Spinoff: What kind of retirement do you want? Lifestyle, expenses, etc.

bmo88 · November 2015

This is somewhat related to MM as it relates to your money saving goals. In general, what kind of retirement are you hoping and planning for?

Age Desired at Retirement
Living Situation/Location
Hobbies/Activities
Travel Plans
% of pre-retirement income
Work/Volunteer Situation
Other:

I will go first:

Goal Age for Retirement: 60 for me, 62 for DH
Living Situation/Location: Live in a mortgage free home, probably in Colorado (where we are now) and have a property in the mountains
Hobbies/Activities: DH will probably still golf/frisbee golf, I will probably continue doing random classes (cooking, art, photography, etc), spend more time with family and friends
Travel Plans: Probably continue our once a year big vacation somewhere and do short, local trips throughout the year
% of pre-retirement income: Our goal is to live off of 60% of pre-retirement income; we have a high income now and very low expenses. This will obviously depend on our mortgage situation and health expenses though
Work/Volunteer Situation: Would like to volunteer weekly or monthly with some of our favorite organizations. Also, probably maintain some kind of fun, part-time job to have a little extra income and stay busy

jessica490 · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement- Haven't really thought about it yet as we are 33,, but early would be nice!

Living Situation/Location- We hope to be living down south (Carolina's/Florida), maybe in a small house or condo

Hobbies/Activities-H will be golfing a lot, and we will be lounging by the beaches/pools, reading/scrapbooking..who knows what else I'll be into at that age lol.

Travel Plans- One big trip per year and smaller ones in between

% of pre-retirement income- Not sure

Work/Volunteer Situation- Maybe a part-time job? But otherwise no thanks

julieanne912 · November 2015

Haven't really thought exactly... but our house will be paid off when I'm 63 and H is 62, so anytime after that.
Living Situation/Location - either stay where we are in our paid off house, or move to Wyoming where the cost of living is a bit less and buy a property with cash. There's also a chance we'd inherit his dad's cabin home in Pinedale so that would work too, but H has a sister so who knows there, not really banking on having that. This question also depends on if our hypothetical kid has hypothetical kids, and where they live.
Hobbies/Activities - Outdoorsy stuff
Travel Plans - Not sure... probably will have a 5th wheel, so places we could go there?
% of pre-retirement income - Again not sure... this has many factors, but I think we could get by on 40-50% of our current income, just because we won't have debt by then.
Work/Volunteer Situation - I'd probably like to work something small and part time, just cause I worry I'd get bored, volunteering would be fine too. I think H would be fine with never working ever again haha.
Other: Not to be morbid here, but health issues are an issue with our retirement planning. H has Crohn's disease, so his life expectancy isn't as good. Now, he could be fine, but we do have the reality of he may not make it that far. My own dad died at 52 also so I'm super sensitive to that. So I focus on making sure at least my stuff is in order, and that I know what's going on with all the finances.

cbee817 · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement: 55 for me (that would be 33 years with current employer), probably 57 for DH (25 years with current employer and 32 years with NYSTRS- state teacher retirement system)
Living Situation/Location: It depends on where our girls are really, but DH wants a townhouse. We would have our current home paid off at the point for 15 years when DH is ready to retire (we have 10 years left on a 15 year mortgage and that's if we stay at our current house), so it should be easy to buy something with a large DP or in full from the sale of the house.
Hobbies/Activities: I quilt/sew so I would want a dedicated sewing space. DH golfs occasionally. He would probably want an office/library and a small workshop in the basement.
Travel Plans: All over really- it depends on where we go with the girls as they grow up. It also depends on where they live, if grand kids are around, etc.
% of pre-retirement income: not sure
Work/Volunteer Situation: I would work part time- I'm not sure if DH would. We really liked volunteering at our city animal shelter before the girls arrived so that might be fun to start again.
Other: The biggest factor for us is where the girls are- we want to be relatively close to them or be able to visit them frequently. They say that they're going to live on either side of our current house so we're all together- I wish it could be true!

hoffse · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement - Probably 50-60. H might never retire, I will probably retire early.
Living Situation/Location - We think we want to live on a lake or golf course with the house paid for. Maybe a vacation property as well (in Florida or Tennessee so we don't pay state income taxes). Other days I just want a small condo so there's less maintenance.
Hobbies/Activities - Music, art, travel. I could see getting really into photography. I've always dabbled in it, but I've never had the time to take a class and really learn about it.
Travel Plans - After our round-the-world cruise (it IS going to happen), we would probably look to travel 3-4 months out of the year until we're tired of it. I actually get a 3-month sabbatical every 15 years of work at my job, and if I stay here we might travel for that length of time during my first sabbatical to see how we like it. We would do more of a "slow travel" type thing where we base ourselves in one location for 1-2 weeks before moving on. No more whistle stop tours after a certain age.
% of pre-retirement income - This will depend on what we are making when we retire. Right now, 50% would be plenty, because we spend more than that on taxes, debt, and retirement contributions.
Work/Volunteer Situation - I am more likely to volunteer. H is more likely to keep working.

Mustard76 · November 2015

Age Desired at Retiremet
- 57 for H. There comes a point when it's unsafe for him to continue to work. Unless he promotes high enough to no longer be in the field, he'll go at 57. I plan to work until at least 60, making H 63 then.

Living Situation/Location
- Definitely mortgage free. If our home isn't paid off by the time I'm 60, I will work until it is. I can't imagine that it won't be paid off by then, and that's certainly the plan. But anything can happen.

