Tag Archives: Retirement

We’re On Our Way!

9 Replies

“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!” ― Dr. Seuss

Today we are headed to Las Vegas to pick up the travel van! For the past three weeks, I’ve been studying up, browsing through Amazon, and resisting the urge to buy All. The. Things.

It’s a slippery slope. Every time I turn around, someone suggests something I might need or want to get for “the van.” I have joined several different Facebook owners groups, and have been reading the advice of others who have gone before. But we’re going to take it slowly, and figure out what we need as we move forward.

And just for the record, I’m a little bit nervous. As a complete RV newbie, the learning curve will be steep. But the dealer has promised to put us through a couple of days of training, and they are paying for us to spend tonight in a nice RV park, so come this evening, we’ll be pushing all the buttons and trying to figure out what’s what!

Did you know that with the help of a space bag, you can suck the air out and pack 2 feather pillows in a carry-on bag? I might just know that from experience…Stay Tuned!

We’ve Done It! We’ve Taken the Plunge!

32 Replies

Erm….Hi Guys!  Remember me?  It’s Lynn from an Encore Voyage.  You remember me, that retired teacher chick with the architect hubby who decided to start all over again?  Well, I could use your help here cuz:

I Can’t Breathe!

We actually did it!  On Tuesday, we put the down payment on a 2019 Pleasure-Way Plateau FL.  And I’m about to have a heart attack!  First, because the dang thing is just a bit pricey!  Second, because we are finally spending some of our retirement money! I’ve heard it’s a big step to go from accumulation to distribution! For sure!  I was really freaking out until we called our financial adviser and she said, “You guys are fine.  You need to enjoy your retirement!  This is what you worked a lifetime for!”  This is where you come in.  Comment now…things like, “It’ll be OK, Lynn.” and “No worries, you’ve got this!”  Yeah, thanks for that!

So we’ve taken the plunge, and now the Voyage truly begins!  We have so much to learn and I’m just a little bit scared.  We are total RV newbies and even though I always try to study up about every. little. thing,  I’m pretty sure this will be a steep learning curve.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  He needs a name, dontcha think?  “Halen” has already been taken (think about it…), but I’m open to suggestions for other great “Van” names!

And thanks again for not completely abandoning us when we disappeared for awhile.  The Voyage just got way more real!  And we invite you to come along on the journey!

~ Lynn

They’re Plans, Not Dreams

31 Replies

Hubs and I have always been dreamers!  We have all kinds of ideas about the things we’re gonna do “someday!”  Remember how we’ve talked about getting that travel van?  Gonna explore this country and drink wine while boondocking at amazing sites.

Well, we’ve decided to stop dreaming, and just start DOING!  Maybe not all at once, maybe just in baby steps, but every chance we get – crossing items off OUR LIST.  The van is still in the plans – we’ll plan to find the perfect model and price.

Screenshot - Our List

In the meantime, I started up our Encore Voyage Instagram account, to share the photos of our wanderings…

Instagram:  encorevoyage

So pop on over and follow me, okay? Because we’re gonna take you with us on our adventures!

Lynn

Cutting the Cable in Retirement

46 Replies

You know what they say about people who still have land-based wired telephone lines?  Everyone under the age of 35 has never had one, and everyone over the age of 55 is afraid to get rid of theirs.  We got rid of our land line, and within two weeks, we didn’t really miss it.

Now we’ve moved on to the television.  We’ve been on a satellite-based TV service for over a decade.  Every two years, as the TV contract became void, the satellite company would raise the rates, and we’d do the “dish dance” from one provider to the other in an attempt to get lower rates.  Why these companies don’t have better policies in place for customer retention is beyond me.

But being the ever so curious type, and wanting to stay young like the Millennials, I started doing research about streaming devices.

We carefully evaluated what we liked about the satellite providers, made a list, and then I set about determining how to meet our needs.

What We Wanted

  • We like being able to record shows to watch later – Hulu Plus allows us to record up to 50 hours of programming.
  • We like being able to pause and rewind live TV – I know, we’ve gotten spoiled by being able to say, “Back up!  What did he just say?” Hulu Plus, through it’s live recording also allows you to pause.  (In some cases you can’t skip forward through commercials.)
  • We like being able to start watching in one room, and continue in another –Because all of the streaming services are account based, you can pretty much do this with any streaming provider.
  • We wanted to be able to watch network TV, along with some of our favorite channels.  This took some research, as different providers carry different programming.  Interestingly, Hulu Plus and several others carry both ABC and NBC, but CBS doesn’t seem to want to play nice.  I needed to subscribe to CBS All Access in order to get all three major networks.
  • We wanted to slash the price we were paying for monthly TV – Here is where you need to be careful.  We already had Amazon Prime for shopping, and I already subscribed to Netflix because of some shows I routinely watch.  I added Hulu Plus and CBS All Access.  We now have way more TV options than we can possibly watch.  But here’s the warning.  It would be extremely easy to keep adding on extras (HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ) and end up paying just as much as you did before.

