retirement celebration, but it is what I call being retired.

 

[RE2Boys]

Does buying a pop-up camper for family outings count as a big splurge after retirement? About $3500. We've had it now for about 18 years, it has been to 33 states.

It has added so many memories of my son's childhood years. During their teen years it seldom left the driveway but just a few months ago we spent over 3 weeks traveling from PA to CO, UT, MT and points in-between.

 

[Mmm Rrr]

I ERed years ago and have been spending at least a few weeks in Europe every year, sometimes adding another couple of weeks at a language school. But I have been sticking to a travel budget.

When I started SS this year, I decided to do a blowout trip. I signed up for a 4 month Road Scholar cruise next year. I'll miss an entire winter!!

I rationalize the cost by telling myself I plan to keep my 12 year old, dented Subaru for another 5 years and then I'll probably have one more car for the rest of my life.

 

[Dash man]

DW and I retired three years apart, so when I retired we didn’t do anything special. After she retired, we did a two week Celebrity cruise out of Southampton to the Baltic countries, followed by a week in London. We splurged for a suite on the ship and an upscale hotel in London. It was a wonderful trip, and St. Petersburg was fabulous. We loved all the ports except we didn’t get off in Germany because it was pouring rain that day, the only bad weather day.

 

[brett]

Sold our house, downsized, put whatever was left in storage, and traveled for seven months.

 

[MuirWannabe]

I retired on a Friday. Flew to San Diego on Saturday. Started hiking the Pacific Crest Trail on Sunday. It was a celebration into a new phase of life.

Cost was about $2000 for all my backpacking gear. But that wasn’t much of a factor as it was spent while I was still working.

I highly recommend some kind of splurge or doing something of significance to mark your transition. Of course, to each his own.

 

[kimcdougc]

When DH retired in Feb. of 2015, our plan was to jump in the RV and travel till we were tired of it. Then life happens, went to Texas to spend some time with my mother because she had been diagnosed with lung and adrenal cancer. Had about 3 months to live. We traveled to Texas and spent about a month there. We did travel for about a month after that but it just wasn't the same. Came home and DM died about a month later. Made it back to Texas before she died. Since I was the executor of her will, I spend several months taking care of that.

 

[timo2]

I moved to a new house, new city upon retirement. I suppose fixing up the undeveloped back yard counted as a celebratory splurge.

 

[candrew]

DW & I started our ER celebration in December, 2016. We traveled about New Zealand for 3 months. Then lived in Tuscany, Italy for another 3 months. After a brief visit home to the U.S., off to Mexico for another couple of months. That "celebration" lasted through the end of 2017.

We decided to continue celebrating in 2018. We've been living in the Costa Ballena area of Costa Rica since New Year's. That celebration will end mid-October. After a brief visit home to the U.S. - starting in mid-December - we'll celebrate some more by returning to New Zealand for a month (we love it there!), then on to Morocco, France and Italy.

Okay, maybe it's more a lifestyle. OTH, like Kool and The Gang, we like to celebrate!

​

 

[chris2008]

In 2013, we wanted to start ER with a 5 weeks trip to Namibia. Instead DH had to have spinal surgery 2x.
We cancelled the trip 3 weeks before take off.
The first year was rough.
But since then, better and better.
We took the trip in 2015 and loved every minute.