RV LIFESTYLE OR COSTA RICAN LIVING? HOW ABOUT BOTH!
Just so you know I’m not fixated on the idea of having a full time RV lifestyle as the only option for early retirement. You should know that I’m equally obsessed with the idea of living in Costa Rica or possibly Panama. Who can resist the sloths???
I’m pretty sure my husband was thrilled when I suggested we look at the cost of traveling throughout North America in our trailer after the year of non-stop Costa Rica talk. I made him watch hours of YouTube videos on the country and talked about its beauty, the health benefits and yes, the sloths.
If you’re interested you should check out this couple at Living in Costa Rica & Facts about Costa Rica: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCivBVbsAsjdgY-r-QZ8pkQw.
They give great tips and tours around various areas of Costa Rica. The sound quality can be a little funky, but they are giving a very honest review of their experiences.
There are a lot of low-cost living options when considering early retirement, or even just normal retirement age (60-65). I think you need to ask yourself, what do I want to do while I retire? What kind of lifestyle am I looking for? Here are just a few things to think about before making the decision:
1. Do you want to retire in one location, set down roots?
2. Do you have a bucket list of places you want to see before you settle down?
3. Do you want to be close to friends and family?
For the Vaughan’s we originally thought settling in Costa Rica (because it’s relatively inexpensive) was the way to go. But when we thought about the three questions above we quickly realized that the Costa Rica plan doesn’t really suit our initial ideas for retirement. They may however work perfectly a few years into retirement.
So, for question one, it’s a yes and a no. We want to have a place to come home to but we also want to see more of our country (Canada), the US, and Mexico. This can be achieved relatively inexpensively through a combination of owning a small cabin in Canada and RV’ing. There are so many couples that are doing exactly that. One really popular couple have a lot of videos worth checking out. We’ve obsessively watched them and often visit their website at https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/
Do we have a bucket list of places to visit? Absolutely!! There are so many places! A lot of them are parks in the US and there are many locations in Canada as well. I’ve always wanted to see the pink sands of the Bahamas so I’m thinking about how I can achieve this in addition to RV’ing. Maybe we RV to Florida and do a 3-day Bahamas cruise!
Tip: Get a Trip Planning App.
I also downloaded a bucket list app and its super cool. https://tripbucket.com/ but there are plenty of apps out there to choose from so find one that works for you and start adding things to your list!
Do we want to be close to family and friends? We definitely want to be able to visit them easily or be within 5–6-hour flight away so we can get to them in case of emergencies or special occasions. One of the hardest things we will do will be packing up and leaving our loved ones behind for extended periods of time. We’re hopeful that they may even fly to us from time to time so they can see some of the amazing sites we visit.
Mapping out your retirement plans to include a lifestyle plan will go beyond just financial planning, but will lead to a more satisfying retirement in general. Retirement should be one of the most wonderful times of your life, when you’re truly free to relax and only answer to yourself.
Pura Vida!!