Hobbies/Activities
- Who knows. H has mentioned getting a PT job at a gun shop or will work on the range. For me, it's anyone's guess.

Travel Plans
- Nothing solid. We just hope to be able to go wherever we want, whenever we want.

% of pre-retirement income
- 50% will be more than enough, provided our overall situation doesn't change too much.

Work/Volunteer Situation
- I would love to volunteer. I don't see myself working PT or anything. I'd like to have time wide open, since right now we have exactly zero flexibility in our schedules.

als1982 · November 2015

Most of my answers come with contingencies.

Age Desired at Retirement: Me, ideally in my 40s, but definitely by 50. H loves to work, and is a technology field, so I could see him working past 60.
Living Situation/Location: Our goal is to have our current home paid off in the next 3-5 years. Then if we have kids, we'll re-evaluate moving to a larger home. If no kids, then we'll probably stay here. Eventually, we would also like to have at least one domestic (likely Florida, since H has college connections there) and if possible, one international vacation home (either Spain or New Zealand are our current top choices).
Hobbies/Activities: Travel, reading, working out and spending time with friends and family.
Travel Plans: Lots of extended trips and round the world cruises.
% of pre-retirement income: I'm not really sure about this... We have pretty lofty lifestyle expectations for retirement (much more luxurious than our current lifestyle), so I'm guessing pretty close to 100% of where we're at right now, if not more.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I'd like to drop down to part-time or at least a less stressful job in 10-15 years. In my 50s/60s, I wouldn't mind working a retail job for the socialization.
Other: Our hope that my maximizing our savings and debt payoff now, we are putting ourselves in the best position to possibly retire early. Or, if we keep working, we can do that because we want to - not because we have to. Freedom and flexibility are our ultimate goals.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement: 55 for me, 65 for H. He would actually like to retire at 60-62, but since he didn't really prioritize retirement up until recently, he's behind on savings. However, I have pretty huge income growth potential over the next 20 years, so it could be a lot more feasible for him to retire as we get closer to that point; we'll just have to see.

Living Situation/Location: We have two options. Option 1)Stay where we are now in the same house, but purchase a condo or beach house in Hawaii or California to get away to in the winter. Option 2)Move to central California but keep our current house as a rental. We are leaning towards option 2--I'll expand on the reasoning in 'other' below. Our current mortgage will be paid off 10 years from now.
Hobbies/Activities: Painting, baking, cooking for me; hunting for H until he physically can no longer hunt. Then he has lots of ideas for retirement, such as writing a book, training dogs, making whiskey....whatever

Travel will be a huge hobby for us.
Travel Plans: 3-4 vacations per year, not including small weekend trips. We really want to be able to go whenever/wherever without worrying about if we can afford it or trying to get the time off. Probably several cruises, and bucket list items to visit every state, MLB stadium, etc.
% of pre-retirement income: For planning purposes, we are calculating it at 70%; however, I think we will get by on significantly less than that.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I do a lot of volunteering now, so I think I'd probably keep pretty busy volunteering. H definitely would not want to work

We would like to purchase 1 or 2 investment properties to generate passive income in retirement. This might happen when I'm in my 40s.
Other: I am currently 33 and H is 47. We do consider our age difference whenever we make retirement plans. The reason we are probably leaning towards moving somewhere warm is because that is the climate I prefer, and also we live in a rural area where there is a serious lack of high-quality senior care. I want to live somewhere so that when I'm elderly and alone, after H has passed, that I can still live an active, fulfilling life and receive excellent care. I don't feel that I will be able to do that here.

julieanne912 · November 2015

dragonstarjk said:

Age Desired at Retirement: 55 for me, 65 for H. He would actually like to retire at 60-62, but since he didn't really prioritize retirement up until recently, he's behind on savings. However, I have pretty huge income growth potential over the next 20 years, so it could be a lot more feasible for him to retire as we get closer to that point; we'll just have to see.
Living Situation/Location: We have two options. Option 1)Stay where we are now in the same house, but purchase a condo or beach house in Hawaii or California to get away to in the winter. Option 2)Move to central California but keep our current house as a rental. We are leaning towards option 2--I'll expand on the reasoning in 'other' below. Our current mortgage will be paid off 10 years from now.
Hobbies/Activities: Painting, baking, cooking for me; hunting for H until he physically can no longer hunt. Then he has lots of ideas for retirement, such as writing a book, training dogs, making whiskey....whatever Travel will be a huge hobby for us.
Travel Plans: 3-4 vacations per year, not including small weekend trips. We really want to be able to go whenever/wherever without worrying about if we can afford it or trying to get the time off. Probably several cruises, and bucket list items to visit every state, MLB stadium, etc.
% of pre-retirement income: For planning purposes, we are calculating it at 70%; however, I think we will get by on significantly less than that.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I do a lot of volunteering now, so I think I'd probably keep pretty busy volunteering. H definitely would not want to work We would like to purchase 1 or 2 investment properties to generate passive income in retirement. This might happen when I'm in my 40s.
Other: I am currently 33 and H is 47. We do consider our age difference whenever we make retirement plans. The reason we are probably leaning towards moving somewhere warm is because that is the climate I prefer, and also we live in a rural area where there is a serious lack of high-quality senior care. I want to live somewhere so that when I'm elderly and alone, after H has passed, that I can still live an active, fulfilling life and receive excellent care. I don't feel that I will be able to do that here.

