Planning. Lots of planning. Since we made the decision we wanted to retire early and move to Mexico quite some time ago, it gave us time to research and form a plan. I’d slowly been getting rid of “stuff” before I moved in with Danny, got rid of more over the next few years, bought more stuff for our new life together, and now suddenly finding ourselves in need to dump it all to make the move happen. E-bay, Facebook Marketplace, consignment, donation, friends, storage …trash. It all had to find a home. We are bringing the essentials we think we need to make other people’s houses our home…multiple times over.
We took a lot of advice.
YouTube became our favorite past-time. Others were happy to share their experience, their lives and their homes with us. We met some great people and have had great conversations, and even a few tasty drinks together. We found a little “network”, if you will. Some have settled into their lives abroad. Others have returned to the U.S. for one reason or another. That specifically happened to a couple we met that “moved” to Mexico on a whim after a job loss with 3 suitcases. That was not a move, that was just an extended vacation to figure their lives out. We pivoted our plan accordingly over the last 8 years. Some people moved on from Mexico. If we liked them, we kept following. Now we have a massive list of places to see and things to do in Mexico and all over the world. I personally love the planning process of travel.
As for the “early” part of retiring, well – that is another thing. Leaving the traditional “work until 65” or longer, take your retirement resources, if you have any, and relax. If you make a middle class living most of your life, you find yourself priced out of your dream retirement as the wealth gap continues to widen. Then what? That is a very individual choice, as many individuals as there are. We are flipping the script a little bit. We have seen and experienced enough to feel a little sense of urgency to live before it’s too late. People passing on too soon, leaving a partner behind in disbelief that everything they dreamt about together is never going to happen.
We met later in life. We both have been through a lot in our individual lives; marriage, divorce, death of those close to us, and health scares of our own. How many times can one person “beat death” before their luck runs out? Now that we have found each other – we want to experience as much as we can while we are young and healthy enough to enjoy it. As part of our planning, we both got healthier (and replaced body parts). We feel in shape enough to do all the things we want to do now. We aren’t climbing Kilimanjaro, just walking beaches, biking to markets, and hiking up through Oyamel Fir forests in Michoacan to see the resting Monarchs.
Perhaps, one day, we will look back on this time with a new perspective. Maybe Mexico isn’t our final destination. We think it will be, but we are keeping an open heart and mind. We aren’t taking any risks, not buying property (yet), not plunking ourselves down in a dreamy beach town and calling it “forever paradise”. We are practical people. We have worked hard for every dollar and plan to spend it wisely and stay within our means. We also have no idea what other places we might find to be “home”. We are taking our time to discover that. We are going to “enjoy the journey – while we find the destination” so to speak.