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Ready For Retirement
How to Travel the Country and Start Living Before Actually Being Fully Retired
00:37:32
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- [00:00]
James Knoll
Today I talked to a couple who didn't wait until they were fully retired to start living the retirement lifestyle that people dream of. That couple's name is LJ and Kelly, and they're an incredible example of what it looks like to start living now as opposed to waiting for some vague time in the future. In our wide ranging conversation, we talk about the logistics of traveling around the country for a year and staying at different places for a month at a time. We talk about the financials of doing so. We talk about Kelly's experience as a physical therapist and how she met far too many people who put off fun until retirement but ultimately were too unhealthy to end up enjoying it. And finally, we get their advice for what they would tell people who are looking to the same things that they've done. I hope you enjoyed today's conversation with LJ and Kelly. This is another episode of Ready for Retirement. I'm your host James Knoll, and I'm here to teach you how to get the most out of life with your money. And now onto the episode. I'm joined today by LJ and Kelly. LJ and Kelly, thanks for being here. Thanks for having us very excited for our conversation for two reasons. One, you've had a very interesting path to retirement, kind of from the standpoint that you didn't wait to retire until you started living like you retired, specifically with some cross country travel. And two, the nature of your work, being a pt. Seen some things that really caused you to think differently. I think about retirement both physically and mentally and how do you best prepare for it. So we're going to dive in and I want to start with this. So you, you traveled the country before Kelly. You were formally retired. How long did you travel? I guess could you just give us a brief overview of what that looked like and what you did?
- [01:32]
Kelly
So we sold our house in bass Lake in 2019 up near Yosemite, moved to San Diego for better weather and pretty much when the whole pandemic hit. So we were in Pacific beach for two years watching lots of travel shows. I wasn't working because I wanted to keep us both healthy during the pandemic. And at the end of our second year lease, LJ's like, I want to put everything in storage and hit the road because we've been cooped up too long. And so that's what prompted it. We put everything in a storage unit and we hit the road in our Subaru Forester and we traveled for a whole year throughout the entire country.
- [02:18]
James Knoll
Wonderful. L.J. what? What. When did that first cross your mind? You know, when you approached Kelly to say, we need to get out of here and travel the country, Was that a dream you'd always had, or is that something relatively new?
- [02:28]
LJ
No. I mean, we've always had somewhat of a travel bug, but it just seemed it was. The opportunity was there, and I think that was the biggest thing. And, you know, we spent months at a time at these different places through Airbnb and really got to experience the city or the town that we were at. And just I had my bike with me, and it was just a way to totally explore. Plus, it was a way to see friends that we hadn't seen because of the pandemic. So we went to all these people along the way and spent time with them, and that was really special part of it.
- [03:11]
James Knoll
So many people talk about they want to retire and they want to travel and they want to spend months at a time, weeks at a time, even at different places. I want to experience it. I don't want to just go and be a visitor or a tourist somewhere and then come back. I want to experience it. I hear a lot of people saying that. I see very people, very few people actually doing it. The two of you did it. And so I've got all kinds of questions around how you did it to make it as special as possible. What did it cost to do this? What were some of the challenges you ran into? What were some of the unexpected benefits? And I think these are the questions that prevent people from doing things like this, as there's so many unknowns. So I guess could you start by what was the general path you took Geographically, you started here in San Diego. Could you give us a 30,000 foot view of where you went?
- [04:01]
Kelly
So our goal was to get to Portland, Maine, because that's where his mom lives. And it had been two and a half years since we had seen her because of the pandemic. And so we made a beeline to Portland, Maine. But we took three and a half weeks driving across country, and our goal was to hit, like, national parks and beautiful areas that we hadn't seen that were near friends and family members along the way. So, like, we went to Colorado and we spent time with some friends there. We had friends in Crested Butte and in Salida. Then we went to Nebraska to see our adopted daughter, you know, and spend time with her. And then his big thing on the road across was the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, which is one reason why we're in the Rock and Roll hippie house here in OE right now. But. And so from there, then we just made it across to Massachusetts, saw some more friends, and then made it to his mom's. So that was how we got across country and that was staying in pretty much hotels. I picked two hotel chains so that we could continually get points and earn free nights. That upped our chances of going across. And then we stayed with friends and family. Then Airbnbs we would do for like a month at a time. And so our path was up to Portland, Maine. We made our way down the eastern coast all the way to the bottom of Florida. Then we came back across the bottom of the United States and back into California. And that was a good full year because we made it back. Yeah, we left end of August of 21 and got back the beginning of August of 22.
