I’m Using My Retirement Money to Travel Now and Will Retire Later

It’s a mix of choice and no choice with no regrets

Me at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

Winning the lottery isn’t a reasonable retirement strategy. I once thought it was going to be that or working for the rest of my life — literally. It may still come to that, honestly, so I’ve had to rethink what the rest of my life looks like.

The Setup

I’m 61 years old, in decent health, with a good job. It’s not a high-paying job, but it’s not low-paying and it comes with a really excellent 401(k) plan. I’ve been at my job for three years so I’m saving at a good rate, but I started at zero.

After an abusive marriage followed by being a single mother of two, with no child support or government help ever, I had no savings. None. I was actually in the hole. The kids grew up and then layoffs and medical emergencies happened just when I thought things would be okay. Debt piled up over the years, and as I was paying it off, an emergency would happen that would pile it right back on.

I hit my late fifties and things calmed down and got better, finally, but I still had no savings. I was hardly alone in that. A Bankrate report found that as of this year 24% of Americans have no emergency savings and 30% of people have some savings, but not enough to…