Semi retired lifestyles

[bigpoppa]

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I know a bunch of people on here are living non traditional lifestyles, many who dont have regular traditional jobs(anymore) or are semi retired and/or spend a significant amount of time travelling around(@J_F for example) , so I thought I would create a thread where you could possibly share your experience, and what you like to do(go to florida every winter like every snowbird or something different?), how like you it etc

I personally like the idea of working and living in the summer up here in canada and spending the winter months travelling or living in the southern US or latin america once im old enough and the mortgage has been paid off ,the kid is old enough and doing their thing etc

 

[Trials]

where's the part where you ride

 

[bigpoppa]

where's the part where you ride

that part is a given

 

[Lightcycle]

Not sure what your profession is, but if you can somehow finagle doing it remotely, it'll give you a lot of flexibility and mobility if extended travel is your interest.

If you can't swing it, then do what I did:

Marry rich.

 

[hdsomeday]

Good luck with that. Plans change, people change, jobs change, kids change, countries change, health changes.......

If you really want to do it, do it NOW...then rethink everything after.

 

[ToSlow]

I’m not a rich man but i managed to get my work schedule down to 6mths a yr

Stil make a good six figure income, doing what i do.

I’m not wishing my life away. But Can’t wait till i say goodbye to to work world completely

 

[Lightcycle]

Good luck with that. Plans change, people change, jobs change, kids change, countries change, health changes.......

If you really want to do it, do it NOW...then rethink everything after.

Might be difficult when there are kids involved.

Just speculating...

 

[sburns]

Not sure what your profession is, but if you can somehow finagle doing it remotely, it'll give you a lot of flexibility and mobility if extended travel is your interest.

If you can't swing it, then do what I did:

Marry rich.

Ballers on here....

 

[ToSlow]

If your refrigerator breaks and you need to take a loan to replace it then you’re not in a position for semiretirement, I see this on a continuous bases from some families that are not in a good place. And it’s sad because the family families work hard and are barley making ends meet,

 

[Roadghost]

Been thinking of cashing in my chips and just leaving for Costa Rica or something. Ride all the dangerous routes at a leisurely pace. My kids all grown up. I own everything with no debts. Just stoking it away for another couple years then I'm done.

I really do feel for the young working class generation. Between kids, low-wage non-union jobs, high rents/housing prices and governments with no sympathy it's a really bad situation.

 

[ReSTored]

Been thinking of cashing in my chips and just leaving for Costa Rica or something. Ride all the dangerous routes at a leisurely pace. My kids all grown up. I own everything with no debts. Just stoking it away for another couple years then I'm done.

I really do feel for the young working class generation. Between kids, low-wage non-union jobs, high rents/housing prices and governments with no sympathy it's a really bad situation.

+1. I think if you're starting out now (i.e. 20 - 35 years old) that with all things being equal you're going to have a much tougher time of it, financially, than your parents did.

If you're retired or semi retired there are compelling reasons for not dumping everything and heading of to warmer less expensive climes; your own parents in their 80's or 90's, your children and, especially, your grandkids.

 

[Malks]

I retired 9 years ago at age 56. Wasn't really thinking of it at the time but a downsizing incentive made the decision easy. I was fortunate that I worked where there was a good company pension plan so after 38 years of service I took the leap and retired. I should have done it five years earlier.

My wife and I travel once a year and spend most of our time close to home so we can see our grandson. During riding season the weekdays are great to get a couple of hours in on some favourite short loops. Over the winter I ski! There is more time to get to those home improvements and no deadline to get it done over a weekend. You will actually wonder how you had any time to do anything when you were working five-days-a-week. The laid-back lifestyle is great, think of every day like a Saturday, but with fewer crowds.

I do work a couple of days a week at a golf / ski resort in order to have complimentary golf in the summer and skiing in the winter. Well that was until Covid hit and now I'm just sitting around the house doing puzzles.

 

[Brian P]

I still have to work some in order to not go stir crazy, and so that I don't have to dip into savings to pay the bills. The target is 3 days a week, but sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes a week of half-days is just fine.

Prior to covid, the plan was to take one vacation every year for two weeks to somewhere else in the world.

 

[shanekingsley]

I look forward to reading this post in 10 or 15 years and seeing how things play out!

Currently I'm 46 and my wife is 45. I hope my wife will retire or at least go part time by 55, since my salary can support us both and she's worked physically hard up til now. I could retire earlier than 65 if I'm willing to take the hit on my pension, which might happen because we have made some good/lucky investments. At least we both love our jobs. It also helps that the real estate market in Toronto has been amazing for investors these past 15 years, where in the last 8 years alone, our current rental condo and house have each more than doubled in value.

We currently have zero debt asides from our primary mortgage and live a very simple life. Keys to financial security means some level of diversified income sources. For me this starts with a good pension since I'm lazy. For my wife who is self-employed, she has a healthy RRSP and investment portfolio which she can retire on at 55 if she chooses. Also OAS and CPP will help for each of us. If our current plan holds, by the time I'm 55 we will have our house paid off, two income properties paid off (rental condos) and a cottage. If we stay on track for what we are doing now, we will start selling off of our real estate investments and spend it once one of us retires.