What We Chose

After studying up, I chose to order an Amazon Fire TV Stick for each of our TVs.  (About $40.00 each) While they do present programming options with Amazon content forward, the device was absolutely simple to install and get started.  I went with Amazon because we were already Amazon Prime members, and so it made sense to access video content as well.  The Roku Express Streaming Stick would be another outstanding option, just as easy to get started.

What We’ve Learned

Well, here’s the first rule:

Thou shalt NOT leave the TV on for the dog, (upon leaving the house)
when one is STREAMING their live TV!
(She now listens to radio!)

  • That was just a little bit dumb, and we got a nasty gram from the cable provider that we had blown through our data package during that first month.  The good news is it hasn’t happened again.
  • We lost our on-air TV guide.  We were used to flipping down the guide to see what was on tv.  It was easily replaced by the free TV Guide app which we downloaded to our phones and tablet.
  • We needed to learn to access our TV programming in a different way.  You kind of need to learn what content is available on which app (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, CBS, etc.)  Then you navigate with a simple remote through the apps to find your shows.
  • Many of the providers allow you to set up separate profiles, so hub’s stuff is all together, and mine is in a separate place.  It’s kind of nice.
  • I got the Fire Sticks with the built in Alexa function, but to be honest, we haven’t really used it as much as I thought we would.  It is a pretty cool feature if you are looking for something specific.  Alexa, find James Bond movies…
  • You NEED to know your wi-fi log in password, and the login information of any other accounts you might already have. (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc.)
  • Because all of our TV is now account-based, we can log in and watch TV on any account, from any device, from anywhere we have wi-fi connectivity.  We can even take the Fire TV stick with us and plug it in to any other TV if we choose.  (We’ll probably do that in a motor home.)

I think the most important thing for us is that we now choose to watch television much more intentionally!  No more just leaving the TV on to make background noise.  No more falling asleep in front of the television.  We specifically choose what we want to watch, do so…and then turn the thing off!

The good news is this…You CAN Teach an Old (erm….seasoned) Dog some new tricks.  BTW, we have cut the cost of our monthly TV bill IN HALF!  I’m curious how many other retirees have changed their lifelong TV watching habits!

Lynn

 

We Can’t Spend Our Retirement Savings

64 Replies

Back in 2010, when hubs and I found ourselves both unemployed, we panicked – for about ten seconds.  Then we realized that we had been saving from every paycheck for our entire lifetime…we would be OK!

Skip forward eight years, and here we are – debt free, our home is paid for, our vehicles are all paid for, we are retired to whatever extent pleases us at the moment, we have sufficient pensions, and our investment account is healthy.  Now here is our dilemma:

We have spent our entire lives saving for our retirement,
…and now we have a hard time spending that money!

I can remember when my parents moved from acquisition to distribution in their own retirement.  My dad went out and bought a one-ton crew cab pickup and a matching 30-foot travel trailer.  My mom cried for days…not because she wasn’t up for the adventure, but because the idea of spending that hard-saved cash was contrary to our family’s deeply ingrained habits to “save for a rainy day.”

So here we are.  Hubs and I have been discussing (dreaming really) of buying a Class B travel van – basically a very fancy tent on wheels – so that we might load up our Roxy dog and take off exploring this country.

We have the cash, we could buy the thing outright – but wow, that would make a dent in our retirement funds, and we love watching that account balance go up…not down.  We could put down a sizable down-payment, and pay the rest off monthly, but there goes that “debt-free” thing.

So here we sit.  We’ve shopped different models, we’ve discussed the features we want to have, we continue to do internet research to learn new RVers tips and tricks.  Now if we could only pull the trigger.  A dilemma wrapped in a conundrum…

Lynn

Photo: Pina Messina ~ Unsplash

 

 

I Forgot to be Retired!

26 Replies

Late in March, Tanya, over at Our Next Life ran a couple of posts about using the term “retirement” honestly.  If you continue to make some money on the side, through blogging or other means, are you truly “retired?”  Tanya makes some good points about being honest with young people, who may get the impression that if they just save, they can retire early and presto…everything will be both hunky and dory!

As I mentioned in a post long ago, I had friends who told me, “You didn’t retire…you just quit.” , So when we met with our financial adviser last month, I asked her if she considered us retired, even though we continue to make some money.  Here’s what she said:

If you don’t NEED to make money…If you can live comfortably on your retirement income (pensions) and investments,
then YES…YOU ARE RETIRED!

She went on to say that if we continue to pursue other activities which we enjoy, and by chance make a little cash on the side, well, that’s just the icing on the cake.  We can pick and choose how we spend our time (another element of retirement.)

