Real Estate Market beginning a big Price Correction? Especially in the suburban over a $million bracket? (Boston: income, income tax)

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by timberline742

I moved from East Somerville after living there for 9 of the last 10 years. The answer is, it is a fantastic place to live. Good culture, good bars/restaurants/shops, lots to do, and pretty easy to get to Davis/Porter/Harvard/Central or orange line to the rest of Boston. None of those things are true for Everett.

I wish I never left, but I couldn't afford to buy there.


The other parts of Somerville are even better.

Eh... I could easily get a job in somerville but frankly even if offered 20% more to go from Springfield to Somerville I'll still take Springfield. The costs are so high I'd end up with two other roommates and frankly you get quite a bit for your money here.I get a small gym, rooftop deck, tv lounge area w/ billiards and coffee, onsite parking (gated and non gated), water and heat included (natural gas), on site laundry, courtyard with grill, much lower traffic etc.

As for retirement, it all comes down to managing your spending and putting away what you can. I bought in on a correction last year and it was one of the best decisions of my life. I've invested in some stocks and that's been flat but the dividends can add up. I might liquidate the bad performers to go to my roth IRA.

Live in the cheapest place you can and then invest as much as you can in the best performing investments.

Baby boomers are retiring. The idea they aren't is largely a myth. Now it's not like one day you wake up and see 10 million retiring on the same day but it's more about 10K a day. There's quite a bit job growth on replacements alone. I can tell you in the public sector you can tell openings sometimes six months ahead of time simply because of assistants moving up and then those openings come about. There's such a brain drain though that there are issues. MA is doing much better than CT.

As for BPS that's reflective of the BTU (teachers union). I'm sorry but they ran that school system into the ground. Pretty soon Springfield will have a higher graduation rate. Boston can certainly hold value but I think that it is also contingent on transit. Like it or not a fair amount of railcars need to be replaced and I think that even with the red line and orange line being bought we just don't see the planning for the others, including the commuter rail. CRRC can only make rail cars so fast. If there's another collapse of the MBTA I think we might see increased traffic leading to employees jumping ship to smaller cities: lynn, worcester, lowell, quincy maybe even brockton. I tend to hold academia responsible. All it would take would be a 3% endowment fee to pay for half of the mbta debt.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by mdovell

As for BPS that's reflective of the BTU (teachers union). I'm sorry but they ran that school system into the ground. Pretty soon Springfield will have a higher graduation rate. Boston can certainly hold value but I think that it is also contingent on transit. Like it or not a fair amount of railcars need to be replaced and I think that even with the red line and orange line being bought we just don't see the planning for the others, including the commuter rail. CRRC can only make rail cars so fast. If there's another collapse of the MBTA I think we might see increased traffic leading to employees jumping ship to smaller cities: lynn, worcester, lowell, quincy maybe even brockton. I tend to hold academia responsible. All it would take would be a 3% endowment fee to pay for half of the mbta debt.

Err... blame parents and a lousy peer group, not teachers. You can't force someone to learn.

Commuter rail is going to be further stressed because metro-Boston is seeing explosive growth and you can't commute to many of those jobs by car. The issue is track maintenance, not aging rolling stock. That problem is hardly unique to Boston. NYC has far worse problems with their rail/subway infrastructure for the same reasons.

GE isn't going to move their world HQ to Worcester. Employees go where the jobs are.

The problem in blue states is that 50% of the state budget goes to the safety net leaving little for infrastructure. If you're going to have a European-style first world social democracy, you have to tax like a European-style first world social democracy. You either raise taxes or cut services to the bottom 20%. The blue states aren't making that decision since it's so politically unpopular no matter which side they pick.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

Originally Posted by Dm84

No, many people think they can work past retirement age but a few years into their plan they realize they can't for health reasons. Many people aren't saving properly for retirement and think Social Security will be enough to live off of.

This.

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by Dm84

No, many people think they can work past retirement age but a few years into their plan they realize they can't for health reasons. Many people aren't saving properly for retirement and think Social Security will be enough to live off of.

I know a couple (early 70's) who are both collecting Social Security and living good. That said, when one income is lost, the other is in trouble as they will have no other income.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by johngolf

I know a couple (early 70's) who are both collecting Social Security and living good. That said, when one income is lost, the other is in trouble as they will have no other income.

