我第一次尝试退休，失败了。这很简单：我没有计划。我不认为我需要一个。

退休可能是我们生活中最重大的变化之一。我会把它排在第一份工作，结婚或离婚，或失去亲人。退休可能是我们第一次定义我们想要生活的方式、地点和原因的重要部分。我们只是停止工作，一切都到位的想法对我来说不起作用。

有趣的是，失败可以为我们指明未来的方向，从而带来乐趣、放松和享受。这次失败也不例外。我想退休，但有目的和目的。

你如何给自己空间来改变你嵌入的日常工作模式？是什么迫使你放松，重新思考你想要什么？我想做的一件事就是旅行。那么，我可以进行什么样的旅行，让我完全离开，放慢我的速度，并帮助我弄清楚这一切？

十九天，一次横跨大西洋的航行是我的第一个小型退休营。我将飞往西班牙马拉加，度过四天，然后从马拉加乘船穿过直布罗陀海峡到达圣马丁岛。不是我们的。很多空闲时间。我想衡量生活成本：从低端酒吧到高端餐厅；位于市中心的小型公寓的价格；公用事业、互联网、汽车、保险和医疗保健的价格。

马拉加太棒了！从城市中心的摩尔人城堡和下方的罗马废墟，到圣诞游行、乐队、商店、街头艺人、合唱团和巴勃罗毕加索的家。我被迷住了。

我没有计划。我不认为我需要一个。

我脚踏实地的方法回答了实际问题。生活成本比美国低很多食物只是少了一点，住房少了很多（我在美国的租金是每月 1,500 美元，在欧洲是 840 美元，而且健康保险低得很难相信——在美国每月花费 1,400 美元的保险在这里全年花费 907 美元。）

我的第一天，温度是华氏 65 度，大约是晚上 8 点，我饿了。我在一家餐馆的外面坐了下来，这样我就可以“看人”了。服务员给我带来了一份英文菜单！我问他怎么知道的。他笑了，指着我的高尔夫球衫和无袖毛衣，然后指着那些穿着厚外套、帽子、围巾和手套的路人。服务员对外国人很舒服，我在那里很舒服。晚餐很棒。

一般来说，我更喜欢小城镇而不是大城市。我喜欢孤独胜过人群，喜欢温暖胜过寒冷。在气候方面，我更喜欢四个季节而不是其他任何选择。这解决了方程式的一部分，但不是什么，如何，甚至在哪里。是时候思考、计划和思考了。

我开始写笔记、想法、想法、地点、成本、时间、希望和梦想。我想尽可能地思考。

为什么不拥有你想要的一切？退休不是为了实现你所有的梦想吗？

我想写。我想学摄影。一幅大画的小部分正在形成。也许我最享受的就是按照我的节奏生活。不是以工作或客户的速度，或者明天的需求不断渗入我的思想。内心的平静创造的自由是一种无压力的生活，让我们成为我们最好的部分。

大约一年后，我仍在努力退休，我又乘坐了一次游轮，只是这次来自葡萄牙。

我学到了什么？葡萄牙比西班牙更实惠。医疗保健非常好，在阿尔加维南部有一个庞大的外籍人士社区。感觉比较慢，我喜欢。无论白天还是黑夜，我都感到舒适和快乐。在里斯本，我雇了一名司机/导游和一辆汽车，合二为一。我们去了辛特拉城堡，向北去了波尔图和奥比多斯。在葡萄牙结束时，我确定我想搬到海外，但去哪里？

这些游轮是我未来的种子。他们是我的练习退休营。最终，它们奏效了，因为我给了自己思考的时间，有时间在一个对我没有任何期望、没有分心的氛围中创造和问自己问题。那是我在退休后创造新生活的关键。它成为了未来的种子。

2017 年 10 月，我的妻子 Shonna、我们的狗 Frankie 和我搬到了意大利的 Rieti，我们住在那里（大约是美国生活费用的 50%），写作并与想要学习的人交谈 过有目的的、有财务保障的退休生活。

作为一名注册财务规划师管理资金近 40 年后，我已准备好摆脱压力、期望和工作量。 今天我写作，倾向于我的网站（Thelaughingretirement.com）
在大退休之前尝试“迷你退休”
Trying “Mini Retirements” Before the Big One 6park.com

https://internationalliving.com/trying-mini-retirements-before-the-big-one/?utm_source=push_notification&utm_medium=browser&utm_campaign=26102021-trying-mini-retirements-before-the-big-one 6park.com
The first time I tried retiring, I failed. It’s simple enough: I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t think I would need one.

