These boomers have grand ideas for their Next Big Act. Money Magazine shows them how to pay for it.
'I want to sail around the world'
Shirley Jetter
'I want to sail around the world'
Shirley Jetter fell in love with sailing during a sunset cruise in Jamaica 34 years ago. "And since then, I've done everything possible on a boat, from repairing engines to mending sails," she says.

A special-education consultant at a public school (divorced, no kids), Jetter uses summers to pursue her pastime. "But lately, work has become a distraction from my dream," she says.

That dream: to sail around the world for the next decade. Jetter's retirement "is locked in and I can pull anchor at any time." There is one consideration - buying her 56-foot dream boat, which she expects will cost $150,000.

THE REALITY

Boats don't come cheap, and the bigger they are, the more they cost. A brand-new 56-footer goes for $500,000 and up, says John Kretschmer, a Florida-based author of five sailing books who runs workshops on boat buying.

Add to that an annual upkeep of roughly 10 percent of the purchase price. That outlay would dip into Jetter's savings big-time and could exhaust her money well before she's ready to furl her sails for good, says Ryan Vander Zwart, a Holland, Mich., financial planner.


Sailing around the world

A plan for Shirley Jetter

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)

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.

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.