What is your retirement Goal/Dream?

[ab620]

To the OP,

one of my cousins and his wife did something similar in a variety of conventional sail boats. They worked in schools and helped with mission trips to a variety of islands from Bermuda all the way around to the Gulf side of Mexico.

Be sure to check out www.gonewiththewynns.com - they travel the world, first in North America in an RV, and now around the world on a large catamaran. I don't think they volunteer - at least not as you described - but lots of good information on their web site.

I love Gone with the Wynns!

 

[WestUniversity]

Mine is much limited. Sleep late and get up late.

Agreed. Mine is limited as well. I will settle for no more toxic stress....

 

[SnowBound]

1) Sell house, build much smaller house at the base of the mountains.

2) Grabbing first lift chair mid-week, at least once a week (no else has mentioned skiing, figured I should be the first).

 

[Vagabond2020]

Retire by 35 years old.

Thru hike the Appalachian Trail
Travel through entire USA/Canada by RV/Conversion Van/Camper
Thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail
Mountain Bike the Continental Divide Trail
Buy a 30-34' live aboard sailboat and spend 2-3 years cruising the Great Lakes, New England, East Coast, Bahamas, Caribbean, Central America
Backpack through Europe over the course of a year, staying weeks at a time in areas of interest.
Motorcycle through South America all the way down to Chile
Spend a year living and traveling slowly through SE Asia.

All of these can be done frugally by a couple for ~$40k/yr.

If we aren't at a million by the time I turn 35 in 4 years, we will do some seasonal/PT work in between adventures to pad the bank accounts a bit.

 

[xmanz3]

Planning to retire at 55, so I have 12 more years to go. One major expense through retirement most people don't think about is healthcare. My healthcare is already taking care right now by VA at 100%.


I'm planning to live between my home in Atlanta, beachfront property, and a cabin up in the mountains. At that point I will start a consulting firm to help people start their own businesses.

 

[Koogie]

At this point, not really sure.

Been semi-retired since 2015. My business partner is pushing for 4.5 more years (I would be 49) and funnily enough, DW is agreeing with him.
We probably don't need the money but I'm going along with them because.. not sure really. Inertia, perhaps.

I regret pursuing money so hard for the 15 years prior to semi-retire and not living a little more along the way. DW health has really deteriorated and we missed a lot of prime years for travel and adventure. Now she can't travel and get around very well so we are more limited than we would have been back then.. oh well, the old money vs time problem.

Now I have negotiated with the partner and gotten even more time off starting next year (13 weeks off, including 2 x four weekers) and will only work 3 days a week from now on.

I guess my goal is making the most of what I've got.

 

[RachaelandtheGoose]

No grand plans for retirement. Just want to be freed from job responsibilities and free to do as I please. I'd likely do more outdoor activities, maybe pickup a few other hobbies, eat, sleep, exercise and relax. I'm more of homebody, so I don't plan on doing big trips or adventures/experiences away from home.

I'm right there with you. This sounds perfect to me. We want to find someplace new to put down roots and then let those roots grow. Hopefully a cool historic town with some nice natural beauty (state parks, etc) close by so we can take lots of nature walks.

 

[WestUniversity]

I will start. I want to RE at about 55, purchase a catamaran, and sail around the world for about 6 years. The DW is on board.



During this time the Wife and I will be delivering school supplies to remote island schools and helping kids anyway we can.



What is your Goal?

To sleep all the way through the night. To get my blood pressure under control. To not be so stressed out all the time.

I figure it will take a few months to decompress. I’ll work on longer term goals after that...

 

[Winemaker]

Getting "lucky" with DW, 3-4 times a week.
I got the income, travel, shelter, and discretionary income taken care of.
If I was only more "lucky"..........

 

[CaliKid]

I was reminded this morning of one of my goals... being able to SLOW DOWN! I was leaving the gym just after 6:00 am and an old dude was in front of me slowly walking down the middle of the walkway. I would guess he is retired because he was pretty old and he walked SLOW! I, on the other hand, was hustling off to work, trying to get around him, almost in a run, and checking email as I moved quickly toward my car for another day at the office. The old dude just sauntered off to his car and probably went to get a cup of coffee or something. That's what I want!

