How many vacations have you got planned for this year?

[Meriweather]

Our first. It has been a bucket list trip of mine for years. Amsterdam to Basel, with a couple of nights in Amsterdam before; we were just looking online to see what extra excursions we want to do.

Our first was the Grand European.
Budapest to Amsterdam
This one is Tulips and Windmills......

We has Russia and Egypt booked but that was a couple of years ago during the pandemic height, so both were cancelled. And we won't be doing them

 

[leebee]

We are debating our usual 2-week cottage rental at the beach. They raised the nightly rent by $50, which also boosts the tax, adding $800 on to what we'd planned on spending. Other than that, in March DD and I will spend 2 nights in Portsmouth, NH when she gets her hair done in Mass. Sounds weird, I know, but she goes to this person twice a year and I get an overnight trip with DD- no husbands!

 

[2letterwords]

3- WDW with my Mom and kids, Outer Banks beach house, and Salem/Boston.

 

[Jeannie]

One in April.
But being retired, we really don't have vacations anymore.

Because you don't care to go away any longer, or they're not budgeted in your retirement plans?

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I have plans for over five years worth of vacations. However I’m only taking two or three this year.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

One in June. We'll visit family some tme after that and before school starts. We went on a cruise in December and daughter will be starting senior year in high school this fall so that will be it.

 

[Bethandoesdisney]

We’ve got:
- WDW in April
- DLP in August
- DLP in September

 

[disneychrista]

No actual vacations. I am going to a concert in May that will involve an overnight. But that’s it.

 

[cedricandsophie]

March DW for 12 days
June. Colorado at beaver creek and then on a dude ranch for 10 days
October 10 to Nov 3. Starting at aulani for 3 nights, then Honolulu to Sydney cruise, then a few days in New Zealand
Nov 6 to 11. TCM cruise from San Diego.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

So far just the one WDW in April.

 

[tvguy]

Because you don't care to go away any longer, or they're not budgeted in your retirement plans?

We budgeted for travel in our retirement plans, but money will be a little tight until December when I go on Social Security, and until April 2024 when my wife also starts drawing Social security. So that is about half of it, and the other halvf is we are just not comfortable traveling yet with covid. My travel pages are filled with people who are flying and cruising and testing positive when they get home. There was a travel vloggers cruise last week of youtubers and this week the number of them getting sick is growing.
We did do a trip by car to Monterey, Palm Springs and Coalinga in October, 3 different hotels, 7 days, but just not ready to get on a plane yet. Also going to Southern California by car in a couple of weeks for my Granddaughters first birthday, our 5th trip down there since December 2021.

 

[Skywalker3]

So far, only Disney/Universal HHN in Oct. I have vacation time scheduled for spring break in March, and week after Memorial day, but no plans yet. but do want to do something fun.

 

[dvcgirl67]

5. The beauty of being retired - all the time off we want to travel. Most exciting to me is a Viking European river cruise in April.

I can't wait to be retired for this reason. We are taking a nice trip to Hawaii...12 nights in May. It's morphed a few times, but now we're doing 6 nights in Kauai and 6 nights on the Big Island. Then we'll do something in the fall...not sure what. It's tough for us to get time off, even though my husband gets six weeks of vacation it's not always possible for me to get away with my business. The trade off has been that we've upped our travel game because we can't get away as much as we'd like. When we retire....we'll stretch our vacation budget further by doing less five star....more AirBnB..etc.

I've seen the Viking river cruise boats in Europe....they do look like a good time.

 

[dvcgirl67]

We budgeted for travel in our retirement plans, but money will be a little tight until December when I go on Social Security, and until April 2024 when my wife also starts drawing Social security. So that is about half of it, and the other halvf is we are just not comfortable traveling yet with covid. My travel pages are filled with people who are flying and cruising and testing positive when they get home. There was a travel vloggers cruise last week of youtubers and this week the number of them getting sick is growing.
We did do a trip by car to Monterey, Palm Springs and Coalinga in October, 3 different hotels, 7 days, but just not ready to get on a plane yet. Also going to Southern California by car in a couple of weeks for my Granddaughters first birthday, our 5th trip down there since December 2021.

Yeah...it's still a thing. There was an article in the NYT about this over the weekend....older people feeling left behind because especially here in the states, we've moved on. A lot of people are still dying, and it's so sad to me. Kind of an article like...."does anyone care that we're still going to lose 100K+ people to covid this year"...etc.

