Cruising start at 55 or 56

[weavis]

What a great idea for income whilst cruising....

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[nimblemotors]

If you don't enjoy your job, then I would quit! It is that simple to me.
Doesn't mean you have to retire and go cruising,
can always do something else.

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Health comes up a lot in discussions like this one. The thing is that it is a double edged sword type of thing. If your health is not good the thing seems to go now. But waiting longer affects the money issue and this plays a big related part in being able to deal with ones health. Yet an extra year of savings can easily be consumed by health, either treatment or insurance.

I have no doubt that my work life is affecting my health. Now the decision to work a year longer brings a known stress to my life.

[Kenomac]

My good friend Robert Sailor illustrated a good analogy last summer regarding enjoyment, employment, balance and where you are in life. He said that a colleague once let out a tape measure and told him that "every inch on the tape measure represents a year of your life." "The average guy/gal lives to be 75yrs... where are you currently along the tape measure?" Keep in mind that it gets increasingly difficult to travel and do physical things for most people after the age of 70yrs.

One quickly realizes that the decision of when to go needs to be make sooner than later, and one needs to get started. When one gets to be 55-56, there really is only limited time for the adventure. If one has pre-existing health conditions or family history of chronic issues, start subtracting from the 75 year average.


There are no second chances if you wait too long and get it wrong.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

If you don't enjoy your job, then I would quit! It is that simple to me.
Doesn't mean you have to retire and go cruising,
can always do something else.

Oh, if it were only that simple for most of us!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

If you don't enjoy your job, then I would quit! It is that simple to me.
Doesn't mean you have to retire and go cruising,
can always do something else.

What's simple about it?

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

What's simple about it?

You quit, you go. Simple.

Not necessarily easy though, certainly family commitments and kids could complicate things. Kenomac provides a great illustration with his tape measure analogy. 55 is already pretty late. At 57 I find that with a herniated disk and torn rotator cuff I am already seeing limitations to what I can do. It doesn't get better from here on.

I am reminded of an incident that happened when I was a paramedic that left a deep impression on me. We were called to the scene of a 'man down' and found a man, 64 years old, dead in his driveway. He had worked all his life, retired the day before, went outside to pick up the newspaper and died.

Security is an illusion. Our plans are nothing but entertainment for the gods. If cruising is your dream, go now.

[sailorboy1]

Easy is rarely simple. If it was the replies on this thread would be a lot different.

[Mike OReilly]

My wife just quit her high-paying professional job. I started to quit eight months ago (I'm self-employed). I'm 47, she's 52. We will soon have no guaranteed income (I plan to work from the boat ... somehow ... not sure how).

Yeah, it's scary, but it's enlivening.

Love the tape measure analogy Ken. It keeps disappearing back into the holder. And at any time it can go whirrrr all the way back.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

You quit, you go. Simple.

Not necessarily easy though, certainly family commitments and kids could complicate things. Kenomac provides a great illustration with his tape measure analogy. 55 is already pretty late. At 57 I find that with a herniated disk and torn rotator cuff I am already seeing limitations to what I can do. It doesn't get better from here on.

I am reminded of an incident that happened when I was a paramedic that left a deep impression on me. We were called to the scene of a 'man down' and found a man, 64 years old, dead in his driveway. He had worked all his life, retired the day before, went outside to pick up the newspaper and died.

Security is an illusion. Our plans are nothing but entertainment for the gods. If cruising is your dream, go now.

Yup. My mother retired and sold up, and 2 days before due to fly out to the new condo bought in Mallorca, she suffered a major stroke. She was 53. Dead at 60 after spending the time speechless and paralysed.

At 55, give or take a few years, depending on your genes, you only have 15-20 years left. (There is no need for all the 97 year old world cruisers to harangue me...... it means your genetics are good)

If you want to waste time worrying about your pension, your health benefits and old age, then sailing is not what you should be doing.

You need to live your life having done what you think is best and then just ....... live your life.

I have a fellow Dr colleague who runs our charity medical clinic in a town in Mexico call me yesterday. He was quite sad. His neighbour, friend and patient of 18 years was gunned down in his own garage by a cartel member.

Game over. Empty space, end of dreams wishes and hopes.

So personally, from everything you have ever written, I dont see you cruising for more than a year, if at all. There appears to be too much emphasis on money for your salvation, instead of letting things be and realising it can all be taken away from you in one fell swoop. Be careful with your plans, but once decided upon, there is nothing more you can do. Sitting and worrying about it will not change a single thing.

Live your life instead of being trapped by it. No one gets out alive.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My good friend Robert Sailor illustrated a good analogy last summer regarding enjoyment, employment, balance and where you are in life. He said that a colleague once let out a tape measure and told him that "every inch on the tape measure represents a year of your life." "The average guy/gal lives to be 75yrs... where are you currently along the tape measure?" Keep in mind that it gets increasingly difficult to travel and do physical things for most people after the age of 70yrs.

One quickly realizes that the decision of when to go needs to be make sooner than later, and one needs to get started. When one gets to be 55-56, there really is only limited time for the adventure. If one has pre-existing health conditions or family history of chronic issues, start subtracting from the 75 year average.


There are no second chances if you wait too long and get it wrong.

But if that's the case and you get it wrong, you'll be dead, and presumably beyond caring whether you ever went sailing or cruising. The problem with the tape measure analogy is that nobody knows how long their tape measure is and if it suddenly ends, it ALL ends, at least on this earth! If we were walking along a tape measure and could see how long it was, the retirement decision would be quite a lot easier and simpler.

