These boomers have grand ideas for their Next Big Act. Money Magazine shows them how to pay for it.
'We want a house on the beach'
Jim and Elaine Collins
'We want a house on the beach'
"My greatest desire is to retire near the coast," says Jim Collins, who loves saltwater fishing and scuba diving. It's a dream he shares with his wife, Elaine.

Their ideal home: a 2,200-square-foot, two-bedroom custom cottage in Myrtle Beach, S.C., outfitted with a guesthouse where their grown children can stay when visiting.

They'd like to be inland, maybe on a marsh or river.

The Collinses estimate it will cost $300,000 and hope to use proceeds from the sale of their current house, which they believe to be worth $400,000. They don't plan to retire to the beach full time until they're both eligible for Social Security.

But they'd like to settle on a location and start building in the next year.

THE REALITY

The actual cost of building a home that size in Myrtle Beach is closer to $650,000, well beyond what the Collinses expected. Adding to the challenge, the company Jim works for is downsizing, and his position as a research scientist could be eliminated this spring. (Elaine, who works at the same company, is likely to keep her job.)

Though they have savings of about $1 million, they hadn't expected to put any of it toward the house. They had planned to slowly draw it down after retirement to maintain an annual after-tax income of $100,000.

Says Jim: "I don't want this home to result in a significant change in our lifestyle."


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Retiring on the water

A plan for the Collinses

Running an inn

A plan for the De La Torres

Starting a nonprofit

A plan for Boyce Pearson

Writing books

A plan for Vickie Spring
The 'R' moment looms closer than ever, but if you get serious now, you can still catch the magic bus. (more)

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.