Good morning and welcome to my new page.
It has been a difficult year to get my writing mojo back to say the least. I have pondered many topics, but it left me sitting at my computer in a daze. It seemed nothing I attempted to write about panned out. I was truly stumped.
Suddenly it dawned on me...I had a big whopper to share!
My husband and I are in the midst of planning for our retirement. In as little as three years, we will be living on a much smaller income. The life as we know it will be no more in many ways.
Get set, ready, go....retirement will come!
We knew we had to make some life altering decisions now! Time was not on our side. We sat down and began to ask ourselves some really big questions!
1- What did we want our future to look like in our retirement years?
2-Did my husband want to continue to work in a stressful job for another 20 years?
3-What were we willing to give up to retire before 70?
4- Do we even share "common ground" in what we want for our future?
I read recently that over 80 percent of Baby Boomers are Not ready for retirement and have not been able to plan for it, much less retire. They will be working way past their 70's to just survive! They are left to care for their elderly parents, who are living much longer, and some adult children, who still live within their households. Some Boomers have become full time caregivers of their grandchildren due to unforeseen circumstances.
In all honesty...there are very few of us who will be sipping a lovely drink on the beach until the end of our days. Sooner or later, we all have to address some of these concerns in one form or the other.
Please know I am very sympathetic to those who have been dealt a whole different set of cards. These are hard times and many are struggling in their later years. This is one way we are attempting to gear up, hunker down, and attempt to ride out the rest of our days until life dictates another direction.
I always like to add to any plan...if the good Lord willing!
So... what are we Boomers to do???
I for one have always loved real-life tales! If I am to share the chronicles of our journey, I want the posts to be real, raw, and unfiltered. The most important aspect of sharing our journey is to offer pure honesty! Right or wrong...I am going to give it my best shot, thus my graceful intentions will apply.
Perhaps no one will find our plans to retirement fascinating and that is okay! I am just happy to be writing again. Maybe there may be aspects of our journey that will ring true with some contemplating the same idea. There will be those who have taken the same path and will be able to share some much needed advice with us and my readers.
For whatever reason you are reading this, I truly thank you. I hope you will find these upcoming post entertaining, informative, and maybe even motivating.
********************
I will now attempt to answer the very first question I presented!
What Do We Want Our Future to Look Like?
My husband and I are simple folk in many ways. We love to fish, camp, and just hang out together. We usually don't have to spend a lot of money to have a good time. There are many who think of retirement in terms of having lots of money. We however...just want to be comfortable and have our basic needs met. I mean who doesn't want the basic of human needs to be taken care of.
For me I don't want a lot of stuff! I have been reading about those who have taken the more "Minimalism" path. I truly admire them. This is one of the subjects I will address later. For my husband and I...this is one subject we struggle and differ about.
"If we do not have at least a half- a- mill in the bank we can’t retire!"
I am sure this mindset has been heard many times. If some folks want to continue to support a life style that they love and are accustomed too, this might be very true. Money is a big motivator to keep working in a high stress job way past retirement age. It is all about what one wants their future to look like! We all differ in what we envision!
If we want to keep that big, beautiful home we live in, we know what needs to be done to keep this beautiful home. If it is a fancy car, then we must keep truckin'! The old saying that nothing is free is totally true. It all comes down to what we want and value in this life.
This is our story.
When we began to think about retirement, it seemed like ions away. Before we knew it, it was closer than we thought. We began to consider so many things. We realized quickly we were not adequately prepared. Sadly we were late bloomers, as in realizing the need to prepare for retirement. We were too busy putting food on the table for our four, beautiful children, but in all honesty, we also were probably buying stuff we could have done without. There were material goods that we thought we needed, but ended up being things that we did not need at all! I could go out to my shed right now and find some of those items right now I bet!
Can I get an Amen?
Oh how I wish we could rewind time and would have made better financial decisions. But...you know...that's how we learn and through our up's and down's we have truly learned what is really important in life.
Contemplate and Reboot!
Have you ever had to reboot your contemplations?
