How will you spend your retirement money?

[RobLyons]

Having been hyper focused on maximizing retirement savings and investments, a thought came to mind as to how I see myself spending some of this money in retirement.


Do you plan to
live a better lifestyle than you do now?

Do you plan to travel?
Hobbies?
Luxury items?
Spoil the grandkids?

Housing
Will you live in the same home?
Down size?
Move to another state
foreign country?
Rent?


I'm personally too far from retirement to have a clear cut plan. I hate flying but pharmaceuticals could change that
Fuzzy plan is to continue living conservatively, but comfortably, in same house with landscapers and someone to plow/shovel for me and vacation for weeks at a time in warmer climate during the winter and spend lots of time with family and doing what I want to do. Low stress. Lots of exercise. Help kids and grandkids to live a better life.

[seed4great]

I plan to live at the same place, reduce all expenses as much as I can and spend almost everything on health care. With $1-2M savings, do I really have a choice? Health care cost will likely skyrocket in coming years: ACA is questionable and Medicare is running out of funds so it will be substantially changed.

[smitcat]

Do you plan to
live a better lifestyle than you do now? --- about the same

Do you plan to travel? yes
Hobbies? Yes
Luxury items? Yes I guess, its relative is it not?
Spoil the grandkids? Yup

Housing
Will you live in the same home? No
Down size? Not really
Move to another state Yes
foreign country? Not as primary home
Rent? Not likely but you never know

[RobLyons]

Great point about health care. A coworker has proposed the idea of retiring early and moving to Canada for free health care.
Is this feasible? There must be minimum residency requirements.

[seed4great]

Great point about health care. A coworker has proposed the idea of retiring early and moving to Canada for free health care.
Is this feasible? There must be minimum residency requirements.

In Canada, you have to be permanent resident to qualify for government ran health care. If you have close relatives there, it may be possible to apply for residency. Otherwise it is most likely not. Also, there is a tax challenge: to avoid double tax, you have to pay the greatest tax which will be Canadian.
Of course there are other countries more friendly to retirees, but I guess it is not for everyone.

[radiowave]

Let's see, late accumulation phase so retire in under 5 yrs.

- pay off remainder of mortgage to reduce monthly expenses.
- I will get lifetime healthcare benefits from job plus Medicare but costs are still a major concern
- travel and hobbies, spending more time catching up with old friends, definitely increase hiking as well as winter sports (snow shoeing)
- move to smaller first floor living home in about 10 years into retirment, hope to age in place
- we estimate based on current spending, in retirement lower overall costs especially auto/fuel and daily lunch money spending, but anticipate higher cost of health care so basically a wash.
- also anticipate dual social security and two small pensions will meet basic expenses so investment portfolio is our cushion and hope we won't have to spend much from it other than splurging or transition to new home.

[lexie2000]

We relocated to another state 2 yrs. after DH retired. We did not plan it, but while away on a short trip, DH stumbled on this area and a spec home for sale. He came home and told me about it and a couple days later I was there checking it out and we decided to go for it. It was the best decision we ever made. Yes, we spent money to buy the home (paid cash) and to relocate (pretty much moved ourselves), but the move has saved us upwards of $20K/yr. in lower property taxes and no state income tax.

Since DH retired, we have purchased two new cars and a Can Am Commander. Both of our cars were over 13 years old and the Can Am was purchased for off-roading and hauling small loads.

We definitely have taken up more hobbies - besides golfing and fishing, DH now hunts, shoots trap, and shoots archery. I am not much into shooting guns, but am looking forward to trying to archery. I really like to spend time working on our property - it gets me outdoors and helps me keep my girlish figure. And of course, with the Can Am we go off-roading a lot.

We have taken several road trips in retirement. We had already done some international travel and decided that we wanted to see more of our own country, for now.

[fposte]

More travel. Might do some house remodeling that I won't have time to deal with before retirement. I live a fairly LCOL life in an LCOL area, which is why I can retire early, and I don't anticipate that changing on a day to day basis.

