I was laid off and forced to retire in my 50s. I wish I’d started planning sooner, but my investment portfolio helped — and life is good.

When she returned from that trip, we started making plans to move. Our house was nice but wasn’t quite ready to put on the market. I was still employed at the time. I made arrangements to work remotely for my company, and my wife’s sister had agreed to move in with their mother to provide care. After several months of getting the house ready to show, we got the house listed and in escrow within a week. Things were really starting to move fast.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, my mother-in-law became gravely ill and passed. Then my employers had buyer’s remorse on the remote-work arrangement, and I ended up unemployed.

We sold our home, and I created a budget for our travels

After we settled my mother-in-law’s estate with my wife’s siblings and closed escrow on our Orange County home, I added those proceeds to our other savings and IRAs. Most of our money is professionally managed, but I have a small amount in a self-directed account plus a savings account.

We spent $200,000 buying a new 30-foot Grand Design fifth-wheel trailer and a Dodge Ram 2500 truck to tow it. We have downsized from a 2,400-square-foot house on ¾ acres to a 290-square-foot trailer. We are now houseless but not homeless.

No matter where we are or what we are doing, one thing is the highlight of every week: our weekly video call with our granddaughter. She is always excited to see Gigi and Papa and always has something to show or tell us about something special that happened that week.

There is life in retirement, and it’s pretty good.

If you have a unique retirement experience and want to share your story, please email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.