- [06:01]
James Knoll
Yeah, so much I want to unpack there. I think my first were gone for a full 12 months. Staying in so many different hotels, Airbnbs with friends, seen so many different places. How much of that was pre planned? You knew exactly where you were going and the time you were going to be there and what the next stop was and how much of it was. We're just going to take this a day at a time.
- [06:22]
Kelly
No, it was pre planned. I, in fact I saved my paper where I had written it all out because we were looking at maps and because we're older now, we don't like to be in the car for a long period of time. So we tried to not go over four to five hours of driving. So that was a big thing. So we were mapping out where the hotels were, where our friends were, and you have to book Airbnbs well in advance. Like when Portland, Maine, we hit there in October. That's their prime season for the fall colors. And you have to remember that Airbnbs aren't guaranteed. So that one got canceled like a month before we left. And we had booked it probably six months prior and it was because they were selling the house. And so by the time we got that notification, we ended up spending about $2,500 more that month. So that Airbnb was five grand and that was the cheapest one we could find in the area.
- [07:22]
LJ
But what is important though is that on that 12 months, the logistics weren't that crazy. Was actually not too bad at all. It because we got these long periods of time that we got to spend and then, you know, you could always, you know, tweak things as you went along. But and with that point is that we're discovering this year the logistics can be kind of crazy when you do the international. And we initially thought about going 12 months international and now we're not going to go that long because the logistics are really, it's a lot of work. And so we're looking at that differently now.
- [08:06]
James Knoll
In what sense? In the sense of the booking hotels is differently different internationally or what?
- [08:11]
LJ
We had two computers set up next to each other and we would go back because you had to consider everything from date line to. Because we're going over to New Zealand and all the. There's so many things but so like had to line up.
- [08:26]
Kelly
But our first year travel was all domestic.
- [08:28]
LJ
Right.
- [08:29]
Kelly
We didn't fly anywhere. Now, you know, we came back, we spent another two years and he was again, let's put everything in storage and travel domestic and international for a year. So we're currently homeless. We're in Airbnb right now. You know, all our stuff's in storage and we're in that year of travel again. So he's talking about because we are going international come January, we're going to the South Pacific for nine weeks. And with date line changes, really long haul flights, it's a little bit more difficult to plan hotels and everything to have it all booked prior to going because you don't know if your flights are going to be on time or if they're not going to be canceled. So when we were doing it the year driving it was we just had to keep our car running, which we also had issues with that when we hit Savannah. But so yeah, and yeah, there's always something that will pop up, but you just have to be with the mindset that you're now a nomad and you're just going to go with the flow because this is really what you want to do.
- [09:41]
James Knoll
And what. And not just a nomad, but you, you would stay for extended periods of time. It's all, you know, it's not a three day weekend to Portland, Maine. We're going to be there for weeks at a time. What did you notice was the biggest difference between spending prolonged periods of time in each of those spots versus just a weekend or a week?
- [10:02]
LJ
I'll give you one example, which is Washington. We really love Washington D.C. and when you go to Washington D.C. for a few days, you have to hit all these museums and you're burnt out. And we could go to one museum in the morning, come back, take a nap or whatever and just relax. And we really got to see the city and experience the whole city itself. And what, what's the nightlife like and the whole works.
- [10:28]
Kelly
Those 30 days in D.C. we didn't drive once. We did all, we just walked everywhere. We did the bus system. Their metro wasn't really up and running very reliably at the time, but we explored so many different neighborhoods that you wouldn't typically explore when you're there for a week. I mean, We've been to D.C. i've been twice before for a week only. And it's just you're trying to hit four or five museums a day because there's so much to see. And so when you spend and we figured out a month is like almost the perfect time.