I grew up in Central CA (Visalia, and mom now lives in Clovis)... some towns are nice, some are not so much. And it's HOT there in the summer... not just warm. The healthcare there isn't that great either, unless you're in Fresno/Clovis. It's also very expensive to fly anywhere from there unless you make the 4 hour drive to LA or 3 hours to Bay Area. Just something to consider

bmo88 · November 2015

julieanne912: All of my family lives in Central CA. My sister goes to college at Fresno Pacific University and my family lives in Hanford (just south of Fresno) and Lemoore area!

I fly there every Christmas from Denver and for the first time last year, I managed to get a plane ticket for $225 round trip because Frontier started flying direct from Denver to Fresno. Otherwise, I have to fly to LA or San Jose.

brij2006 · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement Between 50 and 60
Living Situation/Location Probably in the area we currently live in, but we won't be here all the time. We want a home on the Lake of the Ozarks.
Hobbies/Activities Traveling for me, tinkering with cars for H
Travel Plans Everywhere. We want to drive up and down both coasts.
% of pre-retirement income We will probably plan to pull more than we're currently making, just so we can travel a lot and own a home on the lake. But I think we could make it just fine on our current income. But health insurance will probably kill us.
Work/Volunteer Situation We will likely retire around 50, but still work doing something we love.
Other: We will take over the family farm at some point, so depending on how and when that happens, will determine when we retire. We aren't sure yet whether or not we will just become farm landlords or will physically work the land and manage the operation.

short+sassy · November 2015

Goal Age for Retirement: 50 for me, 60 for DH. My H is 10 years older than me, so we would retire at the same time.
Living Situation/Location: Live in a mortgage free home, probably in NOLA. Have a cabin in Tahoe (or similar locale) to live in, in the summer. Have at least half of my rental investments paid off.Hobbies/Activities: Hmm...not sure. Maybe get a doctorate in History (not sure of specific study).Travel Plans: Big vacay 1-2x/year. Short, local trips throughout the year.% of pre-retirement income: 100% pre-retirement income. I already live with fairly low expenses and I don't see them going down at all just because I "retire".Work/Volunteer Situation: Manage my investment rentals though, if I'm really doing well, I'll hire that out. I hope to still have my current p/t job and I would keep doing that. Keep doing my occasional mystery shopping and any other easy/good pay opps that come along.

In a nutshell, retirement for me is not necessarily to stop working...but it is working just for myself and to stop working for a company, to not have the majority of my income dependent on outside forces.

julieanne912 · November 2015

bmo88 said:

julieanne912: All of my family lives in Central CA. My sister goes to college at Fresno Pacific University and my family lives in Hanford (just south of Fresno) and Lemoore area!

I fly there every Christmas from Denver and for the first time last year, I managed to get a plane ticket for $225 round trip because Frontier started flying direct from Denver to Fresno. Otherwise, I have to fly to LA or San Jose.

Frontier pulled those direct flights...we were so bummed out because now it's back to the expensive United/Delta flights with connections.

My dad actually grew up in Corcoran (pre prison days) and was born in Hanford

orangehills · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement- early 60s probably. i just can't imagine myself retired. i'd get bored. would have to volunteer or something!
Living Situation/Location- in the house we just bought. it's a perfect retirement home, and it'll be paid off by then!
Hobbies/Activities- i guess maintaining the house.. seeing family/friends. doing some volunteer work.
Travel Plans- some. i'm not a huge traveler. i enjoy it, but i'm a homebody. so a couple trips a year, but not crazy expensive fancy ones. we aren't far from the Pacific Ocean, so I see lots of little trips to b&bs. but we don't want to own a vacation home anywhere.
% of pre-retirement income- 60% prob will be more than enough. we won't have nearly as many bills, just health insurance. i work for the state so technically it's supposed to be paid for, but i doubt that will still be a thing when the time comes.
Work/Volunteer Situation- I don't want to keep working after, but I'm down for volunteering and helping with grandkids if there are any.

orangehills · November 2015

julieanne912 said:

Haven't really thought exactly... but our house will be paid off when I'm 63 and H is 62, so anytime after that.
Living Situation/Location - either stay where we are in our paid off house, or move to Wyoming where the cost of living is a bit less and buy a property with cash. There's also a chance we'd inherit his dad's cabin home in Pinedale so that would work too, but H has a sister so who knows there, not really banking on having that. This question also depends on if our hypothetical kid has hypothetical kids, and where they live.
Hobbies/Activities - Outdoorsy stuff
Travel Plans - Not sure... probably will have a 5th wheel, so places we could go there?
% of pre-retirement income - Again not sure... this has many factors, but I think we could get by on 40-50% of our current income, just because we won't have debt by then.
Work/Volunteer Situation - I'd probably like to work something small and part time, just cause I worry I'd get bored, volunteering would be fine too. I think H would be fine with never working ever again haha.
Other: Not to be morbid here, but health issues are an issue with our retirement planning. H has Crohn's disease, so his life expectancy isn't as good. Now, he could be fine, but we do have the reality of he may not make it that far. My own dad died at 52 also so I'm super sensitive to that. So I focus on making sure at least my stuff is in order, and that I know what's going on with all the finances.

