My plan was to retire at 55 but it didn’t happen.
I’m 58 and my husband is 60. Another year and a half and he will eligible for Social Security.
We left our normal lives to go bamboo with enough money to see us through until his retirement income kicks in, or so we thought. But our projects have not just nibbled away at our money, they have engulfed it.
He is thinking of taking on a consulting job, and if he does, that will be a relief financially, although unhappy from the point of view of what we are trying to do.
The other side of the story is that we fully intended to earn a living with the wedding business, treehouse as adjunct. As long as we hit a tipping point with the wedding business we will be OK.
But is that retired? I think not. But I do get retirement income. Early retirement means a huge hit on the income part. And moving to Hawaii meant a gargantuan leap in the cost of our health insurance. (Almost a thousand dollars a month!!)
And there have been issues upon issues. I have barely controlled my urge to rant here (not in this comment, but in general) as every new day seems to bring a new problem, and more expenses.
One thing I did not consider adequately is the perils of a treehouse. It is a whole different experience than a house on the ground, or even a top floor of a skyscraper, even though you are much higher in a tall building. There, you ride an elevator, and there are always walls everywhere. It is civilized.
In a treehouse, getting up requires some agility. More so than climbing a couple of flights of stairs. As it is the rainforest, the steps are slippery. you are fine as long as you use the handholds, and walk backwards going down, as your would on any ladder. But people persist in wanting to walk down facing forward, and freak out. This means telling everyone how to use the steps, and that means being there whenever anyone is there for the first time.
and that is simply not realistic.
Even telling a grown up to treat the “stairs” as a ladder is not easy, as most adults don’t listen. They think they are looking at stairs, and trust their perceptions over any suggestions or instructions they are given.