[LiterallyIronic]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

[Take_Five]

I like to think about this; the up side of all the effort made to save for that time - I'm currently 48 and can envision retirement around age 62 (?? alot could change!) - and just read through the "what lifestyle creep made you happier?" thread. I'd like to think I am striking a good balance between enjoying my life now and saving for that eventual retirement. Not to get too deep, but I lost both of my parents when they were young - I know very well I've got to enjoy it NOW. So, to your questions:

Do you plan to live a better lifestyle than you do now?

I wouldn't say "better"; definitely "different". I have 3 kids at home, two in high school - my wife is on the front lines at home. In addition to father and husband roles, and my career, I have very dedicated hobby (in music) that I won't be able to physically do forever. So, I make room for it and I spend significant time every week dedicated to it. Recognizing that personal indulgence, I make sure to devote ample time with my family (as to not feel guilty!) I suppose one sacrifice I make currently is with my job. I draw the line and I probably didn't do as well as I might have if I worked ridiculous hours. I'm cool with that decision. My wife's lifestyle will change tremendously as the kids depart (maybe back to work?) So, in retirement, we won't have the kids at home (fingers crossed; lol) and my hobby will have to be significantly different (I won't be able to drum 3 hour concerts like Neil Peart. Well, he did until age 62 at physical discomfort until he retired.) I imagine our lifestyle will be more relaxed in retirement. More walks on the beach. Read more. More spontaneous laziness with things we're interested in.

Do you plan to travel?

YES. My wife is from Europe - and we travel roughly every other year to visit her family and various other places with the kids. The between years we travel in the US. Of course there are certain limits to what the kids want to endure or interests, etc. so while we enjoy sharing these trips with our kids, we look forward to travelling light and easy, just the two of us. Of course, we will also be travelling to see the kids as well. I will become a dual citizen (US/France), as my wife already is, and have the opportunity to travel easily in Europe. A related note about Health care - if I retired early at 62, as a dual citizen I can qualify to receive health care in France - perhaps using this as a bridge to Medicare age (65) (see housing answer below).

Hobbies?

My current hobby will have to change; though I'm sure I will find other avenues in music (certainly not playing 3 hour sets in clubs until 2 am...) I have other hobbies (astronomy, genealogy, sports) and I'm sure I will find new obsessions as I feed my curiosity.

Luxury items?

Not likely. I can appreciate fine craftsmanship and having nice things - but I'm not one for extreme luxury. I have a decent watch, tv, car, etc. They do the job and I keep them in great shape. Maybe I would buy that monster telescope. But I'm not the type to collect luxury items

Spoil the grandkids?

If we have some, I'm sure we will enjoy showing them some different parts of the world. Though I don't see this as being a significant financial commitment from us, but anything can happen.

Housing
Will you live in the same home?
Down size?
Move to another state
foreign country?
Rent?

I will pay off my mortgage this year. I doubt we will live there after the kids are flown, though maybe we keep it as a rental. or maybe I don't want that headache. Anyway, the plan that I have floated to my wife and she is now on-board with is that we would be trans-Atlantic snow birds - have a small cozy apartment/condo in France (Not in Paris, but in a more reasonable locale in one of our preferred regions) in a city (perhaps Nantes or Toulouse?) where we would Summer and another apartment/condo in the US; probably in our current state of Florida and preferably near the beach, but outside of the touristy insanity (these smaller towns exist.) Of course, this all depends on so many factors - our kids, health, global instability chief among them.
Anyway, that's the idea.

[pacodelostigres]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

You are living my dream there. Xbox, weed, gym membership, and Netflix. Same house, but no kid and no job, plus so much more free time.

If it weren't for my wife, I'd sell the house to cut expenses and buy something cheaper so that I can get started on all my doing nothing now instead of in a few years.

I will be keeping the monthly cleaners though. Someone else can keep the house clean.

