We were living the good life in Las Vegas. Successful careers. Dream house. Solid investments. Everything was in place for a terrific retirement in just a few short years.

Then, out of nowhere, the Great Recession of 2008 swept away our careers and most of our assets. 

After months of finding no work and living off shrinking savings, we were growing desperate. So much of what we’d worked for all those years was gone forever. 

Everything except our dreams.

Giving Up Our Dreams? No Way!

Giving up and accepting a dismal future just wasn’t an acceptable option. There had to be a different path. We asked ourselves, 

“With what we have left, how is it still possible for our dreams to come true?”

It was too late for conventional answers. We had to come up with a radical way to dramatically lower our cost of living.

Our outside-the-box-solution? We retired early and moved out of the country!

Turns out it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Those financial nightmares are a thing of the past. 

The Best Decision

After enjoying an upscale lifestyle in Ecuador for over a decade, we now travel full time visiting family, friends, and exciting destinations around the globe. In fact, we’ve just begun a 2 ½-month adventure in Europe.

Even better, we figured out how to do all this on our Social Security budget!

Please understand, we’re not suggesting everyone with retirement concerns should pack a suitcase and head for the airport.

We’re sharing our story to illustrate the importance of holding on to your dreams no matter what your current financial circumstances may be.

Possibility Thinking

Let’s face it. A woman’s road to a successful retirement has always been filled with potholes, speed bumps, and detours (we offer a Special Report about the subject on our website).

If lower wages, motherhood, and a longer life span weren’t enough, the pandemic has now caused the retirement of many women to be delayed or perhaps derailed altogether. 

It’s easy to descend into a permanent funk when long-held dreams seem to be slipping away. That’s when it’s essential to pivot away from feeling defeated and instead embrace possibility thinking. 

Stay on Track with Retirement Dreams

Are you nearing retirement and worried about the future? Here are 6 essential steps to help your retirement dreams stay on track:

1. Hard as it may seem when life is going sideways, try to stay centered. Poor choices are most often made from both extremes of the emotional spectrum.
2. Absolutely believe that a good solution is out there waiting for you. It just hasn’t shown up yet. Over time a strongly held belief becomes a knowing.
3. Don’t get hung up on rigid details of what your future must look like. Be open to the idea that the manifestation of your dreams may turn out a bit different than you imagined. 
4. Similarly, avoid specific deadlines and, instead, get comfortable with a fluid time frame. Life is filled with unpredictable events that often cause delays and altered plans. Who knows? By going with the flow you may find yourself exactly where you were supposed to be all along.
5. Pay closer attention to the world around you and be open to possibilities. A chance conversation. A seemingly random invitation. An article that catches your eye. Missed opportunities often pass us by while we’re preoccupied, listening to the endless chatter between our ears.
6. Understand that a dream without action is simply a daydream. It’s fine to acknowledge that life may have dealt you a disappointing hand of cards. Now get busy figuring out the best way to play them!

We envisioned living in multiple fractional ownership properties abroad and chasing perfect weather. While financial calamity derailed those plans, we never lost sight of our dreams.

It turns out our home in Ecuador was blessed with a year-round springlike climate. Inexpensive Airbnb (which ironically started in 2008) rentals give us even more freedom than those original ideas.

Our experience has taught us the stepping stones we’ve outlined can take you closer to the retirement of your dreams. Will getting there be difficult? Quite possibly, yes. Will it require sacrifices? Probably. 

Is it worth it? Absolutely.

What are you dreaming about in retirement? If you are already retired, how are you accomplishing your dreams? What new ways of thinking have you had to embrace in order to live your retirement dream?