Hubby and I have one life goal – to be happy. That led us to our main financial goal – early retirement.
We are not those people who define themselves through their career. We don’t think retirement would be boring. We have no problem thinking of ways to fill in our spare time.
A happy retirement to us is when we can do what we want with our day without worrying if we can afford it. Luckily, the things we want are cheap, so this is attainable.
Hubby wants to watch tv, board game, video game, participate in Curling, continue being a sports official, vacation, and play Magic: The Gathering till the wee hours of the morning.
I want to hang out with friends even more, have more potlucks, have more movie nights, take a few vacations a year, volunteer even more with dogs, deliver food for Meals on Wheels, and get involved in a couple of hiking groups.
And these are just the ideas we can spout off in a few minutes…talk with us for an hour or two and you’d be amazed what we could come up with to fill those “lonely” days...ahhhh...
To get back to it, hubby will be eligible for his full pension at age 52, so that is our target retirement year. Based on our current and planned savings and our current and planned expenses, we have a very realistic chance at reaching this goal.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to fit in as much as we can of our fun stuff and try to enjoy our jobs as much as possible. You never know what life is going to throw you, right? Might as well live like there’s no tomorrow and save like there will be many...
What are your goals? Do they keep you motivated in the mean-time?
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4 weeks ago
The two biggest things my wife and I are saving for is retirement and a new house.
ReplyDeleteNew house is coming next year hopefully and retirement is a few (30) years off. We don't have a hard date for retirement. We just set me at 65 as a target for now. If we can do it sooner, I'm all for that. I don't really mind the work that I do, so it's not that big a deal. With one child already and another thought of for next year, retiring early might be a bit of a stretch, but you never know.
Oh what a relief to hear someone else say that they could find plenty of things to do in retirement! I have a hard time understanding the reluctance to get rid of a job in many cases.
ReplyDeleteOur big goal is to get our house paid off by the end of 2011. Doing that will make our other goals a snap. (Going to Antarctica is one of mine...)
Our goals are to have college funds for each of our children, save for retirement, and pay off our mortgage, in reverse order :)
ReplyDeleteMikeS, at least you'll have somewhere to crash if things don't go as planned. Just kidding (obviously) :-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, my parents have never seemed regretful...apparently the whole parenthood thing kicks butt!
Jackie, you'll never hear us worry about what to do with free time. :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the mortgage! We bought our home in 2007 and are on track to have it paid off by 2017...I understand the happy that will be had when that mortgage is gone!
Julie, your "reverse order" comment made me smile. Good luck on all three of those goals!
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