[Peter Foley]

We will likely gift more than we will spend on ourselves. Unlikely to travel more than we did prior to retirement and we're just not interested in luxury goods. Our lifestyle has not changed and we rightsized a couple years before retiring.

[MathWizard]

The next 4 years will tell the tale.

If I'm out after one year:
we maintain a basic lifestyle, don't travel, but can have health ins,
can feed/clothe ourselves and keep ourselves warm in the winter, cool in the summer , and
maintain the house and update cars as needed, but not much else. Entertainment will likely
be local concerts, parks and visits from the kids/grandkids.

If I'm out in 2.5 years we can do some travelling, and may be able to trade houses to something
without stairs, and with wide doorways/hallways in case of mobility problems.

If I last 4 years, we can maintain our lifestyle, and in addition to the above, we can take trips abroad every 2-3 years.

[Rus In Urbe]

Retiring at the end of this year. I've prepped for this financially and other ways for years.

We will spend our retirement money making philanthropic donations as well as supporting the following lifestyle:

We will live in the same house, paid off long ago, remodeled, comfortable, LCOL.
We have terrific offices in our attic for our writing work, which is ongoing.
We will be going to the gym every morning.
We have a great garden and will continue to raise a lot of our food in summer.
We will travel to visit family more often.
We will take free classes at the university, one block away.
We have several trips planned (Grand Tour Cruise in Europe, plus Berlin, Lisbon, & Villa in Italy with family)
We both do volunteer work/boards and some community teaching.
We will continue to go to the theater, opera, symphony, chamber music series.
We will continue to make about four trips to NYC each year for museums, culture and to visit friends.
We have a list of "short trips" (2-3 nights) in the region we have always wanted to do.

That should keep us busy. We have, in the words of John Bogle, ENOUGH. Actually, more than enough.

[Dottie57]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

Mee too.

[RobLyons]

Great feedback!

[2015]

For decades my only plan for spending money in retirement was not to run out of it. I'm living a vastly better lifestyle than I did pre-retirement, almost by accident, but probably as a result of extremely hard work which invited good luck. Decades of seeing those around me in Los Angeles miserable despite pouring rivers of money on luxury items cured me of any such desire.

I finally received my "get out of hell free" card and moved from LA to paradise last year. Only recently have I realized since I now love where I live that despite having budgeted a large travel line item, my desire to do so has plummeted, as I want to soak in where I am. I now live in my dream home, with spectacular views of the towering mountains from every room, but again this was by almost accident and probably the result of ultra hard work which invited good luck in the door.

[obgraham]

Right now I am spending mine by posting this from a cruise ship in the Indian Ocean. Trying to decide which of 3 venues to go to for dinner tonight.

It's a tough life, but I will persist.

[marcopolo]

I plan to live at the same place, reduce all expenses as much as I can and spend almost everything on health care. With $1-2M savings, do I really have a choice? Health care cost will likely skyrocket in coming years: ACA is questionable and Medicare is running out of funds so it will be substantially changed.

I hope you are being facetious.

[indexonlyplease]

Retired 2 years ago. Living the same life with the same amount of money as when I worked. The big difference now is our kids are adults so we are traveling a lot since last year. Now we travel and pay for 2 instead of 4.

The biggest change is now when we travel there is no budget. We stay in nice hotels, do all the excursions and eat great. This year we plan trips every other month so far up to June.

I think within the next 5 years we will leave south FL to central coast FL.

Our college kids are still costing us money. So, I assume this will be our next big pay raise when they support themselves.

One more, we startinge driving new cars. Don't think I will keep a car longer than 5 years. My last truck was 16 years old. Wife car was 10.

[indexonlyplease]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

You are living my dream there. Xbox, weed, gym membership, and Netflix. Same house, but no kid and no job, plus so much more free time.

If it weren't for my wife, I'd sell the house to cut expenses and buy something cheaper so that I can get started on all my doing nothing now instead of in a few years.

