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Our Grand Plan
Here are the top four remarks/questions we are asked or people say when we tell anyone about "Our plan"
(in no particular order):
1. "Wow, so you're not going to have a home base?"
2. "I could never leave my home..."
3. "What about all your stuff??"
4. "When did you start planning for this and did you get professional help?"
We were talking about our plan the other day and for the life of us, we couldn't remember when we first came up with it. We knew we wanted to travel a good amount in retirement and had done a number of home exchanges as part of those travels so living in someone else's second home was no big deal for us. But could we not have a home base indefinitely?
I think the idea to sell the house, get rid of most of our stuff and store only the sentimental things, and live overseas was part our idea but influenced greatly by a couple that calls themselves The Senior Nomads. Essentially their plan is the same and they have done it for over 5 years with great success. We've modified their plan slightly in that instead of staying a short time in a city, we'll determine whether the city is just a "2 week-er", good for a month, or even or 3-6 months, Schengen Rule permitting. From prior travel, we have a running of list of cities to which we want to return and for how long. And in what time of year.
Another inspiration has come from HGTv channel's House Hunters International. Yes, the show is formulaic- there is always one home in budget but not really what they want and the other 2 are over budget but their dream home. But by watching this show, we've certainly added to our travel wish list and have a better idea of which cities will fall in below our budget and which will be a little pricier (more on our budget later). And now that we've started our adventure, we can apply right away what we've learned. Nice!
So, to answer some of those questions /statements mentioned earlier:
1. "Wow, so you're not going to have a home base?"
A. We were going to sell the house anyway. New Jersey treated us well but we are in no way wedded to staying there. Don was born and bred in Jersey and is looking for something new. I've moved around my whole life so this feels right.
B. Our timeline is flexible and we don't know where we'll want to eventually settle once this grand adventure is done - much of it will depend on where our kids (and grandkids?) will be. They're both focusing on their lives so we feel the timing could work out really well.
C. Having a home/apartment in the US means we're landlords. We don't want to be landlords- we did that for 2 months and that was enough, thank you.
D. Part of our financial plan that allows us to start this adventure includes the assets of the sale of the house.
2. "I could never leave my home..."
Home is where the heart is! We plan on making every home we stay in "our home."
3. "What about all your stuff??"
Ah, stuff... I volunteered in a thrift store and saw first-hand how much "stuff" we humans acquire. And frankly, do we really need it all? A long time ago, Don and I decided that more than "stuff", we want experiences.
We were that couple that didn't buy a CD until about 5 years after they came out. Didn't buy a cell phone for ages and when we did, didn't upgrade until the day when we could no longer get system updates. I take my kids' outcast phones when they update. Our biggest TV was 19". We drove our 2004 minivan into the ground. We took our kids to Paris when they're 10 and 7, knowing they probably wouldn't remember it years later, because it would be an amazing experience to live in a different culture, even if only for a week. Added bonus- they now have the travel bug and no fear of travel. They roll with the punches that can come with travel and they're troopers.
We sold the house and cleared out/sold/donated all non-essential furniture and general "stuff". Our 5x10 storage unit is almost full with sentimental items and a few pieces of furniture our kids have "called". We realize this isn't for everyone but for us it's been pretty liberating!
4. "When did you start planning for this and did you get professional help?"
In my eyes, Don is a financial guru and for years he really enjoyed investing our money and generally planning for our future. But even he knew that to take on this plan, we would need some professional help. So in 2014, we interviewed some local financial planners and found a really good fit with Newroads Financial right in our former hometown. While location wasn't originally a requirement, it turned out that having a planner nearby was really helpful-- we could just stop by to pick up paperwork or sign a form. And the meetings we'd have about 3x a year could be done before work. Now that we're on the road we use Zoom and DocuSign. (Note that we seem to meet with our planner more than the average bear by our choice. Frequency can vary. ) Of course you pay for the service (our rate is less than 1% of assets managed) but for such a non-traditional retirement plan that will hopefully last longer than the usual 15 years, it's money very well spent. Our advisor has helped us with the overall plan, how much to invest every year and where, helped us get life insurance and long-term care, and has given us a clear budget for every year to age 95. We'll tweak it along the way but feel confident we're on the right path.
A tremendous advantage in being able to even consider this plan is the fact that we have actively lived below our means truly from the moment we began working. With starting salaries of 17K in 1987, that was no easy feat but as we said in college, it's the simple pleasures. Bagel and fruit salad for dinner on a hot summer night? Sure! Weekends spent at a local park with a picnic and the paper, watching the stream of weddings that were always there (highest count- 11 in one day!).-- so nice. One vacation a year, at the beach- we always made the best of it. And as our salaries grew, we could indulge a bit more but we always stayed below our means. We understand this way of thinking doesn't work for everyone and we don't mean to be preachy but it's what brought us to this possibility. Between that and investing in our 401K from Day 1, we were able to take extra dollars and make them work for us in investments.
Join us vicariously on our adventure!
ps-- and the Boba Tea thing? yeah, we just like Boba tea. Simple as that!
Helpful Resources
VRBO www.vrbo.com
Airbnb www.airbnb.com
The Senior Nomads www.seniornomads.com
www.Away.com these terrific suitcases are taking us places!
www.nomadicmatt.com Matt has great resources for full-time travel
Interactive map of Mexico City-- where to stay, what to visit, made by our son Zach, a CDMX resident! https://linktr.ee/zatcharias
Places we plan to visit or live- and there are many!
- Hanoi, Vietnam (Ba Dinh neighborhood)
France- Antibes, Lyon, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Toulon, Sanary sur Mer
Antwerp, Belgium
Island of Paros, Greece
Singapore
Croatia- Dubrovnik
Italy- Tuscany, Rome, Elba, Portofino, Cortona, Camogli, Santa Margarita , Senigallia, Portonovo, Ferrara, Bagno Vignoni, Citti di Castello ; Lucca, Cecina
Nairobi
Train travel in Europe- north to south
Austin
Movie festival- Cannes, TriBeCa or Sundance
México city - Amsterdam
Denmark
Philly
Japan
Tangier or Marrakech tour
River cruise- Danube or Rhine (Scenic Cruises)
France- Lyon, Paris
Israel
Taiwan
Napa valley
Argentina
Med cruise
Greece
Scotland
Nordic cruise
Cuba
Spain- Madrid, Gijon, San Sebastian, Santiago, Salamanca
Nyt cruises w/ speakers
French Open or Wimbledon or Davis Cup
NYC (Manhattan or Brooklyn?)
Eurorail
Ecuador- Cuenca, San Jose
Uruguay- Carmelo
Backroads- biking through Chablis and Burgundy
Quebec City
North Rim Grand Canyon
Canary Islands
Los Angeles
Transatlantic cruise (seasonal transfer )- from Miami to Rome
Turkey
Cape Cod