Yep. Unless you logged 35 years making an inflation-adjusted $60K or better and defer collecting to age 70, it's a challenge to survive on one Social Security check. I'm 59. All my retirement planning revolves around deferring to age 70 where I'll collect the maximum possible Social Security benefit. I can live pretty well on a COLA-protected and tax free $44K with a paid-for house. Even if I run out of money, I'll still be fine. My girlfriend has similar numbers. Our combined Social Security income will be over $80K.

My problem at age 59 is job instability. I'm in high tech. Unless I find a job through my personal network, I'm already bumping into age discrimination. Everybody wants to hire the 28-year-old who will work 60 hours, be OK with 2 weeks paid vacation, and not impact their group health insurance costs.

[bugelrex]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yep. Unless you logged 35 years making an inflation-adjusted $60K or better and defer collecting to age 70, it's a challenge to survive on one Social Security check. I'm 59. All my retirement planning revolves around deferring to age 70 where I'll collect the maximum possible Social Security benefit. I can live pretty well on a COLA-protected and tax free $44K with a paid-for house. Even if I run out of money, I'll still be fine. My girlfriend has similar numbers. Our combined Social Security income will be over $80K.

My problem at age 59 is job instability. I'm in high tech. Unless I find a job through my personal network, I'm already bumping into age discrimination. Everybody wants to hire the 28-year-old who will work 60 hours, be OK with 2 weeks paid vacation, and not impact their group health insurance costs.

You are doing pretty good having not met rampant age discrimation so far. These liberal high tech companies are the absolute worst for discrimation.

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yep. Unless you logged 35 years making an inflation-adjusted $60K or better and defer collecting to age 70, it's a challenge to survive on one Social Security check. I'm 59. All my retirement planning revolves around deferring to age 70 where I'll collect the maximum possible Social Security benefit. I can live pretty well on a COLA-protected and tax free $44K with a paid-for house. Even if I run out of money, I'll still be fine. My girlfriend has similar numbers. Our combined Social Security income will be over $80K.

My problem at age 59 is job instability. I'm in high tech. Unless I find a job through my personal network, I'm already bumping into age discrimination. Everybody wants to hire the 28-year-old who will work 60 hours, be OK with 2 weeks paid vacation, and not impact their group health insurance costs.

Geoff

If the cornerstones of your retirement are working until 70 to collect Social Security and depending on your girl friend's Social Security, then I would say you could get into financial trouble rather rapidly.

You need to look at generating retirement income other then Social Security and depending on another person.

[WoodyWW]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The problem in blue states is that 50% of the state budget goes to the safety net leaving little for infrastructure.

Really? You have any actual stats on that? I find it very hard to believe that 50% of the state budgets in blue states "goes to the safety net". It's funny that the "blue states" are generally the wealthiest states in the US. The states where people gravitate to get education, & high paying jobs.

In reality, infrastructure is a problem in much of the US, compared to say, Germany or Japan, that not only have great roads, high-speed rail, better airports, but also excellent "safety nets".....

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by WoodyWW

Really? You have any actual stats on that? I find it very hard to believe that 50% of the state budgets in blue states "goes to the safety net". It's funny that the "blue states" are generally the wealthiest states in the US. The states where people gravitate to get education, & high paying jobs.

Massachusetts State Spending Pie Chart for 2017 - Charts

In reality, infrastructure is a problem in much of the US, compared to say, Germany or Japan, that not only have great roads, high-speed rail, better airports, but also excellent "safety nets".....

They also have MUCH higher taxes, the likes of which people in the US wouldn't be willing to pay. 50% effective tax rates (including income tax and VAT) on the middle class are the norm there.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yep. Unless you logged 35 years making an inflation-adjusted $60K or better and defer collecting to age 70, it's a challenge to survive on one Social Security check. I'm 59. All my retirement planning revolves around deferring to age 70 where I'll collect the maximum possible Social Security benefit. I can live pretty well on a COLA-protected and tax free $44K with a paid-for house. Even if I run out of money, I'll still be fine. My girlfriend has similar numbers. Our combined Social Security income will be over $80K.

My problem at age 59 is job instability. I'm in high tech. Unless I find a job through my personal network, I'm already bumping into age discrimination. Everybody wants to hire the 28-year-old who will work 60 hours, be OK with 2 weeks paid vacation, and not impact their group health insurance costs.

I know plenty of boomers in your situation and they are all quite worried to be honest. For your sake I hope everything works out.