I will be keeping the monthly cleaners though. Someone else can keep the house clean.

I am laughing. Thanks for the post.

[indexonlyplease]

We relocated to another state 2 yrs. after DH retired. We did not plan it, but while away on a short trip, DH stumbled on this area and a spec home for sale. He came home and told me about it and a couple days later I was there checking it out and we decided to go for it. It was the best decision we ever made. Yes, we spent money to buy the home (paid cash) and to relocate (pretty much moved ourselves), but the move has saved us upwards of $20K/yr. in lower property taxes and no state income tax.

Since DH retired, we have purchased two new cars and a Can Am Commander. Both of our cars were over 13 years old and the Can Am was purchased for off-roading and hauling small loads.

We definitely have taken up more hobbies - besides golfing and fishing, DH now hunts, shoots trap, and shoots archery. I am not much into shooting guns, but am looking forward to trying to archery. I really like to spend time working on our property - it gets me outdoors and helps me keep my girlish figure. And of course, with the Can Am we go off-roading a lot.

We have taken several road trips in retirement. We had already done some international travel and decided that we wanted to see more of our own country, for now.

We live in south FL and plan on moving in the next 5 years. We have thought of this idea many times but have not found the place to live. Central FL is the best so far we think for us. Where did you find this dream place. We have the same hobbies in south FL when its not 95 degrees outside.

[squirm]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

That's cool, at least you're honest about it too!

[Dontwasteit]

Indexonlyplease...Archery is a wonderful hobby. I have been "flinging" arrows for 25 years. You will be able to hunt (Archery) with your husband if you desire.

[Nicolas]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

I’m retired 2 1/2 years. Believe me, this gets old.

[quantAndHold]

Retired 2 years ago also. Budget the last few years I worked was basically no budget, although we actually lived pretty simply. Now we have broad spending targets that we track.

The top two spending items in 2018 were healthcare (mostly my ACA plan premiums) and travel. That not likely to change in 2019.

We spend about the same on travel as before, although we make it last about 3 months each year instead of 3 weeks, so our style of travel is more frugal than before.

Luxury goods? No. One of the advantages of being older is that we already have a houseful of stuff. We don’t need or want more things. As a matter of fact, we spent the first few months of retirement selling and donating stuff.

Hobbies? Yes, but our hobbies were never expensive.

Home? We moved back into a house that we’ve owned since the 90’s, but had rented out while we were living in another part of the country. We intend to live in this house until we can’t.

The main thing we spend time and money on when we’re at home is health and fitness. We have multiple gym and fitness memberships, and we spend about 20 hours per week doing health and fitness activities. I feel and look better than I have in decades. Having the time to do that is the real luxury of early retirement for us.

[pennylane]

Travel
Hobbies
Whatever I want

I’m not spoiling anyone but myself. Worked too hard to give it away while I’m alive

[marcopolo]

Do you plan to
live a better lifestyle than you do now?

Maybe not "better", as that is subjective, but certainly different. That is one of the main reasons for retiring early. If we wanted continue living the same way, i might have kept working longer, as i enjoyed my career.

Do you plan to travel?
Hobbies?
Luxury items?
Spoil the grandkids?

Travel? --Yes, but we already do a lot of that.
Hobbies? --Yes, continue ones we already have, lots of time now to explore new ones as well.
Luxury items? --Not really, other than than the added cost of moving to and living in higher cost area that is more conducive to the lifestyle we want to live in retirement.
Spoil grand kids? - No grand kids yet, but may eb the case in the future.

Housing
Will you live in the same home?
Down size?
Move to another state
foreign country?
Rent?

Same home? - No, moving to area that better fits our lifestyle
Down size? - Well, smaller in actual size, but, way more expensive
Move to another state/country? - State, yes, Country, no.
Rent? - Only till our house is built.

