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Do I Regret My Early Retirement?

Do I Regret My Early Retirement? This question came from a commenter on YouTube. The short answer is no. I don’t regret retiring in 2022 after 25 harsh years in the teaching profession, which in my case had become harmful to my health. Early retirement also helped me to escape an unsafe housing situation. But more on leaving teaching and relocating later. The question I received from this commenter was specifically rooted in the financial aspect of risk involved with retiring early, so let me get into that first. In This Post The financial risks. What I left behind. Teaching is a misunderstood occupation. The original plan was to transition careers. For me, it’s worth all the risks. The financial risks. Yes, I face some real financial risks. Outside of around 10k in a Roth IRA and several thousand in a high-yield savings account, I don’t have any retirement savings. I do have a partial pension, but without a cost-of-living adjustment, its value erodes with inflation. Fortu...
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The Pros and Cons of Being Single in Retirement

In a recent post, I wrote about how I’m finally at peace with being single—and I am. But being at peace doesn’t mean I never feel lonely or that I wouldn’t appreciate being in a relationship. Being single in retirement comes with real tradeoffs. I experience the loneliness of not having a partner, but I also have total freedom over my time. I finance my retirement without a partner’s income, but I was able to retire on my own terms. I handle the responsibilities of homeownership alone, but I also have complete control of my home. These are three real-life tradeoffs I’ve experienced as a single retiree. In This Post Missing Companionship vs. Total Freedom Over My Time Financing Retirement Alone vs. Retiring on My Own Terms Handling the Home Alone vs. Complete Control of My Home Solo Aging Is a Growing Conversation Missing Companionship vs. Total Freedom Over My Time Being a single retiree can get lonely at times. There’s no one to ...
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I'm Retired and Single, but I'm at Peace

I retired at 49, and I’m still single. But for the first time in my life, I’m at peace with it. I’m no longer worried that I’m running out of time. For most of my life, I wished for love. I wanted that special guy to come along and fill what I believed was an empty place in my heart. At the same time, I had a list of requirements for the man I wanted. I thought the list would help me find the right person, but it wasn’t nearly as helpful as I believed. Sometimes, it distracted me from the qualities that mattered most. Other times, I abandoned it out of desperation because I felt as though the clock was ticking. Even so, I haven’t closed myself off to love and marriage. I’m simply no longer treating either as something that must happen before my life can be complete. In This Post Wanting a Relationship Wasn’t the Problem. Believing I Needed One Was. It’s Not a Man’s Job to Rescue Me Attention and Interest Are Not the Same The Problem Isn...
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Starting to See Myself as an Older Person

The first time I can remember realizing that I was aging was when I noticed that my premature grey had matured. No more random strands popping up here and there once in a while. Instead, the grey was now fully committed to growing in robust patches. Soon, the entire lengths of a couple of locs were more grey than brown. I started getting grey strands in my eyebrows, and sometimes when I’d see myself in a picture, I’d say, I can’t be that grey, can I? That can’t be what I actually look like, because it isn’t what I see in the mirror. Next, I started noticing how asymmetrical my face is. I actually thought maybe something was wrong because one side seemed to droop more and one side seemed fuller. I confirmed with my dentist that nothing was wrong. I just subconsciously use one side of my face more than the other when I eat, sleep, talk, and make expressions. In fact, no one’s face is truly symmetrical. The interesting thing is that I probably would never have noticed any of th...
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I Retired to Have More Time. So Why Do I Feel So Busy?

One of the things I looked forward to most about early retirement was having more control over my time. No alarm clock. No workday dictating my schedule. No squeezing the rest of my life into evenings, weekends, and school breaks. So why, lately, do I feel so overwhelmed? To be fair, this has been an unusually busy year. Since March, nearly every month has brought something—travel, family celebrations, side-hustle work, home improvement projects, social events, and preparing my house for a big family gathering. Most of these have been good things. Some have been wonderful things. That’s what makes my feeling of overwhelm a little harder to understand. I’m retired. I’m doing things I chose to do. Why do I sometimes feel as though I don’t have enough time? In This Post My Time Changed—But So Did I When Everything I Want to Do Becomes a To-Do List Maybe Another Schedule Isn’t the Answer Maybe I Don’t Need to Get It All In My Time Cha...
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Why a Land Lease Wouldn't Work in My Retirement Plan

Today, I’m sharing my thoughts and what I've learned about land leases. Buying a home on property owned by someone else can appear to be an affordable alternative to traditional homeownership—but I’m learning that the arrangement could come with some serious financial risks if I were to choose this option in my later retirement years. I’ve previously discussed the downsides of 55+ communities , many of which fall into the land-lease category. In fact, having a land lease is one of my top five criticisms of that type of senior living. But land leases are a broader option, not limited to 55+ communities. In This Post The Initial Appeal A Strange Little House Connection What If the Land Use Changes? Delaware’s Protections So, What’s the Advantage? Where I Stand Right Now The Initial Appeal Let me show you an example. Here’s a listing very similar to one that caught my eye when I was researching my relocation to Delaware: ...
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Planning for My Financial Future Without Giving In to Fear

In today’s entry, I’m laying out my worries and fears about the effects of inflation on my non-COLA pension, along with some plans I’ve already made and some possible options I have to ensure secure housing as I age. But first, a related—and true—story... One evening, after talking on the phone with my mother for about an hour, I had just started cooking dinner when I received an emergency alert telling me to take cover because a storm capable of producing a tornado was passing through my area. It can be quite unnerving to receive one of these messages while observing worsening conditions outside the window in real time, confirming your worst fears. Suddenly, the sky darkened, the wind picked up, torrential rain began to fall, and it got really noisy outside. My thoughts were: This might be my last meal. In fact, I might not even get to finish cooking if the power suddenly goes out. This house has no basement. Where can I take cover? I have no idea what would happen if a tornado we...
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