Dreaming of retirement in 5 years (2030)

I’m 52 in 2025

I’m thinking:

At 55 y/o (in 2028) I’m going to see if there is a Bed and Breakfast somewhere to buy in some city-state that is unknown at this time. I’ll remodel some things, put a separate small 2BR/2Bath “tiny” house on the property for me. Extend the garage for a nice spot to put maybe an old car, a small workshop, and some homebrew equipment.

I’ll make simple bfast every AM for my guests, then have snacks put out for the rest of the day. I’ll have my homebrewery in an attachment to the garage to serve those >= 21 y/o to enjoy.

Maybe get a trailer and a few landscaping equipment pieces to cut, say, 15 people’s lawns for cash during the days.

I’ll add more to this as I dream.

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I’m hoping to retire in five years, at age 51. I’ve no idea what we will do after that, I suspect I’ll want to keep doing something other than sleeping in, reading, and riding my bike.

One thing we want to do is quit, lock up our house, and circumnavigate the globe for about six months. So plan for a big hit to the budget year one, lol.

Past that, we’ve considered downsizing a lot here, our house is 3,200 sq ft. It’s a lot for two people, we could cut that in half, cash out a lot of equity, save on heating and cooling bills and taxes. Finances permitting, buy a little place in Idaho Springs, CO, or Kihei, HI. Splitting time roughly 50/50.

I’ve also considered working with a non-profit here called Tenants to Homeowners. It’s pretty much what it sounds like. They get some grants, and a lot of free labor, to build little 700-800 sq ft homes and sell them at very affordable prices to help people get a foot in the door on owning a home. And/or spending some time with a local food bank that is just tremendous in the community. I don’t know what I’d do in Kihei but it seems there are a lot of opportunities. I’d love to get a job at the aquarium and learn a bunch of stuff that I could then relay to tourists.

I should work on hobbies as well. I’ve been saying for years I’d get into woodworking, I did three years of wood shop in high school, and I’m handy but I haven’t built furniture since then. Brewing is of interest, maybe @T-roy can offer guidance! I do love biking, there are lots of places to go and just ride for days.

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Is there much opportunity to downsize where you are? I just read an interesting NYT article about the rise in surplus bedrooms across the country and many of the commentators were empty nesters that would like to downsize but there was nothing available in their neighborhood.

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“affordable” starter homes got blown up and expanded to be as large as many lots can support. people want a smaller single family home on its own lot, but those are harder to find in the community you like bc it is a “nice” neighborhood and everyone already maximized the smaller ones. we did it to ourselves.

I’m not 5 years out. I am less than 10 (barring calamity).

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Not too many where we would want to live, which is near downtown. It was mostly built up between 1880 and about 1925 or so. So mostly SFH on small lots. We would want to plan ahead a few years and watch for the right home to come up for sale. A quick Zillow search says nothing is for sale now I’d want.

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In 5 years I will have two kids in college and I’ll be not quite 50, but assuming nothing crazy happens before then, work should be optional. College and the mortgage (I’m riding out 3% as long as I can) should be well covered in 18 months time.

Home - won’t need 5 bedrooms anymore. I’d also consider selling it and buying two houses. I really like the great lakes area, so maybe a nice condo overlooking the water along the east short of lake Michigan, and something else…if the kids stay in the area, I can get a place in the next neighborhood over from me with the other half. If they all move, then ?

But I have no real idea what to do besides that. I’ll need something to keep me busy. I’ll probably work a few more years while the kids are in college and spend a lot on travel…taking off 2 weeks a quarter to go wherever and not care about the $. Maybe I’ll see if I can negotiate a part time role to get me from 50-55.

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I had kids kinda late, so I’m probably working another 10 yrs or so. House will be paid off by then and kids hopefully done with college. But that puts me at 65ish when I retire. Good thing I actually like my job, so I don’t mind.

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I mostly like actuarying, so the idea of working longer is really NBD if it happens, but I also really like the not working thing. It might depend on how things evolve at my company the next few years.

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This is when I retired, and it’s been mostly like you describe. I cook a lot more, do a fair amount of regional travel, got a dog that needs a lot of activity, and I enjoy walking/hiking. I don’t sleep in much anymore, as there is no need to do that when you get adequate sleep every night. Getting proper sleep almost every night has been the biggest lifestyle change, and that’s been great.

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I had intended to resign in 2023 when I turned 54 but I got a job offer that was too good to refuse. Now the plan is to retire at 60 in 2029.

When I planned to retire in 2023 I invested a lot on.my farm putting solar, getting irrigation equipment and I even got tractors with their engineering services.

What got me thinking about the farm today is work is a bit hectic and I have been wondering if I should have just retired whilst I was dealing with non political problems. Now I spend my days reassuring people jan 20 isn’t as bad as they think whilst I actually think it is going to be bad. I didn’t have any white hair at all but now my beard is salt and pepper. You know the part that I hate is when the stumble comes out and it’s looking like white rust on my face. I have never shaved as much as I do now. :sob: I even learnt to use a razor and it’s probably the closest shave I have ever had.

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We should be around the same age then. I made the opposite decision to not have kids after my wife passed away when I was in my mid thirties and retire by 55. For some reason I also thought I would be too tired to run around after kids in.my 50s now I see many people with kids our age.

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I’ve thought about doing something similar (lawn care)

In the summers mow my neighbors’ lawns for $25 a cut (most services charge $30-50 around me for .25 acres)

I figure if I stay in my neighborhood I won’t need a trailer or space to store it

I don’t mind mowing the lawn but I hate edging lawns along our sidewalks and then having to leaf blow everything afterwards so I have not yet offers up my services to the locals

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My parents and wife’s parents watch our kids from time to time. They can usually only do it for an hour or two so we can only get away for a quick dinner (my parents are 62 and her’s are 65/69)

I had my first at age 31 and could barely keep up with that kid. I should have had kids in high school

I have no idea how helpful I can be with my own grandkids

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After all that work if you cut that house in half I will be pissed.

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I like what i do most days so i dont need to stop, ever. But the expectation is that ill sell the business in 4-5 years. Which should leave me at the bottom end of wealthy, hopefully well off.

But thats not retirement time, even though ill be retirement age. Ill either start another business, or maybe go back to.school for an engineering degree and start a business afterwards based on that.

But just waking up and not going to work, not in the cards for a long time. Maybe when im 80.

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If you wait a week you might be able to do the Jon Stewart look. I can do it from ends of week 1 to 3 but start to look homeless by 4.

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I recently grew out a big handlebar moustache and it was all mostly dark, but had white tufts at the ends. Definitely lots of gray hair everywhere else though

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I would go with interior painting. Low end quotes for a 12x12 room are like $300-400 and I can easily knock one of those out in a day.

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Yeah, thanks that’s a great idea.

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@T-roy : Will brekkie be just continental or eggs/bacon/toast/home fries/bottomless coffee??? OOOOH, OOOOOH, how about crabcakes bennie or an omelette bar???

Asking for a friend.

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