What will retirement (ideally) look like for you?

[hbomdiggity]

H and I have started to really consider what we want in retirement so we can set some goals and work towards them.

Up until now it’s been just save $$ for retirement. But now it’s not the actual money numbers, but how we will use it - where will we live and what will you do.

I am having trouble giving him an answer of what I want. I don’t necessarily want to stay in our current city (moved here for work and it’s fine, but not in love with it). And exactly where may also be impacted by here our only kid DS ends up.

I like the idea of buying land with view and eventually building a home on it. But that would likely be in a completely different area of the country - do we want to “start over” socially and in a small town which may make meeting people more difficult? But if so, then what if we look to buy the land sooner rather than later and actually enjoy it/be in the community before actually retiring.

[lolalolalola]

We will definitely be snowbirds. So downsize our current home and buy a second small home somewhere warm. We will probably live close to our kids and /or grandkids when the time comes.

[fryjack2]

Our retirement goals and what we have mapped out hasn't changed much in the 12 years we have been married. H probably won't retire till his late 70s as he loves what he does and has no desire to retire. I have no idea what I will be doing in 10 years, let alone 30, but I won't be working till I'm 70

We will most likely still have our primary residence here, but will move back to the heart of the city when the kids are out of college.
We will have a place in NYC in the next 2-6 years.
We will have a home on the water somewhere between here and NYC at some point. Probably not until our kids are out of high school as we prob wouldn't use it much with school and sports until then.
I want to spend more time sailing. So will want to have my own sailboat when we have a beach house.

The rest of life will probably look a lot like our current non retirement life. We travel, are active in local charities, host our friends, see live music and shows, etc. We will just continue to do that.

[steamboat185]

I’m planning to retire at 41 or 42 and kids will be in K and 3rd grade. The current plan is to travel when the kids are out of school. I don’t picture us selling our house for a while, but I have no idea where we will be when we are in our 60’s.

[wildrice]

I honestly don't know. I think my current dream, which I think H is on board with, is to retire abroad, maybe to multiple places (i.e. live somewhere for a few years and then move on). But I don't know how realistic that is from an immigration perspective and if we'd have to stay put if we moved anywhere.

As of now (almost 38 so hopefully 22-28 years until retirement) we don't have any geographic ties to anywhere. We like where we live but I don't see us retiring here (it's one of the worst states to retire in, anyway). We don't have kids so we won't have to factor that in. My parents will hopefully still be around by the time we retire but they'll be in their mid to late 80's so I'm not sure we'll want to base our long term plans on them. I kind of doubt we'll still be living where we live now until retirement, so I guess I can't say for sure what kind of long term social roots we'll have established by that point. I think in my perfect world we'd live here another 10 years or so, then move somewhere and stay put there until we retire. But who knows.

Honestly this is giving me a little anxiety, lol. I'm excited about the idea of H and I moving abroad and doing whatever we want, but that heavily relies on us both being here and happy and healthy and that kind of thing isn't within my control. It concerns me a little to have such a lack of social support built in as we age. It's fine having casual friends locally and close friends/family far away now when we're young and healthy, but I don't know what we'll do if we need other people someday or if god forbid one of us dies and the other is left behind. I feel like those circumstances are best when you have people you are close to nearby, but we're not currently setting our lives up that way.

[scout8]

Feb 18, 2020 21:43:06 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I honestly don't know. I think my current dream, which I think H is on board with, is to retire abroad, maybe to multiple places (i.e. live somewhere for a few years and then move on). But I don't know how realistic that is from an immigration perspective and if we'd have to stay put if we moved anywhere.

As of now (almost 38 so hopefully 22-28 years until retirement) we don't have any geographic ties to anywhere. We like where we live but I don't see us retiring here (it's one of the worst states to retire in, anyway). We don't have kids so we won't have to factor that in. My parents will hopefully still be around by the time we retire but they'll be in their mid to late 80's so I'm not sure we'll want to base our long term plans on them. I kind of doubt we'll still be living where we live now until retirement, so I guess I can't say for sure what kind of long term social roots we'll have established by that point. I think in my perfect world we'd live here another 10 years or so, then move somewhere and stay put there until we retire. But who knows.

Honestly this is giving me a little anxiety, lol. I'm excited about the idea of H and I moving abroad and doing whatever we want, but that heavily relies on us both being here and happy and healthy and that kind of thing isn't within my control. It concerns me a little to have such a lack of social support built in as we age. It's fine having casual friends locally and close friends/family far away now when we're young and healthy, but I don't know what we'll do if we need other people someday or if god forbid one of us dies and the other is left behind. I feel like those circumstances are best when you have people you are close to nearby, but we're not currently setting our lives up that way.

