Tag Archives: retired lifestyle

Retiring Without Children

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Mother’s Day ALWAYS serves as a reminder to me that we are child-free (as compared to childless.)  It was a decision we made very early in our lives, and we’ve generally been OK with our decision.  Along the way, well-meaning friends would ask us, “Who will take care of you when you grow old?”  To which I always responded,

“Having someone to wipe my drool
was NOT a good enough reason to have children.”

And I still stand by that.  But now, as we get further along in our retirement years, our child-free decision does come with some interesting, but not insurmountable dilemmas:

  1. What is the best way for us to celebrate holidays?  The siblings all have families of their own, and we are always invited to participate.  But is it just wrong of us to want to take off, just the two of us, and leave all the holiday hoopla behind?  I see the tropics at Christmastime in my mind’s eye!
  2. What, exactly, should our will and estate planning look like?  Yes, there are siblings, nieces and nephews, and even a God-daughter, but the whole “who should get what” is a much more difficult decision when they’re not your offspring.  Literature is replete with examples of the young pandering to their elders in order to inherit!  God forbid!
  3. How much should we plan on leaving to charities, education foundations, the arts and such.  The desire to give back to this wonderful community of ours is strong!
  4. What if we start having mental challenges?  This one is probably the scariest of all.  I have many friends caring for siblings and parents with issues along the dementia spectrum.  Should that happen to us, would we even know??  A hard one to prepare for, for sure!
  5. Will we have enough money to either care for ourselves, (retiring in place and hiring any assistance we might need), or to move into a high quality retirement facility if necessary?
  6. And what if we don’t have enough money for any of this?

This would all be so very much easier if we knew exactly when we were planning to die!  Some very good friends of ours (also child-free) have suggested we plan it out like this:

We figure out how much we want to give to church, philanthropy and family, and set that pot aside.  We set aside enough to cover the nursing home for a couple of years (about the average stay.)  We make sure the insurance coverage is adequate to prevent catastrophe…and then we go out and have a blast!!!

Our goal is this:  If we play all our cards right, we want to cash out of this life NET ZERO!!  With any luck, the check written for our caskets will bounce!

Happy Mother’s Day to those of you who happen to be moms!

Lynn

Encore Quotes – Learning and Living

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Happy Friday, Voyagers!  It’s been a week full of learning for me.  A little challenging, a little frustrating, a lot of fun!  One of the critical components of a successful retirement voyage is that you not stagnate.  That you always have something that will challenge you, drive you, motivate you to get out of your recliner chair.  My hope for you this weekend is that you will rekindle some interest – find some curiosity within.  So how about it – what new things will you learn next?

Lynn

Encore Quotes – Your Calling

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13-The things you are passionate about

In a comment this week, Janis at Retirementally Challenged asked me if we have a plan for the day when we will say, “No more.”  It started quite a conversation between hubs and me.  We realized that we may never stop altogether.  We love the things we’re doing, and we’re designing our lives on the Encore Voyage to fulfill one of our core values of personal growth.  So how about it…What are you passionate about?  What’s your calling?

Have a great weekend!Lynn

Because We Can!

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My best friend and I are both retired teachers.  We have talked on the phone, pretty much every night, for the past 30+ years.  We live in towns that are roughly 15 miles apart, and we have been talking on the phone since the days when it was long distance for us to call each other.

These days the favorite thing about retirement, for both of us, is that we can pick up the phone and call each other at ten o’clock in the morning.  We will often call just to chat about something stupid that just happened, or to share what’s going on.  And our new favorite phrase is,

“I thought I’d call…Why???…Because I can!!!”

It is our favorite thing!  We no longer need to wait until the end of the workday to share our stories.  And it got me thinking about the many, many things that we now are able to do…

Because We Can

Read a book until 3:00 AM. Or in the middle of the afternoon.

Take a nap in the middle of the day, or whenever we feel the need.

Work on craft projects – for me it’s quilting – whenever the urge hits.

