took a positive step

Not much of a step, but I did send my and my wife's latest social security statements (the one that says how much you are projected to get when you retire) to my broker. I asked him to let me know how much money we need to have saved up by age 62 to earn $2500-3000 a month, including our approximate $1800 of social security.

I know you get more by waiting until 67, but I cannot bear thinking of working 5 extra years!

The big problem is, if you retire at 62, you have 3 years with no health insurance since you can't get on medicare until 65.

back from Playacar

We just got back from our 25th anniversary, once in a lifetime vacation to Mexico with our kids. We had a blast and stayed at the Iberostar Tucan resort in Playacar. I know this is not the real Mexico, but even so, I really am pulled towards coming back and checking more places out. I did not speak much Spanish there, but I was actually starting to understand it pretty good when we left!

I am thinking of helping a friend teach English as a second language in a local church, one night a week...my friend says this helped his Spanish more than any class he has ever taken, plus he is giving back as well.

I hope to catch up on all the blogs I am subscribed to now!

back to earth

I am back to earth after my 4-5 weeks of daydreaming and fantasizing about moving South of the Border. I really want to do it, but realities of my life make it impossible to contemplate. A 10 year old in a great school system, who is a fairly good competitive swimmer; a 30 year mortgage on a house I am upside down in; a job I must have just to pay for the house, etc.

I will keep dreaming about retirement, but I have to live in the here and now. I have a wanderlust that my father and his father had, but I have never acted upon it.

I really do hate being a CPA, but how can I make 75k at age 47 in a new field? Not going to happen! And 75k isn't very much really, we barely get by.

I will satisfy my wanderlust by reading other people's blogs!

less obsessed

I finally am becoming less obsessed with moving South of the Border. I am still really interested in it, but am no longer spending (wasting?lol) hours a day searching real estate listings on mx.yahoo.com (to avoid gringo prices), endlessly searching for the "best" places to live, etc.

We are counting down to our Mexican vacation, less than 8 weeks off now! We are so excited. Even though we won't be going to the "real" Mexico, it will be our first trip down there ever. It is going to be steamy hot, and right in the midst of hurricane season, but that's ok, we will just stay in the water and drink lots of beer!

I am moving my regular IRA account into a Roth account and then I may purchase a lot down there. I am particularly interested right now in Xalapa or Coatepec, so if anyone knows of a good deal, let me know! We are pretty set on living in a cooler clime, so probably not Merida, even though Merida sounds great otherwise! We just would prefer not to sweat, we do enough of that here. We also would like to live in an area with a variety of types of terrain. I feel like Merida is a lot like Virginia Beach...flat, hot and humid!

I love reading other people's blogs! Thanks for keeping them, it really helps those of us who aren't there yet.

latest fantasy

I am thinking about how I could possibly make enough money to live in Mexico now. I am a CPA, and could subcontract to a firm or two to do tax preparation from anywhere. All they would have to do is scan and email me all the client documents, then I could log into the tax software, prepare the return, and voila!

I could do it pretty cheap, say 1/4th of whatever the fee they charge is. So if they charge $400, I get $100 wired to my bank account.

It's the beginning of a dream. I could do that during tax season, and open my meathead gym and fitness center too, and earn money in the offseason.

Now, could I make enough to send my daughter to a bilingual school? That's the question. And would my wife divorce me when I tell her this plan? lol

my diet so far

Starting last Saturday, I bit the bullet and went on a challenge diet concocted by my chiropractor. A 3-week blitzkrieg on the fat. After 5 days, I am down 7lbs! I know it will slow now, as most of the first lbs lost are water, but still it is exciting to be down instead of up.

Basically, it is rough 1000 calories a day, 100g of carb, 100g of protein, and about 20g of fat. For someone like me, who loves to eat, this is a mere pittance. My daily intake is: 1 cup of cooked oatmeal or grits or applesauce for breakfast; 1 vitamin water for snack in midmorning; 1 cup of plain yogurt or lowfat cottage cheese with strawberries or blueberries mixed in, and a sliced up cucumber with vinegar for lunch; an apple for midafternoon snack; and 8 oz of chicken or tuna, or 5 eggs, along with a leafy salad with low cal dressing for supper.

I am continuing my 5 days a week of heavy weight training, and am walking in to the Y and work, then walking home at night, about 4 miles roundtrip.

I started at 223, am currently at 216, and want to be 195 or less by August 12, when we leave for our trip to Playa del Carmen.

I am so hungry

why am I obsessing?

On one of the forums I frequent, I was told straight up that I could not afford to retire to Mexico, and that rather than fantasize and obsess, I should engage my energies in improving my situation here north of the border.

Deep down I know that person is right. I just am lost right now. Almost 48, with 20,000 in my IRA, 45% of my gross income going to pay for health insurance and mortgage, no extra money leftover to save for retirement, 28 years left to pay on my modest 1800 sq ft house, and no prospects of a hike in income, all have combined to put me in a real funk.

I know I am better off than most of the people my age, so I really worry about them.

I am starting to realize not only that retiring to Mexico is probably not possibe, just retiring, PERIOD is probably out of the question for me. If I stay here, I will be 75 when my mortgage is paid off, so I will be at least 75 before I can stop working. I figure I will have 5-10 years left on this earth at that time, assuming I make it to 75.

I am really depressed. I need some advice pretty bad on this stuff.