- [11:06]
LJ
And it's ideal also because you get the Airbnb discount usually. I mean, if you do them, even if you did a three weeks, it's worth booking it for a month because you get such a big discount.
- [11:19]
James Knoll
Yeah. And so going. I want to come back to the finances in a second because I think that's a lot of people's big questions. Geez, does this cost two times, three times as much what you're normally spending month to month to do this? And we'll touch on that in a second to show how the answer is no, absolutely not. And I want to get some feedback from you. But going back to what made it so much more special, was it the fact that we just didn't have to cram things in that made it better to be somewhere for a month at a time, or was it that you're actually seeing things that you wouldn't get around to actually seeing if you only.
- [11:49]
LJ
Had a day off in between? So if you want to just hang out and read a book or just play guitar, was what I do. And you could do that. You don't have to rush everything. And yes, you can see a lot more. I just think you experience the city. We walk everywhere and so we just, you get to experience, you know, what the day to day lifestyle is like for people.
- [12:14]
Kelly
And a month gives you the opportunity to also explore the surrounding area. So like we spent a month in Savannah, Georgia and we were in the old town and we did like hop on, hop off. Bus tours are phenomenal when you go to places you've never been because you learn all the places you want to go back and explore. And after you do so many things in a city, you're like, okay, well now what am I going to do? Because. But then you realize, okay, I've got a car and I'm here for a month. Let's drive like an hour out of the city. And so we would look for, like, wildlife refuges, state parks, national parks, historic areas. There's just so much out there, even outside the city limits of these big popular places that are amazing to see. Yeah. And so that gives you that opportunity. Instead of just going and just doing everything in that city, you've got the opportunity to explore the entire area.
- [13:25]
James Knoll
Yeah. I think where we are right now is a perfect example of that of San Diego. You know, you're closer to downtown right now, and people visit San Diego, they're mostly doing things downtown and they're seeing the things to see downtown. And I'm up in Encinitas, which is north county, and you've been here, and when you're going to hike, you come up here. If you want to go to different coffee shops or beaches or whatever, you're coming. It's just, it's different. But if you're only visiting for a weekend, you're not going to make your way up here. You're going to do the things you're supposed to do. Yeah, yeah. So let's, let's talk about the price because, you know, most people's thought, as I mentioned, goes to, how on earth do you afford that to travel for a year? You know, you're gone, you're. There's Airbnbs, there's cost of transportation, there's all this stuff that comes up. How, how did it compare the cost of traveling for that year? How did that compare to, say, what costs would have been had you not gone? Have you stayed in San Diego?
- [14:18]
Kelly
Well, you have to remember, San Diego is very expensive. We're spending. Well, our first place was. How much was our rent there?
- [14:27]
LJ
Yeah, 3,000.
- [14:28]
Kelly
Yeah, it was about three grand. And then the last place we left was over 3, 500amonth. And so if we could find an Airbnb that was similar to that price or lower, then we would be excited because we're like, okay, then it's just like paying rent in San Diego.
- [14:49]
LJ
Right. We were in Oro Valley and we got this house. It was a big house, four bedroom house. I don't remember what it cost, but it was under.
- [14:57]
Kelly
It was like $2,600, I think.
- [15:00]
LJ
And it had everything. I mean, it was, it was much more than what our apartment ever had.
- [15:05]
Kelly
Right.
- [15:05]
LJ
And so it was. So there are places that you can get that are gems, for sure.
- [15:10]
Kelly
Right.
- [15:11]
LJ
But I think that the costs. Very important that people know that we sold our house and put stuff in storage, which means, you know, when we owned the house, we were figuring that just keeping the house was almost 15 grand a year just to keep it, you know, we had to paid it off.
- [15:30]
Kelly
It's just, just to have it maintenance.
- [15:33]
LJ
And all this stuff that we had to pay. So that's, that's a big savings you don't have. We didn't have Internet. We had to pay. We didn't have, you know, electric. All those things that you, you know, pile up for bills, we just didn't have. So that's a big plus.
- [15:47]
Kelly
Right. And then when we were in Airbnb for a month, we grocery shop and we cook like we're at home.
- [15:55]
LJ
Yeah, that's a big.