this. my dad died at 55. so we have life insurance and i'm involved with the finances. this is why i want to make sure the future is ok, but i also don't want to not live life now because i'm obsessing over retirement when i or my husband may not make it to that point. i mean, you never know! hopefully it's not the case. but i just want to enjoy now too. i guess i'm overly concerned for that aspect since seeing that happen to my parents.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

julieanne912 said:

dragonstarjk said:

Age Desired at Retirement: 55 for me, 65 for H. He would actually like to retire at 60-62, but since he didn't really prioritize retirement up until recently, he's behind on savings. However, I have pretty huge income growth potential over the next 20 years, so it could be a lot more feasible for him to retire as we get closer to that point; we'll just have to see.
Living Situation/Location: We have two options. Option 1)Stay where we are now in the same house, but purchase a condo or beach house in Hawaii or California to get away to in the winter. Option 2)Move to central California but keep our current house as a rental. We are leaning towards option 2--I'll expand on the reasoning in 'other' below. Our current mortgage will be paid off 10 years from now.
Hobbies/Activities: Painting, baking, cooking for me; hunting for H until he physically can no longer hunt. Then he has lots of ideas for retirement, such as writing a book, training dogs, making whiskey....whatever Travel will be a huge hobby for us.
Travel Plans: 3-4 vacations per year, not including small weekend trips. We really want to be able to go whenever/wherever without worrying about if we can afford it or trying to get the time off. Probably several cruises, and bucket list items to visit every state, MLB stadium, etc.
% of pre-retirement income: For planning purposes, we are calculating it at 70%; however, I think we will get by on significantly less than that.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I do a lot of volunteering now, so I think I'd probably keep pretty busy volunteering. H definitely would not want to work We would like to purchase 1 or 2 investment properties to generate passive income in retirement. This might happen when I'm in my 40s.
Other: I am currently 33 and H is 47. We do consider our age difference whenever we make retirement plans. The reason we are probably leaning towards moving somewhere warm is because that is the climate I prefer, and also we live in a rural area where there is a serious lack of high-quality senior care. I want to live somewhere so that when I'm elderly and alone, after H has passed, that I can still live an active, fulfilling life and receive excellent care. I don't feel that I will be able to do that here.

I grew up in Central CA (Visalia, and mom now lives in Clovis)... some towns are nice, some are not so much. And it's HOT there in the summer... not just warm. The healthcare there isn't that great either, unless you're in Fresno/Clovis. It's also very expensive to fly anywhere from there unless you make the 4 hour drive to LA or 3 hours to Bay Area. Just something to consider

All good info to have! H went to college in San Luis Obispo and also UC Davis; he spent 15 years in Cali and has a lot of family there that we visit regularly. So we are somewhat familiar with the state, but will definitely need to know this kind of stuff when it comes to picking out where we want to end up! We did the central California coast for part of our honeymoon and I totally fell in love with Cambria, so that's my top choice. Of course, that's having zero knowledge of what it would be like to actually live there

My grandma has been in a couple of different nursing homes here locally and they are very basic; there are very little options for healthcare where we live currently. On the flip side, H's grandpa is in a nursing home in Corona, CA and seeing the difference in the way they are treated and the opportunities they have is really startling.

julieanne912 · November 2015

dragonstarjk said:

julieanne912 said:

dragonstarjk said:

Age Desired at Retirement: 55 for me, 65 for H. He would actually like to retire at 60-62, but since he didn't really prioritize retirement up until recently, he's behind on savings. However, I have pretty huge income growth potential over the next 20 years, so it could be a lot more feasible for him to retire as we get closer to that point; we'll just have to see.
Living Situation/Location: We have two options. Option 1)Stay where we are now in the same house, but purchase a condo or beach house in Hawaii or California to get away to in the winter. Option 2)Move to central California but keep our current house as a rental. We are leaning towards option 2--I'll expand on the reasoning in 'other' below. Our current mortgage will be paid off 10 years from now.
Hobbies/Activities: Painting, baking, cooking for me; hunting for H until he physically can no longer hunt. Then he has lots of ideas for retirement, such as writing a book, training dogs, making whiskey....whatever Travel will be a huge hobby for us.
Travel Plans: 3-4 vacations per year, not including small weekend trips. We really want to be able to go whenever/wherever without worrying about if we can afford it or trying to get the time off. Probably several cruises, and bucket list items to visit every state, MLB stadium, etc.
% of pre-retirement income: For planning purposes, we are calculating it at 70%; however, I think we will get by on significantly less than that.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I do a lot of volunteering now, so I think I'd probably keep pretty busy volunteering. H definitely would not want to work We would like to purchase 1 or 2 investment properties to generate passive income in retirement. This might happen when I'm in my 40s.
Other: I am currently 33 and H is 47. We do consider our age difference whenever we make retirement plans. The reason we are probably leaning towards moving somewhere warm is because that is the climate I prefer, and also we live in a rural area where there is a serious lack of high-quality senior care. I want to live somewhere so that when I'm elderly and alone, after H has passed, that I can still live an active, fulfilling life and receive excellent care. I don't feel that I will be able to do that here.

