Drastic Lifestyle Changes after Retirement

[audreyh1]

On the "Isolation" thread, there was a discussion about fear of isolation after retirement.  There seemed to be a strong correlation between retiring and selling the house, moving to a new place, etc. and feeling isolated.  In other words, no only were these people leaving work - itself a major adjustment - but they simultaneously moved away from their social network and their old house/town into something completely new.

What is is about retiring that makes people want to do everything at once?

I see this a lot on the Fulltimer RV forums.  People arrange things so that at the moment they leave their job, they have already sold their house, moved into an RV, and are ready to hit the road on day 1 after retirement, leaving everything they have known behind - including their social network.

We completely changed our life (also ultimately went fulltime RVer), but we did it gradually over a 5 year period. Personally, I'm glad it took us 5 years or so to make this transition. Much less stressful and plenty of time to figure out what we really wanted.

Once I asked some folks why they made these drastic changes all at once.  They explained that at 65 years old, they didn't feel they had the time to spend on a gradual transition - after 5 years they would be 70!  It was now or never.  They might just have a few years left to travel like this and they didn't want to "waste" any of it doing things piecemeal.

One of the advantages of retiring early is that you don't have to make all the changes at once.  You can do them gradually and feel your way along - discovering what you really want to do, and what is just a silly pipe dream that you realize doesn't suit you at all.

Audrey

 

[riskadverse]

I try to change one variable at a time. It's much easier to go back and fix problems.

 

[HFWR]

I'm surprised none of you INTJ-enganeers haven't suggested a full-factorial...

 

[audreyh1]

I'm surprised none of you INTJ-enganeers haven't suggested a full-factorial... 

Leg-yanking already?

A full factorial?

Audrey (ex-engineer INTP)

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

What is is about retiring that makes people want to do everything at once?

Pure speculation here, but it seems to me that folks fleeing from their old job/life are more vulnerable to "total-life-makeover syndrome" (TLMS ) than those enticed by the potential joys of ER.

 

[audreyh1]

Pure speculation here, but it seems to me that folks fleeing from their old job/life are more vulnerable to "total-life-makeover syndrome" (TLMS  ) than those enticed by the potential joys of ER.

Ahh - "total-life-makeover syndrome" TLMS . Figured there had to be a syndrome........

Audrey

 

[MJ]

Maybe the age of the ER is a factor. Maybe there's a big difference between someone ERing in their 40's versus 50's. I'm 58, single and will be on the move soon. Although it was a bit uncomfortable, I sold my house recently to take advantage of the RE market, am moving out of the Northeast for warmer pastures with lower COL and doing a lot of travelling. I won't have my own apartment for awhile until my mind gets settled.

The next few years should be "interesting"

 

[Nords]

I'm surprised none of you INTJ-enganeers haven't suggested a full-factorial... 

I'm surprised that the rest of you say that as if you haven't already done your own!

I'm not looking for a job... but there appears to be the potential here for quite a bit of lifestyle-consulting moneymaking.

If you turn this into your full-time business, you're welcome. In lieu of a licensing fee, I'd appreciate it if you'd donate .01% of your profits to Habitat for Humanity in my name.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

age is factor for me but also i'm still tied to mom, hospice and all that. but even after all that, i plan lifestyle change slowly.

at 49, i'm still about 6 years away from the age where most of my then-contemporaries sell their houses to move aboard. i don't look like most 49 year olds (thanx mom) and so i get odd looks when people ask me what i do for a living and i tell them i don't. so maybe keeping house for a while will keep the odd looks to a minimum.

i want to travel conventionally before moving aboard and will do that gradually as well. a month or three at a time at first and then maybe up to 6 months to a year away while i keep my home base. i've always felt that a support system of family & friends makes for a good life.

so where fi affords me the lifestyle, er affords me time to ease into it. best of both worlds. i'm a lucky dog. woof.

 

[dumpster56]

I am 50 and the northeast part of the usa is just not what I want anymore. In addition the job in Newark, well stinks, the mortgage is well 200,000 too much and the fact that the possiblity that when this place sells hey we have had 4 showings this weekend and positive feedback so maybe its sells sooner than later at somewhere near 520,000 and then I move to a warm clim and free and clear of a mortgage.

I am a nice person and quite frankly my wife is my best friend and my grown kids are married and will visit me.

Then again I could even visit them.

 

[HFWR]

I'm surprised that the rest of you say that as if you haven't already done your own!

I'm not looking for a job... but there appears to be the potential here for quite a bit of lifestyle-consulting moneymaking. 

If you turn this into your full-time business, you're welcome.  In lieu of a licensing fee, I'd appreciate it if you'd donate .01% of your profits to Habitat for Humanity in my name.

It's one thing to design the experiment, another to actually find the "solution'...

 

[Gone4Good]

I was thinking about a drastic lifestyle change just today. The fact is, I need to work the next three years just to afford the cost of living in my area. Just adding up my expected insurance costs, taxes, electric, and telephone comes to $31,000 per year . . . and I haven't even eaten yet. For all that money I'm living in a 1,000 sqf condo. I could retire tomorrow if I wanted to move to some place cheaper. I'm not sure I do and I would hate to make a radical lifestyle change just to quit a little early. It is tempting though.