I was laid off and forced to retire in my 50s. I wish I’d started planning sooner, but my investment portfolio helped — and life is good.

I’m a veteran who has worked for various organizations and government jobs, including, at times, building and running companies. Like most people, I didn’t really start thinking about retirement until I was past my mid-40s. My plan was to work until I was 65 or 70, but my wife apparently had a different idea.

When I became unemployed in 2022, my wife saw this as an opportunity for us to retire and live on the road full time. This had been her dream since we bought a small camping trailer in 2002. We spent many summers and holidays traveling the Western United States and Canada with our son.

At 57, I was too young to start drawing from Social Security or our retirement accounts, so our finances were at the forefront of my mind, but I decided we could make her dream a reality. Almost a year later, my portfolio has generated almost as much as I made at my last job.

Here’s how I managed my early retirement.

I didn’t realize my life was about to change

We owned a house in California on a large lot in the Orange County city of Yorba Linda. When my granddaughter was just a year old, my wife went up to Vancouver, Washington, for a visit by herself. A few days into that trip, my daughter-in-law sent me some photos of my wife with the baby, and she was smiling like I’d not seen her smile in a very long time. I knew then that my life was about to change. I just didn’t realize how much.

Chris and his wife Kim at Bryce Canyon National Park. 

When she returned from that trip, we started making plans to move. Our house was nice but wasn’t quite ready to put on the market. I was still employed at the time. I made arrangements to work remotely for my company, and my wife’s sister had agreed to move in with their mother to provide care. After several months of getting the house ready to show, we got the house listed and in escrow within a week. Things were really starting to move fast.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, my mother-in-law became gravely ill and passed. Then my employers had buyer’s remorse on the remote-work arrangement, and I ended up unemployed.

We sold our home, and I created a budget for our travels

After we settled my mother-in-law’s estate with my wife’s siblings and closed escrow on our Orange County home, I added those proceeds to our other savings and IRAs. Most of our money is professionally managed, but I have a small amount in a self-directed account plus a savings account.

We spent $200,000 buying a new 30-foot Grand Design fifth-wheel trailer and a Dodge Ram 2500 truck to tow it. We have downsized from a 2,400-square-foot house on ¾ acres to a 290-square-foot trailer. We are now houseless but not homeless.

Chris and his wife spent many years traveling in a camping trailer before selling their home and living on the road. 

I created a budget for our travels using our home accounting software. We have 20 years of camping experience, so I was able to create an all-inclusive budget. Even costs like using a coin laundry every few weeks or paying for a campground shower. We also pay for Starlink internet, so we can always stay connected.

With no house or vehicle payments, utilities, or property taxes, our investment income exceeds our budgeted monthly living expenses. So we are living off the income, not the principal.

Paying For Retirement

The one thing I didn’t want to do in retirement was become a full time investment broker, so I hired one. The bulk of our investments are professionally managed in various municipal bonds and a mix of moderate-growth equities. My goal for the portfolio was income and asset retention. It costs about $6,000 a year in brokerage fees but is worth not having to personally manage all those transactions.

Much of the income from this portfolio is non-taxable, which helps our bottom line. Outside of that, we have our IRAs, savings accounts, and a small self-directed investment portfolio.

I communicate regularly with my broker and keep a close watch on everything. I’ve set up automatic monthly disbursements from the portfolios sufficient to cover our living expenses. I even make a few bucks with my writing. It’s not a fortune, but we live comfortably.

Eventually, we’ll have to start thinking about taking draws from our IRAs and when to apply for Social Security. But we’ve got a few years for that.

Life Is What You Make It

Looking back, I wish I’d started sooner, but I was fortunate. Despite my late start at planning for retirement, I ended up OK.

Every morning when I wake up, I open the shade next to my bed. Partly to see the morning light and partly to remember where I am. It changes all the time. We travel from place to place, one campground to the next. We hike in new places, try local cuisine, and go to museums, exhibits, national monuments, parks, and special events like the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Lake Havasu. We also manage to pick up a gift or book for our granddaughter and mail them to her.

No matter where we are or what we are doing, one thing is the highlight of every week: our weekly video call with our granddaughter. She is always excited to see Gigi and Papa and always has something to show or tell us about something special that happened that week.

There is life in retirement, and it’s pretty good.