Spouse and I will be 57 and 60 when our youngest goes to college.

Our youngest left for college last year when I was 61 and DH was 71.

We'll be 54 when our youngest leaves for college. We'll still be working another 6-10 years. Sigh. But I think we'll sell our current house and downsize to something with less maintenance/space. We're good savers but our financial advisor scared the crap out of us by reminding us we could likely live to 90+.

We will be 51 and 56, but we plan to move to western Oklahoma in 4 years when my daughter graduates, and take our youngest with us. She'll stay here, live in the house and go to college. At 14 she's already independent and responsible, so we don't worry about her. My son won't be 18 for 6 more years. My oldest daughter is almost 16 and is already living in Oklahoma with my ex-husband. We want to be out there because we're happy there.

I'll be 52 when our youngest goes to college and my husband will be 47. I plan to teach until I'm 55 and then I'll retire from teaching and do something else, though I'm not sure what, until I'm in my mid-60's. He will probably work in his same career until his mid 60's. That's the basic plan, but I also know life throws wrenches at you sometimes, and we know that flexibility is important.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our youngest will leave for college when I'm 64, DH is 65, God willing that we are all still here. DH will have to work at least four more years after that. We love our little one, but women in their mid-40s are very fertile and birth control CAN fail.

We also have a son in college now and a couple thrown in between. Sometimes I'm envious of the lives my empty-nester friends are leading, but I don't complain because I just want to be here to see my youngest graduate high school. If I live to see him graduate college, that will be a huge bonus.

Enjoy life, young empty-nesters! Have some fun for me while you're at it.

Is there longevity on your family? I? hear your worry.

PP here. My dad died before he turned 50, before I even went to kindergarten. But my mom is still going pretty strong at 90. I think my real concern stems from the fact that DH & I have no family to look after our younger kids if we both die before they are adults. Our older son would have this responsibility, but it is a lot to take on. I truly don't worry about it, but I think about it. I try to focus on being grateful for what I have been given already, and grateful for the years I have already had with the kids.

After I posted, I read the post from the lady gave birth at age 53! THAT its pretty incredible. Tip of the hat to you. I barely made it with an infant at age 44 and I cannot even imagine!!

Anonymous wrote:Our youngest will leave for college when I'm 64, DH is 65, God willing that we are all still here. DH will have to work at least four more years after that. We love our little one, but women in their mid-40s are very fertile and birth control CAN fail.

We also have a son in college now and a couple thrown in between. Sometimes I'm envious of the lives my empty-nester friends are leading, but I don't complain because I just want to be here to see my youngest graduate high school. If I live to see him graduate college, that will be a huge bonus.

Enjoy life, young empty-nesters! Have some fun for me while you're at it.

Hey, my husband and I thought we were outliers and there you are! I'm the "67 in 14 years" immediately above. We're having the time of our lives. It was a complete shock for both us and the older kids but, boy, we wouldn't have missed this adventure for anything!!!

Anonymous wrote:Our youngest will leave for college when I'm 64, DH is 65, God willing that we are all still here. DH will have to work at least four more years after that. We love our little one, but women in their mid-40s are very fertile and birth control CAN fail.

We also have a son in college now and a couple thrown in between. Sometimes I'm envious of the lives my empty-nester friends are leading, but I don't complain because I just want to be here to see my youngest graduate high school. If I live to see him graduate college, that will be a huge bonus.

Enjoy life, young empty-nesters! Have some fun for me while you're at it.

Is there longevity on your family? I? hear your worry.

Our youngest will leave for college when I'm 64, DH is 65, God willing that we are all still here. DH will have to work at least four more years after that. We love our little one, but women in their mid-40s are very fertile and birth control CAN fail.

We also have a son in college now and a couple thrown in between. Sometimes I'm envious of the lives my empty-nester friends are leading, but I don't complain because I just want to be here to see my youngest graduate high school. If I live to see him graduate college, that will be a huge bonus.

Enjoy life, young empty-nesters! Have some fun for me while you're at it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:67. In addition to our (now) 3 in college and 1 in high school, we had a surprise (!!!) a few years ago and he is 7 now. In 14 years he will be 21 and we will be 67. Some days we are still in shock about it all. Its funny but we go to some of his school events and some of the 30ish and 40ish parents appear so uptight and peevish that they look years older than we do. We don't feel old now and I hope we don't in 14 years either. We both plan on working until the days we die not because we need any money but because we feel it keeps us young.

So you were 53? Did you think you were in menopause? I was thinking I was in the clear by now!

Sorry if I was unclear. I/we are 53 right now and our youngest is 7. So in 14 years, our youngest will be 21 and my husband and I will be 67. That WOULD be a big surprise at 53. Although I admit that we were pretty startled 7 years ago!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this sound so depressing. I am not sure do you plan to kick them out when they graduate high school?

um, yes. That's what my in-laws did and produced 4 independent self reliant adults. Once in college, they could only come home for visits, or summers to work.
I will do something similar with my 4 kids. It fosters responsible thinking and choices when they don't have the perpetual safety net of mom and dad behind them

Agree. Five kids. Four grown. They left for college at 17/18. Graduated. Got good jobs. They live independently. Like adults should.

I mean agreed but that's not really getting "kicked out" its going away for school instead of commuting to school. Going home for 'breaks and visits' is called being in college, no? Its just normal. I was by no means "kicked out" and this was my model and I always knew I could go home if shit really hit the fan for me.

Anonymous wrote:67. In addition to our (now) 3 in college and 1 in high school, we had a surprise (!!!) a few years ago and he is 7 now. In 14 years he will be 21 and we will be 67. Some days we are still in shock about it all. Its funny but we go to some of his school events and some of the 30ish and 40ish parents appear so uptight and peevish that they look years older than we do. We don't feel old now and I hope we don't in 14 years either. We both plan on working until the days we die not because we need any money but because we feel it keeps us young.

So you were 53? Did you think you were in menopause? I was thinking I was in the clear by now!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:51 when she left for college, 53 when she moved back home. No clue when I will be an empty nester, but that's OK for now.

Our youngest is only 4, but I don't think I'll care that much if this happens, as long as the children are busy and independent. Which, if they're not, they will not be welcome to return to living at home.

I’m the quoted poster. She is working and going to college locally, doing far better than when she went to school four hours away. She is welcome to stay as long as she wants but is already saving up to move out.

50 and 52 when the youngest goes to college. We plan to work until 53 and 55, which gets the kids through college. Then we will just hang out and have fun. We will likely keep our family home until both kids have settled into life. Once that happens, we'll buy a condo near them and have one where we want to live. Then we can just bounce around as we want without causing much disruption to our kids lives.

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