- [15:56]
Kelly
And we would not eat out very often. It's when you're on the days traveling and you're at the hotels, usually our hotels, almost all of them offered some kind of breakfast, so we knew that would be handled. And then we would try to buy like sandwiches and basic foods for lunches. But you're always having to eat out when you're on the road traveling from places to place. So you have to. That is all accounted for, too.
- [16:25]
James Knoll
I think that's the, the right thing to note or the perfect thing to note is this. This would have been different had you maintained your home and paid for property taxes and insurance and upkeep. That's a. All of your travel costs for Airbnbs or hotels would be on top of that. This would be different if you maintained the place that you were renting and had to pay that, plus this. But you, you planned for this ahead of time, which I think is the most important thing to note. You didn't just wake up one day and watch the Travel Channel and say, you, let's hit the road and go. You planned. And so maybe there was something that pushed you over, but there was rent. Each month was kind of equivalent, some months more, some months less, depending on what was the cost of the Airbnb or were you staying with a friend or whatever that might look like. Food is a big one, but you're going to eat whether you're in San Diego or whether you're in Portland, Maine, or whether you're in Savannah, Georgia. So if especially because you had an Airbnb and you could cook your own meals, go grocery shopping, not a huge difference. Sure, there's some fuel cost to drive a lot more than you probably would have otherwise driven, but all in all, it wasn't necessarily more expensive than what life would have looked like staying in San Diego.
- [17:38]
Kelly
Correct. If you were Going to just drive and do it domestically, Correct?
- [17:43]
James Knoll
Correct. International is another story, but domestically, yes.
- [17:46]
Kelly
A little bit different.
- [17:48]
James Knoll
What. Were there any expenses that caught you off guard on your trip?
- [17:53]
Kelly
Well, when our transmission was blown in Savannah in our car, we thought that was going to be a huge hit. But it was the place we had taken it to that damaged the car. So they stepped up and paid for everything. So you do have to take into consideration that if you are on the road you could have any kind of mechanical breakdown and then that's going to be a big chunk of money.
- [18:21]
James Knoll
Yeah.
- [18:23]
Kelly
Health care, we were, we were really, really fortunate that year. We did not have any health issues at all.
- [18:30]
James Knoll
Did you look ahead of time to see if your insurance coverage would cover.
- [18:35]
LJ
Yes.
- [18:35]
James Knoll
Hospital based where you're going?
- [18:37]
Kelly
Yeah. Yeah.
- [18:39]
LJ
How did you do that?
- [18:39]
James Knoll
Was it just a matter of looking up specific hospitals or knowing your network and say okay, we're gonna.
- [18:45]
Kelly
Yeah. So we're, we're with Kaiser and they're only in certain states.
- [18:50]
James Knoll
Right.
- [18:50]
Kelly
And but I mean you, you also let them know, hey, I'm traveling.
- [18:55]
LJ
Exactly.
- [18:55]
Kelly
And you get on the phone with the travel nurse and you tell them where you're going, what you're doing and so they are made aware that you are on the road.
- [19:04]
LJ
And that's a bit of advice that would like to share is that you really should call about the travel person. So they do have a travel nurse or travel doctor. And our travel nurse spent a lot of times with us for this trip that's coming.
- [19:20]
James Knoll
Yeah.
- [19:20]
Kelly
And especially if you're going international, they want to know what countries and then they know, they let you know if you need any vaccines, precautions. I mean we, I think we got like a 25 page document from the travel nurse on things to be aware of for our upcoming travels. And so yeah, you just, you want to be sure that you're covered. Anything can happen.
- [19:44]
James Knoll
Yeah. So I'll reemphasize. A lot of planning went into this. It didn't cost more necessarily than life would have had he not done this. But that's not just be by accident. You lined your everything up between housing, between health care, between what's food going to look like, which, which is obviously important here. I want to go back to the trip itself. What surprised you about the trip either for good or for bad. This is different than what you're expecting?
- [20:11]
Kelly
I was surprised that because a lot of people are like, well how can you travel for a year and not have a home base?
- [20:19]
LJ
Right.
