A few years back, we were hiking in Switzerland when one of our children pointed out how much fun it was to hike as a family. By then, we had established an annual routine of a week-long summer trip. Although we enjoyed visiting cities and all that they offered, hikes were usually the highlight of our travels.
During that vacation, we revisited the topic of hiking and our passion for traveling, when someone mentioned that some people choose to travel full-time after retirement. As our kids were still teenagers, traveling full-time was, at best, a distant dream, but the idea very much appealed to Tammi and me. A seed was planted.
After returning home, we kept revisiting the thought. It seemed too distant a goal from our life then – two kids years from finishing their education, a house in the suburbs with all its related trappings, a dog, our jobs, and so on. Yet, we said to ourselves, if this is what we really want, we could and should work toward it. Just as we had worked on managing our careers, we needed a plan to wind down our careers, an exit strategy. After all, this was going to be the biggest career change ever!
The best time to do this, we felt, would be when our financial responsibilities were fewer and more predictable. That certainly meant waiting until the kids’ college expenses were tackled. But many other big questions needed to be answered:
- When would we have enough of a nest egg to retire?
- What would we do with the house?
- What would we do about healthcare if we retire before medicare kicks in?
- What would our daily, monthly, and yearly life look like in retirement?
and many other big and small questions.
It would take us a few years to get answers to these questions in order to feel confident enough to take the plunge.
Next: Getting ready to retire – A multiyear project