We almost bought a mini farm in Missouri, but we decided against it. I have to say I went into a deep prayer mode on this one. One of us was much more excited and willing to delve in whole body. Who was I to stop a dream? I went with an open mind and heart, praying for wisdom. After contemplating...it was not the right decision. Thankfully, we both came to the same conclusion. Sometimes you just have to venture outside the box and take a peek. We had to weigh the pro's and con's!
For one...it was quite a ways from family. The weather was a bit colder for me. We both loved the warm weather pretty much all year round. We also considered that as we continue to age, there would be more concerns. Who would be there to do all the work needed on a farm? How far would we be from doctors and support? I am an early bird and my husband a night owl. I know without a doubt I would be the one to get up with the chickens every morning until I was at least 90 in the dead of winter! I'm just sayin' this was not quite what I was picturing in my retirement! Don't get me wrong there are many who love this life-style and would not have it any other way. That is why we each have to ask that one question? I will address many other reasons why we decided to stay in our home state as time goes on.
What do we want our future to look like?
We knew one thing and it rang loud and true! We wanted simple and a warm climate!
We love the coast and warm weather! We did not need a big house to care for! We wanted to be close enough to family in case of an emergency. We also wanted a place in which we could care for my parents in their later years. We needed a place in which my parents and grandchildren could come. These thoughts flooded our minds and honestly gave us a run for our money. No one can predict the future and many things have to be tweaked along the way. I do believe there is no harm in having some plans in place.
One day a light bulb went off and we knew after many years of debating, that we knew exactly what we wanted. There was only one place for us that would fit this scenario. We would move to South Texas and become fulltime Winter Texans. The more we thought about this, the more it fit all our ideals and dreams for the future! Being Texans already made this decision a little more easier. We truly have loved Texas! We ended up living in Texas via the military, and 20 plus years later, we are still planted in this beautiful state! I am happy that our retirement plans will keep our feet still within the boundaries of Texas!
So the decision is made...now what?
How are we going to get there?
Are we there yet?
Love and Hugs,
Kimmie
It has been a difficult year to get my writing mojo back to say the least. I have pondered many topics, but it left me sitting at my computer in a daze. It seemed nothing I attempted to write about panned out. I was truly stumped.
Suddenly it dawned on me...I had a big whopper to share!
My husband and I are in the midst of planning for our retirement. In as little as three years, we will be living on a much smaller income. The life as we know it will be no more in many ways.
Get set, ready, go....retirement will come!
We knew we had to make some life altering decisions now! Time was not on our side. We sat down and began to ask ourselves some really big questions!
1- What did we want our future to look like in our retirement years?
2-Did my husband want to continue to work in a stressful job for another 20 years?
3-What were we willing to give up to retire before 70?
4- Do we even share "common ground" in what we want for our future?
I read recently that over 80 percent of Baby Boomers are Not ready for retirement and have not been able to plan for it, much less retire. They will be working way past their 70's to just survive! They are left to care for their elderly parents, who are living much longer, and some adult children, who still live within their households. Some Boomers have become full time caregivers of their grandchildren due to unforeseen circumstances.
In all honesty...there are very few of us who will be sipping a lovely drink on the beach until the end of our days. Sooner or later, we all have to address some of these concerns in one form or the other.
Please know I am very sympathetic to those who have been dealt a whole different set of cards. These are hard times and many are struggling in their later years. This is one way we are attempting to gear up, hunker down, and attempt to ride out the rest of our days until life dictates another direction.
I always like to add to any plan...if the good Lord willing!
So... what are we Boomers to do???
I for one have always loved real-life tales! If I am to share the chronicles of our journey, I want the posts to be real, raw, and unfiltered. The most important aspect of sharing our journey is to offer pure honesty! Right or wrong...I am going to give it my best shot, thus my graceful intentions will apply.
Perhaps no one will find our plans to retirement fascinating and that is okay! I am just happy to be writing again. Maybe there may be aspects of our journey that will ring true with some contemplating the same idea. There will be those who have taken the same path and will be able to share some much needed advice with us and my readers.
