Retirement thoughts/plans/dreams

[guido]

I'm 59. The house is paid off, no other outstanding debt. This act has gotten very old and it's time for the next one. Just need to figure out what that one should be...

[Too Tall]

This conversation is an obvious recruitment tool to find VSalon folks who can cook, ride and are or about to retire. It's pretty obvious, we need to form a collective.

Buy a farm in S. France and do what comes naturally.

Honestly, a key component to my own plans involve people I know here. Lock your doors ;)

[Saab2000]

This conversation is an obvious recruitment tool to find VSalon folks who can cook, ride and are or about to retire. It's pretty obvious, we need to form a collective.

Buy a farm in S. France and do what comes naturally.

Honestly, a key component to my own plans involve people I know here. Lock your doors ;)

Count me in on the southern France villa! Breakfast, five hour rides, chill out and dinner with fine wine. Repeat. Sounds pretty much perfect!

[robin3mj]

This conversation is an obvious recruitment tool to find VSalon folks who can cook, ride and are or about to retire. It's pretty obvious, we need to form a collective.

Buy a farm in S. France and do what comes naturally.

Honestly, a key component to my own plans involve people I know here. Lock your doors ;)

My in laws will be selling their place in the Dordogne in the next couple years. 400 years old with a 4 year old pool. If you lot can take it off their hands without us having to pay agent commission, we may have a win win.

[summilux]

I'm 52. My wife are in the nice position of having really good pensions from our respective employers as well as a little bit more from the Canadian government plan. We've been running the numbers and retiring at 55 is possible for both of us. We won't buying any Porsches or Rolexes but we'll be good. I wish I could say that we are financial geniuses but contribution to our employer pension plans and the government one is mandatory, so it was the default path for us. Not having to worry about health care is nice too. We've put some money into mutual funds and it also helped that one of our kids entered the Royal Military College and we were spared her university expenses. Bigbill, I'll keep my fingers crossed for your son. Over and above the other benefits of military school, the money saved is a good bonus to the parents.

Part of the reason we are considering an early retirement is my father. He had a stroke two years ago and he went from a marathon runner (did Boston) to someone who can barely read or talk and often is confused. At least he can walk. Makes you think about how much time remains and what to do with it.

We have a two part retirement plan. First part, we buy a camper van and spend half the year roadtripping around North America, the remainder at our home in Ottawa. Maybe this lasts 5-10 years. After this we pull up stakes and buy a small rural place in France. Wife and I are Francophiles and have travelled a fair bit through the country. We'll find someplace where Front National has low popularity and is close to skiing. Pyrennes or the Auvergne are candidates now.

[Too Tall]

Jon, thanks for the affirmation and Jim same same. France it is.

[joosttx]

This conversation is an obvious recruitment tool to find VSalon folks who can cook, ride and are or about to retire. It's pretty obvious, we need to form a collective.

Buy a farm in S. France and do what comes naturally.

Honestly, a key component to my own plans involve people I know here. Lock your doors ;)

I have a spare bedroom and bathroom in the basement with direct access to the bike room. South of France is nice but lets be honest Marin is better.

[Saab2000]

I have a spare bedroom and bathroom in the basement with direct access to the bike room. South of France is nice but lets be honest Marin is better.

I'm guessing based on this statement that you've never ridden in Provence.

[Britishbane]

We have a two part retirement plan. First part, we buy a camper van and spend half the year roadtripping around North America, the remainder at our home in Ottawa. Maybe this lasts 5-10 years. After this we pull up stakes and buy a small rural place in France. Wife and I are Francophiles and have travelled a fair bit through the country. We'll find someplace where Front National has low popularity and is close to skiing. Pyrennes or the Auvergne are candidates now.

Oh, this is the good stuff.

[summilux]

France it is.

This is the Pyrenean fantasy of ours. I think the kitchen needs work but it has a view of the Pyrenees, a 12th century chapel (shown) and it is 230 000 euro.

An old chapel and a late 18th century house facing the Pic-du-Midi-de-Bigorre - monastery for sale France - in South-West, Perigord, Dordogne, Quercy, Limousin - Patrice Besse Castles and Mansions of France is a Paris based real-estate agency specialised in the sale of Religious edifices.

[summilux]

If NASDAQ hits 25,000 in my lifetime. (600k euro)
Paulhac Castle for Sale | €583, | 36 m2

[Rich Beaudoin]

I love France/Switzerland/Italy anywhere near the Alps, so count me in the group purchase.
I just turned 52 but still feel like I'm in my prime. Financially we have a reasonable amount saved and less than that one year until our home is paid off (we planned it out a long time ago in expectation of kids college expenses).
The wild card for us is inheritance that my father-in-law talks about. My wife and I say they'll burn thru everything.
We also made the choice twenty years ago to live here even though we would have had higher income potential elsewhere.