I grew up in Central CA (Visalia, and mom now lives in Clovis)... some towns are nice, some are not so much. And it's HOT there in the summer... not just warm. The healthcare there isn't that great either, unless you're in Fresno/Clovis. It's also very expensive to fly anywhere from there unless you make the 4 hour drive to LA or 3 hours to Bay Area. Just something to consider

All good info to have! H went to college in San Luis Obispo and also UC Davis; he spent 15 years in Cali and has a lot of family there that we visit regularly. So we are somewhat familiar with the state, but will definitely need to know this kind of stuff when it comes to picking out where we want to end up! We did the central California coast for part of our honeymoon and I totally fell in love with Cambria, so that's my top choice. Of course, that's having zero knowledge of what it would be like to actually live there
My grandma has been in a couple of different nursing homes here locally and they are very basic; there are very little options for healthcare where we live currently. On the flip side, H's grandpa is in a nursing home in Corona, CA and seeing the difference in the way they are treated and the opportunities they have is really startling.

I would live on the central coast in a second... that's where we would vacation when I was a kid... Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Pismo. I have no idea what the healthcare options are there though, although I would guess SLO has a decent hospital at least.

It's funny I was just having a conversation with H's mom about the sad state of senior care in Wyoming. His grandma is right on the edge of being self sufficient and needing some help, but there's pretty much only one assisted living/nursing home in Rock Springs, and it sucks. His mom said they'd rather just hire someone to help her out than put her in any kind of assisted living there. I also know when H was a kid and first started having issues with Crohn's, he almost died because the local hospital didn't know what to do with him. He didn't start improving until his parents finally took him to Salt Lake 3 hours away, and lived in their camper in their parking lot while he was in the hospital.

That's why I'm not sure we could ever fully retire up there. H thinks it's a great idea because he loves it there now, but I dunno... depending on how we are health wise, might just be better to stay put in Colorado.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

julieanne912 said:

dragonstarjk said:

julieanne912 said:

dragonstarjk said:

Age Desired at Retirement: 55 for me, 65 for H. He would actually like to retire at 60-62, but since he didn't really prioritize retirement up until recently, he's behind on savings. However, I have pretty huge income growth potential over the next 20 years, so it could be a lot more feasible for him to retire as we get closer to that point; we'll just have to see.
Living Situation/Location: We have two options. Option 1)Stay where we are now in the same house, but purchase a condo or beach house in Hawaii or California to get away to in the winter. Option 2)Move to central California but keep our current house as a rental. We are leaning towards option 2--I'll expand on the reasoning in 'other' below. Our current mortgage will be paid off 10 years from now.
Hobbies/Activities: Painting, baking, cooking for me; hunting for H until he physically can no longer hunt. Then he has lots of ideas for retirement, such as writing a book, training dogs, making whiskey....whatever Travel will be a huge hobby for us.
Travel Plans: 3-4 vacations per year, not including small weekend trips. We really want to be able to go whenever/wherever without worrying about if we can afford it or trying to get the time off. Probably several cruises, and bucket list items to visit every state, MLB stadium, etc.
% of pre-retirement income: For planning purposes, we are calculating it at 70%; however, I think we will get by on significantly less than that.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I do a lot of volunteering now, so I think I'd probably keep pretty busy volunteering. H definitely would not want to work We would like to purchase 1 or 2 investment properties to generate passive income in retirement. This might happen when I'm in my 40s.
Other: I am currently 33 and H is 47. We do consider our age difference whenever we make retirement plans. The reason we are probably leaning towards moving somewhere warm is because that is the climate I prefer, and also we live in a rural area where there is a serious lack of high-quality senior care. I want to live somewhere so that when I'm elderly and alone, after H has passed, that I can still live an active, fulfilling life and receive excellent care. I don't feel that I will be able to do that here.

I grew up in Central CA (Visalia, and mom now lives in Clovis)... some towns are nice, some are not so much. And it's HOT there in the summer... not just warm. The healthcare there isn't that great either, unless you're in Fresno/Clovis. It's also very expensive to fly anywhere from there unless you make the 4 hour drive to LA or 3 hours to Bay Area. Just something to consider

All good info to have! H went to college in San Luis Obispo and also UC Davis; he spent 15 years in Cali and has a lot of family there that we visit regularly. So we are somewhat familiar with the state, but will definitely need to know this kind of stuff when it comes to picking out where we want to end up! We did the central California coast for part of our honeymoon and I totally fell in love with Cambria, so that's my top choice. Of course, that's having zero knowledge of what it would be like to actually live there
My grandma has been in a couple of different nursing homes here locally and they are very basic; there are very little options for healthcare where we live currently. On the flip side, H's grandpa is in a nursing home in Corona, CA and seeing the difference in the way they are treated and the opportunities they have is really startling.

I would live on the central coast in a second... that's where we would vacation when I was a kid... Cayucos, Cambria, Morro Bay, Pismo. I have no idea what the healthcare options are there though, although I would guess SLO has a decent hospital at least.

It's funny I was just having a conversation with H's mom about the sad state of senior care in Wyoming. His grandma is right on the edge of being self sufficient and needing some help, but there's pretty much only one assisted living/nursing home in Rock Springs, and it sucks. His mom said they'd rather just hire someone to help her out than put her in any kind of assisted living there. I also know when H was a kid and first started having issues with Crohn's, he almost died because the local hospital didn't know what to do with him. He didn't start improving until his parents finally took him to Salt Lake 3 hours away, and lived in their camper in their parking lot while he was in the hospital.

That's why I'm not sure we could ever fully retire up there. H thinks it's a great idea because he loves it there now, but I dunno... depending on how we are health wise, might just be better to stay put in Colorado.

