Planning Stage

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.  - Lao Tzu

Well since this blog is about the journey, might as well start by the plan.

Plan A – Select the right combination of numbers and buy the winning ticket. There is one chance in 14 millions, so it is pretty good. You know what they say: “50 millions dollar is a good start for a retirement fund!” This will really simplify the plan; l’ll just buy one of those huge diesel pusher motorhome, hire a driver (the requirement for the job is to wear a hat), and go!

Plan B – Find a “Sugar Mommy”, she is on her death bed, she has 2 days to live, she reads the blog and falls in love. After about half an hour, she decides that her 12 undeserving children, that only spend time doing charity work and are sitting ALL the time by her bed, are not going to get her wealth. She was thinking about leaving everything to the cat (after all every one loves cats!) but now that I’m in the picture… She leaves me 50 millions; I wish I could tell her thank you! But I’m in a hurry, I have to shop for a huge diesel pusher motorhome, hire a driver, and go!

Plan C – Only *sigh* if plan A and/or plan B don’t work out. Plan C is what is in place now: Spend the next 21 months putting up with the PEOPLE at work and do a few things meanwhile. I’ll enumerate what we are doing now, but, like any plan, things evolve, move, or change our mind, so it is always an adaptation and we are flexible. I won’t speak about the mental right now; I keep that for another time… but STOP the rumours, I am not mental!

I already mentioned that we have a model park trailer on one of our lot. That is really comfortable. We will be spending 6 months (summer) per year there, mainly because of the Canadians (Québec) health plan. I would rather not to have this over our head. But, I would not enjoy myself being one hospital stay away from bankruptcy. We can have private insurance, but for 6 months only. Every province in Canada has their own set of rules, it is really confusing. If anyone out there has solutions, I would appreciate hearing from you.

For the remaining 6 months, we will be following the migration of all those “snow birds” going south. We own a 22 foot travel trailer that pushes a ford F150 truck *wink* *wink*. Last year, we bought the lot behind us and will use it to park the trailer when we get back in the summer. During that time, the trailer will be useful for our children and any one that would visit. Of course it will be convenient to have the trailer and the model park one beside the other.

We have a house complete with all the stuff you accumulate over 30 years… boy there is a lot of junk! We are starting to “downsize” the stuff. Last month, I was doing some cleanup in one of the shelves unit, and I can tell you, I didn’t throw out much… I kept thinking that I might need this or that in the next 21 months…  I read so many blogs where they describe how difficult this exercise is, I always thought that I was not a materialistic person, I was in denial!!!

It’s a good thing I am not in the sale profession or I would be starving… so, most of our junk will either go to our daughters (No, Caroline and Julie, the mouse are reserved for the cat), give to friends / family, sell really cheap, give to Goodwill, or just end up in the garbage. Now I realized that 21 months could be plenty of time… so I’ll wait when there will be 1 month left – nothing like a little procrastination! ha ha ha

We are lucky, the house market has not been on a down slope like in the US, as a matter of fact, in our area, the price is still going up… but it makes me really nervous. With the proceeds from the house, we should be clear of all debts. We will even have a little left over for those long winter nights.

The house need some work, outside and inside. Last spring we renovated the kitchen, but there is still a lot of touch up to do on that project. If you know anyone who smokes weeds and has good lungs, just send them to me in the summer, there are plenty of it in our backyard, they should also bring friends!

By all means, we are not rich, a little RRSP (401 plan in the US), a little money in the bank, some already listed assets, and a full fridge. We won’t live from our investments. Our main source of income will be from our pensions. I already receive a pension from the army, it started in 1996, and is based on 19 years of service (I served 18 years but got one more year because they were down sizing the armed forces and giving incentives). That pension has not been following the cost of living, but, when I reach 60, it will be adjusted from the time I retired to that date and it will be added to the pension. This in itself could double the pension. But I am not in a rush to get that… We are both working for the government, and luckily, we are each accumulating a pension. By retiring as early as we have planned, meaning 53 years old and some months, we will have a penalty on our pension, but we will still have enough for what we intend to do. Of course, we could always stay longer, but I’d rather give a kidney J

What happened? Today I thought I’d give you a rest and write only a short post… I have 2 pages… and I still have things to talk about. I guess there is always tomorrow, so stay tune, next the sport, but before, a word from our sponsors…

If you are smiling… you are shining!