We will most likely move abroad for retirement. Mostly because we want to retire in our mid 50s and the only way that will be financially feasible is for us to move somewhere cheaper. From my research, it seems like it will be pretty easy to have a social life/find close friends if you move to an area with a lot of expats. Since pretty much everyone is a recent transplant and most are retired with time, it seems like there are a lot of social events to meet people. 

[aprilsails]

Ideally we would downsize to one of the bungalows on our street when the kids move out (there is a ratio of 10 bungalows to 1 two storey house so we are definitely outnumbered). If our kids, grandchildren, niblings and siblings are still in the area (pretty likely) I am certain we will stay here.

We plan to buy a cottage on a lake 1hr West of our house in about 15 years. Currently we have access to my parents cottages, but at that time they will likely be getting rid of them. They are smaller and don’t have much bedroom space, and while I don’t mind sleeping on a blow up mattress now, that will change at some point. We plan to purchase a larger cottage and share with my Sister. This has been discussed with all parties (totally helpful when your sister marries your husband’s good friend).

Otherwise we would ideally go on one longer international trip a year (4-5weeks). I would love to have a sailboat, but would also be satisfied with a small one at the cottage and crewing on ladies night at the yacht club.

I do have concerns about what will be required for us in terms of caring for our parents. My MIL has been retired for 10 years now and has never travelled farther than California for up to two weeks since she carried the burden of elder care for her family. Her Father recently passed and was the last in his generation to do so. Now that she could finally travel at 65, her blood pressure is a disaster and is not responding stably to medication so she can not obtain health insurance coverage if she leaves Canada. As DH and I are the eldest children (and likely the most financially stable) on both sides of the family I worry this will happen to us.

[mbcdefg]

I don’t want to leave NJ. I’d like a Shore house.

MH wants to move somewhere with lower taxes. He’s a teacher so his retirement plan is a little more concrete than mine - my last job was my longest, at almost 7 years. He’s open to a Shore house but said he might prefer a lake house.

Three of our parents were all forced into early retirement due to illness, and my dad and his mom died in their early 50s from cancer (his dad died in his 70s, a decade after heart problems forced him to unwillingly retire) ... frankly, if we even get to the age where we can retire as a happy choice, I’ll be satisfied.

[sadlebred]

I have no idea, but it won't be anywhere cold. I could see me downsizing where I am now and being a snowbird in Tuscon, AZ as I love it there. I might buy a small condo or rent something for the winter.

[wildrice]

Feb 18, 2020 21:51:43 GMT -5 scout8 said:

Feb 18, 2020 21:43:06 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I honestly don't know. I think my current dream, which I think H is on board with, is to retire abroad, maybe to multiple places (i.e. live somewhere for a few years and then move on). But I don't know how realistic that is from an immigration perspective and if we'd have to stay put if we moved anywhere.

As of now (almost 38 so hopefully 22-28 years until retirement) we don't have any geographic ties to anywhere. We like where we live but I don't see us retiring here (it's one of the worst states to retire in, anyway). We don't have kids so we won't have to factor that in. My parents will hopefully still be around by the time we retire but they'll be in their mid to late 80's so I'm not sure we'll want to base our long term plans on them. I kind of doubt we'll still be living where we live now until retirement, so I guess I can't say for sure what kind of long term social roots we'll have established by that point. I think in my perfect world we'd live here another 10 years or so, then move somewhere and stay put there until we retire. But who knows.

Honestly this is giving me a little anxiety, lol. I'm excited about the idea of H and I moving abroad and doing whatever we want, but that heavily relies on us both being here and happy and healthy and that kind of thing isn't within my control. It concerns me a little to have such a lack of social support built in as we age. It's fine having casual friends locally and close friends/family far away now when we're young and healthy, but I don't know what we'll do if we need other people someday or if god forbid one of us dies and the other is left behind. I feel like those circumstances are best when you have people you are close to nearby, but we're not currently setting our lives up that way.

We will most likely move abroad for retirement. Mostly because we want to retire in our mid 50s and the only way that will be financially feasible is for us to move somewhere cheaper. From my research, it seems like it will be pretty easy to have a social life/find close friends if you move to an area with a lot of expats. Since pretty much everyone is a recent transplant and most are retired with time, it seems like there are a lot of social events to meet people. 

That makes me feel a little better Do you have any specific places you are looking at to retire abroad? I haven't even gotten that far, but I hope that a lower cost of living will help us retire sooner too. We are behind (especially by MM standards) but I'll be sad if we do have to work until 65, and I basically refuse to entertain the idea of working longer than that!

I do love the idea of having a community of retired people who can all hang out and be there for each other!

