Downsize Into Retirement
This 2022 goal comes after a successful experiment from last year. I did really well with three short-term rentals so I proposed to my wife that we downsize into retirement by renting out our primary home as part of a plan for our early retirement strategy.
I have a couple of options for downsizing but nothing is completely off the table.
Option #1: Buy a travel trailer and park it at one of the current short-term rentals in the backyard.
Option #2: Split off our current home into two separate living spaces.
In either, there are a few things that need to happen.
- My wife needs to be on board with the plan.
- We need to get rid of some stuff and/or put it in storage.
- We need to fix up a few things around the house so it can be rented out.
I’ve discussed the plan with my wife and she really likes the idea of retiring early so I feel that number one on the list is complete. We’ll see if she changes her mind as we go through the process. She has much more “stuff” to store or get rid of than I do. I’m really downplaying just how much stuff she has here, it’s a massive amount of shit!
The timeline is to be ready to make the actual transition by September 1, 2021, so we have some time to get things moving. But time goes by quickly and we can’t waste it if we’re to meet the deadline.
Early Retirement
I plan to retire from my current job in August of this year if all goes well. This has been my plan before thinking about this downsizing. I don’t hate my job but I do want to put my time and energy into other things so I need more control of the time in my day.
My wife will work a few years more after the change because she was not preparing for retirement. She does contribute to a 401K but that’s it. So she doesn’t have a cash bucket to withdraw from before she hits retirement age. I’m glad she’s seeing how important it is though.
The Outcome
The outcome from all of this is to have our guests pay for our living space and lifestyle. The short-term rentals I currently have are paying for themselves and returning really good profits. I don’t think this will change even though there will be seasonal fluctuations in our profits throughout the year. But good money management with help us weather the storm.