For whatever reason you are reading this, I truly thank you. I hope you will find these upcoming post entertaining, informative, and maybe even motivating.
********************
I will now attempt to answer the very first question I presented!
What Do We Want Our Future to Look Like?
My husband and I are simple folk in many ways. We love to fish, camp, and just hang out together. We usually don't have to spend a lot of money to have a good time. There are many who think of retirement in terms of having lots of money. We however...just want to be comfortable and have our basic needs met. I mean who doesn't want the basic of human needs to be taken care of.
For me I don't want a lot of stuff! I have been reading about those who have taken the more "Minimalism" path. I truly admire them. This is one of the subjects I will address later. For my husband and I...this is one subject we struggle and differ about.
"If we do not have at least a half- a- mill in the bank we can’t retire!"
I am sure this mindset has been heard many times. If some folks want to continue to support a life style that they love and are accustomed too, this might be very true. Money is a big motivator to keep working in a high stress job way past retirement age. It is all about what one wants their future to look like! We all differ in what we envision!
If we want to keep that big, beautiful home we live in, we know what needs to be done to keep this beautiful home. If it is a fancy car, then we must keep truckin'! The old saying that nothing is free is totally true. It all comes down to what we want and value in this life.
This is our story.
When we began to think about retirement, it seemed like ions away. Before we knew it, it was closer than we thought. We began to consider so many things. We realized quickly we were not adequately prepared. Sadly we were late bloomers, as in realizing the need to prepare for retirement. We were too busy putting food on the table for our four, beautiful children, but in all honesty, we also were probably buying stuff we could have done without. There were material goods that we thought we needed, but ended up being things that we did not need at all! I could go out to my shed right now and find some of those items right now I bet!
Can I get an Amen?
Oh how I wish we could rewind time and would have made better financial decisions. But...you know...that's how we learn and through our up's and down's we have truly learned what is really important in life.
Contemplate and Reboot!
Have you ever had to reboot your contemplations?
We almost bought a mini farm in Missouri, but we decided against it. I have to say I went into a deep prayer mode on this one. One of us was much more excited and willing to delve in whole body. Who was I to stop a dream? I went with an open mind and heart, praying for wisdom. After contemplating...it was not the right decision. Thankfully, we both came to the same conclusion. Sometimes you just have to venture outside the box and take a peek. We had to weigh the pro's and con's!
For one...it was quite a ways from family. The weather was a bit colder for me. We both loved the warm weather pretty much all year round. We also considered that as we continue to age, there would be more concerns. Who would be there to do all the work needed on a farm? How far would we be from doctors and support? I am an early bird and my husband a night owl. I know without a doubt I would be the one to get up with the chickens every morning until I was at least 90 in the dead of winter! I'm just sayin' this was not quite what I was picturing in my retirement! Don't get me wrong there are many who love this life-style and would not have it any other way. That is why we each have to ask that one question? I will address many other reasons why we decided to stay in our home state as time goes on.
What do we want our future to look like?
We knew one thing and it rang loud and true! We wanted simple and a warm climate!
We love the coast and warm weather! We did not need a big house to care for! We wanted to be close enough to family in case of an emergency. We also wanted a place in which we could care for my parents in their later years. We needed a place in which my parents and grandchildren could come. These thoughts flooded our minds and honestly gave us a run for our money. No one can predict the future and many things have to be tweaked along the way. I do believe there is no harm in having some plans in place.
One day a light bulb went off and we knew after many years of debating, that we knew exactly what we wanted. There was only one place for us that would fit this scenario. We would move to South Texas and become fulltime Winter Texans. The more we thought about this, the more it fit all our ideals and dreams for the future! Being Texans already made this decision a little more easier. We truly have loved Texas! We ended up living in Texas via the military, and 20 plus years later, we are still planted in this beautiful state! I am happy that our retirement plans will keep our feet still within the boundaries of Texas!
So the decision is made...now what?
How are we going to get there?
Are we there yet?
Love and Hugs,
Kimmie
RSS Feed