[farmvillelover]

H is done in a few years but I plan to work until I mentally/physically can't (so long as it's still lucrative).

We love our town and the goal is to stay here most of the time. Ideally, we'd have the $ to travel a lot, and to bring our kids (and their families if they have one) with us as they are able to join.

I know I want a lot of time with family, friends, eating out, shopping, and just enjoying my freedom.

[fernweh]

H had property in the northern part of our state in the woods that he would like to build a small home on and retire there. I’m not opposed to it in general but the northern part of our state gets A LOT of snow so I’m not sure I’m onboard with it. If he really wants to live up there we might have to be snowbirds

[scout8]

wildrice,we will likely retire to somewhere in central Mexico, but I'm not sure exactly where yet. Guanajuato, San Miguel, Lake Chapala are a few possibilities.

We know that we want to go somewhere in Latin America because we both speak some Spanish already. I also like the idea of being in the same time zone and not having to travel too far from the US. In addition to Mexico, we've also considered Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama, but they will be harder for us to get legal status. Many countries require you to show proof of monthly income from a pension or social security. Since we plan to retire early, we will be living off of our assets and won't be able to show regular, monthly income. (There may be ways to work around this, but I haven't spent much time figuring it out). Mexico allows you get to get legal status by showing assets so it seems to work best for our situation.

I've enjoyed reading International Living magazine. There are usually several articles written by people living abroad, talking about their lifestyle, experiences, budget, etc.

[Mrs.flang]

We haven't settled on anything together. I think DH wants to move some place warmer. I would be into that too, but I also think our decisions will be impacted by where our kids wind up. I don't think I'll want to be far from them! If we could do a snowbird arrangement I think that might be ideal. I think ideally it would be in a retirement type community with social stuff built into it. Honestly at this phase of our lives with young kids, we don't have much of a social circle at all so it's hard to imagine that holding us back. We are where we are because we grew up here and family is here and have never lived anywhere else!

I know we're "on-track" for retirement according to a few calculators but I have no idea where that will actually put us in terms of how old we'll be, if we'll be able to possibly buy a second home, travel, etc. so it's all still very unknown!  It sure is still fun to think about though.

[Covergirl82]

We bought 45 acres near where my parents (and a few generations before them) came from. Ideally we'll build a small house and retire there, but I'd like to have a condo near where our kids are. I'm hoping to either take a pause in my career while the kids are in high school, or work part time where I have a very flexible schedule, and then go back full time when the kids are in college (or whatever they do after high school). DH and I would like to retire when I'm about 55 and he's 57 (which is 18 years away). Outside of that, we haven't thought about it too much.

I did just take a new job that has a better employer match and also 401k profit sharing in an effort to build up my retirement savings (because I'm admittedly a little behind).

[carmenere]

@@@
I'm torn between wanting to stay in our family home vs. moving near our kid(s) (if we have them, and have a good relationship). As a kid I absolutely loved visiting my grandparents in my mom's childhood home, and I know it meant a lot to her and her sisters, but after my Papa passed my Grandma struggled to keep up with the house. On the flip side, having family very near means a lot to H and his siblings and parents and logistically makes life so much easier for SIL, and I'd like to be able to do that for our kid(s) even if it means moving.

If we decide not to do either of those things, my criteria for where to live is access to large city amenities and healthcare facilities, no expectation of major natural disasters, and mild weather, so I'd be perfectly happy to stay in metro Atlanta or move somewhere else in the south with a lower COL.

H and I disagree about when we want to retire. He wants to retire as early as possible; I'd rather work longer and save more $$ to travel and do other fun stuff in retirement.

[ohgillian]

I don't know and I get nervous thinking about it. I'm worried I'm going to be bored and at a loss. I know that this makes me sound like a boring person, lol.

[flygirl]

I have no desire to have two houses to maintain so I just want enough $ to be able to escape the cold for the month of January. I think we’ll also decide what to do once our kid is grown and lives somewhere permanently.

[k3am]

There is very little chance that our kids will be able to afford living and raising a family here. I'm currently trying to begin brain washing them to move somewhere that they can live within an hour of each other and we'll move there.

DH enjoys working. I do not. I have it mapped out that I can probably retire around the time DS finshes college around 55-56, but by "retire" I really mean find something I enjoy more that probably pays less and/or just has less hours. And you know that for all the work I've put into it, my spreadsheet probably isn't going to be 100% accurate in reality, so it's all really a TBD

[melmel48]

Feb 18, 2020 22:24:42 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

I have no idea, but it won't be anywhere cold. I could see me downsizing where I am now and being a snowbird in Tuscon, AZ as I love it there. I might buy a small condo or rent something for the winter.

