Peter and Sally’s Adventures Along the Way to Retirement

This is the best article! This article shows me that what you thought you wanted 10 yrs ago may not be the right choice now. It makes me feel better about our protracted search for where to retire. The difference between us and this couple is that they made choices and just changed if it didnt work out whereas we keep postponing the decision. I think we need to follow their example.

Peter and Sally (and Ziggy too) . . . what an awesome journey and adventure you took us readers on! Reading your well-written story, including some photos, made it all the more enjoyable! THANK YOU so much for sharing this because you both are an inspiration to many of us. If I may be so bold as to say: You have lived your lives by changing, adapting, trying something new, etc., and the BEAUTY is that you were able to dream it and able DO it. Your story reminds me of what the essence of "The Dash" is about. For anyone not familiar with "The Dash"... clearly Peter and Sally have lived and continue to live so wisely in "The Dash." My hat is graciously off to you both and I want to share this with you and everyone who may have never heard of this. It is my sincere hope that we can ALL, in our own way, learn, be inspired, be enriched, and enjoy our internal and external lives just like Peter and Sally appear to have done so well. Yes folks, we only get one turn on this earth ... lets try to capture all the opportunities we can.
The Dash Poem - Linda Ellis, Author, Speaker, Poet
www.linda-ellis.com/the-dash-the-dash-poem-by-linda-ellis-.html
The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis has inspired millions around the world. Read the famous poem and change the way you live your dash!

Perfect story, laced with humor and truth! Confirmed that retirement is a series of chapters, just like life. For years I thought that the perfect retirement existed and would be our "final" chapter....not so, there is just now. We have found our Nirvana in Beaufort SC, for now. We see may retirees in our community moving on in their 70's and 80's and a few who have discovered a new"now" and are trying something else - life aboard a boat, RV adventuring, etc. Bravo to Peter and Sally, and Bravo to us all for staying open to new experiences rather than accepting a less than enjoyable situation!

What a great story! It is encouraging to see such an adaptable and adventuresome couple. I also realized we also need to stop postponing (Carol) and do what we need to do...and smile, breathe, and enjoy the transitions.

Thats great for them and I hope thier happy.
IN REALITY, they will always fear going to the hospital if they have even looked into the healthcare system in Florida !
Due to the fact my wife is an RN, we know numerous RN's at other hospitals in this state and my current neighbor here in Orlando works for the insurance industry, I can say with confidence and unfortunate first hand experience that the healthcare system is 10 years behind the times "on pupose" so they can collect more money from the insurance system.
Unfortunately I received a lot of care from the Connecticut healthcare system after having been run over in 1987 and they are years ahead in proceedures and quality of care.
I hope you all the best and of course not having a personal income tax or the annual cold will help as you get more mature (because old is only a state of mind !).

How lucky you are to have been able to make these changes in your lives, moving up and down the exclusive top rungs of the economic ladder. You definitely represent a minority. I just returned home from grocery shopping. The bagger had to have been in her late eighties, working to supplement her meager social security. She's not alone.

I also thought this was great story of a great journey. Congratulations Peter and Sally! We also moved a lot -- sometimes for similar reasons, though seldom just to get to another place we thought better -- motives differ for everyone. Jobs and "retirement-like" thinking did apply too our moves.

My thought is that I really wouldn't be overly concerned about the medical circumstances that Richard pointed out. It's all a crap-shoot. You can be "screwed" just as well by the latest and greatest as you can by older systems. There are always schemers putting themselves ahead of you. I think having reasonable medical facilities within easy reach is of the greatest importance "surviving" the unexpected is important to you.

One side story a little similar to Peter and Sally's adventure was when we latched unto an unexpected opportunity to move from our happy home in No Va to what we expected to be a much happier home near Chapel Hill, NC (that was not our current home of 23 years). The move was to a home that we felt would be our "retirement dream" (thinking 15 years in the future at that time). It was almost new and had been lived in only by a little old lady. Within 3 months we totally renovated the kitchen, remodeled the loft over the living room, hugely changed the exterior landscaping, had running difficulties with a particular neighbor, helped fight off MASSIVE building programs literally adjacent to our lot and other "unanticipated" projects. So much for the dream! After 9 months, we realized that our next renovation was going to cost at least $50,000 and we needed to change our thoughts to building a new house elsewhere. So since we left No Va in early 1989, we moved twice including a year-long rental, and finally moved into our current home in late 1992 where we actually retired 13 years ago in 2003 -- but that accomplishment took those 3 moves in 3 years.