It's just so random though...our first trip out of the pandemic gate....when we were ultra-careful....we got it, DH first, then me...thankfully right when we got home. We were a little more relaxed last trip...didn't get it. DH just spent a week in Seattle for work...didn't mask at all anywhere, a couple people he worked closely with got it....he didn't. Everyone has to go at their own pace for sure....we just reached a point where we couldn't take it anymore I guess, and we were *late* out of the gate. I'm jealous of some of the people on this board alone who were taking trips and enjoyed empty resorts..etc. I feel like I lost two good years of traveling for sure.

 

[tvguy]

Yeah...it's still a thing. There was an article in the NYT about this over the weekend....older people feeling left behind because especially here in the states, we've moved on. A lot of people are still dying, and it's so sad to me. Kind of an article like...."does anyone care that we're still going to lose 100K+ people to covid this year"...etc.

It's just so random though...our first trip out of the pandemic gate....when we were ultra-careful....we got it, DH first, then me...thankfully right when we got home. We were a little more relaxed last trip...didn't get it. DH just spent a week in Seattle for work...didn't mask at all anywhere, a couple people he worked closely with got it....he didn't. Everyone has to go at their own pace for sure....we just reached a point where we couldn't take it anymore I guess, and we were *late* out of the gate. I'm jealous of some of the people on this board alone who were taking trips and enjoyed empty resorts..etc. I feel like I lost two good years of traveling for sure.

While we are big covid chickens still, I never will ever be really able to tell what the impact it has had on my early retirement travel plans. We retired early, knowing we would be living on savings only for 2 1/2 to 2 2/3rds years until our Social Security kicks in. And despite all the talk about people having to live ONLY on Social Security, ours will be a few dollars more than our take home pay when we were working, so it is pretty generous income.
Talks to our financial planner last week, and we are still well below what we budgeted, but inflation, and crazy pricing have hit us. We stayed at a hotel in Palm Springs in October for $200 a night. That hotel during April when lots of folks are on Spring Break is $800! Are you kidding me? And we were going to return to Spring Training in Phoenix this year for the first time since March 2020......our last day there in 2020 was the day MLB closed it down due to covid. But game tickets that were $25 in 2020 are $45 in 2023, too high.

 

[Jeannie]

We budgeted for travel in our retirement plans, but money will be a little tight until December when I go on Social Security, and until April 2024 when my wife also starts drawing Social security. So that is about half of it, and the other halvf is we are just not comfortable traveling yet with covid. My travel pages are filled with people who are flying and cruising and testing positive when they get home. There was a travel vloggers cruise last week of youtubers and this week the number of them getting sick is growing.
We did do a trip by car to Monterey, Palm Springs and Coalinga in October, 3 different hotels, 7 days, but just not ready to get on a plane yet. Also going to Southern California by car in a couple of weeks for my Granddaughters first birthday, our 5th trip down there since December 2021.

Understood! You have to do what you need to do to be comfortable. I was just curious as my husband is retiring in a few months. We returned to traveling in Dec 2021. Wore our n95 masks in the airports and on the planes. Since then we've been on two cruises, several WDW trips, and a trip to Colorado. We stopped wearing our masks in mid 2022. We are fully vaxxed and boosted, and other than being just over 60, we're in great health. Like I said, you need to do what works for your comfort level. What we're doing works for us.

 

[dvcgirl67]

While we are big covid chickens still, I never will ever be really able to tell what the impact it has had on my early retirement travel plans. We retired early, knowing we would be living on savings only for 2 1/2 to 2 2/3rds years until our Social Security kicks in. And despite all the talk about people having to live ONLY on Social Security, ours will be a few dollars more than our take home pay when we were working, so it is pretty generous income.
Talks to our financial planner last week, and we are still well below what we budgeted, but inflation, and crazy pricing have hit us. We stayed at a hotel in Palm Springs in October for $200 a night. That hotel during April when lots of folks are on Spring Break is $800! Are you kidding me? And we were going to return to Spring Training in Phoenix this year for the first time since March 2020......our last day there in 2020 was the day MLB closed it down due to covid. But game tickets that were $25 in 2020 are $45 in 2023, too high.

I'm glad you're enjoying some travel that you feel comfortable doing. I only wanted to point out the randomness of covid....and also for us, in our mid-50s...having had it last summer, felt like a relief in some ways because we didn't have terrible cases at all. My FIL had it once, and came through it fine....with monoclonal antibodies (in additional to vaccine/boosters). My MIL had it three times....took paxlovid each time, the last case being within the last month of her life, but it's not what ended her life. I know the whole scope of the pandemic was awful on so many people in a zillion ways, but for us it's also been a "life is short"....and you "really do never know" moment. And a huge, huge lesson on risk assessment. What are we willing to do...and at what cost to our health...etc.