Yeah pretty much everything you said about WY healthcare seems to be the same. A LOT of people travel to Billings, MT for healthcare, and yeah, most people I know that have chronic/serious illnesses have to travel to either Salt Lake City or Denver. There are only a few senior living facilities, and like I said, they are all very basic.

julieanne912 · November 2015

orangehills said:

julieanne912 said:

Haven't really thought exactly... but our house will be paid off when I'm 63 and H is 62, so anytime after that.
Living Situation/Location - either stay where we are in our paid off house, or move to Wyoming where the cost of living is a bit less and buy a property with cash. There's also a chance we'd inherit his dad's cabin home in Pinedale so that would work too, but H has a sister so who knows there, not really banking on having that. This question also depends on if our hypothetical kid has hypothetical kids, and where they live.
Hobbies/Activities - Outdoorsy stuff
Travel Plans - Not sure... probably will have a 5th wheel, so places we could go there?
% of pre-retirement income - Again not sure... this has many factors, but I think we could get by on 40-50% of our current income, just because we won't have debt by then.
Work/Volunteer Situation - I'd probably like to work something small and part time, just cause I worry I'd get bored, volunteering would be fine too. I think H would be fine with never working ever again haha.
Other: Not to be morbid here, but health issues are an issue with our retirement planning. H has Crohn's disease, so his life expectancy isn't as good. Now, he could be fine, but we do have the reality of he may not make it that far. My own dad died at 52 also so I'm super sensitive to that. So I focus on making sure at least my stuff is in order, and that I know what's going on with all the finances.

this. my dad died at 55. so we have life insurance and i'm involved with the finances. this is why i want to make sure the future is ok, but i also don't want to not live life now because i'm obsessing over retirement when i or my husband may not make it to that point. i mean, you never know! hopefully it's not the case. but i just want to enjoy now too. i guess i'm overly concerned for that aspect since seeing that happen to my parents.

Exactly. And, this doesn't really apply to anybody here since it seems we're all pretty involved in our finances, but my mom joined a support group after my dad passed and she said it was so sad that most of the women in the group knew nothing about their financial affairs, their husbands had handled it all. Like, some didn't even know their bank account numbers. Thankfully, my mom always handled everything, including all of the bookkeeping for my dad's business, so she wasn't in that situation. So I will always been involved in H's finances, even if we never actually combine fully. I don't want to be helpless if he passed.

One thing we've been working on is planning a bit MORE for the future. H's health has always meant he just spends when he feels like it. He's gotten so much better about it. It also helps him to see that his dad is in his early 60s and not in great health, and still has to work his ass off, and probably will til he dies, because he just spends spends spends and doesn't save anything.

I think there can be a happy medium between enjoying life now and freaking out so much about retirement that you can't enjoy life now.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

julieanne912 said:

orangehills said:

julieanne912 said:

Haven't really thought exactly... but our house will be paid off when I'm 63 and H is 62, so anytime after that.
Living Situation/Location - either stay where we are in our paid off house, or move to Wyoming where the cost of living is a bit less and buy a property with cash. There's also a chance we'd inherit his dad's cabin home in Pinedale so that would work too, but H has a sister so who knows there, not really banking on having that. This question also depends on if our hypothetical kid has hypothetical kids, and where they live.
Hobbies/Activities - Outdoorsy stuff
Travel Plans - Not sure... probably will have a 5th wheel, so places we could go there?
% of pre-retirement income - Again not sure... this has many factors, but I think we could get by on 40-50% of our current income, just because we won't have debt by then.
Work/Volunteer Situation - I'd probably like to work something small and part time, just cause I worry I'd get bored, volunteering would be fine too. I think H would be fine with never working ever again haha.
Other: Not to be morbid here, but health issues are an issue with our retirement planning. H has Crohn's disease, so his life expectancy isn't as good. Now, he could be fine, but we do have the reality of he may not make it that far. My own dad died at 52 also so I'm super sensitive to that. So I focus on making sure at least my stuff is in order, and that I know what's going on with all the finances.

this. my dad died at 55. so we have life insurance and i'm involved with the finances. this is why i want to make sure the future is ok, but i also don't want to not live life now because i'm obsessing over retirement when i or my husband may not make it to that point. i mean, you never know! hopefully it's not the case. but i just want to enjoy now too. i guess i'm overly concerned for that aspect since seeing that happen to my parents.

Exactly. And, this doesn't really apply to anybody here since it seems we're all pretty involved in our finances, but my mom joined a support group after my dad passed and she said it was so sad that most of the women in the group knew nothing about their financial affairs, their husbands had handled it all. Like, some didn't even know their bank account numbers. Thankfully, my mom always handled everything, including all of the bookkeeping for my dad's business, so she wasn't in that situation. So I will always been involved in H's finances, even if we never actually combine fully. I don't want to be helpless if he passed.

One thing we've been working on is planning a bit MORE for the future. H's health has always meant he just spends when he feels like it. He's gotten so much better about it. It also helps him to see that his dad is in his early 60s and not in great health, and still has to work his ass off, and probably will til he dies, because he just spends spends spends and doesn't save anything.

I think there can be a happy medium between enjoying life now and freaking out so much about retirement that you can't enjoy life now.

This is so true. I have so many customers who are at a total loss when their husbands pass away. Some people who have never even set foot in the bank or written a check. It's totally heart-breaking. Side note--I work at a bank that has been in existence in some form since the early 1900s. I still find old account sig. cards once in awhile that were signed by Mr. John Doe and Mrs. John Doe. The wives' names were not important since the bank account was really considered their husbands' money. Craziness.

