When Retirement is 9 Months Away, or: My love of Airbnb Wishlists
Inspired by A Purple Life (an amazing OG FI blogger if ever there was one!) I’ve decided to start documenting our process, planning and expenses as we move towards early retirement and a lifestyle of slow travel. My desire with this blog is to share the kind of content that I’ve wanted to see since we started on our FIRE journey in 2019, so let’s begin!
The Plan
A lot has happened these last few months! Ryan has given verbal notice at work that he will be retiring on May 31, 2026. Nothing is 100% official, and I haven’t notified my employer, for two reasons:
Ryan holds a leadership position and has been with his company for almost 25 years. I manage no one and have been at my organization for less than a year.
We will make our final decision in late March, based totally on the market. (It would have to be very much in the toilet for us to change our minds, but who knows what the future brings!)
We will stay in Charlotte for the month of June to pack up our lives, sell/donate/thoughtfully discard what we won’t be taking with us and spend time with lovely friends and family that live locally. We will also plan and book our first 2-3 stops and update our itinerary page. Conveniently, our lease in Charlotte ends on June 30 so it lines up nicely.
July 1, or thereabouts, we will fire up a U-Haul and head west over the mountains to a small town north of Chattanooga, TN. My family lives there, and my parents have graciously allowed us to store our belongings in their basement free of charge while we travel. We’ll stay there for a few weeks to spend time with family and start the process of getting residency. Our official address will be my parents’ house which works out well for mail delivery, voting, etc.
Where Our Finances Stand Currently
Big picture: as of today, we are 92% of the way to our full FI number. No big deal- you’ll just find me weeping in the corner/jumping in joy over that bit of news. Be right back.
Phew. Ok.
Now- of course I understand that the market is not linear, that the world is wild right now (when is it not, honestly?) and on and on to infinity. Just because we are 92% of the way there today does not mean we will be closer tomorrow.
However. Ryan & I have worked hard for this. We’ve had setbacks, we’ve had luck. We’ve had a massive amount of privilege.
And I’m so grateful for all of it.
Our next steps are automated, and they remain the same as they have been for the last year and change: max out Ryan’s retirement account, max both of our Roth IRAs, and everything else goes into a cash bucket. Our goal is to have three years worth of spending in cash when we retire in case of a down market. If everything keeps plugging along as it has been, that bucket will be full in February.
Next Steps
For now, there really isn’t much to do as it pertains to our early retirement goal. A part of me really loves that (though I’d also love to start booking those Acadia National Park Airbnbs right this moment and definitely have a wishlist going). Instead, I’m leaning into interests as they pop up. I took a watercolor class last week, and I’m knee deep into an amazing BBC podcast on the history of “witches.” All of this while a new school year is starting and my job starts to get a bit busier.
Ryan is focusing on work, exploring mountain biking trails and seeing more of his family in Chicago.
I’d imagine as we get closer there will be more to add to a “to-do” list, but time will tell. And of course I’ll update you here!