re: Anybody give it all up, and downsize?

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We are in the process of doing this. My husband is 59 and I'm 54. We sold our 2700 sq. ft. house in Baton Rouge last July. We bought a smaller (but newer) home in Pass Christian in Jan. 2015. We paid cash for it. We live here full time now.

I am no longer working but my husband is working on a project that will end in April. After that he will just try to find projects that will keep him busy for a few hours a week.

We can make it on our savings, 401K, etc. Our only concern financially is paying for our healthcare until we are old enough for Medicare.

However, it won't be all fun all the time as my in-laws live 20 minutes away and we will be taking care of them when the time comes. I spend one day a week with them now just doing things around their house that they need help with.

We live on a bayou that feeds into Bay St. Louis. We fish off our pier and watch nature from our back porch when not fishing! It's a wonderful life!

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This sounds awesome. I have hopes of this someday soon. My wife retired from teaching last year and has a pension. All of our stuff is paid for, we are just saving for my retirement at this point. I hope in about 3-4 years, we will have saved enough money to pay any bills we have and can carry me from about 55 to 59.5 so I can start collecting my 401K.
I want to be a volunteer at the local animal shelter caring for the animals, work more with our church staff doing pastoral care for members of the church to stay active. I'm dreaming. Not sure if it will come true or not.