We thought we'd planned for a successful early retirement — but we're picking up side hustles just a few years in

• My husband and I retired at 55 and did a lot to prepare for it, like paying into pension plans.
• But unexpected bills, rising costs of essentials, and lifestyle creep have stretched our budget.
• We've already dipped into our savings and began working side gigs to help maintain our lifestyle.

My husband and I thought we did all the right things to prepare for successful early retirements at age 55.

We worked hard for over 30 years in our respective careers and both had pension plans. Plus, we invested in RRSPs (popular retirement savings plans in Canada) for extra cushion.

Before we retired, we paid off almost all of our debts and purged 30 years' worth of accumulated belongings. An inheritance and the sale of our acreage also allowed us to build our new forever home without taking on a mortgage.

Over the years, we've sought advice from different financial advisors, who all assured us that retiring at age 55 and living a comfortable life thereafter was attainable. Now, we're not so sure.

Despite all of our planning, we found ourselves worrying about money

In 2015, my husband retired at 55 and helped out with his nephew's construction business until I joined him in retirement a few years later in 2023 when I turned 55.

At first, early retirement was off to a great start.

As empty nesters without a mortgage, we suddenly found ourselves with more free time and extra disposable income. In a way, we experienced a lifestyle creep.

We upgraded our vehicles and went out to concerts, on day trips, and even occasional cross-border shopping expeditions. We planned future vacations to the US, thinking we'd "made it" and that we'd fairly easily be able to maintain this lifestyle from here on out.

Then, unexpected costs began piling up.

Several major appliances broke down in our home within just a few months and we paid for unplanned home renovations to accommodate our son's family after a devastating house fire.

Soon, we were withdrawing huge sums from our emergency savings account. We didn't expect to touch those savings for several years, but our monthly cash flow is limited now that we're both retired.

On top of the unexpected bills, tariffs and inflation mean many essentials, like fuel and food, cost more than we'd anticipated. Soon, we began dipping into our savings to help pay off credit-card bills, too.

For now, I'm grateful that we have skills and assets to help keep us going

Although we receive my husband's payments from his Canada Pension Plan, mine haven't kicked in yet. And, like many in our age group, our net worth consists mostly of assets and investments.

When we realized our pensions alone would not sustain us, we began finding ways to supplement our income.

My husband works seasonally in construction and sells woodworking projects. Since I'm a retired teacher, I can choose to take substitute teaching gigs. I also have freelance writing and translation contracts that allow me to pick and choose my work days.

These gigs have helped us get back some of the freedom and flexibility we sought in retirement — and we're still available to help with our grandkids as needed.

Fortunately, we're in good health and we've found joy in creatively using our transferable skills to our advantage during retirement.

Hopefully, these gigs won't be necessary forever. As we get older, additional Social Security benefits, like Old Age Security, should kick in to give us extra income and stability.

For now, we're trying not to take our situation for granted. We're fortunate to have pension plans and no mortgage, plus assets we could sell to maintain our current standard of living if needed.

We don't know how long we'll live or what other surprise expenses may come up, but we're trying to be way more careful with our spending in the meantime.

It's probably for the best that we learned early on how important it is to keep reassessing our desires, needs, and budgets if we really want to reap the rewards of retirement.