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For section 8 that amount of savings will affect your contribution, and if close could prevent you from qualifying. Not the savings itself but the interest income derived from it, or a percentage of it can be considered income. Some programs, such as Medicaid for assisted living would require all of it to be spent prior to qualifying.
This isn't true, at least not in all states. My mother had $100,000 in savings and a house worth about $50,000, but just $1600 a month income from SS and a small pension when we applied for low-income senior apartments for her, and she qualified fully. There are long waits though, and by the time she was called (it was a couple of years later) she was already too sick to live in an apartment alone and we had her in assisted living, where she is now still but on Medicaid. She had to spend down for Medicaid, but not for the low-income senior apartments. She really didn't make much in interest because she was more concerned with protecting it than making money from it.
I don't know that they give vouchers to seniors though, at least not here. They give you a list of their low-income senior apartment buildings, and you put yourself on the list for a specific one or whichever becomes available. My brother was lucky and was able to get a senior low-income apartment from the county 2 weeks after he called them. It wasn't in the town he wanted to be in (he wanted to be closer to his son's family) but once he stopped working he couldn't afford his apartment anymore even though it was rent-controlled. His old complex had a LOT of section 8 and he could have stayed there if they have offered him a voucher, but it doesn't work like that for seniors here. Maybe for under 65, because they don't have specific section 8 apartments for families and younger people but they do have at least one low-income senior apartment in every county in the state.
So I would look into whether a voucher is possible in your state once you're over 65, or if instead they just will put you on the list for one of their buildings.
A couple of years ago I found a remote cabin in a canyon in New Mexico, alongside a small river, surrounded by pinyon pines. Herds of elk pass right in front of it. It looked like heaven. Off grid and no Internet or phone access, and 30 miles down a dirt road to the closest store, but I'd love to try living like that. I think I could do it.
As someone who works in health care, I would say keep in mind that you would be far from medical facilities and might have a very hard time if you need home health one day. I really wouldn't;t recommend that a senior live alone in the middle of nowhere, without any neighbors, nearby stores, etc. What's going to happen when you can no longer drive living in a place like that?
I'm right around your age. I was handed a curveball around ago 50. I was let go from my job as a defense contractor. Then finding out many places didn't want to hire someone 50+. But........ I had an RV. I took that bad boy around. I worked seasonal jobs. Here's what I found.
A lot of RV parks have folks that live there year round. They get a decent bumper pull or higher end 5th wheel and park it there permanently. You can later build steps and possibly a deck on your lot. Put some outside storage behind your rig. Your monthly lot rent won't be too bad. Plus you get use of the pool and other amenities in the park.
A few places even have owner owned tiny homes in a section of their park. Here's a link to 1 of the companies that offers that option. sunrvresorts.com I have no financial investment to this company. But it seems like a decent deal for a young couple or someone in your position. Many of the units are sold furnished.
Best of luck to you as you go forward in life. You do you and ignore all the high and mighty judging you.
I saw this article yesterday about the "flat-pack" tiny house Elon Musk now lives in near his Space-X site, after selling off his entre real estate portfolio. They cost about $50,000. I think it's an interesting option.
Some people don't realize that the property tax they pay doesn't scratch the surface of what it costs to educate their children, so they accept the welfare for at least 12 years. The property tax you pay wouldn't even cover the cost to pave the road in front of your house. Some people don't realize that the health insurance they've paid doesn't come close to what a single heart surgery costs, or that the amount they paid into Social Security and Medicare is a fraction of what they'll take out if they live long enough. Everyone is the beneficiary of some other Joe Blow's work. It's all a Ponzi scheme, counting on new people coming in. I have been 'Joe Blow' for 50 years, paying into every system I was required to so there is no guilt if I finally get some of it back.
If you feel guilty about 'government money', I suggest you forgo collecting when your time comes.
I'm right around your age. I was handed a curveball around ago 50. I was let go from my job as a defense contractor. Then finding out many places didn't want to hire someone 50+. But........ I had an RV. I took that bad boy around. I worked seasonal jobs. Here's what I found.
A lot of RV parks have folks that live there year round. They get a decent bumper pull or higher end 5th wheel and park it there permanently. You can later build steps and possibly a deck on your lot. Put some outside storage behind your rig. Your monthly lot rent won't be too bad. Plus you get use of the pool and other amenities in the park.