During working and child rearing years, the focus was on career opportunities and good environment (quality of schools). That largely dictated where we lived. In early retirement, the goals are quite different job opportunities no longer matter, quality of schools no longer matter. We are now more focused on good year-round climate, and easy access to a variety outdoor activities. Perhaps later in retirement, the focus will change to include better health/elder care opportunities, closer to kids/grand kids, etc. So, not locked into one path, expect to transition through different phases.

[RollTide31457]

Consuming more bottled water, Gatorade, etc and driving V8 powered vehicles to Bama games.

[tennisplyr]

Retired 8 years:

-enjoy life by traveling, going to shows, eating out
-be generous in gift-giving
-staying stylish by buying nice clothes, sports equipment, etc
-giving to charities
-living in a nice community/home

But remember, life isn't always about money...helping others, being kind, enjoying life's simple things can be just as rewarding.

[22twain]

I've been retired for 2 years, and DW semi-retired for 7 years. She still teaches part time because she enjoys it in smaller doses than her full-time faculty position entailed, and there are no longer those time-consuming departmental and college-committee responsibilities. Also, unlike me, she doesn't have any major hobbies to keep her busy otherwise, except perhaps yard-work.

We still live in the same modest house, with the same lifestyle as when we were working. No major upgrades or renovations, except for one major repair project in the kitchen, necessitated by a leaking dishwasher.

I spend my free time on three major hobbies, two of which provide excuses to travel to hobby shows, either day trips to nearby cities, or longer road trips (1-2 weeks). When she's off from teaching during the summer, we can travel to visit distant friends and relatives, sightsee, etc. We're not into resorts or cruises.

Fortunately, this doesn't come close to using up our retirement nest-egg. Although I keep tabs on our annual expenses, we don't worry about them. Even after we're both collecting SS and taking RMDs from our 403b's, which will increase our taxes significantly, our annual expenses for our current lifestyle will be about 2% of our nest egg. SS will cover most of those expenses, so our withdrawal rate will be much lower.

We view the extra money as a cushion against likely increases in medical costs, and for moving into a retirement facility eventually. We have no kids or other close family to help us out when we inevitably decline. Our closest relatives are a handful of cousins on the other side of the country, and all of them are older than we are; their kids are younger but we barely know them. So we're pretty much on our own in that respect, except for friends that we've accumulated in the 30+ years that we've lived and worked here.

Otherwise we have no plans to move, right now at least. Most of the people we know are here (or near), in the town where we've lived and worked for 30+ years. Something could happen to make us change our minds, of course.

[sil2017]

Retired for 1 1/2 years.
Lifestyle better than when I was working
No debt. Mortgage , Heloc , car loan all paid off
Will look into some volunteer work and hobbies such as painting and playing the guitar.
Traveling a whole lot as I have the time and money to do so . In Goa beach at the moment . I’ve been traveling since January 1st.
Picked up gardening ,
More time to stay healthy except during my travels . Never knew it’s hard to stop eating a buffet.
Be lazy if I want and do whatever I want .
Main desire is good health , stay positive and free from
Diseases.

[RobLyons]

For decades my only plan for spending money in retirement was not to run out of it. I'm living a vastly better lifestyle than I did pre-retirement, almost by accident, but probably as a result of extremely hard work which invited good luck. Decades of seeing those around me in Los Angeles miserable despite pouring rivers of money on luxury items cured me of any such desire.

I finally received my "get out of hell free" card and moved from LA to paradise last year. Only recently have I realized since I now love where I live that despite having budgeted a large travel line item, my desire to do so has plummeted, as I want to soak in where I am. I now live in my dream home, with spectacular views of the towering mountains from every room, but again this was by almost accident and probably the result of ultra hard work which invited good luck in the door.

This sounds amazing. Congrats !!

[market timer]

Assuming I retire in my 50s:
-Boarding school for son and daughter
-University tuition and fees
-Angel investor in one or both kids' startups or entertainment careers
-Wedding expenses
-Housing assistance for kids

Basically, above $100K/year, everything is probably going to the kids. I expect we'll retire with north of $10M in assets, so it's looking good for the kids.