 

[Rksolid]

My goal retire by 60, walleye fish when it's nice, not on days off in ugly weather, hook up the camper and camp for weeks instead of weekends. Buy a place in AZ for wintering so I won't have to shovel snow. Enjoy every day, my job requires 365/24 coverage for the last 31 yrs have missed many family events, worked many nights and a boat load of weekends. I can't imagine whats it will be like having a routine sleep pattern. I have 6 yr 11 months til retirement but currently expecting my job to last 3-5 yrs due to closing the plant down, but i'm okay with that began downsizing and preparing.

 

[ab620]

Getting "lucky" with DW, 3-4 times a week.
I got the income, travel, shelter, and discretionary income taken care of.
If I was only more "lucky"..........

Only if we all could get more "Lucky".

 

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

I tested retirement about 3 years ago with a 9 month sabbatical. It was awesome, but I did get bored, and the amount of money I could make in my field (high tech security software sales) is borderline ridiculous. So, I'm now in my final year or two (or three maybe) of leading a large team. At some point, I'll pull the ripcord for good. However, my real concern is boredom. A little bit of that is *great*, but a lot of that would not be good. Problem is, I am so busy now (travel about 75% of the time, much of it international) that I don't really have time for hobbies or anything outside of work.

I guess I will figure it out though!

 

[hesperus]

Already living the dream, as they say

 

[Zorwarrior]

Aim to retire in early 40s, spend lots of time with our young kids, increase my charity work, continue blogging, learn sailing & live life

 

[Markola]

I honestly don’t have a clear vision, which has bothered me as FI approaches. I did have an insight today, however. In building my career I have experienced the power of written goal setting, visioning and setting of clear intentions such that I’ve been remarkably on track with savings and investing goals that I set 20+ years ago, and I’ve achieved all the big goals I had for my career. I’m not trying to say my life is perfect or that I’m super rich, just that the stuff I’ve gotten very clear on wanting for my life has, for the most part, in fact manifested itself, sometimes even miraculously.

So, my insight today was, “I should set a written intention (ER.org will do!) that I will FIRE in three years when a major work initiative wraps in 2021 and that I will then work to create a satisfying, fulfilling semi-retirement. It will involve interesting and creative part-time work that is not in my current field, time with family, service to others, travel and fitness.” Over the years I have created a growing list of 90 options for semi-retirement, some good and some, well, “What was I thinking?”. Despite my efforts, the perfect thing is not on that list, though some are pretty interesting.

My insight is that I just need to take the leap to get myself free, play around for a while, try some of that stuff and other stuff, then focus on creating a fulfilling future.

I hope that makes some sense as a retirement goal/dream in and of itself, because I don’t think “The Dream” or “The Goal” is likely to appear to me before I allow myself to get free. As I think about it, my whole career came about the same way, which has worked out rather well, so why not do the same intuitive, experimental approach for my semi-retirement?

 

[kgtest]

Honestly, I look forward to just doing more of the same during ER minus the w*rk part.

More skiing.
More beaches.
More hikes/walks.
More travel.
More homestyle cooking.
More research (i don't typically read books, but do lots of research online)
More of the good thing on the bad leg...or the bad thing on the good leg.
More time with family.


Less bad carbs, salt, sugar, fat and calories.

Well look at that, 8 things I can do to substitute the 8 hours I would've spent at work WAITING to do these things.

 

[kaudrey]

The overarching goals/dreams are to travel the world and volunteer. We do both now, but want to do more of both.


My retirement timeline has changed. After a divorce last year (sigh), I have met a wonderful man who is 12 years older. My plan now it to retire in 3 years instead of 8, so that we can do all of the things we want while he is in 60s; so I am shooting for 52 instead of 57. It's a bonus that he has saved his whole life too and is still working. We'll retire at the same time...funny how life changes....

 

[Zorwarrior]

One point stands out for me in a lot of the responses on this thread. The notion of 'slowing down' while not being retired. I have been working myself a bit crazy trying to implement a plan to retire but this gives a good perspective. The plan may take longer than I was hoping for but perhaps 'slowing down' is a real option.