And I hear you....we all have our retirement "number" and budgets for retirement...etc. There was an interesting article in the WSJ this weekend about many people and retirement "planners"....meaning, the experts that advise them.... not really factoring in "longevity". Well....that's kind of a big one....lol. And we're seeing it with my FIL who is recently widowed, 91 and can live easily another decade he's in such good health. We've been helping my in-laws with expenses for about 9 years because well...they were very good savers but invested way too conservatively so their nest egg is just about gone. And so it's down to about 120 grand (so 12 grand for another ten years) plus his SS, which felt significant to him (and my MIL) back when they first received it....they waited until 65 and 67...back in the mid to late 90s. But now at 91, for him it's just $2,200 a month because my MIL's SS ended. Even without a mortgage (which he doesn't have)....$3,200 a month isn't enough, even though he's a really frugal guy. Inflation is crushing his budget for sure.

I don't know if I'll make it to 90....nobody in my family has to my knowledge, but they had poor habits in almost every case that ended their lives prematurely. My husband....well I'll be surprised if he doesn't live to 90. And so we always use 100 for our retirement planning...because you just don't know. As for SS, the number we're supposed to receive...as stated now anyway, at age 70 when we plan to take it...is high. We figure on actually *receiving* about 50-70% of that figure, because things are going to have to change on that front. Although...we're also in our mid-50s and so at some point may get "grandfathered" in...and receive what we've been promised. This is a huge topic in France right now as they're trying to raise their "pension age" from 62 to 64....and they're losing their....well, they're not happy about it

Having no children of our own....has really made us super cognizant to over plan/save for retirement....because we don't have anyone to come to our rescue.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Flu vax in the fall.

 

[tvguy]

There was an interesting article in the WSJ this weekend about many people and retirement "planners"....meaning, the experts that advise them.... not really factoring in "longevity". Well....that's kind of a big one....lol. And we're seeing it with my FIL who is recently widowed, 91 and can live easily another decade he's in such good health. We've been helping my in-laws with expenses for about 9 years because well...they were very good savers but invested way too conservatively so their nest egg is just about gone. And so it's down to about 120 grand (so 12 grand for another ten years) plus his SS, which felt significant to him (and my MIL) back when they first received it....they waited until 65 and 67...back in the mid to late 90s. But now at 91, for him it's just $2,200 a month because my MIL's SS ended. Even without a mortgage (which he doesn't have)....$3,200 a month isn't enough, even though he's a really frugal guy. Inflation is crushing his budget for sure.

We're fortunate to have a very good financial advisor whose top priority is a lifetime stream of guaranteed income.
Our primary source of income will be laddered annuities that will pay a fixed amount until we are both gone. They have locked in cash values, so if we don't live a long time, any remaining value will go to our heirs. My mom cleaned up on her annuities, living to age 90 and drawing $150,000 more than their cash value.
Social Security will be our secondary source of income, and all the models project it alone will be more than enough to cover our expenses. Of course, one of those checks goes away when one of us dies, and we have enough life insurance to replace 10 years of Social Security income.
My mom must have out frugaled your FIL. She passed away 10 years ago, and I managed her finances the last 13 months of her life. Her Social Security was only $1,250 a month, but her monthly expenses were only $650 a month. She had a pension and her annuities as pad for her income, but that all went into savings. But her house was paid off 53 years before, she paid cash for her car 10 years before. Her long term care insurance covered all but $300 a month of her tab, so even then, her Social Security was more than enough to cover everything.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We're fortunate to have a very good financial advisor whose top priority is a lifetime stream of guaranteed income.
Our primary source of income will be laddered annuities that will pay a fixed amount until we are both gone. They have locked in cash values, so if we don't live a long time, any remaining value will go to our heirs. My mom cleaned up on her annuities, living to age 90 and drawing $150,000 more than their cash value.
Social Security will be our secondary source of income, and all the models project it alone will be more than enough to cover our expenses. Of course, one of those checks goes away when one of us dies, and we have enough life insurance to replace 10 years of Social Security income.
My mom must have out frugaled your FIL. She passed away 10 years ago, and I managed her finances the last 13 months of her life. Her Social Security was only $1,250 a month, but her monthly expenses were only $650 a month. She had a pension and her annuities as pad for her income, but that all went into savings. But her house was paid off 53 years before, she paid cash for her car 10 years before. Her long term care insurance covered all but $300 a month of her tab, so even then, her Social Security was more than enough to cover everything.

Social Security was never meant to be considered the sole source for etirement...always a supplement to our income.