Retiring may be one of the most significant changes in our lives. I would rank it up there with getting the first job, getting married or divorced, or losing a loved one. Retirement may be the first time we define a significant portion of how, where, and why we want to live. The idea that we just stop working and everything falls into place did not work for me.

Interestingly, failures can give us a future direction that will lead to fun, relaxation, and enjoyment. This failure was no exception. I wanted to retire, but with intention and purpose.

How do you give yourself the space to change your embedded daily work patterns? What forces you to relax, to rethink what you want? The one thing I wanted to do was travel. So, what kind of a trip could I take that would get me entirely away, slow me down, and help me figure it all out?

Nineteen days and a cruise across the Atlantic was my first mini-retirement camp. I would fly to Málaga, Spain, spend four days, and take a cruise from Málaga through the Straits of Gibraltar to St. Maarten. No tours. Lots of free time. I wanted to gauge the cost of living: low-end bars to high-end restaurants; the price of a small, centrally located apartment in the city; the price of utilities, internet, a car, insurance, and healthcare.

Málaga was fabulous! From the Moorish castle in the middle of the city and the Roman ruins just below, to the Christmas parades, the bands, stores, buskers, choral groups, and Pablo Picasso’s home. I was enchanted.

I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t think I would need one.

And my boots-on-the-ground approach answered the practical questions. The cost of living was quite a bit lower than in the U.S. Food was just a bit less, housing was a lot less (my rent in the U.S. was $1,500 a month, in Europe it’s $840, and health insurance was so low it was hard to believe—coverage that cost $1,400 a month in the U.S. costs $907 for a full year here.)

My first day, the temperature was 65 F, it was about 8 p.m., and I was famished. I took a seat in the outside portion of a restaurant so I could “people watch.” A waiter brought me a menu—in English! I asked him how he knew. He smiled, pointed to my golf shirt and sleeveless sweater, and then at the passers-by bundled in heavy coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The waiter was comfortable with a foreigner, and I was comfortable there. Dinner was excellent.

Generally, I prefer small towns to large cities. I like solitude more than crowds and warmth more than cold. Climate-wise I prefer four seasons to any other choice. That solved a part of the equation, but not what, how, or even where. It was time to think, plan, and contemplate.

I began to scribble notes, thoughts, ideas, places, costs, times, hopes, and dreams. I wanted to think as big as I could.

Why not have everything you desire? Isn’t retirement for fulfilling all your dreams?

I wanted to write. I wanted to learn photography. The small parts of a large picture were falling into place. Maybe what I enjoyed the most was life at my pace. Not at the speed of a job, or a client, or with the demands of tomorrow constantly leaking into my thoughts. The freedom that peace of mind creates is a stressless life, allowing us to be the best parts of who we are.

A year or so later, still trying to retire, I took another cruise, only this time from Portugal.

What did I learn? Portugal is even more affordable than Spain. The healthcare is excellent, with a large expat community to the south in Algarve. It felt slower, which I liked. I was comfortable and happy walking around, day or night. In Lisbon, I hired a driver/ guide and a car, all in one. We went to Sintra castle and north to Porto and Óbidos. By the end of my time in Portugal, I was sure I wanted to move overseas, but where?

Those cruises were the seeds of my future. They were my practice retirement camps. Ultimately, they worked because I gave myself time to think, time to create and ask myself questions in an atmosphere where nothing was expected of me, and there were no distractions. That was my key to creating a new life in retirement. It became the seed of the future.

In October of 2017, my wife, Shonna, our dog Frankie, and I moved to Rieti, Italy, where we live (on about 50% of the cost of living in the U.S.), write, and speak with those who want to learn to lead a purposeful, financially secure life in retirement.

After almost 40 years managing money as a Certified Financial Planner I was ready to shed the pressure, the expectations, and the workload. Today I write, tend to my website (Thelaughingretirement.com), and am on Facebook with the Laughing Retirement Community.

Retirement, planned for properly, can be the best time of your life. I’m a firm believer that mini-retirement adventures can make that possible.