Xstatic3333 · November 2015

I will preface this by saying that I have a really hard time imagining my life in retirement the way most of you do. Saving enough feels like such a tough goal that while I continue to throw money into our accounts, it doesn't feel "real" to me. With that said, I'll take a stab at it.

Age Desired at Retirement: In a perfect world mid-50s, but I'm not sure that's realistic for us.
Living Situation/Location: We will continue to live in New England. H will not negotiate on this. We will have a paid for house, perhaps even our current house. If we do ever move, it would probably be to a few acres in the nearby countryside so we could have chickens and goats.
Hobbies/Activities: Travel, gardening, hiking, volunteering, and hopefully grandkids! Diving if I'm blessed to still be able to at retirement age. Fostering/rescuing a few dogs.
Travel Plans: I'd love to travel a few times a year if we can. We might have a small Cape Cod house, or even just live there full time to be near the ocean. I really will always travel as much as I can afford it-I can't get enough of it.
% of pre-retirement income: Yikes, probably our full current income (which is hopefully less then our pre-retirement income) will do it.
Work/Volunteer Situation: National Wildlife Refuges provide a lot of fun, productive volunteer positions for retirees and that's something we'd both love to pursue. I'd love to teaching diving as long as I'm able, but most instructors retire in their mid-60s if they feel themselves starting to get forgetful. It's a big responsibility and I won't teach if I'm not mentally 100%.
Other: I'm in the camp of a few others here that while I will save what I need to for a responsible, comfortable, dignified retirement, I'm not willing to sacrifice our life now for an extremely wealthy retirement. I've seen too many people in my family die or have health changes in their late 50s and early 60s, and I want to take advantage of the time that H and I have together, young, and in good health. H being a little older than me weighs on my mind too.

als1982 · November 2015

orangehills said:

julieanne912 said:

Haven't really thought exactly... but our house will be paid off when I'm 63 and H is 62, so anytime after that.
Living Situation/Location - either stay where we are in our paid off house, or move to Wyoming where the cost of living is a bit less and buy a property with cash. There's also a chance we'd inherit his dad's cabin home in Pinedale so that would work too, but H has a sister so who knows there, not really banking on having that. This question also depends on if our hypothetical kid has hypothetical kids, and where they live.
Hobbies/Activities - Outdoorsy stuff
Travel Plans - Not sure... probably will have a 5th wheel, so places we could go there?
% of pre-retirement income - Again not sure... this has many factors, but I think we could get by on 40-50% of our current income, just because we won't have debt by then.
Work/Volunteer Situation - I'd probably like to work something small and part time, just cause I worry I'd get bored, volunteering would be fine too. I think H would be fine with never working ever again haha.
Other: Not to be morbid here, but health issues are an issue with our retirement planning. H has Crohn's disease, so his life expectancy isn't as good. Now, he could be fine, but we do have the reality of he may not make it that far. My own dad died at 52 also so I'm super sensitive to that. So I focus on making sure at least my stuff is in order, and that I know what's going on with all the finances.

this. my dad died at 55. so we have life insurance and i'm involved with the finances. this is why i want to make sure the future is ok, but i also don't want to not live life now because i'm obsessing over retirement when i or my husband may not make it to that point. i mean, you never know! hopefully it's not the case. but i just want to enjoy now too. i guess i'm overly concerned for that aspect since seeing that happen to my parents.

My dad also died suddenly at 55. My mom has always said she was so very grateful that they were savers and had paid off their mortgage many years before he died. Because of this, she had a significant financial safety net that allowed her to focus on her grief and not worry about money.

simplyelise · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement- Right now I'm thinking early 60s. Although depending on what I'm doing, I might be inclined to just drop down to a part time receptionist sort of position around then and work for a little while longer.
Living Situation/Location- in our current town. I really hope we can skip the "starter house" phase and just buy one house that we stay in. But I only see that happening if we get a basement. Either way, in a modest house in our low-COL town. We love it here. It's a beautiful little oasis of progressives in the middle of our home state.
Hobbies/Activities- DH will golf a lot and I'd like to learn. I would LOVE to do woodworking and furniture building. And I'd like to write. We would also probably attend many of the university sporting events.
Travel Plans- We'd like to do several road trips in the US going to national parks and museums and battle fields. I'm thinking we would do an international trip every couple years for 2 or 3 weeks.
% of pre-retirement income- I think about 70% of our current income. We're not too far into our careers, so I think this might change once we have a better idea of our earning potential. Once we're debt free we will need to look at how much we need in retirement. It's so hard to imagine the radically different distribution of expenses during retirement!
Work/Volunteer Situation- It is already my dream to be on our local planning and zoning commission, but if I stay in the utility field I'd probably look to be on the utility advisory board. Our community is very civic-minded and I was involved with a lot of the local development efforts when I was in college here. I'd like to get back involved with those efforts at ending the cycle of poverty and assisting young mothers and encouraging achievement among minority students. Our schools also look for retirees to act as grandparent figures for the schools, helping with various programs and mentoring students. I'd really like to do something like that.

julieanne912 · November 2015

Xstatic3333 said:

I will preface this by saying that I have a really hard time imagining my life in retirement the way most of you do. Saving enough feels like such a tough goal that while I continue to throw money into our accounts, it doesn't feel "real" to me. With that said, I'll take a stab at it.

