"Fund your retirement first". I tried that, more than once. The last two times the stock market BS caused by Enron, the banks and whoever else anyone wants to blame, left me with not the 8 to 14% return on my money I was 'promised', but rather, it left me with 8 to 14% OF the money I invested, in so-called "safe" mutual funds.
So much for the Houseboat we wanted to buy when we retired. Or anything else for that matter.
Now add this to the mix: I worked with my parents all my adult life. Back in 1972 they started building a cabin, 24x24' A-frame with a loft, just kept "enhancing" it thru the years, they went there virtually every weekend. In the winters they snowmobiled in. It appraised for $90k back in the 80's. But a funny thing happened when they reached the point in their lives they could actually move in to the place: They didn't feel like it. Instead, they stayed home and griped about the association fees, water bills and property taxes. In the end they sold the place for half what it was worth. They were barely into their 70's, and their final goal was to sit at home and watch TV.
-- And my wife's folks have followed the exact same path.
Which is why we took a hard look at our priorities and the future. And we came up with: What the hell good is reaching retirement age only to be too tired to leave the house? Do we want to "play it safe" and just wait around until we think we have enough money to actually spend it? Gee, that sounds fun... :grumpy:
So we made the decision to screw convention, and decided to buy all the stuff we'd planned on buying when we retired, NOW, and enjoy it all NOW.
And that's exactly what we did. This all started almost 7 years ago, and we've enjoyed the hell out of life because we weren't afraid to go into debt to do it. We've done, and are doing, many things we may have never had the chance to do if our priority was 'save for retirement'. Life is good, and we have not on regret. Aside from our house, we should be debt free in 5 to 7years, which will put us in our mid 60's. Retirement money? With SS, the wife's pension from a prior employer and just working a few hours a week or month just to keep me busy, we'll be pulling in well over $30k a year, plenty enough to make our house payment (which may be done by then too) and to fuel our 40' motorhome and the Chaparral when we galavanting around the country. And we can live on the houseboat in the summer when not galavanting. Or we can move it to warmer climes, and live on it whenever. We also have a mobile home we can move to wherever we want, IF we want. And there's always home.
And when we figure the fun's about over, we'll sell everything, which will still leave us with plenty of money to live on. And what doesn't sell we'll put in our kid's names, so that when they have to stick us in a rest home, medicaid can pay for it instead of THEM.
I guess our priorities and "retirement plan" may seem a bit too far outside the box for some, but it's working for us...