This last move has proved to be "the one", but we do still look for new possibilities (we also have transitioned from mid-40s to late-60s). While we feel open to starting anew in another place (most probably in NC also), we have continually improved and updated our new home right down to massive landscaping changes in the past two years up to and including now.

That leads me to agree -- take the opportunities as they come and make the best of what you do. Change is possible, but you need to accept the surprises and chaos that comes with it.

Great story! Maybe it will inspire me to do something similar. We've lived in 5 homes and now a condo and feel we have at least 1 more move left in us. I am recently retired and just waiting for my wife to be ready to do the same. With family in Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Orlando, have a feeling that next move might be from the Midwest to the sunshine state. Will have to add Atlantis to the list of places to visit.

This concept comes up constantly here and in other forums. The idea that anyone who has a decent life or retirement must be wealthy -- in the top 10% maybe. That is absolute foolishness and I don't think anyone should disparage another if they have been successful with their life.

Sure the wealthy and near wealthy pretty much have an easy life financially. Makes me wonder why we hear about many of the same people with their suicides and drug issues. The same can be said for almost any financial level from poverty to "keeping up with the Jones middle class -- life just isn't perfect. Likely the 80-year-old does needs to support herself somehow, but just possibly she simply wants to avoid the "stuck-in-the-house" syndrome that can lead to depression and other issues.

I probably qualify as being "top rung" despite living month to month on a strict budget and qualifying only as low-middle income. And yes, we did almost everything right from starting college with virtually no financial support from our parents, to taking jobs available even if we only made $75/month, to seeking out opportunity and moving when needed despite the financial impact of being stuck with two house payments. The GI Bill saved us more than once -- how can I regret my time in service aside from the opportunity to serve? Both working 60-100 hours a week for more than 20 years certainly impacted our lives and our families, but we found ways to make it work. We made our lives what we wanted from them even when there appeared to be no way out. We started debt-ridden our of college, struggled hard to overcome all the obstacles, held ourselves open to new (and sometimes terribly difficult) challenges, ended up retiring early (partly due to health problems) and today live decently well while watching every dollar (literally, we record everything spent). Many people would say we are "lucky", we may or may not be "top rung", but we made our own luck and took advantage of that which came to us no matter how scary and risk-filled it sometimes was. We are normal. Most people I know have had their own travails.

I again say "congratulations" to Peter and Sally no matter how it was that they succeeded. Walk a mile in our shoes -- could you have managed? A degree of envy and jealousy is natural (believe me, I have enough to share), but please don't disparage someone who has managed to make their life a good one. It is simply what we all dream about.

It was fun to read your adventure and continue to dream of ours. It's time to retire to Florida!

Thanks, Sally, very entertaining and inspirational story. And thanks to Pattie for the poem. I've seen it before but a reminder is always thought provoking.

Great article! I love this website. Waiting for my wife's retirement (1-4 years) I wrote a poem many years ago that this article reminded me of. "When you live your life in the past you may find that things never last, and when you live your life for the future you may find there's simple no cure, but nice you live your life in the here and now, you'll soon see that love always comes somehow!"

Greg, Your wife's a lucky woman. You're a keeper!

Many thanks to all for your kind words, poetry and encouragement. We were so pleased you liked our little story.

Many years ago, a friend who was diagnosed with a grave illness told us about a game he played. He suggested that we write down (separately, and in two minutes) everything we'd like to do if we had a ton of money in the bank but had only two years to live. The exercise, as you surely know, is to balance the value of time alongside the security of money. Most importantly, it's a device to crytalize what's most important in your life, set goals and pursue them. The "game" refreshed our perspective, provoked many honest, heartfelt discussions and triggered a number of surprising decisions and happy adventures.

Of course, luck plays a big part. Fortunately, our friend was misdiagnosed and enjoyed a long, fulfilling life. We know we have have been lucky, and try to be grateful for every extra day.

We never had a barrel of money. Just travel along, singing a song, side by side.

All the best...Peter and Sally

Gratitude, everyday. How to get to Atlantis? Practice, practice, practice.

A fun word to describe Peter and Sally: FANBYs (Find a New Backyard) - serial relocators. Enjoyed the article!