The Plan, Revisited

I got a bit of a reminder this week as to why I am trying to hit the retirement trail in ~5 years.  It came in the form of one of those standard work announcements:  “It is with very heavy heart that I share the news So-and-so has died.”  Since I was not well acquainted with this person their demise is not what served as a reminder – At least not directly.  The reminder was this tid-bit:  This person retired on December 31, 2020, and has just died.  They enjoyed their golden years for 9.5 months.

I absolutely do not want to be that person!

Let me add more.  I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that the best I’ve ever been able to say about Atlanta is that “you get used to it.”  I’m not unhappy here – I just wonder if maybe I would be happier elsewhere.

So what am I doing about it?

For the longest time I’ve worked hard at forcing myself to just sit tight – I have a decent job that I don’t necessarily hate, and it has good health insurance.  But since it has, in the past, been tied to an office I’ve forced myself to make do with the occasional vacation.  But the pandemic shifted things around – Except for me, my entire work group is working from home.  (My choices were to look at the same four walls of the loft into which I downsized last year, or have a window office on the 25^th floor.)  The other members on my team don’t even have offices here anymore. 

In my weekly meeting this week, I asked my boss if I could take remote working a step further – Could I become a digital nomad.  In the work from home agreement with the others, it is stipulated that this is a trial and they may be required to return to an office at some point down the road.  I knew this.  But I also have a one year time frame I’m considering.  So my boss and I agreed to revisit this a little further down the road.  I think the option is viable, though.

Nomads still need a place to live, especially if they are still engaging in professional activities.  This is a little in the air for me.  My plan has long been to have a small condo in the city and land in the country or mountains.  But the more I think about it, the less I see myself actually coming in to Atlanta very much once I leave.  So I am opting on just selling my current loft and sinking the proceeds into a house elsewhere.  The main factor driving this is that I would still need a place to store my stuff, plus I would eventually need a place to once again call home.  I’ve reached out to a couple real estate agents in a couple towns to see how the market looks.  I’ve picked the arbitrary price point of $250K and asked to see a couple of representative properties. 

One town is my home town of Spartanburg SC.  I never ever thought I would go back there once I left.  But a few years ago when my father was in his final decline I spent some time there.  It’s not as sucky as I remembered.  So I would be moving from a town of which the best I can say is “you get used to it” to a town about which I will say “it’s not as sucky as I remembered.”  Sounds like a great plan, right?  There are some good people there, though, so I at least need to cross the town off my list.  The other area is the more general North Georgia.  The agent I’m working with there is also licensed in North Carolina and Tennessee, which are areas I’m also considering.  These two appoints are in early November.  And then there are already a couple other towns, and there will certainly be more, that I want to check out first.

Where will I live during my nomadic adventure?  I’m getting really caught up these days in videos by people living on the road, in one form or another.  Some are absolutely no-frills:  Living in a modified Subaru, for example.  That is far too spartan for me.  At the other end of the spectrum are the HUGE RV’s that cost a couple hundred thousand dollars.  I’m not made of money.  I am eyeballing something like the little Airstream Basecamp, though.  It’s small!  But it seems to be tricked out enough that I can live in it without suffering too much.  I have an appointment to look at one this weekend.

The idea that I am having is to spend the final 4+ years of my current 9 to 5 life as a digital nomad, while I travel about seeing the domestic sights I’ve not yet seen.  I’ve been to only two of our national parks so seeing the rest will take some time.  Plus it will be a great adventure.  And then there are countless numbers of state parks too, which I’ve not yet explored.

What about the “digital” part?

That will take me a little more time to figure out.  I’ve been reading online about the various options, from mobile modem to some versions of satellite internet, and I think my best option would be a combination of the two.  But this plan is at least a year out, if ever.  And technology advances quickly.  So my take home is that this is doable. 

So these are the thoughts that have been occupying my mind for the last couple weeks.

What do you all think?  Any advice?  Any experience?

#GenX #Retirement #Adventure #GenerationX #SpartanburgSC #Spartanburg #Airstream #AirstreamBasecamp #DigitalNomad #ThinkingOutLoud