A few places even have owner owned tiny homes in a section of their park. Here's a link to 1 of the companies that offers that option. sunrvresorts.com I have no financial investment to this company. But it seems like a decent deal for a young couple or someone in your position. Many of the units are sold furnished.
Best of luck to you as you go forward in life. You do you and ignore all the high and mighty judging you.
There's a long term rv park in the mountains of North Carolina. Ten spaces, I think. Each space is well separated and even has a garden space attached. It's on a stream, surrounded by woods. It seems like a very attractive option and I'll never have to take the dreaded government money beyond SS and own my place outright.
I've also seen some interesting unpaid positions around the country (they have full hook-up RV spots). One was minding a fish farm in a remote area in Oregon. That seemed pretty cool too. There's similar gigs in National Parks - gate keepers, etc. Then there's a million jobs at campgrounds all over for retirees with RVs. There's even a website Workamper.net where those jobs are advertised.
I have a spiritual way of looking at it. If God has seen me through the crazy **** I've seen, I can't see him kicking me off the bus at this point. So, no worries - just making plans.
Thanks for all the responses, folks and Bless you all.
I would go the rich sister route for a different reason than Otterhere mentioned. First, she's not going to put the house in your name probably. Have her buy something and rent it to you. This way you will not have to suffer rent increases you cannot afford (if push comes to shove). Set it up obviously so if something happens to her it's in your name (so, make sure you can afford the prop taxes, insurance, repairs, etc.). I gave this advice to a co-worker with a rich son (she's renting from him -- it's a financial backstop if things go really haywire down the road). It's not super comfortable for her (but, hey, a lot of us make less when we retire and a lot of us had extraordinary medical expenses or other events (accidents, divorce, death of spouse, death of family members, etc.) that were big hurdles during our work lives.
#1 you should put your name on the senior housing lists (but, I here it is a very long list).
Number one, you won’t be reborn, now or ever. And that is why regret is a good thing. It helps us to learn from mistakes or failures in the one and only life we know we have. It is recognition that we have failed ourselves. And spurs us on not to repeat mistakes we made due to poor character, not learning enough, taking an easy road when a harder road would have been correct.
Regret is to be used, not denied. It exists for a good reason, and reflects your appraisal of your own reality. So if you experience it, use it, don’t run from it. Everyone has regrets they can learn from. Claiming to have none is a failure of introspection. Failing to act on them is a failure of character.
I had an overachieving cousin like you. Use to show up at family reunions. By that time most of us were in our 60's. He would walk around lecturing everyone about their life failures. He died at 64, and the rest of us, despite being such losers, are still here in our 70's.
These type of posts usually show up in the retirement forum, and as well intentioned as the given OP might be, they invariably turn into a beat down. There's a large contingent here, that believes everyone who arrives at age 65, must have a multi-million dollar portfolio. Otherwise, life has been a waste. And don't dare speak of taking advantage of any government programs. Be sure to self-fund your end of life nursing home stay, because using Medicare is just plain wrong.
I call them the "I'm a taxpayer, and you should have saved" threads.
Believe it or not, there's a lot of people who believe that life is made of winners and losers. Block it out.
it makes me wonder. When those people go to the barber shop and chatting with the barber, are they really thinking "what a loser". When they take the kids to ballet class are they inwardly sneering that the teacher didn't pick a lucrative career? When they go to the theater do they really look down on the people who brought them the experience because their career goals are unrealistic? The people who bring them music, art, drive their taxis, cook for them in restaurants. All the 'losers' that do the things that make their own lives better. And, guess what, many are doing their jobs because they love them and aren't aspiring to be real estate salespeople.
There's an old school diner near me. Hasn't changed since it was built and the old guy behind the grill has been there for 47 years and he's proud of it. great stories and back and forth with the customers. Or my barber, Emilio who has been cutting hair in the same shop since he came from Italy in the 70s. The salt of the earth people who make many people's lives richer and more interesting. The million 'losers' without who life will be bland and colorless. I am quite sure they will be remembered and missed when they pass long after everyone has forgotten who showed them their house or sold them their insurance policy.
It's not sour grapes when I shudder at the vapid lives of the retirees in the mile upon mile of beige stucco condo complexes all over Florida - all surviving on a dozen medications. I'd be reading the labels to see how many of them I'd need to take to end my misery. But that's just me. If nothing else, posting my question and the memories it stirred up in my responses has made me so happy and grateful for the life I've had. Wouldn't trade it for all the 'normal' lives in the world. and certainly don't regret it.
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