Your post-FIRE life if you were single

[Exhale]

I don't want to own again, but situations like my current one - a small, cheap, perfect place in paradise - that I can return to is just right.

Loved this Scrubbyfish! Where would be FIRE paradise for you? My ideal FIRE is a small place in easy proximity to a big long dog-friendly beach (with a couple of jaunts in winter to go hiking in sunny places).

[scrubbyfish]

Loved this Scrubbyfish! Where would be FIRE paradise for you? My ideal FIRE is a small place in easy proximity to a big long dog-friendly beach (with a couple of jaunts in winter to go hiking in sunny places).

Exactly, 100% where I am right now. So:
inside a tiny, simple home which is
inside a sweet, heart-centered intentional community which is
inside a tiny, sweet, kind, friendly, artistic, diverse, near-silent rural village which is
inside stunning inland geography, with all four seasons, under wide open skies which is
inside a day's drive of all family members, and
within a short, gorgeous drive of everything else we need (groceries, etc)

The ONLY thing I would change in my current situation is for ALL family members to be on the mainland vs across a ferry. Currently ~20 are within a 4-5 hour drive. The ferries to see two of our closest family members off the mainland almost double that.

I'm in my paradise!

[Thegoblinchief]

I'd probably travel a lot, either on foot or by bike. I think my wife might be up for that once the kids are gone, to some degree, but probably not at my level.

Traveling with others is stressful for me. I really like to wander at my own pace. My idea of perfect travel days would be a really long hike, bike tour, or wandering a giant museum all by myself.

[Exhale]

Where would be FIRE paradise for you?

Exactly, 100% where I am right now....I'm in my paradise!

Kudos!

[Exhale]

I really like to wander at my own pace. My idea of perfect travel days would be a really long hike, bike tour, or wandering a giant museum all by myself.

A truly wonderful way to travel!

[patrickza]

If I were single and pet-free, I would be FIRE'd on a sailboat in the Caribbean.  My main activities would be coral reef diving, digital nature photography and fishing.  And probably blogging about it all.

+1 .. I spent some time on tall-ships, and that would be a great life for a solo FIRE mustascian.. you volunteer your time with a vessel, get food and a bunk to sleep in, and you sail all the time and meet great people!

Some quick links that come to mind...
http://www.sailtraining.org/
www.kalmarnyckel.org
www.soic.se
http://www.picton-castle.com/
http://www.hermione2015.com/
http://www.sailbaltimore.org/ship-prideofbaltimoreii/ http://www.pride2.org/
http://historicalseaport.org/about-us/our-vessels/lady-washington/

Thanks for the links, that is exactly the type of fire life I'd like. Sounds like an amazing adventure.

[MandyM]

Having a built in pet sitter via a roommate is a great idea though ...

I currently have a roommate that is my petsitter. The best part is that she loves my dog as much as I do - I once talked about taking my dog with me on a weekend trip and she got angry with me! She often refers to him as her emotional support dog.

[davisgang90]

I would travel the world taking photos, especially night long exposures of the sky in the western part of the U.S.

[Helvegen]

If I were single with no kid, I would probably live out of an RV for awhile, traveling around. Eventually, I'd probably go back to land I bought prior to FIRE and live on it.

I know one thing for certain, I'd have a lot less crap. My husband is a lover of 'stuff'.

[JasonK]

I'm single, no kids, never married, and FIREd about 2 years ago at the age of 43. 

I spent the first ~1 year rehabbing a house I bought.  I'm a golfer and found a cool lake/golf community in east Texas where you can play golf for free, so I moved from Dallas into the piney woods about an hour east.  Now that the house is finished I spend about 4 months of the year traveling, about 4 months of the year relaxing at home (I'm kind of a homebody), and about 4 months of the year rehabbing the newest edition or two to my rent houses.  Like MMM I love doing that kind of stuff.

Taking piano lessons, read a lot, Crossfit regularly, spend a lot of time with friends enjoying adult beverages, a lot more time with family now, found an awesome GF although she has kids so unfortunately can't join me much on my travels.  Pretty much just figuring it out as I go along.  Thinking of learning Spanish like JD Roth did when he retired.

If I were younger and hadn't traveled so much during my working years I'd probably travel and chase women full time.  Just doesn't have the same appeal anymore ~ I'll leave that to the younger guys out there. 

[Jon_Snow]

This feels a bit like heresy saying this...I mean, my wife is THE ONE, and I can't imagine desiring a life without her.

BUT...I will say that life, in several respects, would be SIMPLER. The relationships mechanics of a non-working spouse/working spouse is, at times, a tricky road to navigate.

[RetiredAt63]

So keep encouraging her to retire ;-)

This feels a bit like heresy saying this...I mean, my wife is THE ONE, and I can't imagine desiring a life without her.

BUT...I will say that life, in several respects, would be SIMPLER. The relationships mechanics of a non-working spouse/working spouse is, at times, a tricky road to navigate.

[scrubbyfish]

This feels a bit like heresy saying this...I mean, my wife is THE ONE, and I can't imagine desiring a life without her.

BUT...I will say that life, in several respects, would be SIMPLER. The relationships mechanics of a non-working spouse/working spouse is, at times, a tricky road to navigate.

I feel this way about having a kid, and I'm sure others do about having their pet(s). Sharing life with any other being limits our "freedom" to some degree, but we all find it totally worth the slight bit of complication/limitations/etc. My son refuses to ER from Grade 4, which is driving me a bit batty at the moment, as I feel ready to hit the road, but he's definitely worth it!!! :)   I will wait here for him, happily!

[Exhale]

This feels a bit like heresy saying this...I mean, my wife is THE ONE, and I can't imagine desiring a life without her.
BUT...I will say that life, in several respects, would be SIMPLER. The relationships mechanics of a non-working spouse/working spouse is, at times, a tricky road to navigate.

I feel this way about having a kid, and I'm sure others do about having their pet(s). Sharing life with any other being limits our "freedom" to some degree, but we all find it totally worth the slight bit of complication/limitations/etc. My son refuses to ER from Grade 4, which is driving me a bit batty at the moment, as I feel ready to hit the road, but he's definitely worth it!!! :)   I will wait here for him, happily!

Thank you Jon_Snow and scrubbyfish for responding to this question, especially given your deep and thoughtful commitment to your special peeps. I'd welcome being partnered with someone special, but that's not the case and so it made me think about what FIRE looks like when one is single. Certainly being single (without kids/pets) allows for lots of flexibility. What I recognize is that, for me, FIRE will be a time of relationships including fostering dogs (something that I can't do right now given my work hours) and investing energy freed up from work into a social life.

[Retired To Win]

If I were single with no kid, I would probably live out of an RV for awhile, traveling around...

And I would try living on a sailboat again.  Except this time I'd try to do it in the Netherlands Antilles (if they'd let me do it, of course).

If that proved "too hard" at my old-fart point in life, I'd go for the RV thing as well.

[Bracken_Joy]

Single and no kids? I'd be travelling....a lot!

Solo travel? Or would you go with groups (or friends)?

I ended up (unexpectedly) traveling along through central america for a while. As a young single female (I was 19, and I looked about 14 or 15), this was a less than ideal situation from a safety perspective (I had a run in that scared me out of my wits, but I wasn't going to throw in the towel yet). What I found is that Hostels are an excellent place to start. I made some close friends. While we wouldn't always travel place to place together, we would share our next couple planned stops, and I often ran into people again. This provided me both with a social outlet and with a safety net.

Travel doesn't need to be lonely =)