- [20:19]
Kelly
I have to have. People are like I have to have a home base. I need to know where my stuff is. And I'm like, well, yeah, my stuff' in storage. So that's my home base. I didn't ever feel like, oh, my gosh, why are we doing this? We need to be somewhere and settled. It was just like, I was surprised that I was just constantly up for the next adventure. And it was. It was fun.
- [20:44]
LJ
I think had we gone and not had people along the way, it would have been a little more difficult. But our daughter came down when we were in Florida. You know, we had people and then, of course, my family up east. So that made it a better. I think it would be tough to just do it, you know, do us right. Not have other people interact with.
- [21:12]
James Knoll
Did anything change about your view on retirement, your view on life, your view on travel as a result of this, or was it more or less in life?
- [21:23]
Kelly
So being a physical therapist, I've always had the mentality that we need to travel while we can. Because I would see so many people say, oh, I, you know, I waited till retirement, but then my knees gave out and I had to have total knee replacement. So now we can't travel because of this. Or people waited to retire and their spouse died. And so he was a professor at Fresno State, and he had lots of time off during the year. And so we took complete advantage of that and we traveled throughout the summer, throughout the breaks. And so it's just. It's really important to travel while you're healthy. And I know a lot of people are like, well, how do you budget for it? And it's like, well, you. You just do. You don't have extravagant things and whatnot. You say, I want to travel, and that's where I want to put my money. And that's pretty much what we did. We never had any fancy flashy cars or buying, you know, the next best TV or whatever. We always had what we needed to live comfortably, but we wanted our money to go towards travel.
- [22:35]
James Knoll
Yeah, Yeah. I want to go to your time as a physical therapist, Kelly, because that's. That is so important, and it ties so much into this of who cares how much money you have to travel if you are unable, your knees don't work, your back doesn't work, and you can't sit in the car or plane for more than an hour without excruciating pain, and you can't do it of this. When you were a physical therapist, what. What was the age of people that you saw that were dealing with these kinds of Issues.
- [23:02]
Kelly
Well, gosh, I saw debilitating issues from, you know, it be people in their 20s all the way up to their 80s or 90s. And it just varied depending on what their situation was, especially if it was something that was congenital and they inherited it, or it was an accident that they had that left them debilitated. But it was the ones that would always say, yeah, we couldn't wait to retire. But then this happened, and it's those stories that would really strike a nerve. It's just like, it's too bad that they waited to do what they wanted to do until they retired, because maybe throughout their lifetime together, they could have planned a little bit differently and taken some small trips and whatnot just to get some of that stuff done. There's just a lot of people that don't travel, you know, and one of the reasons is the work ethic of America. A lot of people, they only get two weeks off a year. We were very fortunate with him being a professor, so I was able to work per diem most of the time, and I could take off as much time as needed. But the people that are stuck with both people having to work full time and they only each get two weeks off a year, they have to just prioritize that and especially take care, take advantage of the long weekends with holidays and stuff, anytime you can pull together some extra time together, just travel and get out there while you can.
- [24:49]
James Knoll
When you saw patients who are, say, in their 50s and 60s, what were some of the more common issues they were having from a health standpoint?
- [25:00]
Kelly
So a lot of the ones that were, like, brand new, newly retired, they didn't really have the time or make the effort while they were working full time up until that point to keep their bodies in good shape. They didn't work out, they didn't have hobbies. Their whole life was pretty much work. That's all they knew. And so then all of a sudden they're retired and they're like, oh, okay, I've got all this time. I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going to start working out. And so there's a lot of people, 50s, 60s, that were injuring themselves because they'd never worked out. And then they would go and they would. They wouldn't have a personal trainer because that costs extra money. And they would. We would see them because they injured their back or they blew out their knee or their shoulder. A lot of pickleball injuries. A lot of pickleball injuries. And, yeah, so it's like People, not only do they need to take advantage of what time they can take off, but they need to focus on their exercise, their health, and getting some hobbies that they're going to really want to enjoy when they're retired. Because that's the other thing. You see these people and they're like, oh, I. I retired, but I'm bored out of my mind. I have nothing to do. I'm. You know, I'm like, you ask them all these questions, well, what about this? What about that? And no, they have, like, no interest in anything. And so people need to find something that they're going to be interested in, because a lot of people, they'll retire, and after a few months or a year, they'll find a job somewhere because all they know is work.
