We’re Cheryl and Paul, and we’re contemplating retirement in a few years.  We like to think of ourselves as a young-at-heart 50-something professional couple, committed to an adventurous financial independence without waiting for a net worth of two million dollars.  Cheryl occasionally reminds Paul that only one of us now qualifies on the age thing.

We are investigating and trying out different ideas, such as:

• Enhancing lower-cost or early “retirement” options through creative use of rightsizing, rural living, part-time overseas living, small-scale “retirement co-ops”, and senior or inter-generational cohousing.
• Adventure and cultural travel opportunities, including the use of house-swapping, homestays, teaching overseas, working or volunteer holidays, and small group travel.
• Sustainable “post-retirement” career options – part-time consulting, telecommuting, making money from travel, or whatever we can come up with that helps the cause.
• Staying young through pro-active self-care, physical activities such as hiking, biking, swimming and kayaking, or social activities such as travel, languages, high-energy dance, making music and living our dreams.
• Helping our live-at-home college-grad kids become fully independent.
• Understanding our real-world requirements for financial independence – preferably from experienced retirees rather than brokers.
• Continuing to pursue value-investment possibilities and opportunities if they can contribute to our plan.

Many of our contemporaries are wrestling with some of these questions.  We hope our own journey will help and inspire theirs.

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