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dothetwist brought up in the Stages of Retirement thread the the concept of retiring in a series of plans each lasting 5 years. I find that idea interesting perhaps that philosophy would help us make a decision. I'd like to read thoughts and ideas on it. Thanks.
I read that and found the idea of starting on new adventures in 5-year cycles intriguing. However, I couldn't help but wonder what one would do if they 'found themselves' during one of their 5-year re-invention cycles.
I'm not sure that building the life one feels fulfilled in and then continuing to do that is a bad thing ... or equivalent to complacency. Still, I like the idea of having goals and doing new things. (For example, I've just finished writing a book and am teaching again - and have never worked harder or felt more of a sense of purpose. We've also done a great deal of travel since retirement and may do more -- yet, truly enjoy spending time with the 'kids' and grandkids.)
The Soviet Union wasn't helped by repeated 5-year plans and I don't think retirees would be either. Investing large amounts of money (relative to your wealth) is usually subject to a lot of risk that the plan you make doesn't work for you. Of course we don't plan things that way; we plan for the best. My suggestion is that if you feel you have to explore such an investment, you look at picking something that is robust in the face of things not working out. It may not be your dream choice, but if the dream doesn't come true, the really bad things that can happen can be avoided.
For example, during my professional career, I moved to my dream place. I wanted to build a big dream home, but thought about what might happen if the market went south, or i ended up hating the job and the place. So, I decided to rent a nice, smaller home for a while, with an option to buy in the next 5 years. Well, i liked the job and the place, but the housing market collapsed. Two years later, i bought a lot in a nice part of town that had dropped about 50% in price. The price of new homes also tanked. So, I swallowed the option, and built a somewhat smaller house than I had originally wanted. It worked out fine. When I left for a new job after 5 years in the new place, I made a pre-tax profit of more than 100%. If I had built the big house, I might have just about broken even, if I had been lucky.
Too rigid. What is it about the five-year time interval which suits it for any given "plan"? Just doesn't make any sense to me. I might engage in a given activity for two or three years or for seven or eight years, or for any other number of years.
I don't believe "plans" have to be rigid. In writing and other projects, I often suggest and create limited-time "plans" that are more like roadmaps that can be adjusted or changed at any time. Lots of unexpected things can develop within five years in a person's life, including some real doozy curveballs. Some time back I created a thread here called something like "Five years ago I could never have imagined..." and got some eye-opening responses.
But say you're 65 or 70 years old and want to experiment with new projects or living situations and are too fearful to risk trying any of them. With a 4- or 5-year limit some are much more likely to give it a go. I'd be inclined toward the 3-year plan at my age/situation, however.
dothetwist brought up in the Stages of Retirement thread the the concept of retiring in a series of plans each lasting 5 years. I find that idea interesting perhaps that philosophy would help us make a decision. I'd like to read thoughts and ideas on it. Thanks.
The adoption of 5-year plans is odd though.
Historically, it was a horrible failure killing millions.
I mean dear lord, wwhy not label it "the final solution".
The idea interests me because we are getting paralyzed trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our lifes. 5 year plans are easier to digest because we're not trying to come up with a 'final solution' for us. We can do something for 5 years which entails figuring out what to do for the subsequent 5. That just doesn't seem so overwhelming to me.
Of course, this is just the latest, greatest idea. Jeez, this is hard.
I read that and found the idea of starting on new adventures in 5-year cycles intriguing. However, I couldn't help but wonder what one would do if they 'found themselves' during one of their 5-year re-invention cycles.
We've been very happy in all of our 5 year plans. In fact, we were reluctant and almost extended our first two venues. But we're glad we didn't, as each subsequent 5 year plan was as good (or better) than the first one! And all totally different than each other.
Our current venue allows us enjoy the laid back beach life and to fly to Europe easily from a major US airport. We're considering Europe as our next 5 year plan and are 'collecting' towns/cities in Spain and Italy as potential venues.
While the 5 year plan won't work for everyone, I highly recommend it for those who retire early and have a sense of adventure. And also for those who are a bit 'lost' as to where (or if) they want to settle down.
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