Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The south FL area is looking down the barrel of a gun with climate change.
The rising ocean waters as well as the rising ocean and global temperatures lead to a much greater likelihood for significant convergent rain events in southern coastal areas. In addition, for Florida in particular, pure elevation issues, an increase in the percentage of impervious surfaces due to rapid development, and outdated (under capacity) sewer and storm water systems make large urban coastal areas much more likely to experience repeated significant flooding events.
The solution the poster suggested is not universally viable. Living without property insurance is not an option for many homeowners and businesses that require it because they have a mortgage or loan. Additionally, it is also not an option for apartment building owners or condominium associations which are required to have insurance.
LOL, I don't get my news from the likes of the Palm Beach Post or any other (in my opinion, of course, LOL) tabloid, for that matter.
If you think you do, I'd have to say that explains your apparent perspectives on many of these issues.
But go ahead, enjoy your judgement and righteous indignation over those who those who don't choose to engage in this particular type of entertainment, folks you know nothing about. Toodle-loo.
I get my news from ALL sources. I have paid and nonpaid subscriptions to most mainstream and non-mainstream news sources, to make sure I am as informed as possible. I don't ignore any ANY news or shrug it off as "yellow" or fake.
I also get my news from my social circle and neighbors, one of which told me last night at dinner that he is selling the house and moving to Tennessee due to Florida's out of control insurance crisis and cost of living crisis. "Retirement here is no longer worth it," he said.
I get my news from ALL sources. I have paid and nonpaid subscriptions to most mainstream and non-mainstream news sources, to make sure I am as informed as possible. I don't ignore any ANY news or shrug it off as "yellow" or fake.
I also get my news from my social circle and neighbors, one of which told me last night at dinner that he is selling the house and moving to Tennessee due to Florida's out of control insurance crisis and cost of living crisis. "Retirement here is no longer worth it," he said.
Ho hum. According to you, another "victim".
Well, as I see it your neighbor who has decided that retirement in FL is " no longer worth it" is doing something about it, moving to another location he believes will be better for him in his retirement years. That's a positive step, which makes him NOT a victim in my book, and I say good for him.. The people who engage in their chronic victim mentality are those who whine and complain about every adversity, large and small that comes their way, and look for things to complain about otherwise, but they don't make any effort to try and get out, or at least mitigate the adversities they ( and we all, for that matter,) face. These "victims" look to blame others for their difficulties, expect instant fixes from generally govermental, municipal, or corporate entities ( whichever applies) without making any effort on their own to start climbing out of the situations they complain about.
These "victim" stories abound, and whether or not the interviewees intend this, the stories make excellent fodder for bashing one's political opponents, whether the accusations are justified, or baseless or just plain fabricated doesn't matter. The stories also fall into the " if it bleeds, it leads" category as they attract readers, with the more gullible among those readers engaging in the righteous indignation and outrage as intended by the authors, and if the stories garner outrage towards the publication's political opponents, so much the better.
You may read everything on the planet you can get your hands on, but any confirmation bias will affect reading comprehension ( true for all of us, not just you) and make the reader selectively choose the messages that go along with his/her perspectives on things, and dismissing anything that doesn't.
You may have missed this in the article you linked in your OP, you saw them as "victims" only. I'd gather, from your numerous other posts where you accuse other posters of being "insensitive" or similar descriptions for reacting outside the expected
weeping and gnashing of teeth,bashing our governer, this is what you also expect from your readers, and the facts be damned. Though what I saw in your linked article were not victims, but people, like all of us here in FL ( even us "ivory tower" types impervious, as you assume, erroneously, to the homeowner's insurance situation after Ian and earlier hurricanes) faced with very difficult decisions about how to move forward. And from what I read, these people were weighing their options that would enable them to move forward. That is the first step.
I'm puzzled that my mention of having our house paid off seems to have your panties in such a wad, judging from your disparaging responses to a number of my comments. What's apparently gone right over your head, in your assumption that I "must be" a member of that 1% of the wealthiest people who according to Biden and company must be taxed out of existence, I'm no trust fund heir, it's taken many years of hard work, sacrifices, living within our means and sometimes doing without to get to this point. Like everyone else, we have had our share of adversities and heartache over the years, but did the best we could getting through them.
Well, as I see it your neighbor who has decided that retirement in FL is " no longer worth it" is doing something about it, moving to another location he believes will be better for him in his retirement years. That's a positive step, which makes him NOT a victim in my book, and I say good for him.. The people who engage in their chronic victim mentality are those who whine and complain about every adversity, large and small that comes their way, and look for things to complain about otherwise, but they don't make any effort to try and get out, or at least mitigate the adversities they ( and we all, for that matter,) face. These "victims" look to blame others for their difficulties, expect instant fixes from generally govermental, municipal, or corporate entities ( whichever applies) without making any effort on their own to start climbing out of the situations they complain about.
These "victim" stories abound, and whether or not the interviewees intend this, the stories make excellent fodder for bashing one's political opponents, whether the accusations are justified, or baseless or just plain fabricated doesn't matter. The stories also fall into the " if it bleeds, it leads" category as they attract readers, with the more gullible among those readers engaging in the righteous indignation and outrage as intended by the authors, and if the stories garner outrage towards the publication's political opponents, so much the better.
You may read everything on the planet you can get your hands on, but any confirmation bias will affect reading comprehension ( true for all of us, not just you) and make the reader selectively choose the messages that go along with his/her perspectives on things, and dismissing anything that doesn't.
