<p>I think as I get older I have less ability to see this. Just have trouble imagining retirement life style, older grown kids, no parents, looks, etc. I plan, but have no idea what life will through my way.</p>
<p>Of course we don’t know for sure, but one thing is certain: I will no longer be working in my current job. Nor will I be living in my current house.</p>
<p>Well, for the last 3 years the financial planner has asked when I plan to retire and each time I have said 10 years 
Now this year I really have to figure that it is not going to be that long. In 10 years DH will be 75. </p>
<p>7 years ago we thought for sure we would sell the house and move 3 years ago when the last was a sophomore in college. Well, I lost my job over 4 years ago and have spent the time building my consulting business back up. And we know what happened to the real estate market and 401(k)s. So here we are still. Recovering from recession and tuition bills that were the only thing that did not go down and still in the same house. </p>
<p>Now we are looking at maybe not selling and moving. Not sure where we would go where we would be as happy. And I have a hard time visioning life without my business. So I guess I’m with you rockymtnhigh. We are empty nest already, though. All 4 are out on their own.</p>
<p>I’m still not even sure what I want to do when I grow up.</p>
<p>A house in Napa is sounding better and better…</p>
<p>(Jym, you woke early)</p>
<p>Discussing this at dinner last night. We were deciding which Key would be best. Its not Hawaii, but nice to be surrounded by water, fresh fish, music, and atmosphere.</p>
<p>10 years…mmmmmm…
That is exactly when I would get to retire if I chose to. My job is the one providing health benefits for our family, including our adult disabled D. So, not so much chance of retiring before then…</p>
<p>I would love to be able to stay in our current house. We live in a smallish town, very walkable. All of us have long standing connections/friends in the area that we would miss if we relocated. So I would hope we have sufficient income to allow us to stay and pay the exorbitant RE taxes, hire help with snow, etc. We’ll see.</p>
<p>If my health holds up, I’ll continue saving the world.</p>
<p>And I have at least five other languages to learn. I think about five more books to write. More tomatoes to grow. Hope to retire within a year - I can EASILY imagine life without my job - I do everyday when I go to work! My mortgage (almost paid off) is less than many people’s health club memberships. Kids are all paid off (at least for now!)</p>
<p>LOL bookworm- you are up early too! I couldnt get back to sleep and didnt want to wake DH so got on line for an hour. Then did get back to sleep for a nice long snooze. Hope I can do this 10 yrs from now too :)</p>
<p>According to my DH, he talks about getting a vacation house somewhere, with the possibility that we sell our house and move into a condo. He also says he’s not so sure where he’d like to find that vacation house (ME? NC? VA? FL?), since he thinks we might want to be somewhat close to wherever our kids are.</p>
<p>I think we’ll be right here in 10 years, and so will at least one of our kids. :eek: I dream of buying a vacation house, but in all the years we discussed this (at least 25) with actual houses to purchase, DH points out how impractical it is to own a vacation house. So we rent. These days, he spends his lunchtime looking through listings and I poke in my garden.</p>
<p>People who are in good health who retire are lazy. You won’t ever see me being lazy.</p>
<p>
That’s your opinion. I look forward to the day I can retire and I just hope and pray that DH and I are still healthy enough to travel and do all the fun stuff we talk about doing at that time. I want to be a healthy retiree!</p>
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<p>The value to society of adults is their work, not their play. There is plenty of time to do fun stuff in life while working. Making that as one’s primary focus doing fun stuff is behaving as a child. Maybe others are ok with that, but I am not. Living (all or in part) off social security paid for by working people is the role of a burden, not an asset.</p>
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Well then, bring on my second childhood! I can hardly wait.</p>
<p>In 10 years I’ll be 57. Too young to retire, but I hope to be traveling more. H’s business is based out of the house. So we won’t be downsizing. </p>
<p>In 2021 The kids will be 27 and 29. I guess that’s about the time we might be seeing wedding vows or grand children. </p>
<p>Other than that. I guess 10 years from now will be same stuff, different day.</p>
<p>I agree with you, splashmom. I’ve seen too many people postpone retirement, feeling as though they need to work when they reaally dont, sacrifice fun time with family, and then get ill and/or die shortly after retirement. Those who retire and expect to live off just their Soc Sec arent going to get very far. I consider my vocation enjoyable, but in part it provided the funds to support my avocation. And that house in Napa is sounding better and better.</p>
<p>As an aside, DH went to visit a friend this morning who is in the hospital. The friend thought he had pneumonia. Turns out it was advanced lung cancer. DH arrived at the hospital at 10 am. Too late. Friend expired at 2 am. :(</p>
<p>It’s good to have friends that are ten years older - you then know what to expect by listening to them tell you about their medical appointments.</p>
<p>I feel better today than I have in the last ten years. Lighter, better conditioning and stronger. It’s never too late to start self-improvement.</p>
<p>Dougbetsy,
In 10 years I’ll be 68. as BCeagle said, watch us old geezers and see what we do!</p>
<p>Well, since I’ve been annoyed with my ds lately for his lack of communication, I was fantasizing last night about just picking up and moving to San Francisco some day without telling him. Cook your own damn Thanksgiving turkey!</p>
<p>I think about this all the time, because ds1 is a senior in college this year, and ds2 is a sophomore, and ds3 will be in sixth grade. It’s quite a spread. I didn’t really comprehend that I was signing up for a marathon rather than a sprint. </p>
<p>But I’ve been a caretaker my whole life. Started babysitting in fourth grade. Ran a group home for delinquent boys when I was 21–so at 21, I already had 8 kids. Then I had my own kids and their friends are always around…and I can’t really fathom what it will be like when my last son leaves for college. I really can’t wrap my mind around it or remember a time when my life and plans weren’t dictated by the lives of my kids. Remember when Tina Fey said in Date Night,“I just want one day where my happiness doesn’t depend on the happiness of everyone around me.” I know exactly what she means.</p>
<p>Sooo…I was going to go back to school and become a media specialist because yes, my dream job is to be a school librarian. But they fired all the media specialists because apparently we’re just going to turn the kids loose in the library and say,“good luck with that Dewey decimal system, suckers!” So then I thought maybe I could have a cupcake truck and make all sorts of awesome cupcakes flavors and sell them around town and campus, but then I read that cupcakes are “over” which actually enraged me because who decides these things! So now I’m thinking phone sex. I can do it in my pajamas, while I’m walking the dogs, lying in my hammock. But does anybody pay for phone sex anymore? I keep picking these obsolete professions.</p>
<p>I think hanging on to a job that could be done by an unemployed young person who is desperately trying to start a career is selfish.</p>