- [26:53]
James Knoll
Yeah, go ahead, lj.
- [26:57]
LJ
I really believe that people need not just to have hobbies and stuff, but have some kind of creative outlet. Something as, you know, when you're doing your career, you know, the perfect career is, you know, find something you're good at, find something that, you know, people need and something that you can make money at and something you enjoy, and then you put all that together. But when you're retired, the only thing you have to worry about is finding something you enjoy. You don't have to be good at it. You don't have to make money at it. And, you know, that's my attitude with playing music is like, I. You know, they don't like it, that's fine. But I like it. And, you know, I have friends that like it. So we play a lot. And. But I think anything. It could be coaching, it could be teaching. Those are creative outlets. Anything is creative. You really need that in your retirement.
- [27:49]
James Knoll
Kelly, you two are great examples of that. Your music, for example, you just get. You start playing. You get on Facebook, and whoever wants to listen can listen. I don't care if you like it, but we're gonna play because for the love of the game, we're gonna do photography, we're gonna hike, we're gonna travel around the country without regard for. Do other people think that's ridiculous? To not have a home base or to. We're going to do it because we're going to pursue what we want to do. So that's very admirable that the two of you have done that. A lot of people struggle. And then I think there's three really important points that I want to highlight that you. The two of you made there. One is, you have to know that's what I just Said, you have to know what you want to do in retirement. You're not just going to, by accident, stumble into a meaningful, purposeful, creative retirement. It does take some work and some tinkering into who am I and what do I want to do? So that has to be a focus. Number two. Sorry, go ahead, L.J.
- [28:46]
LJ
But on that point, you're absolutely right. But I also think it's totally fair and fun to experiment because you can't fail. You really can't fail. You can learn, but you can't really fail. So don't go in thinking, I have this script that I have to follow. No, we zig and zag. We zigzag this year by rethinking our international experience because we found some place that we want to move to now.
- [29:13]
James Knoll
Yep. And, you know, you've. You've done consulting stuff in the past where you thought it was going to look one way, it looked a different way. Babe. That's not failure. That's. I did this thing because it. And I decided not to do this thing anymore. We did that thing, and then we decided not to do it anymore. And I think it's that almost beginner's mindset of not being afraid to try something is really important. And we lose that when we get really good at our career. We've raised a family, we've done what we need to do. It's easy to become set in our ways. But approaching things from that standpoint of being open to and not being the thing or being the thing that you love, but trying it anyways is important. So people absolutely should have that. As a takeaway from this conversation. Number two is travel while you can. So, Kelly, your point, even if it's just two weeks, even if it's just long weekends now, assuming you want to travel, some people, that's not their hobby. Somebody, hey, I want to do woodworking, and I'm going to take my two weeks off and I'm going to go to the shed. I'm going to build stuff. Awesome. Whatever it is, use the time that you do have off long weekends, pto and do something. But number three, and I think the thing that people think is totally separate from financial planning or retirement planning is prioritizing health of. You think that has nothing to do with financial planning? Well, financial planning or retirement planning is we got to prepare for retirement so we can travel and do these fun things. And then you're so focused on work and saving and investing that you neglect your health and you wake up one day in Kelly's office, and she's helping you to rehab your knee and your back and your neck. And you can't do any of those things because health was neglected for so long. So really, prioritizing health over the entirety of your life is one of the best things that you can do to have the best possible financial plan.
