<p>H and I have been discussing what we want to do with the rest of our lives when we are done paying college tuition for our two kiddos in five years. We’ve decided that we would like to work for 7 years, until 2014, and then sell the house, retire from our jobs, and join the Peace Corps. Seriously. We will be in our early 50s. H will be eligible for his pension after 25 years in public service. I would postpone my pension until my 60s. Our individual retirement accounts, we would just leave be. The equity in our house we would bank and let earn interest. </p>
<p>The Peace Corps is reaching out to Baby Boomers and is adapting the program to meet our different needs, compared to those of 22 year olds. About 7-10 percent of the volunteers are now retirees and they hope to increase that number as the BBs get older. They pay your travel expenses, training and living expenses, plus full medical insurance for the duration of the 27-month commitment and they can place the older volunteers in less extreme locations (i.e. heat/cold, close to hospitals, etc…). H and I just find it so liberating to think about serving others, living in a foreign country, learning a new language, unattaching ourselves from our comfortable but sort of boring lifestyle, and being ambassadors of goodwill from America. </p>
<p>So, I’m curious, what are you all thinking, scheming, dreaming about for those years after tuition payments cease and children have moved out and on? Lots of travel? Moving to a new state? Career change? Retirement dreams? Puttering around the garden with grandchildren in tow? Going back to school yourself? And how long will it be before you can start acting on your Plan?</p>
<p>I had thought about doing something like VISTA–now called Americorps, I believe. I was going to do that after college, but then chickened out, and I have always regretted that. The trick would be getting my husband interested.</p>
<p>Dh plans to retire a year after the last tuition payment. I have longer to go, but my work is more flexible, so we could still do some traveling and volunteer work. Dh plans to volunteer in some capacity and expand his interests in art and music. He has sold some artwork over the years, but will then have more time to work on it. I also hope to do more writing when I don’t have to work so many hours to pay tuition.</p>
<p>I will be 51, DH 50, when the youngest graduates from college. I see… a new roof… in my future. Maybe some solar panels. Another ten years of diligently working to save for retirement. Pay off the house. Join some civic organizations, and help out by planting trees, cleaning creekbeds, volunteer for a political candidate. Take up square dancing with the hubby? Become a doting grandparent? (Not under my control; have to put some pressure on the kids.) Sell the house and buy a small 2-bedroom condo within walking distance of restaurants, near public transportation? Hmmm… so many choices!!! ;)</p>
<p>Too Rich, I’ve heard of this couple before. Do you have their book? It looks fascinating. My H and I really like the idea of continuing to serve others somehow, while combining travel and detaching from our luxuries here. </p>
<p>Marite, maybe by then your kids can start supporting you! :)</p>
<p>susantm, I think flexibility is the key for a lot of us thinking ahead. People are living so much longer now that the old idea of just retiring and spending the last “few” years relaxing is no longer that exciting. I know that I would get so bored if I retired from my job at, say, the traditional age of 62 because I hope to have 30 more quality years… and that’s a long time! My mom just retired this year at 65 and already has had 3 offers of part-time employment in her field. She is excited about it because it keeps her involved and yet is flexible (and she can just say no if she feels like it). )</p>
<p>I don’t have their book. I think they were originally from the Bay area(or somewhere close).
But I’ve read this book, I checked it out from my local library.</p>
<p>Good for you, momof2inca! – I sometimes fantasize along the same lines. Unfortunately… when my younger child graduates in 3 years, I will still have at 7-10 years of loan debt to pay off. I had always figured that I would be able to accelerate payment on the PLUS loans once both kids are out of college, but even so I will be very lucky if I have that all paid of by the time I’m 62 or so… and then the question is, what will my health be like? </p>
<p>So I guess I personally just have to take a wait-and-see approach on this.</p>
<p>I haven’t even thought about this. Like Marite and Calmom, we’ll still be paying off tuition loans long past college graduation. I’ve got two in college now and so there is about ten years of loan repayments. One of mine is applying to three-year graduate schools and so there is that tuition and loan repayment too. </p>
<p>So, while I am laughing at the comment that “70 is the new 50” :D, I hope that is true because I am 50 now and so I may be in my 60’s before thinking about this thread topic!</p>
soozievt (forgive me for butting my nose in where it doesn’t belong)- surely you’re not going to pay for her graduate school, too! If you had available cash sitting around with nothing to do, that would be fine, but if you are already going to be paying off 10 years of PLUS loans… surely, you jest??? :eek: I’ve told my little darlings that they are on their own for graduate school. Momma and daddy need to fund their own retirement!</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, we indeed are paying for all of our children’s education, as our parents did for us. We also get financial aid. I don’t wish to publicly get into the specifics of the funding but suffice it to say that our child’s own earnings will not be funding tuition, room, or board for graduate school. I appreciate the various choices families make, can afford or not, or value. This is the choice we have made. I also did not pay for my own graduate school.</p>
<p>H and I will be 64 and 63, respectively, by the time our last finishes college in 2014. I sure hope that 70 is the new 50! A financial planner we visited recently asked us what we planned to do after retirement and we looked at each other. We’ve never given it a thought, but are realizing that it is important to have some sort of plan in mind because one/both may live for 20-30 years beyond retirement. You have to save the $$ in order to implement whatever plan you come up with! Personally, I would like to visit every baseball park in America. :)</p>
<p>Anxiousmom and soozievt, our oldest just graduated from college and will be entering a Ph.D program in the fall, a minimum 5 more years tuition. Fortunately, he was able to obtain funding from the University which covers his tuition with an additional stipend for living expenses. I don’t know what we would have done if he was entering a graduate program unfunded. My instinct is that we would have at least helped him pay for it, but obviously many students do take time off to save money so that they can attend graduate school. With the field my S is entering, he’s never going to rake in the big $$, so it was important that he look for a program which would fund him. Then again, perhaps that’s the philosophy of these types of programs-the non-MD/JD/MBA types. They know their students will never be able to afford to pay off large loans so they do provide funding for the students they select.</p>
<p>On the dreaming side, after college tuition, take a trip to Italy (Sicily) to trace family roots to the tiny village of grandparents. We hope it can happen!</p>
<p>Not surprised this thread was started by a Californian. Our friends from back east seem to stay put on retireing but we’ve watched neighbor after neighbor cash in their real estate “winnings” and do different things. A neighbor recently sold the home he bought for forty thousand dollars in the late 1950s, with it’s original kitchen, for over 3 million. They bought a major mansion for one-third of that in Texas where a son lives.</p>
<p>We also send lots of kids to UCs making paying off college easier.</p>
<p>My plan is to house trade for several months a year, swapping our home for homes all over the planet as long as our health holds up!</p>
<p>Momof3sons…I think some kinds of graduate schools do fund the students and congrats to your son for obtaining such funding! I don’t think it quite works like that for my D’s type of graduate schools: Architecture. I think we just have to put in for need based financial aid as we did for undergraduate school.</p>
<p>My father told me, years ago, to save for my own “old age and retirement” first and then fund college. H and I have dillegently followed that advice. We also started saving and investing for both kids the day they were born…so …When D and S graduate from college, our house will be paid off the same time (we took a 15 year mortgage and pay twice monthly to cut down on interest to the lender). We may sell the house and downsize…not sure. </p>
<p>Our plan, H will retire the same year…age 60. I will be 59. We are going to to travel, travel, travel, travel. While we are travelling, we will be looking for some project/program to put our time and effort into…most likely with an extended stay in Israel. </p>
<p>D and S are welcome to take a low-interest loan from “bank of mom and dad” if they need to for graduate school, but it will be a loan not a grant!</p>