[Thegame14]

inheriting a house on Cape cod. Planning on retiring with NJ house paid off. Wife doesn't want to leave NJ house, but would do a few months at a time in each house. but doesn't like Cape Cod in Winter. I have floated the idea of selling house in NJ and buying a house in NC to do summers on the Cape and winters down South, but she doesn't like the idea, at least as of now, she says too many hurricanes...

Planning on having between $1.5-3M in retirement assets mostly 401K, hopefully a side business doing accounting consulting, and plan to retire from day job and just do side consulting to stay active and hopefully work with one of my sons on the business.

Plan to just use the money to live, and not have to worry about working anymore, that is the goal to not have to work.

[getthatmarshmallow]

No clue. It's at least 20 years off. My plan is to make sure that I can when I want to, and that I'm not a burden to my kids (genes say 90 is a possibility.) I have a lot of autonomy over my time now, though, and I like my job so I don't feel like I'm not getting what I want to do.

[JoeRetire]

Do you plan to
live a better lifestyle than you do now?

We have always lived a pleasant lifestyle. It was different at each stage of our lives.
In retirement, it will be different. But I'm not sure I'd use the term "better".

Do you plan to travel?

Some. A bit more frequently than currently. We travel to the west coast to visit our son and his fiance at least once per year. We are considering trying a few warm-weather vacations in the winter with the thought of potentially snowbirding to break up the winter months.

Hobbies?

Yes. Planning on a lot more photography and pickleball.

Luxury items?

Not much. We're not really the luxury item type.

Spoil the grandkids?

We've always done that. We have no plans to stop.

Housing
Will you live in the same home?
Down size?
Move to another state

We've owned two homes for the past 7 years. One home has been a weekend/vacation home on the beach.
Next month we are selling our primary residence and moving into our beach home full time. It is in another state, but only an hour away. It's actually larger than our primary residence, but laid out in a more retiree-friendly plan.

[GerryL]

In year five of retirement. I am spending my money mindfully … but a little less frugally that when I was focused on saving.

I'm being more generous with myself: lots of travel, including multiple international trips in a year, eating out, "experiences" , buying a few more (just a few) things if I want them.

Being more generous with others: higher level of charitable giving, bought my first-ever annual subscription to Oregon Symphony -- 2 seats so I can invite friends to come with me.

Also being a "lazy bum" a lot of the time as I am not volunteering as much as I thought I would. (Someone called me around 10AM today. I asked if they could call back as I was just sitting down to breakfast .)

[snowox]

I retired 4 years ago at 50. 2 in college and 2 still at home so we still watch what we spend but live the same life we did before we retired with a bit less stress.

Workout everyday or at least 6 days a week for a couple hours.

I bought a new boat last summer so get out with the 2 that are home on the water as much as we can.

We are totally debt free and did downsize to a house that have slowly been remodeling making it our own as they say.

Kids play select sports so travel a lot with that.

Pretty much it.

[JaneyLH]

Spouse and I retired 8 years ago at 55. Travel, travel, and more travel. Have reasonably sized travel trailer (that fits national parks). Love Viking river and ocean. Trying out Seabourn next month to Antarctica. Never thought I would have a life like this, but it's wonderful.

[munemaker]

Been retired 2 years but DW is still working.

Do you plan to live a better lifestyle than you do now? Not sure how you define "better". If you mean a dramatic increase in spending, probably no. After a certain level of spending, I don't associate increased spending with a better lifestyle. We have been going out to eat a lot more, but usually not to expensive restaurants.

Do you plan to travel? When I was working, we typically took a one week vacation to Florida and a one week tropical vacation every year. So far we have continued that. When DW retires, we may spend more time (like maybe a month) in Florida during the winter. The airport security takes a lot of the fun out of traveling for me.

