I have been asked a couple of times now, ‘what does it take to ‘retire’? Well I am not a retirement guru but I do have a few thoughts about this topic now that I am living through it. BTW – I prefer the term of being ‘on recess’ vs retired.

Most folks seem to be looking for some magical minimum $ number they need to have to step away from work life. Hello, there is none! Retiring is largely not about money. I suggest that before you get any ‘older’ you should be asking yourself some questions. What do you want from life? What do you want from retirement? What, Where, How, with whom…. These are big picture questions that you can then drill down to more specifics. If you don’t know what you want or where you are going, before you know it you end up at the wrong place and at the wrong time.

I now believe that anyone/everyone can ‘retire’. Yes that is an overly general statement but if you really want to you CAN retire on just Social Security (SS), maybe not just where and how you want. I know of people who retired and are living on SS with a decent standard of living and as good or even better healthcare than they had before. These folks may not be living in Miami but are living in places like Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, etc… Wonderful places but maybe not just what you may have had in mind. Maybe you need to broaden your view of life?

Being in a position to retire really comes down to deciding what you realistically want and working towards it. There are many options for living well and affordably all over the USA as well as many other places in the world. How much money you need to retire comes into play only after you decide what you want and then you put in a plan to reach those desires. Yes you need to be realistic but it doesn’t hurt to push your dreams. Do you know what it cost to fund that lifestyle you decided on? Are you willing to do what you need to do or go where you need to go to attain and afford your desired lifestyle? Sure $5M in IRAs/Pension will set you up in a nice condo in Miami but this is not realistic for many and also may not be what you want. If the beach is what you want, a condo on the beach in Mexico can be had for much less. Some folks want to golf 365 days/yr. Yes that will take a much larger nest egg and generally a lot more work to attain. Some want a small cabin in Arkansas or Pennsylvania or villa in Ecuador. These can be had for a much smaller pot of gold. What is important to you? You need to know what retirement means to you and adjust your plans accordingly.

How soon do you want to retire? I will tell anyone that they should save all and any they can. Save until it hurts and then save more. The sooner you can finance your dreams and desires the sooner you will reach your goal but first you need to know what those dream and desires are. Also remember, more $$ isn’t always better if in the process of getting more money you trade your health, family, etc…you lost, not gained

Maybe if I walk through my own personal thought process you can see better what I mean. Over the years I have found that I really love a warm sunny beach. We had our best vacation times at beaches. I have always wanted to live at/on a very warm sunny beach. Walking on the beach has always refreshed my spirit, renewed my drive, strengthened my faith, and made me feel healthier and happier. So living at or near a warm sunny beach was high on the list.

We had many friends migrating to Arizona, Palm Desert, Eastern Washington but none of those places fit the three keys of Beach (a real one-not a lake or pond), tons of sun, and never cold. Those other places were just not on our radar. We both also want to do some traveling.

Another thing I looked at over the years was work-life. Though I have had a number of great experiences, leadership/management in the Information Technology world, like some other fields, beats the hell out of ya. Lots of hours and some tremendous stress, believe me it takes its toll. As time went on this influenced one of my other goals. I wanted to stop working as early as possible as long as I was able to meet my other objectives. I wanted to still have time to enjoy life while still having my health and sanity to enjoy it. I know way to many people who worked, worked, worked only to die a year or three after retiring or retiring because they now needed hip and knee replacements or the stress possibly impacted an even more severe illness. I myself never understood those that said they ‘love’ their work and want to do it as long as they can. I am not saying they are not genuine but I myself never knew or felt that. In general, I wasn’t having fun working and I wanted to have time to have years of adventures while still able to enjoy them.

Summary of dreams/desires:

Live on/near a sunny and warm beach.

Reach the point of not having to work as early as possible.

Travel and have some fun

Do all this while still healthy and sane.

So where did that bring me? Through a lot of planning, sacrifice, and time we believed we were on track to meet these goals by the retirement age of 60-62-ish. This was our magic age. Most of our finances were locked up in IRA’s, Social Security, and even later some pension that we couldn’t begin tapping until then. Well at age 56 I found myself in a transition from one job and looking to find another. I had some great prospects and possibly the easiest thing would have been to continue with the ‘devil that I knew’ – a job. As we looked at the doors that just closed and those possibly opening we considered our goals and desires that we had been discussing and said we can and will do what we need to do to make retirement happen now vs 4-5 years later. What allowed us to make a change sooner was a number of years of extra savings over and above the regular ’stuff’. We built up a cash savings of first emergency funds and then grew that to a larger safety net. I know some cannot do that and you may need to rely on just a normal retirement age and your 401K/IRA/SS but that is OK. Just maximize your contributions all you can. Have a plan and work it.

With the buffer of our extra savings we were able to leave the job market sooner than planned. These were our goals/dreams. You need to know your goals/dreams. So far our ‘recess’ has brought us to living on a tropical beach where it is sunny and hot 365 days/yr. It truly is an adventure, some exciting and some frustrating. Long term we plan on living in Southern Florida but we also have more travels on our horizon.

Timing of events in your life is important. If I had to I would have stayed with our original plan and worked 3-5 more years but things came together nicely for us the last couple of years. Not only did we find ourselves faced with an opportunity for change but also both our children became established and independent. We decided on a travel adventure starting with Panama. How long will we be here? Well we think probably from a year to 3 but as one of our friends here says “every week I sit on my balcony overlooking the ocean and ask myself where do I want to be. For the life of me, at this time, there is nowhere else I can think I would rather be. When there is, then I will go”.

Long story short – just about anyone can ‘retire’ it just depends on what you want. You need to know and own what you want in your life, at least the big picture, and then do all you can to get there while you navigate the bumps, bruises, and adventures of life. Once you know that picture you will figure out what you need and when you can retire including the finances.

We make no bones about it, we have been truly blessed as well as having some good luck but luck is 99% preparation and it took some sacrifice and hard work. But you can make your dreams come true also if you just know what they are.

As always, comments are welcome

RB