- [30:57]
Kelly
Yes. And in. In regards to the health, you know, I had a lot of patients that were traveling a lot in their retirement, but they ended up getting injured. So, like, this one lady was on a cruise in Europe, and she fell and she broke her upper arm. And so I asked her, I said, did you have travel insurance? And she goes, no. I ended up having to buy a flight home, and I lost the rest of my crews that I had paid for because of this. And then another lady had fallen and broken her hip in some country, and she actually opted to have the surgery done there, and it wasn't a very good surgery. And so she has nothing but trouble with it here in America, trying to get health care because it was done out of country and whatnot. And I asked her, did you not have travel insurance? And she said, no. And so, based on all these things that I've seen, every time that we take a trip, a big trip, whether it's international or domestic, we always buy travel insurance to have that extra coverage, because they will pay to have you medically evacuated, you know, depending on what your plan is. But we don't want to be stuck injured in a country. We want to be able to get back home for our medical care and not have to pay for it. And then all the money that we spent on our trip, we don't want to lose that. We want it to be reimbursed and not be out thousands of dollars. So that's another big thing that I push, is pay the extra money for travel insurance, because anything can happen with your health.
- [32:45]
James Knoll
Anything can happen. Great advice. Well, as we start to wrap up today, I want to ask each of you, for people who are listening to this saying, I want to do what LJ And Kelly did. I want to travel. I want to do it now. I want to travel not just for a week at a time, but months at a time, a year at a time. What one piece of advice, whether it's financial or just life advice or travel advice, would you give that person who's on the edge thinking about doing this and just wanting to bring themselves to do it? What. What would you give Kelly and then lj what advice would you give?
- [33:20]
Kelly
Do you know your answer? Yet.
- [33:23]
LJ
So, you know, we don't have pets and, you know, our child had grown, so we had a lot of freedom. And so you have to look at their lifestyle. Do they, you know, do they have a major house to upkeep and stuff like that? Since we didn't, it just made it that much easier for us because we weren't. We had. We, you know, we missed the friends that we had in our old place. But it's. It's just opened up a lot more opportunities for us.
- [33:57]
Kelly
I would say if you're wanting to do it, just prioritize. Prioritize your budgeting for how you spend your money. With the mindset that I want to travel, and so that way you've got money being saved toward that and then just do it. I mean, there's a lot of naysayers out there. Anytime people take time off from work. I mean, I remember when I would be like, sorry, I'm off for the next three weeks because my husband's out of school and we're going traveling and, well, how could you not work for three weeks? You know, and. And people, I don't know, they. They can be really negative and tear you down for just taking your time off. And so don't let people bring you down with that or people saying, how can you leave your house? I mean, we have friends that we've met that travel full time and they own a house, but they have really good retirement and they spend all their extra money on travel. That's what they want to do. And so they make it work with their mortgage and with their trips. And people are always going to be like, how can you do that? Just don't listen to the negativity and follow your dreams. Yeah.
- [35:22]
LJ
The greatest freedom you have when you're retired is not caring what other people think, you know, and that's. And I really has been wonderful.
- [35:32]
James Knoll
Just, you know, I. I think that is so true. And I'm probably a great place wrap is the freedom and not care what other people think it would. Is the freedom that lets all other freedoms be pursued because you're held back by what other people are thinking. You're just not going to pursue the things that you want to do. So that's wonderful. Thank you both for taking that time. I know that a lot of people want to do something like this, or a lot of people just have fears about home base or health or mindset required to do some of these things. So thank you for coming on and sharing that. I think it'll be hugely beneficial to a lot of people and appreciate you making the time.
- [36:09]
Kelly
Thank you for having us.
- [36:11]
LJ
Thank you, James.
- [36:15]
James Knoll
Root Financial is not provided any compensation for and has not influenced the content of any testimonials and endorsements shown. Any testimonials and endorsements shown have been invited, have been shared with each individual's permission, and are not necessarily representative of the experience of other clients. To our knowledge, no other conflicts of interest exist regarding these testimonials and endorsements. Hey everyone, it's me again. For the disclaimer, please be smart about this. Before doing anything, please be sure to consult with your tax planner or financial planner. Nothing in this podcast should be construed as investment, tax, legal, or other financial advice. It is for informational purposes only. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Ready for Retirement podcast. If you want to see how Root Financial can help you implement the techniques I discussed this podcast, then go to rootfinancialpartners.com and click Start Here, where you can schedule a call with one of our advisors. We work with clients all over the country and we love the opportunity to speak with you about your goals and how we might be able to help. And please remember, nothing we discuss in this podcast is intended to serve as advice. You should always consult a financial, legal or tax professional who's familiar with your unique circumstances before making any financial decisions.