I was hoping you would retire up here with me in Boston! 

[melmel48]

I don't even see myself being able to retire...I have no idea; I haven't even thought about it because needing to always work is a real possibility for me if I stay single. I don't want to stay single, but who knows when/if I will meet someone. I am doing my best to prepare myself for retirement, I just don't know if it will be possible.

[illgetthere]

I intend to stay in the same area but not within the city limits as there is a definite premium here for the schools. Sell the house and downsize. I doubled my travel budget for retirement and won't have kids along, so that should allow a little bit of slow travel. I would love to cut back on my hours when my youngest reaches middle school then fully retire by 62, but the other option is continue full time then retire in my early 50s.

[illgetthere]

Feb 19, 2020 9:57:57 GMT -5 flygirl said:

I have no desire to have two houses to maintain so I just want enough $ to be able to escape the cold for the month of January. I think we’ll also decide what to do once our kid is grown and lives somewhere permanently.

My family is from Michigan, and my grandparents rented a little condo on the gulf for Jan and Feb every year. They stayed in the same one and made friends down there that they vacationed with for a decade

[mlkgls]

I am in decent shape for retirement, assuming my health and ability to work stay the same. 

I’ve seen firsthand how my parents’ own retirement is consumed by doctor’s visits and procedures and I am hoping to avoid that, but we’ll see. My current plan is to work until 60-62ish and re-evaluate or work part time until Medicare eligibility. 

In a perfect world I would then have unlimited free-time to devote to all the activities or hobbies I’ve been putting off until someday...I am secretly an 80 year old woman. I want to learn to knit, craft, and bake all day. 

[SusanBAnthony]

Feb 19, 2020 9:57:57 GMT -5 flygirl said:

I have no desire to have two houses to maintain so I just want enough $ to be able to escape the cold for the month of January. I think we’ll also decide what to do once our kid is grown and lives somewhere permanently.

This is us exactly.

I want to go south but not own two places.

I'll also consider moving wherever our kids end up.

We have the added consideration that one of our children is disabled and may need ongoing support. If that is the case we may want to buy a duplex or house with a MIL apartment, or something.

We plan to retire fairly early and travel more. But we haven't run the numbers because we are far enough out that even just the single variable of what health insurance will look like is totally unknown.

[mrsukyankee]

It really depends on climate change and immigration laws when we retire. We'd love to buy a seaside place in Portugal and live there part-time and London part-time. If we aren't able to do that, we'll just stay in London as it's a great place to retire (at least right now with free bus travel and free healthcare - we'll see if the Tories destroy England before I'm 60). We will, most likely, stay in our house and make it into two flats, so we'll live on the ground floor so we have the yard.

[aspentosh]

Well, I am no longer working have no plans to go back to work, lol. But for H, now 38, we are hoping he'll be done in his late 50s. DD will go to college in 10 years and be, possibly, out of the house forever.

I would love to retire overseas, but that would be under the assumption that we could still see our DD a lot (either going to her or her coming to us). I imagine we'd have to pay her way for awhile.

Ultimately my goals are to travel a lot and see my kid a lot. Having lived overseas I see how much easier it is to travel when you're living in a locale that promotes easy and cheap transportation.

We live in a HCOL area now and I don't necessarily want to stay here, and definitely not in our big house. We're here now for H's job and because we're close to family, which are the needs/wants we have right now. I grew up in this area and it's fine, but it's become so overcrowded and traffic is just insane. And they continue building. But I refuse to move somewhere that is all white and has no culture. I can't do it.

So location is still elusive. Warmer more than cold. But we both enjoy hiking and being in nature, so neither of us want to live in a huge city where there is no green space. He's talked about buying acreage that we can build on for one house and another in a warmer climate but that just seems like so much. I dunno.

[lightbulbsun]

I would love to move internationally, but it really depends on climate change over the next 25ish years. I admit that I'm very fatalistic about climate change, and I definitely believe we (globally) will be living much differently when I am ready to retire. I'm still saving for retirement, but we're also making changes to our current home to make it more resilient and self-sufficient.

[jamaicam]

I have no idea. It really depends on when my boys end up - if they (or even one of them) are in Jamaica, I'd stay here forever but if they both end up somewhere else (UK possibly) then I may well move there. My parents are amazing grandparents and I'd love to be able to pay that forward to my kids if they have kids.

[Velar Fricative]

All I know is I'm not going anywhere warmer than NYC. I hate hot weather and I fear due to climate change that the traditional retirement places down south will be even more unbearable for someone like me who prefers winter.

I think it will all depend on where our kids end up. But we would likely downsize our home wherever we are.