I’m sure some of you are thinking, “why not?” so maybe this post isn’t for you. But for those of you who are thinking we are a little “out there”, I’ll try to add some color.

The first question that started off this adventure 5-ish years ago was: “what do we want retirement to look like?” Now at this point, we figured retirement was at least 10 years away. However, we weren’t infatuated with the stereotypical American dream, so the stereotypical American retirement also wasn’t appealing.

Both of us have a background in creating communities wherever we land, and neither of us could think of being anywhere without good people and friends around. In fact, we made a list of the qualities that we would want our retirement to have:

• Community (friends and family)
• Easy to get back to nuclear family (west coast)
• Affordable cost of living
• Suga doesn’t HAVE to work
• Accessible to good food
• Decent healthcare

Our first vision was a commune-type property. We would buy a chunk of land, build the common structures (kitchen, living area, dancefloor) and friends could buy in and build a tiny house. When costs for that vision became prohibitive, we shifted to an “if you build it, they will come” theory.

One important thing to keep in mind when formulating a big goal like this, is that reality will adjust your vision, so stay flexible. We found many different solutions to achieving our list, and the list itself has ebbed and flowed over time. That is ok. It is your list, and you are a human being. Roll with it!

Only time will tell whether our vision will play out how we expected, but I’m here for the ride and excited for the journey no matter what transpires. I’ll be talking more about why we chose the area we did and what went into selecting and buying property in future posts. Onward!