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Hey everyone, so I'm a 26 year old male who comes from a long line of extremely successful Bristol bay fishermen, generally my family has located around the greater Seattle area which is where i'm located right now, i own a condo in southlake union i've been living out of the past several years. In my off seasons since i was about 18 i've spent the majority of my time(5+ months) traveling the globe.
Anyway sometime in the next year i've been tossing around the idea of selling this place and relocating, Anchorage has come up in my mind a few times because of the No state income tax, closeness to my boat, getting hit less hard with fee's for my operation, voting actually, alaska is the only place i actually care about local politics(**** pebble) and also the potential to open myself up to some sweet easy loans to expand to other fisheries, I have dreams of buying a massive pile of ifq. (I've heard in some cases its just better to go to a bank, but i haven't really gotten into how that works and what fisheries the loan programs are advantageous for and which aren't)
I guess my worries and questions would be:
Regarding state taxes, i'm aware of the state is in some serious **** financially and an income tax is on the table, what are the odds of this coming to fruition? I can only imagine every skipper out there dreads this day with a burning passion, easily a deal breaker for me.
What is the grocery stores like? Can you eat healthy? the vast amount of my time in Alaska has been in fishing towns and they have a strong inclination to comfort food which doesn't kill for my 2-3 months but it in no way makes for a healthy lifestyle.
Speaking of comfort food, whats the dining quality like? Is there a wide range "healthyish" places to to out and eat at? Different culinary styles?
Whats the gym scene like, are there good gyms? I'm a total gym rat when i'm not out traveling around or fishing.
Is Anchorage a good city for running? i usually run 20-40 miles in a week, i would like to keep that up.
Whats real-estate doing right now? I looked around on zillow a bit and it appears to be trending downward a bit? I feel like we have maybe another year or two before seattle comes back to reality. Is Anchorage real-estate a solid investment for the most part? I would be pretty unhappy with it if it didn't return 5%YOY on average over lets say 12-14 years (I believe that's where you would double your money on an investment at 5%, i know 7 percent equates to 10 years)
How long in a year do i need to be in the state to reap some of the benefits or residency? I know at least in the beginning i have no plans of hanging out all winter potentially spending 6 months out of state doing other stuff unless i find something to keep myself busy with. Not really looking to bone the fund but i would hope i could swing getting less hammered with fee's for my fishing operation (i'm looking at you permit renewal)
If i'm gone for the winter and buy one of these condos with it's own garage, is it terribly common to have people breaking in? Would a building be better for my personal situation? It has to be pretty common for people to own property and then skip town for the winter?
HOA fee's apparently include heating over the winter? How does that work?
How is the internet? I doubt it'll be the 80 dollar per month for one gigabit we have down here, i'm under the impression things are about 10 years behind mainland for most of Alaska, so hopefully it's picking up and becoming cheaper?
I have no idea whether or not you're a troll, but my advice is to stay in Seattle and don't go into debt trying to expand your presence in Alaska's fishing industry. It's not the time. Save/invest your money instead of globetrotting. Funds for state-funded fisheries loans may be low as well.
I think a personal income tax is inevitable. I'm personally for it in principle because I believe it's way past time that Alaska residents paid their own way. By the same token, I have little faith the current government to make wise spending decisions concerning income gleaned from personal taxes.
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How long in a year do i need to be in the state to reap some of the benefits or residency?
Uhhh why isn't it the time to expand myself in fishing in Alaska via debt? I have quite a few buddies that are pretty leveraged with there longliners and are making great money. In fact i have friends making great money in lots of fisheries around the state, there has been a downturn in a few fisheries but that makes it an opportune time to buy in actually. I like fishing!
uhhh i spend a pretty small amount of my income while traveling actually, its usually cheaper then just living in seattle. It's kind of silly here with all the tech money and I invest pretty large amounts of money all types of ways, real-estate, fishing stuff, stocks, private equity, growth capital, ect...
