Thinking of retiring soon?

Randy and I are just a few years away from retirement; anxiously awaiting the time when we don’t have to plan out every vacation down to the minute. A time when we will be able to travel leisurely and not have to cram all the “touristy” stuff into a day or two…then move to the next location and do it all over again. We often come home from vacations more exhausted than when we left. Oh, yeah, we have great pictures and memories, and we really did have fun, but how nice it will be when the time limits are no more. 

 

But…there’s always a but…there will not be a regular weekly or biweekly paycheck coming in. So what’s a person to do? We’ve dreamed of traveling the United States for weeks or months at a time, but will we be able to afford it once we’re on a fixed income? But what if some unexpected expense arises and eats up our allotted vacation fund for that year? And of course, we all know about those unforeseen circumstances: the coulds…maybes…and mights—don’t we need to save our money for those unpredictables? 

 

One day my husband Randy told me to list my top-five vacation destinations for after we retire. I only listed four. Then he told me to estimate the cost of each trip, including gas or airfare; camping or motel/hotel/condo; sightseeing excursions; entrance fees, etc.; eating out; entertainment (theater, tours, carriage rides, top of the Empire State Bldg, whatever); anything I could think of. So I did, and estimated high to allow for inflation. 

 

So now we had a pretty good idea of what our dream vacations would cost…a lot!

 

Then he suggested that we open a savings account strictly for our retirement vacation fund. So we did. I’ll add to the account from time to time, and whenever we get some sort of refund or rebate it goes into that account. It is gradually building and when we retire we can use that money for vacations for several years without having to dip into our fixed income. 

 

I thought it was a really good idea. Randy knows me well enough to know that when our income is fixed, it will be very hard to get me to part with any of it for things that are not absolutely necessary…after all, who knows we might have to buy a new refrigerator next week. It could happen!