Insane Emergency RE strategy

[dixonge]

So basically the wife and I waited *way* too late before we started doing all the serious, hard thinking about our retirement years. Add a couple of really bad investment decisions to the mix and a Chapter 7 and soon desperation is required. So here's our crazy plan.

First, I've run the FIRE calc before and by the time we could possibly become FIRE we'll be in our 80's. Unfortunately we've decided that we would like to do a lot of traveling before we're too old to enjoy it. Enter the crazy part.

I've worked up a fairly complicated spreadsheet that indicates a month-by-month dollar amount that would be required for us to live in a foreign country (frugally) from now until my wife's pension fund kicks in. The point at which our savings will reach critical mass is only a few years off. However, this plan presumes we will then turn around and spend it all between when we retire from our civil service jobs and when the pension money starts. And THEN - well, we keep traveling. Or not, maybe we settle down. Either way, our main strategy is savings + very LBYM frugal living + reliance on government pension money. A few years later our SS and my own pension money kicks in. (we get 250% matching)

In addition, I will be working on various aggressive investment strategies. If they work, great, if not, we'll at least have the savings. I even charted out what difference it would make if we walked away from our home and started renting. Answer, not enough to bother with it.

Worst case scenario? If the savings dissipate, if disaster strikes, if we overspend, if we undersaved or miscalculated.......well, then we go back to work. Disappointing but we're working now, so not a horrible change. So, there it is.