It's obvious you know it all, then. By all means, move to Anchorage. FYI, to be eligible for those sweet deal fishery loans, you need to be a resident for at least two years (residency requirements for these loans involve more than condo ownership in Anchorage; skipping town for the winter won't cut it). Not sure how stable that program is, but the money may well be gone by the time you can apply. I've seen fishermen come and go from Alaska waters for years; the ones who went were those who couldn't make their loan payments in lean years. Best of luck.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 08-28-2016 at 04:38 PM..
Regarding state taxes, i'm aware of the state is in some serious **** financially and an income tax is on the table, what are the odds of this coming to fruition? I can only imagine every skipper out there dreads this day with a burning passion, easily a deal breaker for me.
Chances are that if a personal income tax in Alaska is implemented, your commercial fishing income will be liable for taxation even if you aren't a resident. That's how personal income taxes work, and Alaska would be stupid not to tax money earned by seasonal, nonresident workers.
To tax that income they would hit oil/mining really hard, i doubt the lobby would let that happen. Plus its kinda lame to hit people who don't use the local resources really at all, i already pay a fish tax and a property tax just for storing in AK. The push back from literally everybody would be immense come to think of it, what about the romanian cannery worker, why are they paying 9% hypothetically into the fund, they don't make **** anyway?
there has been a downturn in a few fisheries but that makes it an opportune time to buy in actually
Not really. The state is probably going to end up forgiving loan payments in certain districts this year, and it sure won't be issuing new loans for those wanting to take advantage of the situation. Your advantage lies in the fact that you're young, and the graying of the fleet is a huge issue in fishing just now.
The reason your buddies are leveraged is that unless you've got significant independent wealth, it simply isn't possible to break into commercial fishing without borrowing a lot of money. If you borrow as little as possible, you're that much more ahead. All the guys I've seen lose their boats are the ones who borrowed too much money and couldn't weather a couple of lean years.
It may or may not be "lame" to hit those who don't use local resources at all with a personal state income tax, but that's how it's done in most states that have one. It could be argued that commercial fishermen and others who make a pretty decent living off Alaska's resources should give something back. Personally, I'd rather see an overall personal income tax than another increase in our fisheries taxes. You probably won't be exempt from it no matter where you live as long as you're fishing Alaska waters. As far as Romanian cannery workers, no one puts a gun to their heads and makes them work in Alaska. They're making more than they would in their home countries or they wouldn't be coming over here.
Can't give you much advice on buying a condo in Anchorage except that the residency requirements for state fisheries loans are even more stringent than for the PFD, so you'd actually have to spend a lot of time in Anchorage for a couple of years before you could even think about applying. The state will have pi$$ed the funds away by then if they keep going the way they have been.
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It may or may not be "lame" to hit those who don't use local resources at all with a personal state income tax, but that's how it's done in most states that have one. It could be argued that commercial fishermen and others who make a pretty decent living off Alaska's resources should give something back. Personally, I'd rather see an overall personal income tax than another increase in our fisheries taxes. You probably won't be exempt from it no matter where you live as long as you're fishing Alaska waters. As far as Romanian cannery workers, no one puts a gun to their heads and makes them work in Alaska. They're making more than they would in their home countries or they wouldn't be coming over here.
"
You know i was thinking about this at the gym earlier today, in bristolbay there is a local property tax exemption, and i would wager 80 percent of the fish at least are caught by out of staters, so really out of staters are probably paying almost all of the taxes of that region, and really over most of alaska i'm guessing there aren't a lot of taxes the locals don't have to pay, anyway i guess i would say i DO give back already.
And you know i would support an income tax over more of a fish tax, maybe all of this money non alaskans have been pooring into the state via all the taxes we have to pay has made the pain so little for most people that they vote recklessly and then there elected officials spend money poorly, perhaps people would pay more attention if they had some skin in the game.
i would say i've got a pretty significant amount of independent wealth, nothing crazy but i know few others as well capitalized in my fishery. But yaeh i'm not scared of getting into really any fishery in a big way, i mena hell i bought 10000 pounds of 3A IFQ and then leveraged it one to three and ended up with 40 i would still break even while, and i make enough other ways where i wouldn't really need to make a profit and could even take a bit of a downward swing assuming other things didn't tank at the same time. heck if i pay off 40 thousand pounds in 15 years thats a printing press for life, plus you can use that as leverage to build a boat!