I do think that some people worry too much about having "enough" so they spend all their time working and never get to actually do the things they dreamed of doing and that attitude is not restricted to folks approaching retirement age. I've seen that type all through my working life and never understood them. From the outside, it seems that they screwed up big time if they work, work, work, and then die before they go play full time on a sailboat or pursue their dreams elsewhere. We all talk about how sad it is and I've caught myself saying that too. But from their perspective, if they had quit work before they felt ready, they would have been unhappy and stressed and would not have enjoyed themselves no matter what they were doing or how amazing their boat was. So that's why I think it's a very individual decision, we all have to do what makes US comfortable and happy and least stressed, no matter what everyone else thinks about our decision. For some it's go sooner and for others it means leave at 55 with a modest retirement, and for others, it means work until you drop. No wrong answers here as long as we all listen to our own inner voice and heed whatever it may be telling us that will make us happy.

For myself, I feel fortunate to be in a position of choosing sort of a middle ground. I'm 58 and my retirement goes up substantially every additional year I keep working up until a maximum of age 65, and I have a wife 12 years younger than I do and we have 3.5 years until all 3 kids are in college, but my job allows me to work very little and still be considered full time and have medical coverage as well as enough pay to cover all our bills. So, my plan is to keep my job until at least 62, but working less than is considered "normal" in my profession, about 8 days a month during spring and early fall, and about 5 days a month in the winter and take most of the summer off via vacation. So, I'll still be working at least into my early 60's but with the knowledge that I don't have to be, and I can take a week off anytime I get the urge (difficult to do when you're only working 4 or 5 days a month though) and the bills will still get paid. The youngest anyone has died in my family for generations is 84 but I know that is no guarantee, so maybe I should sail off into the sunset now. But that would add a lot of stress because it definitely wouldn't please my wife and wouldn't be compatible with all the kids activities and schooling, and I wouldn't be happy leaving them behind either. So, as much as both my wife and myself look forward to living aboard our boat full time, the least stressful thing and the thing that makes me happiest for now is to keep working, but not too much, and keep myself in as good physical shape as possible, while accumulating more funds so when I do retire, I'll have no worries about financial issues. That plan also allows my wife, a recently minted RN, to pursue that profession for at least a few years before we leave to go sailing full time. That makes sense to my wife and I, but I know that it won't for many and that's OK too.

Lots of ways to skin this retirement cat and none of them are wrong unless you aren't doing what YOU want to do, considering lots of pretty personal factors that differ for each of us.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

But if that's the case and you get it wrong, you'll be dead, and presumably beyond caring whether you ever went sailing or cruising. The problem with the tape measure analogy is that nobody knows how long their tape measure is and if it suddenly ends, it ALL ends, at least on this earth! If we were walking along a tape measure and could see how long it was, the retirement decision would be quite a lot easier and simpler.

The bigger concern is getting it wrong and not having the physical ability to travel. Basically, it's not too difficult for most folks to look into the future... just look at your parents.

Getting the balance and timing right seems to be what's most important... finding the proper fit.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The bigger concern is getting it wrong and not having the physical ability to travel. Basically, it's not too difficult for most folks to look into the future... just look at your parents.

Getting the balance and timing right seems to be what's most important... finding the proper fit.

My father died at 69 (and was very active until a few months before his death from congestive heart failure). That gives me 12 years if I do the same. I'm not going to waste them. (And, if I get more than 12, I won't complain)

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The bigger concern is getting it wrong and not having the physical ability to travel. Basically, it's not too difficult for most folks to look into the future... just look at your parents.

Getting the balance and timing right seems to be what's most important... finding the proper fit.

Yeah, I can see where that would suck, to be still alive but restricted from doing what you wish you'd done when your were younger and able! Looking at my parents would lead me to put it off longer, if anything, because my family tends to get OLD and still be very capable right up to the end, mostly due to lucky genes and being too stubborn to accept less. My 85 year old mother had a knee replaced in August but lost her cane 2 months ago while on a bus tour to see some shows, and is currently spending time daily on an exercise bike in preparation to resuming her 3 mile walks starting at 7:30AM every morning in the spring and I have no doubt that she'll do it once the sidewalks are passable again. Just because my parents and grandparents have done really well in that regard, I don't want to count on it. But I can see where the opposite would be true and would factor much more into the retirement decision if my ancestors had a habit of dying or falling into ill health while young.

I think you're exactly right about getting just the right fit for YOU, even though it's sort of tough because of all the variables involved. I guess all any of us can do is hope for good luck and go with what feels right and don't let anyone else tell us what that is!

[hueyhanoi]

Hi guys
haven´t read all of the posts, but want to put in my 2 cents.
I retired at 50, went cruising for 6 years until now, at a small but troublefree budget with my girl and cat. We got so much back from life you cannot buy with all teh money of the world. we are german, and made some american friends, also family, you tend to put tooooo much on money, friends. take the pressure out of your life, do not beleave your "advertising leaders", be free and enjoy life, you can not buy back any single second of time.
and...cruising is the cheapest way of a good life, off the main road, and remember: you only live once!!!
all the best for your decission, keep cruising, folks

huey

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

"every inch on the tape measure represents a year of your life."

Yet another reason I will never go metric!