We love backpacking and travelling to interesting locations. We try to do this 1-2x a year and expect to continue this every year. I love long distance motorcycle riding, so I will be fortunate to continue this beyond 70. We eat healthy (both vegetarians), exercise a fair bit, do yoga, ride motorcycles, drink alcohol and smoke weed. As a horticulturist by trade, I have a large vegetable and native pant garden and would like to pursue growing organic cannabis for medicinal purposes. We have both volunteered a fair bit, so I expect that to resume and I will go back to teaching motorcycle riding again and my wife will go back to teaching yoga again. Or we decide to foster children and that becomes our primary focus. As much as we like to stay busy - we try to maintain a healthy life balance.

Hope you all have your best years ahead and and very fruitful 2021

 

[Klaatu]

I still have to work some in order to not go stir crazy, and so that I don't have to dip into savings to pay the bills. The target is 3 days a week,

That's what I have decided on, 3 days a week. I find that to be perfect for me. I'm 65 and could fully retire, but I really like my job. Most of my friends that I ride with, are younger, so there are only a couple of friends that can ride during the week. Before COVID I would always take 2 vacations, one in Jan and one in Feb. I think I would get bored if I retired completely, well maybe not during riding season.
My plan in the next year or two is go south for all of Jan and Feb. Those are the only 2 months that I really hate.

 

[crankcall]

I've been semi retired for years, but they still pay me a fulltime salary, such is the beauty of sales jobs. Internet connection and a cell tower and i'm at work, different times zone take some management. In the past few years I've worked from Italy, Tahiti and bora bora, Peru, several states. Its about a job that's mobile. My core customer base usually know when I'm going to be MIA and mostly make allowances for my delayed response times.
My biggest challenges now are finding a dog sitter if Ms. Crankcall wants to come along. 10 day cruise is easy, its a month in the south Pacific thats harder to manage.
Kids live away, both left home before 25 (their choice! LOL) for careers of their own.

 

[Mad Mike]

+1. I think if you're starting out now (i.e. 20 - 35 years old) that with all things being equal you're going to have a much tougher time of it, financially, than your parents did.

If you're retired or semi retired there are compelling reasons for not dumping everything and heading of to warmer less expensive climes; your own parents in their 80's or 90's, your children and, especially, your grandkids.

I disagree with hard time beating your parents. It was hard for people born in the 60's and 70's to beat their parents, that gen saw recessions, inflation, and the demise of well paying union jobs, I think it's easier today -- providing one is prepared to make the same sacrifices and invest the same effort into work as did their parents.

My kids are 29, 26, and 24 all single. The older 2 are debt free, earn 6 figures and have a decent asset cushions. The youngest finishes her second degree in April with <$15K student debt. She has a six figure club job waiting for her.

They work hard, paid their student debts with summer income, enjoy their lives but live conservatively with respect to accommodations, cars, vacations and entertainment. They are all on track for Freedom 50 as are some of their of their friends. Many of their friends are not on that path, despite earning decent money, spending $1000+ a month on cars, $5K a year on vacations and hundreds a week on UBER eats has them living paycheque to paycheque.

 

[ReSTored]

My kids are 29, 26, and 24 all single. The older 2 are debt free, earn 6 figures and have a decent asset cushions. The youngest finishes her second degree in April with <$15K student debt. She has a six figure club job waiting for her.

It was a general statement, and accurate I think.

Are there exceptions? Of course there are. Are your kids, i.e. under 30 and all in 6 figure jobs with zero or minimal debt, typical or representative of the average under 30 person? Hardly.

 

[Mad Mike]

I've been semi retired for years, but they still pay me a fulltime salary, such is the beauty of sales jobs. Internet connection and a cell tower and i'm at work, different times zone take some management. In the past few years I've worked from Italy, Tahiti and bora bora, Peru, several states. Its about a job that's mobile. My core customer base usually know when I'm going to be MIA and mostly make allowances for my delayed response times.
My biggest challenges now are finding a dog sitter if Ms. Crankcall wants to come along. 10 day cruise is easy, its a month in the south Pacific thats harder to manage.
Kids live away, both left home before 25 (their choice! LOL) for careers of their own.

Same here, sort of.

When I sold my business I kept a small share which pays me a monthly dividend. After I sold it I retired -- did some hobby stuff and finished a few projects. I found it to be way too boring as my wife continued her career and all my friends were still working. After 3 years I took a really easy job - big company, great perks, 35 hour work week, 25+ days off a year, no people to manage, no travelling. I made a deal with my self that if I woke up 5 days in a row and didn't want to go to work -- game over. After 6 years I'm still happy, and now I have 45 days off a year.

Now we spend our 100% of our paychecks because we can.

I have zero interest in travel, I think 25 straight years of airports and hotels sucked the joy out of travel for me - the only travel I enjoy now is with 150hp between my knees.

 

[Mad Mike]

It was a general statement, and accurate I think.

Are there exceptions? Of course there are. Are your kids, i.e. under 30 and all in 6 figure jobs with zero or minimal debt, typical or representative of the average under 30 person? Hardly.

Maybe not, but it's certainly not out of reach for a young person who plans their career. Without thinking to hard, here are a few professions my kid's friends are in -- are those kids are in the 100K club:

Nursing, policing, software coding, solution sales, teacher, dental hygienist, electrician, crane operator, heavy equipment technician (I love this one -- the kid supervises onsite building of cranes, his title is Erection Master), real estate sales, mortgage broker.

It's really not that hard - pick a profession that pays well then get educated to do the work.

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