Hobbies? I played guitar as a teenager. Since retiring, bought acoustic and electric guitars and am taking that up again. For the first time in my life, I have been going to the gym on most days.

Luxury items? I don't know what that would be for us. I am considering replacing my 10 year old SUV with a new or slightly used SUV, but I would have done that regardless of retirement.


Spoil the grandkids? Our only grandchild (at this point) is not a year old yet, so "spoiling" him involves more time than money at this point. We have contributed to his 529 plan.

Housing
Will you live in the same home? We live in a cold snowy area. We have some friends but no relatives near our home. While we do not have any plans at this point, there is nothing to hold us here. I can picture us moving somewhere closer to our kids, closer to other relatives, or someplace warmer.


Down size? We never really moved up to more fancier housing when our income increased, as many of our friends did. We chose to invest the money instead. So, no, our current 3 BR home is adequately sized for us.

Move to another state? Possible but unlikely.

Foreign country? Definitely not

Rent? Possible but unlikely. I could see us renting a place in Florida for a month or two during the winter.

[heyyou]

From 2005 through 2015, in early retirement:

doing what I want to do. Low stress. Lots of exercise.

Plus volunteer work.

From 2016 through 2018, having retired from early retirement and volunteering:

by LiterallyIronic
... Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, ...Basically sit in front of the ... computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep....

Or reading a book per day.
We are keeping the bi-weekly house cleaner.
So far, so good in 2019

[jabberwockOG]

Hopefully I'll spend most of it on high quality booze, weed, gambling, and sexy companions, the rest of it I'll waste.

[Calico]

I've been blasted for this answer (not here though), but I don't plan on retiring until I have to. I will most likely reach a point where I don't "have" to work sometime around age 64-67 (depends on how college goes for my daughter). But I plan to keep working well into my 70s and maybe 80s if I can. When I get to the point where I can't work anymore, retirement money will most likely just be spent on keeping me comfortable, paying for medical expenses, etc. I will be well beyond the ability to travel and such.

My reasoning for this is as follows. I am single (divorced) and never plan on marrying again. So I will be alone in my older years. The few times I've been unemployed and was stuck at home, alone, I was bored and miserable. I always looked forward to working again. Even now, when my daughter is away with her dad and I am alone (even with work) I get bored in the evenings. On the weekends I do things with friends and I do some volunteer work. I collect silver US coins as a hobby (I used to SCUBA dive, but I don't anymore due to lack of buddies/they all seem to have stopped diving and most other divers around my area are into speak fishing only, not underwater sight seeing). But it's not enough to fill my time all week long. I can't imagine how bored I would be without work to fill up 40 hours a week.

I like my job and I like having an income (and benefits) so why not just keep working if I can. Even if I lose my current job, I've always been happy working no matter what job I had. Some places always hire like temp agencies and box stores. If I am doing something and earning money, I am happy. I do my travel now. I plan a nice trip every five years or so where I completely spoil myself.

Plus, everyone I've personally know who retires seems to go downhill quicker. I don't know if they start to lose their mental and physical health due to retirement or if they feel they are losing their mental and physical health and retire as a result of it. It seems like an invasive question to ask so I never did. But my observation is people are fine and then a few years in to retirement, things start to fade (even if they do volunteer work and stay active).

I still save aggressively for retirement and have a nice emergency fund cushion. One does not know what the future will bring after all. I may "have" to retire and maybe even sooner than I think. But my plan is to not use any of that unless I have to. If I die and never use it all, it goes in trust to my daughter and I am fine with that too.

[sophie1]

I plan to be pretty much a lazy bum. Sleep in, then surf the Internet for awhile before taking a long shower, and then eating breakfast somewhere around the vicinity of noon. Then, in the early afternoon, run any errands that need to be handled, and then come home to do a combination of the following: surf the Internet, watch a movie, watch TV, play a console video game, and/or play a PC video game. Basically sit in front of the TV or computer until midnight or so and then go to sleep. Other than that, just keep the house clean. I know it's not for everyone, but I look forward to doing nothing.