Nonetheless, a personal income tax would probably affect you whether you remain a resident of Washington or buy a condo in Anchorage. Although I agree that Alaska voters might think about things differently if they actually had to pay for stuff themselves, I disagree strongly that anyone making a living from Alaska resources should be exempt from paying a theoretical income tax simply by virtue of being a nonresident.
One thing that bugs me, though, is the noise I see on social media and other communication venues about how something's got to come along and take Big Oil's place as far as funding state services and supplying money for "the check." That's not going to be fishing; we're already carrying our share. I'll personally close up shop before one thin dime of mine goes toward funding "the check."
Idk, maybe you could make it work. It's my opinion that Seattle offers a much higher quality of life than Anchorage does and that the gains realized by being a resident wouldn't be worth it in your case, but only you can decide if it works for you. Again, you'll have to adhere to some pretty stringent residency requirements to meet the state fishery loan requirements. BTW, if you were actually interested in becoming a real resident, as in becoming a part of a community instead of just buying a condo that you'll spend very little time in for the purpose of realizing resident benefits, my answers would be quite different.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 08-29-2016 at 12:42 AM..
[quote=MattSo3t;45293676]Hey everyone, so I'm a 26 year old male who comes from a long line of extremely successful Bristol bay fishermen, generally my family has located around the greater Seattle area which is where i'm located right now, i own a condo in southlake union i've been living out of the past several years. In my off seasons since i was about 18 i've spent the majority of my time(5+ months) traveling the globe.
Anyway sometime in the next year i've been tossing around the idea of selling this place and relocating, Anchorage has come up in my mind a few times because of the No state income tax, closeness to my boat, getting hit less hard with fee's for my operation, voting actually, alaska is the only place i actually care about local politics(**** pebble) and also the potential to open myself up to some sweet easy loans to expand to other fisheries, I have dreams of buying a massive pile of ifq. (I've heard in some cases its just better to go to a bank, but i haven't really gotten into how that works and what fisheries the loan programs are advantageous for and which aren't)
I guess my worries and questions would be:
Regarding state taxes, i'm aware of the state is in some serious **** financially and an income tax is on the table, what are the odds of this coming to fruition? I can only imagine every skipper out there dreads this day with a burning passion, easily a deal breaker for me.
What is the grocery stores like? Can you eat healthy? the vast amount of my time in Alaska has been in fishing towns and they have a strong inclination to comfort food which doesn't kill for my 2-3 months but it in no way makes for a healthy lifestyle.
Speaking of comfort food, whats the dining quality like? Is there a wide range "healthyish" places to to out and eat at? Different culinary styles?
Whats the gym scene like, are there good gyms? I'm a total gym rat when i'm not out traveling around or fishing.
Is Anchorage a good city for running? i usually run 20-40 miles in a week, i would like to keep that up.
Whats real-estate doing right now? I looked around on zillow a bit and it appears to be trending downward a bit? I feel like we have maybe another year or two before seattle comes back to reality. Is Anchorage real-estate a solid investment for the most part? I would be pretty unhappy with it if it didn't return 5%YOY on average over lets say 12-14 years (I believe that's where you would double your money on an investment at 5%, i know 7 percent equates to 10 years)
How long in a year do i need to be in the state to reap some of the benefits or residency? I know at least in the beginning i have no plans of hanging out all winter potentially spending 6 months out of state doing other stuff unless i find something to keep myself busy with. Not really looking to bone the fund but i would hope i could swing getting less hammered with fee's for my fishing operation (i'm looking at you permit renewal)
If i'm gone for the winter and buy one of these condos with it's own garage, is it terribly common to have people breaking in? Would a building be better for my personal situation? It has to be pretty common for people to own property and then skip town for the winter?
HOA fee's apparently include heating over the winter? How does that work?
How is the internet? I doubt it'll be the 80 dollar per month for one gigabit we have down here, i'm under the impression things are about 10 years behind mainland for most of Alaska, so hopefully it's picking up and becoming cheaper?[/QUOTE
Troll.
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