You may have missed this in the article you linked in your OP, you saw them as "victims" only. I'd gather, from your numerous other posts where you accuse other posters of being "insensitive" or similar descriptions for reacting outside the expected
weeping and gnashing of teeth,bashing our governer, this is what you also expect from your readers, and the facts be damned. Though what I saw in your linked article were not victims, but people, like all of us here in FL ( even us "ivory tower" types impervious, as you assume, erroneously, to the homeowner's insurance situation after Ian and earlier hurricanes) faced with very difficult decisions about how to move forward. And from what I read, these people were weighing their options that would enable them to move forward. That is the first step.
I'm puzzled that my mention of having our house paid off seems to have your panties in such a wad, judging from your disparaging responses to a number of my comments. What's apparently gone right over your head, in your assumption that I "must be" a member of that 1% of the wealthiest people who according to Biden and company must be taxed out of existence, I'm no trust fund heir, it's taken many years of hard work, sacrifices, living within our means and sometimes doing without to get to this point. Like everyone else, we have had our share of adversities and heartache over the years, but did the best we could getting through them.
What a great post and I 100% agree. We too had years of hard work and sacrifices; at times almost facing homelessness but always found a way to work things out. My husband worked many years at an extremely stressful job, but he stuck with it and it paid off in retirement. He got a nice pension and other benefits. Right now we do have a mortgage again, but it's only temporary because we purchased this house before selling our other (paid for) properties which are now on the market.
We love Florida (my home state) and love Lakeland (where we live now.) We have always made changes when something wasn't making us happy or comfortable. One wonders why others can't just do the same. I think there are a lot of sad, miserable unhappy people here who enjoy being internet trolls. They just can't stand seeing others happy and successful (or at the very least, content,) no matter what that definition means to any specific individual.
For us, we are living our best life, and grateful for what we have.
We don't have a mortgage, thanks to long time planning when we were younger. We also have a hurricane hardened house, thanks to the contractor who built it for us and additional protection we have since added.
We'll see what happens with homeowner's insurance going forward. We could go bare though we're reluctant to go without liability insurance in any case, and our current insurance company did a fairly decent job at reimbursing us for our damages ( shingles torn off down to wood, resulting in water damage, water treatment system torn away from house, missing soffits, but no structural damage) in Ian. We didn't embellish on our losses, found no need to employ either public adjusters or attorneys looking to line their own pockets in the process.
I can't stress strongly enough if someone chooses to go without property insurance, especially in areas where natural disasters occur regularly ( like windstorm damage- though the naysayers tend to exxagerate even minor events for the entertainment value) to save that money that would be spent for premiums, save it diligently. So in the event the property is damaged by a hurricane, or whatever, you have resources to pay to fix the damages yourself.
Not to change the subject but congratulations on your paid off house. I just retired and will be paying off my house this year. Anyhow, we intend on keeping liability insurance on the house too. Florida is a risky area to be without.
What a great post and I 100% agree. We too had years of hard work and sacrifices; at times almost facing homelessness but always found a way to work things out. My husband worked many years at an extremely stressful job, but he stuck with it and it paid off in retirement. He got a nice pension and other benefits. Right now we do have a mortgage again, but it's only temporary because we purchased this house before selling our other (paid for) properties which are now on the market.
We love Florida (my home state) and love Lakeland (where we live now.) We have always made changes when something wasn't making us happy or comfortable. One wonders why others can't just do the same. I think there are a lot of sad, miserable unhappy people here who enjoy being internet trolls. They just can't stand seeing others happy and successful (or at the very least, content,) no matter what that definition means to any specific individual.
For us, we are living our best life, and grateful for what we have.
Yup, and I know we're not alone in our retirement plans to be as debt free as possible. Looking back on what were sometimes tough years when we were working towards what seemed like a distant goal/dream, we, and you too, had to wonder sometimes if it was worth it, and I know I had a hard time imagining our retirement would work out as well as we hoped it would. But at the other end of that tunnel I'm happy to say it's worked out better than I ever could have hoped. We still don't go hog wild, and live witgin our means, managing our money well. That, and as you say, living your best life, being grateful for what you have is the secret for being happy.
Not to change the subject but congratulations on your paid off house. I just retired and will be paying off my house this year. Anyhow, we intend on keeping liability insurance on the house too. Florida is a risky area to be without.
Congratulations on your upcoming paid off house! That mortgage payment can then go into your kitty and be available for however you choose to use it. We thought it was important to be as debt free as possible in our retirement, and we got there. Life and finances can be so uncertain, unexpected expenses can hit you from anywhere ( such as increased homeowner insurance premiums, medical, dental expenses, household repairs, etc etc) and it's just much easier to save money for those expenses and handle the expenses if you aren't spending a big portion of your income on mortgages, credit card debt, car payments.
Personally, I'd be reluctant to drop homeowner's insurance coverage even on a mortgage free home, we have the tital coverage including windstorm, fire, liability, and also have flood insurance, as we live on a canal just off a tidal river. We have never had a flood insurance claim ( not even in hurricane Ian) and I don't anticipate we would but you never know, and the flood insurance premiums have not been that expensive.
I'd just suggest that for those who choose to drop insurance coverage on their properties, that they diligently save the money they would be putting into their premiums into savings in the event they do have damages in the future, there would be some money to pay for repairs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