Age Desired at Retirement: In a perfect world mid-50s, but I'm not sure that's realistic for us.
Living Situation/Location: We will continue to live in New England. H will not negotiate on this. We will have a paid for house, perhaps even our current house. If we do ever move, it would probably be to a few acres in the nearby countryside so we could have chickens and goats.
Hobbies/Activities: Travel, gardening, hiking, volunteering, and hopefully grandkids! Diving if I'm blessed to still be able to at retirement age. Fostering/rescuing a few dogs.
Travel Plans: I'd love to travel a few times a year if we can. We might have a small Cape Cod house, or even just live there full time to be near the ocean. I really will always travel as much as I can afford it-I can't get enough of it.
% of pre-retirement income: Yikes, probably our full current income (which is hopefully less then our pre-retirement income) will do it.
Work/Volunteer Situation: National Wildlife Refuges provide a lot of fun, productive volunteer positions for retirees and that's something we'd both love to pursue. I'd love to teaching diving as long as I'm able, but most instructors retire in their mid-60s if they feel themselves starting to get forgetful. It's a big responsibility and I won't teach if I'm not mentally 100%.
Other: I'm in the camp of a few others here that while I will save what I need to for a responsible, comfortable, dignified retirement, I'm not willing to sacrifice our life now for an extremely wealthy retirement. I've seen too many people in my family die or have health changes in their late 50s and early 60s, and I want to take advantage of the time that H and I have together, young, and in good health. H being a little older than me weighs on my mind too.

This reminds me that I always thought it would be fun to be a campground host at a State or National Park. There's a stipend so you're getting paid to camp! So I'd like to add that to my list.

PurpleBookmark · November 2015

Age Desired at Retirement: DH will be 56 when he can retire with the top level of benefits, but I'm not sure when I want to retire. 60 at the earliest, dependent on health of course.
Living Situation/Location: There is a town north of us that we love and want to retire to. I'm not sure if we would own, rent or even buy a mobile home possibly.
Hobbies/Activities: I enjoy reading and walking so I of course want to continue those in my retirement. One of the perks of the town we like is it has an awesome library. My DH is into music but doesn't really spend a ton of money on that.
Travel Plans: I'd love to take any future grandkids to Disney World occasionally, we've always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise and maybe even a trip to Ireland.
% of pre-retirement income: I believe with DH's pension it's 60% but I'm not sure what my contribution will be.
Work/Volunteer Situation: I really want to work at least part-time at a job I love. I really do want to work at least a little as long as I'm able.
Other: It's kind of funny that we live so close to where we want to retire, we are maybe 30 minutes away currently. The issue is that DH's commute would go up to one hour each way if we did go there now. We still play with the idea though, it's where we would love to be, the schools are good and the area is affordable. If we did buy a home there then I would guess we would live there pretty much forever until we were no longer able to safely live on our own.

smerka · November 2015

I am so fascinated that no one said after 65 when Medicare kicks in. My full retirement age is 67 for SS. I think insurance premiums are going to be a strong factor for us. Our policy now costs around $20,000 a year when you factor in what the employer kicks in along with our premiums. That's even more than our mortgage now. And who knows what it will look like 20 years from now.

julieanne912 · November 2015

smerka said:

I am so fascinated that no one said after 65 when Medicare kicks in. My full retirement age is 67 for SS. I think insurance premiums are going to be a strong factor for us. Our policy now costs around $20,000 a year when you factor in what the employer kicks in along with our premiums. That's even more than our mortgage now. And who knows what it will look like 20 years from now.

It's sad, but I don't want to count on SS or Medicare. Great if it's there, but the way things are going, it's not looking good for those of us looking to retire in 30 years or so... especially for SS.

bmo88 · November 2015

smerka said:

I am so fascinated that no one said after 65 when Medicare kicks in. My full retirement age is 67 for SS. I think insurance premiums are going to be a strong factor for us. Our policy now costs around $20,000 a year when you factor in what the employer kicks in along with our premiums. That's even more than our mortgage now. And who knows what it will look like 20 years from now.

We are in a government pension plan, so no SSI. Provided the plan holds up (we will see) we can also purchase health insurance at a fairly affordable rate. We are actually planning to not have it available though, just in case. Obviously, it's impossible to know right now, but we are planning to the best of our ability.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

I base my retirement plan on no availability of SS; great if it's there, but I'm not going to bank on it. I have an HSA, so I'd like to get to where I'm fully funding it each year and then use that to bridge the gap between when I retire and when I am eligible for Medicare. I might also consider purchasing long-term care insurance in the event that one of might end up living an extended period of time in a nursing home, but I haven't done much research to know how that works.

hoffse · November 2015

We'll see if the tax laws change on it, but you can actually deduct your insurance premiums if it's not through an employer-sponsored plan and it accounts for more than 10% of your AGI. That currently weighs into the calculation for me for how much it will actually cost in real dollars. I don't think there's any question that medical/insurance will be our single largest line-item if we no longer have a mortgage in retirement.

I would also not be opposed to leaving the country and moving to some place where health care costs aren't astronomical. My H maintains his Belgian citizenship, so it would be fairly easy for us to move to the EU, because he could legally work without having to go through any red tape.

smerka · November 2015

I think that most people don't wind up getting back what they put into SS. It totally depends on how long you live. But for Medicare, poeple get back $3 for every dollar the put in.

Spinoff: What kind of retirement do you want? Lifestyle, expenses, etc.

Re: Spinoff: What kind of retirement do you want? Lifestyle, expenses, etc.

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