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There are plenty of older/retired people who live the RV life, and they keep it cheap by doing jobs on the road. They are not driving 1400 miles to get the job, they are on the road out of choice and do the job on top of it. I think that part of the article was misleading.
Right-o! The driving 1400 miles for a $10 an hour job thing hit me as odd when I read it too.
Of course it is.... I'm not even saying it's an accurate reputation, just pointing out a common trope....
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And this has nothing to do with other demographic characteristics such as propensity for dual income households or the fact the SSN encourages working longer? Or that the babyboomer generation has a reputation for being a rapacious generation that spent profligately on their wants and status symbols?
An ambiguity arises from what "this" is referring to in the above. Rereading your statement, I have no idea why you're saying this: documenting a common trope as you claim (to what end?), or presenting it as an accurate statement about the nature of Baby Boomers. The first part of your statement talks about demographic characteristics and the fact that SSN encourages working longer; it's clear you're presenting these as reasons for "this" (whatever that means). Then you launch into your rapacious generation statement so the reader is inclined to read it through the lens of the sentence just before it -- which suggests you're presenting it as a "fact" of the same order as the facts in the first sentence.
Then you respond to LoriNJ with a statement dismissing your agreement with the statement you've made. If you were just 'pointing out a common trope" as you claim, the evidence for that being the case is not in what you originally posted. It looks to me like you're either not as clear in your communication as you'd like to think, or you're backpedaling. Or the rest of us are too dense to get what you're trying to communicate.
Right-o! The driving 1400 miles for a $10 an hour job thing hit me as odd when I read it too.
They are vacationing in Maine for the summer and doing so at minimal expense. Frugality and retirement lifestyle. That could also be the title of another article on the same couple
They are vacationing in Maine for the summer and doing so at minimal expense. Frugality and retirement lifestyle. That could also be the title of another article on the same couple
Yes, I agree! The article seemed to present it as "desperation" though. Choosing to live frugally and still travel is a different matter.
What amazed me was that with just a hotplate and a pot and running water and a refrigerator, they could have cooked very low cost nutritious meals from scratch, rice and beans with cheap cuts of diced pork or beef, lentils with cheap cuts of stewing beef diced in, and bread and butter, pasta and sauce, peanut butter and jelly, boiled eggs, grilled cheese, etc. Instead they ate dog food.
I'm now in my early thirties and have been doing that for over a decade. For what reason....so I can save and invest money for my future, own a home, and be financially secure. I'm light years ahead of 90% of my generation.
I'm not afraid to lose my job because I have several years worth of living expenses saved up. I have options that people living paycheck-to-paycheck do not have. They cannot take risks, would not be able to venture out on their own, and often find themselves in difficult predicaments trying to scrape cash together. That's not how I want to live. Heck, might as well start my own gig anyway.
Conversely you'll never see me driving around in a car that costs more than a couple months worth of pay (never had a car payment by the way) or eating out more than once or twice a month. Movies out? Nope, I can skip the hollywood propaganda that wants to convince my brain that I need to buy more frivolous status symbols and wasteful junk. You'll never see me in an outfit that costs more than a hundred bucks (including shoes) and likely I've had those clothes for years and years (who needs more clothes?). My house is simple, energy efficient (I made it that way) and easy to maintain. Being a tradesman I can do a lot of the work myself, so the money savings there are immense.
I see people's grocery carts PACKED to the brim with junk, much of it incredibly unhealthy....and for what? My shopping carts seem to have enough space for a dozen of me to throw items in and my bill at the register seems to always be a quarter or a fifth of what the person in front of me is paying. How do people not see where their money is going?
Now if only I can convince the various levels of government to not take 40+% of my income I'll be good to go!!! Something however tells me that the moochers and beggars of this country will demand at a future date even more of the fruits of my labor, and the fruits of my frugality.
"They bought a 25-foot RV for $13,000 and started looking for work near their three sons, one of whom lives near Bar Harbor, and their six grandchildren. After finishing at the Maine campground this fall, they plan to look for work in Texas or Wisconsin, near their other children. (the Molnars)"
This article contains a lot of truth and alarm bells should be ringing for some folks but the couples chosen as examples are not very good ones. There are at least three million Americans roaming around the country, mostly in campers/RVs with no real permanent address. This couple's retirement plan is to cruise the highways between the three sons' homes rather than be stuck in Connecticut with a house and a big tax bill and no one coming to visit. They are good at complaining but they made life choices that might seem a little sour as they get older. In their early/mid 60s, they probably won't be able to sustain this forever but can for a while.
People work while in retirement for different reasons. Three months into retirement I found a part-time job because I completed my "year-long to-do list" in 90 days...I never really retired and was bored. The part-time job lasted seven years and turned out to be more enjoyable than the last few years at my career. My neighbor was well-off in retirement because he made some great decisions and owned a hardware business. He worked as a handyman because he liked to keep busy and enjoyed fixing or improving things. He did the "honey-do" work for all the local widows because he had the skills and a shed full of tools. Another friend worked construction jobs most of his life in various places. He is nearing 70 but still does home improvement work and is good at it...usually has back-logged jobs. He is more of a craftsman/artisan than just a carpenter or electrician. He likes what he does and is proud of his work. I don't know that he is secure enough financially that he can stop working but he is able to take long weekend trips and do what he wants.
I agree. My MIL is 100. She started getting lonely at age 90. All of her friends and family of her generation were gone or senile. She was sharp, living on her own and driving until 97. She got her first speeding ticket at 97! She's been ready to die since she was 96.
Anyhow, she's in a nursing home now with dementia, though otherwise healthy. She cries everyday and wants to go "home" to be with her husband. She claims she's in an airport but she keeps missing her plane. Dear merciful God....please take her!
No way would I want to live that long. It's too painful.
In a better world there should options that allow her to go peacefully. No one should have to suffer needlessly.
One thing that impressed me was that in its time, the castle was cold, it had no central heating or running water or toilets or refrigerators. It certainly had no phones or flat panel TVs. Poor Kaiser Wilhelm had a standard of living way below the poor people who now live in America. And he was the boss!
I don't know about that. It got pretty cold in my trailer when I shut the heat off every night before I went to bed to keep the electric bill down. I was sleeping in temps in the single digits, had lots of blankets, a utility bill of about $60 a month in winter, and a very cold trailer when I got up. It was cold when I got home, too, because I wasn't about to turn the heat on for the hour or so I was getting ready to go to work in the morning.
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Originally Posted by bigbuglf
Right-o! The driving 1400 miles for a $10 an hour job thing hit me as odd when I read it too.
But maybe they enjoy the trip. I wouldn't mind traveling around the country and if there was a job waiting for me at the end, bonus! Could be you guys are looking at it all backwards. They're enjoying the traveling and that has to stop because the guy has to go to work again at a $10/hour job.
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I think people are just used to living on their salaries. Now that I'm getting SSDI, what I receive won't be enough for me to even file a tax return next year, or the year after. But after having lived on $200 a month for more than 4 years, what I'm getting now feels like a fortune. So I'm just catching up on the things I've been needing for so long (clothes, a new bed, and I'm considering a new computer - mine is 12 years old) plus paying off some old bills. But after that, I'm going to live on $200/month again and save the rest. Well, my rent will go up, so maybe I won't save that much. But you get what I'm saying.
If you have to live on a lesser amount of money, you will. And no, the sacrifices aren't just foregoing Starbucks every day. Cutting back means not going to the dentist, not buying as much food, and not buying new shoes when the one pair you have has a hole in them. But you will survive and you'll be much more appreciative of the money you have.
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