This gets my vote for Post of the Year.

I am not ashamed to admit that I seriously need my decompression time. After recovering from a lifetime in the rat race, life will present new opportunities and you take the ones you really enjoy and want to do. Travel? Volunteering? That's trading one rat race for another. I travel all the time on business and it's no treat to me. The last thing I want to do in my time off is get on a plane.

In reality, I'll start with some combination of the above and spending the time with family & friends that I'd like to do now, but can't. And reorganize/deep clean/fix up my home.

[TN_Boy]

Having been hyper focused on maximizing retirement savings and investments, a thought came to mind as to how I see myself spending some of this money in retirement.


Do you plan to
live a better lifestyle than you do now?

Do you plan to travel?
Hobbies?
Luxury items?
Spoil the grandkids?

Housing
Will you live in the same home?
Down size?
Move to another state
foreign country?
Rent?


I'm personally too far from retirement to have a clear cut plan. I hate flying but pharmaceuticals could change that
Fuzzy plan is to continue living conservatively, but comfortably, in same house with landscapers and someone to plow/shovel for me and vacation for weeks at a time in warmer climate during the winter and spend lots of time with family and doing what I want to do. Low stress. Lots of exercise. Help kids and grandkids to live a better life.

Our plans include somewhat more travel (a few more really long trips, more three and four day weekend trips). Similar "lifestyle" in terms of housing, food, etc. More time doing fun cheap things like being outside, exercising and so forth. Volunteer work. More time with certain hobbies; maybe develop a couple of new ones. Maybe learn a new language.

Looking at some other responses, if my plan was to stay at home and watch TV or play games, I confess I wouldn't retire. A little doing nothing, sure. Awesome in fact. But routinely doing nothing ... arg.

Also looking at other responses, for medical expenses not super concerned due to our insurance situation (well covered until medicare). Certainly LTC costs could potentially be an issue.

[latesaver]

most likely, cautiously and slowly.

[flyingaway]

Definitely no plan for volunteer or charity work. I consider my current work (teaching) as that sort of things.
Take care of my parents and my children, travel a lot and see the world until I could not.

[2tall4economy]

Depends on how I end up retiring; before I get “my number”, at my number, or if for some reason I enjoy what I’m doing so much I get more than my number. I’ve divided by / below for each.

Do you plan to live a better lifestyle than you do now? No / yes (need to define) / yes

Do you plan to travel? Yes in all cases
Hobbies? Yes in all cases or I’ll go nuts.
Luxury items? Very limited / lake house and a Ferrari / anything I want!
Spoil the grandkids? No. Working hard just not spoiling my own kids.

Housing - might rent might not / will own / will own something extravagant
Will you live in the same home? No / yes / no
Down size? Maybe / no / no
Move to another state this is a tough one. I honestly can’t think of any one place I’d want to remain long term. I suppose that will be more clear once I settle down and my kids stay the same place for a while.
foreign country? No / not likely / very likely

In summary, on the downside I’ll Do what I need to; “my number” has a little extra in there for hobby and toy inflation, and beating my number means I’ll burn it all in disposable income.

[Clever_Username]

Do you plan to
live a better lifestyle than you do now?

Yes. Not dealing with living in Los Angeles, or commuting within Los Angeles and the associated traffic, is an immediate step up. I might aim to do that before I retire, for that matter.

Do you plan to travel?
Hobbies?
Luxury items?
Spoil the grandkids?

I don't particularly enjoy travel, but I do plan to step up my playing of golf. I don't anticipate having grandkids, and spoiling my niece doesn't need to wait for retirement.

Housing
Will you live in the same home?
Down size?
Move to another state
foreign country?
Rent?

I'd like to get a nice place in the greater Phoenix (AZ) area. I'll probably buy a nice house when the time comes.