But here’s the rub…

In my little side hustle, I do some administrative support gigs for a few clients.  Document production, organization management, event coordination – things like that.  They are jobs that I can generally do from anywhere, on my own schedule.

Except that I forgot to pace myself…I kept saying, “Sure, I can help you with that!”  And before you know it, I was missing from my blog.  For almost a month.  Because I had work to do…..

Almost like a real job!   Ewwwwwwwwww!  Enough of that nonsense.  I’m retired!  Remember?

Lynn

Tips for Future Retirees

14 Replies

Happy Sunday, Voyagers!  Do you remember back a couple of months ago I asked you to ponder the following question?

What is the one piece of advice
you wish someone had given you
prior to your retirement?

Our retirement blogger community rose to the occasion and provided me with a wealth of suggestions.  Happily for me, I have been asked once again to guest post for Donna over at Retirement Reflections.  So I figured this was perfect opportunity to share the list I (um…..you all) put together.  So hop on over to Retirement Reflections and take a peek!  I’m excited to see what you think!  You’re the experts!

Lynn

Retired Spring Break is Better

22 Replies

A couple of years 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

Encore Quote ~ You Worried Too Much

17 Replies

If you read my post earlier in the week, you’ll know that this is one of the things I wish I’d learned much earlier in my life.  So many of the things I’ve learned since we started the voyage include slowing down, being present, reducing stress, breathing.  The quality of our lives has improved so much that we often think, “Why didn’t we know this before!?!

So how about it, fellow Voyagers.  Are you stressing over things that in the end won’t really matter?  Are there things you can eliminate?  Ways you can slow down?

I wish you a peaceful and worry free weekend!

Lynn

If We’d Only Known Then…

36 Replies

Last night we were at dinner at a local chain restaurant and overheard (um…eavesdropped upon) some young people discussing their desires for the future, and about how it would be so difficult to obtain those desires.

We’ve been journeying on the Encore Voyage for over six years now, and so many times have found ourselves saying

“If only we’d have known then what we know now!”

Not that we’ve got this retirement gig completely figured out, but there are so many things we’ve learned since we retired that would have made our pre-retirement lives so much richer!  Here are my top ten:

  1. Practice mindfulness – We both rushed through 30+ year careers, and while we’ve had a lot of fun times, I wish now that I’d paid more attention. I wish I’d have spent more time breathing deeply and relishing those special moments.  We never get them again.
  2. Become an Automatic Millionaire – This book, by David Bach, is a game changer. The takeaway is simple.  Use an automatic, direct deposit of some amount of money to an investment account WITH EVERY PAYCHECK.  Pay yourself first.  Use the power of compound interest to make you wealthy.  For those who believe they don’t make enough money to save – baloney.  You will never miss it, and believe me, you’ll just buy one or two fewer beverages at Starbucks.
  3. Pay attention to how much junk you’re accumulating – We have neighbors whose garages are stuffed full! My brother-in-law spent half a year going through a deceased parent’s lifetime accumulations!  All those things you are buying or saving now may end up in boxes in the future.  Do you really need them?
  4. Life is about collecting experiences, not stuff – See number 3 above, then mentally calculate the monetary value of the “stuff” you’ve accumulated. Now translate that value into how many plane tickets you could have bought! How many hours of your life did it take you to earn that “thing?” What experiences could you have had, given that same amount of cash?
  5. Take care of your relationships – It is the people in your life who make you whole – Not the work you do, the house you live in or the car you drive. At the end of the day, the people are the ONLY ones who will matter.
  6. Learn to say NO – During my working career I filled every minute of every day. I wish now that I had understood the value of not being so busy.  I wish I had learned to spend my time on what is important, rather than on what was urgent.
  7. Quit responding to negativity – It has taken me many years to learn to turn off the news; to stop allowing negative media, social or otherwise, to infiltrate my life; to stop listening to the negative blather of people judging others. It may seem a bit Pollyanna, but the same is true on a more personal level.  Do you engage only with people who lift you up, or do you spend time with those who bring you down.  Are you a positive influence in the lives of others?  The less you engage in negativity, the more peaceful your life becomes.
  8. Pay attention to your passions – What are the activities you truly love? Are there things you always wish you could do; things you’ve always wanted to try? What gives you a warm glow inside? It’s good to know what will bring you joy when that time comes when career is no longer the priority.
  9. You are responsible for your own happiness. Miserable people focus on the things they hate about their lives. Happy people focus on the things they love about their lives. The choice is a conscious one.  The power of gratitude is very real. I have realized now as I look back that I spent a great deal of time worrying about things that didn’t really matter.
  10. Character counts – Tell one lie and all your truths become questionable.  Do something that is ethically or morally questionable and people will forever question your motives.  At the end of the day, your character truly is your honor.  Take care of it and it will serve you well into your retirement years.

This is a short list of ideas we wish we had known.  I’m sure my fellow Voyagers could add plenty more.  I’ll be interested to hear.

Lynn