[Too Tall]

If this is what vetting looks like well than my Palmares as a cook, bottle washer and dog companion are well documented.

I have a spare bedroom and bathroom in the basement with direct access to the bike room. South of France is nice but lets be honest Marin is better.

[TMB]

Had lunch with a banker client today. He said that he and his wife have determined that for the five months a year they plan to spend elsewhere in retirement sun and cheap wine figure high on the wish list, so they are looking at Spain or Portugal.

Thought that was pretty funny.

[NYCfixie]

BTW, since retirement conversations inevitably involve money, if any of you guys knows when the stock market is going to take it's inevitable dive, let me know, so I can shift my 401k out of equities. ;)

This is a very bad idea and why many people need the advice of a good financial planner. Make good choice and stay in for the long hall as it is a proven strategy used for more than 100 years.

My wife and I watched 35% of our "paper wealth" disappear from 2006-2008 and you know what we did? Absolutely nothing.

We kept purchasing as much as we could afford in our Vanguard mutual funds after we maxed out our 401ks and made non-deductible IRA contributions. We watched our friends buy, sell, and/or make really bad decisions by keeping too much money in cash and waiting for the market to come back all while we did nothing. And you know what, while they sat in the side lines we had a good 2012 and an amazing 2013 in which we made an effin fortune. We got everything back from 2006-2008 and so much more because we stuck to our long term strategy; Buy and hold and re-balance as necessary but tale taxes into consideration.

We have been doing this for more than 20 years and it has really worked. Don't try to time the market, it's like thinking you can beat the house in Vegas; it's a losers game.

[NYCfixie]

We won't buying any Porsches or Rolexes but we'll be good. I wish I could say that we are financial geniuses but contribution to our employer pension plans and the government one is mandatory, so it was the default path for us. Not having to worry about health care is nice too. We've put some money into mutual funds...

Good info here as living the good life is not about stuff. Get the stuff you need and sometimes get the stuff you want.

In the USA, probably 30-40 years ago the company pension disappeared and people needed to start saving for their own retirement which so many people did not do. Social Security is just not enough for 95% of people and it is no surprise that our health care system is effed up and not going to get better anytime soon.

With that said, retiring early or even at standard retirement age with enough money is very easy if people would follow some basic rules:
- Live below your means
- Pay off "good" debt (house, education, car you can actually afford) as soon as possible
- Do not have any "bad" debt (credit cards, car that you cannot afford, private loans, payday loans, paying for anything on credit like furniture)
- Put 20% down on a house, take a 15 year fixed rate loan, the monthly cost should not be more than 25% of your income, do not take a second mortgage for any reason (if you cannot meet this standard you can probably not afford it)
- Max out your retirement accounts
- Max out your IRAs
- Have 6 months of expenses in cash as a rainy day fund
- Put more money away if you can
- Plan/Save for big purchases and pay for them once you have the money for them (braces, education, cars, home upgrades, etc.)


This advice was given to me and my wife by her Aunt who was a financial planner and retired in her 50s.

[jclay]

I'm guessing based on this statement that you've never ridden in Provence.

No kidding! Pick up the 1:200,000 Michelin road map atlas of France. The plethora of roads in white are local village connectors with almost no traffic and a delight to ride on. I was remarking to my other half, just today, that I'd love to live in a village or small town in France or Italy. One of my brothers spent most of his career working in Italy (for the SSN), married an Italian, lives in Modena and isn't planning on coming back until they need to be in an assisted living facility (and not then if they start to be more plentiful in Italy). His rides are way more interesting and enjoyable than mine.

[Mabouya]

This is a very bad idea and why many people need the advice of a good financial planner. Make good choice and stay in for the long hall as it is a proven strategy used for more than 100 years.

It was mostly a joke, but I assume you do agree that the close and closer one gets to retirement the less aggressive his/her portfolio should be.

[Lionel]

Count me in on the southern France villa! Breakfast, five hour rides, chill out and dinner with fine wine. Repeat. Sounds pretty much perfect!

Been my plan all along :)

[fastupslowdown]

my dream would be able to spend two a few weeks each year in a great cycling location such as the french , swiss or italian alps and be able to ride without being a slave to bad weather days and still be able to accomplish all the rides i set out and have time to sample the food and wine of the area. and most importantly be able to get away for a month each winter and ride without snow and ice on the road. -mike g