Eat popcorn for dinner or pizza for breakfast!

Run errands in the middle of the day.  Mow the lawn on a Tuesday. Shop for groceries ANY day but the weekend!

Take a trip, near or far, and leave on a Tuesday, with very little notice and not too much advance planning!

Enjoy the many, many venues that exist in our city, but which we have never previously taken advantage of:  the art museum, the history museum, the botanical garden, the local parks, our many craft breweries…you get the idea.

Oh yeah, and have cocktails or a glass of wine – at 4:00 in the afternoon!

Putter our way through household chores – We no longer need to get everything done on the weekend.  A little laundry here, a little dusting there…good enough!

Take a walk in the middle of the day, or go to our 24-hour gym at 9:00 at night!

Go out for brunch any day of the week.

Meet up with friends, pretty much whenever it’s convenient!

So how about it.  What are those things that you love doing now in retirement, just “because you can?” I’d love to hear how others are enjoying their voyage!

Lynn

Photo credit: Charlz Gutierrez de Pineres ~ Unsplash

 

Is Spring Break Better in Retirement?

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A couple of days ago, I read a very endearing blog post written by Lauren over at The Stuff of Life Blog.  It seems that Lauren found herself traveling with her son to Miami for spring break!

First off, she gets some seeerioouuusss cool mom points, especially since she footed the bill.  And secondly, she got me thinking about why I was glad not to be my former, younger, wild thing self of (eh-hem…) just a few short years ago.

These days, the Encore Voyage definitely does not include spring break antics.  Here are a few reasons:

1. We don’t need to escape – Our daily life is pretty damn sweet!  Back in the day, we would count the days until we could ditch college and get some relief somewhere…anywhere!  Now, there’s just not that much to run from.

2. Sleeping in is no longer our priority – God knows I never thought anyone would hear me say this…I have become a lark.  This from a perpetual night owl!  I worked my way through college as a bartender – staying up half the night was part of the routine.  Spring break was when we dreamed of sleeping until noon.  But now – wait for it – I love the sunrise!  I believe this is because we are no longer exhausted as we were during our working careers.  Weird, I know, but true!

3. We don’t need to use spring break to catch up (on studies or other chores) – Remember when you would use spring break to start reading that 50,000 pages that you had put off reading?  Or would count on having the time finally to start that term paper? For us, those things that need to be done have either already been done, or they’ll keep until tomorrow…or next week.

4. The party of a few hundred thousand can go on without us – Spring break evokes pictures of beaches full of wall to wall young sweaty bodies.  Not my idea of a good time anymore.  Does it say something about us that on our recent cruise, there were few people younger than about 25?  And that we planned it that way?  I don’t think we’re old fuddy-duddies, but we sure as heck plan our springtime travels for the times when the little revelers will be safely back in their academic constraints!

5. We know our limits –  Ahhhh, that dancin’, loud music, beach filled, booze fest attended by thousands of our new best friends.  Back then we could hardly wait.  Older – wiser – I can’t remember the last time I puked on my shoes!  Perhaps it’s because we can now afford better cocktails and good wines?  Or maybe we just grew up enough to know that needing to shave your tongue or hold your eyelids open with toothpicks is not a great feeling…

6. THEY come to US – I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I was in college, I couldn’t wait to go HOME for spring break.  Most years I was out the door and headed for good old mom and dad’s!  Laundry in tow and expecting a paid for, home cooked meal was about the best thing ever.  We don’t have kids, but my friends tell me that one of the perks of retirement is getting to spend time with children and grandchildren on their spring breaks – On your own terms!

7. No more bikinis! – Lauren truthfully points out that it is difficult to walk around all day with your stomach tucked in, but that if she had to, she could – She just doesn’t need to anymore!!! I couldn’t have said it better myself!

So how about it, fellow Voyagers?  Got any other reasons why retired spring break is better for you?  I’d love to hear!

Lynn