Abby Connolly
Do you know someone who wanted to take off and see the world when they retired?
One man is ready to live in his dream home in South America for most of the year after retiring, but now his wife is getting cold feet and doesn’t want to go with him.
He is 55-years-old, and he and his wife live in Canada. They have children and are now grandparents.
He has recently officially retired, something he’s been looking forward to after 33 years of working. He’s had a retirement countdown calendar shared with his family so that they could prepare for his dream retirement plan, which was to live with his wife in their Colombian vacation home for seven months out of the year. It’s a dream he’s had since he was 16.
“I bought a property in South America 12 years ago, and I have been building our retirement home down there,” he explained.
“I have dual citizenship, so I can own property without it being a hassle.”
Eight years ago, his family began vacationing at their house in Columbia annually while renting it out for extra income whenever they weren’t using it. Since then, he’s been repairing it and working hard to turn it into a dream home.
“The house was designed to be perfect for us,” he said.
“We have a pool, a small house for the caretaker [and] gardener, and 34 different fruit trees. The bathroom is up to North American standards, and the shower has grab bars and stuff already built in for when I’m old. Everything is on one level, so there are no stairs. My wife helped by making suggestions to the design of the house and by taking care of decorating it.”
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