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View Poll Results: How Do You Rank Your Wealth & Liviing Situation
Poor-Can't pay monthly bills, lacking in resources, poor living environment 3 2.56%
Doing OK-Can pay bills, have adequate resources, living situation adequate 51 43.59%
Thriving-Enjoying life, can pay bills, have money left over, above average living environment 59 50.43%
Outstanding-Amazing wealth & resources & environment, oodles of money - rolling in it! 4 3.42%
Voters: 117. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 08-07-2011, 11:25 AM
 
Location: earth?
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How would you categorize yourself, financially?
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Old 08-07-2011, 11:34 PM
 
Location: Boca Raton, FL
6,883 posts, read 11,214,122 times
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Smile 11 years from now

I hope I can move from Doing OK to Thriving.

Not there yet.

We were sandwiched - had to financially care for my parents so I owe my husband big time on that; but now, we are working hard trying to turn it around. I have a credit background so my score is so important.

I never thought my children noticed any of that - but my daughter, now living on her own in NYC, has the exact same 2 credit cards I do and my son did a paper on credit for one of his college classes. So, I'm glad I passed that along. (I took a peek at my daughter's credit and she was a 735). My son has nothing yet so we have to work on that. Maybe a nice student loan on there!! Ha, ha.
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Old 08-08-2011, 06:51 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,331 posts, read 61,161,924 times
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Comparing us to any nationwide scale we would be fairly poor.

We knew this going into retirement. We have lived up and down the West Coast, and up / down the East Coast [military career]. So we knew from first-hand experience that in many areas my pension would not be enough to support a family.

As retirement approached we did our research and selected an area that is known for it's long-term depressed economy [Maine]. Here my pension puts us at about shoulder-to-shoulder with most of our neighbors in terms of Gross annual income.

We used our portfolio to buy land and to build a house. So now with no mortgage payment, our living expenses are much lower than expected.

My pension is comparable to flipping burgers for minimum-wage. However with the low-cost area, low taxes, and no mortgage; and in the terms that you used in the OP poll; we are in the "Thriving-Enjoying life" category.
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Old 08-08-2011, 08:23 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,871,119 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forest beekeeper View Post
Comparing us to any nationwide scale we would be fairly poor.

We knew this going into retirement. We have lived up and down the West Coast, and up / down the East Coast [military career]. So we knew from first-hand experience that in many areas my pension would not be enough to support a family.

As retirement approached we did our research and selected an area that is known for it's long-term depressed economy [Maine]. Here my pension puts us at about shoulder-to-shoulder with most of our neighbors in terms of Gross annual income.

We used our portfolio to buy land and to build a house. So now with no mortgage payment, our living expenses are much lower than expected.

My pension is comparable to flipping burgers for minimum-wage. However with the low-cost area, low taxes, and no mortgage; and in the terms that you used in the OP poll; we are in the "Thriving-Enjoying life" category.
What interesting and uplifting proof that individual circumstances make such a great difference in the life that can result from a given dollar level of income. ForestBeekeeper, you should be proud of what your foresight and planning have accomplished. Most people with your dollar level of income would be moaning and groaning. But instead you were proactive about it and fashioned a good life from it. (Of course many retired military find a second career after their 20-year retirement - or more than 20 years in some cases.)
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Old 08-08-2011, 08:36 AM
 
Location: Near a river
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Financially I, like most American retirees today, am very rich: I have a roof over my head, food on the table, a car, gas in the car, and some savings in the bank. I can pay my bills. I can afford a dog. I can go to occasional cultural events and have relatively clean air and water where I live.

I never compare myself with those who have more, but I am always concerned with those who have less. And that category of people is growing every day.
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Old 08-08-2011, 08:50 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,331 posts, read 61,161,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider View Post
What interesting and uplifting proof that individual circumstances make such a great difference in the life that can result from a given dollar level of income. ForestBeekeeper, you should be proud of what your foresight and planning have accomplished. Most people with your dollar level of income would be moaning and groaning. But instead you were proactive about it and fashioned a good life from it. (Of course many retired military find a second career after their 20-year retirement - or more than 20 years in some cases.)
Thanks.

Among the many hats I wore while on Active Duty was 'Command Financial Specialist'. I became certified to do taxes [and I filed taxes for most of the crew on each sub I was on]. I presented monthly budgeting and investing lectures to the crew, etc. Anytime that a crewmember got into debt problems I was their 'counselor'.

It amazed me at the time, how that among those who were doing the 'full 20' years, very few of them had thought about portfolios. I was kind of passionate about the topic, and it rarely rubbed off.



When I retired, I had to attend a one-week class on how to retire [as military things work, they messed up the schedules and I had to attend the class twice. Once overseas and once again stateside.] In both classrooms, of 30 students all about to retire, I was the only student who did not plan to seek a follow-on career. In nearly every case, they had huge debt-loads. Our pensions could not support any of their financial obligations. It was very clear that planning their futures had not been done. Most owned homes, but I was the only one who did not owe into a mortgage.

[let me clarify, lest someone call me on this point] I had collected apartment buildings. Each had tenants, each had a positive Net, so none of my salary went into paying any mortgage debt. We could move into any of those properties and live mortgage-payment free.
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Old 08-08-2011, 09:11 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,880,394 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by imcurious View Post
How would you categorize yourself, financially?
Not sure...somewhere between "okay" and "thriving". I make adequate money, pay my bills on time, manage to sock away a fair amount of money every month...thanks to my frugal self ...and live in an area where the cost of living isn't outrageous. I will likely never own my own home again but have resigned myself to that. All the basics are covered and some of the "wants" can be had as well. Life is good!!
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Old 08-08-2011, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,880,394 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by newenglandgirl;20364870[B
]Financially I, like most American retirees today, am very rich: I have a roof over my head, food on the table, a car, gas in the car, and some savings in the bank. I can pay my bills. I can afford a dog. I can go to occasional cultural events and have relatively clean air and water where I live. [/b]

I never compare myself with those who have more, but I am always concerned with those who have less. And that category of people is growing every day.
AMEN!!! And that ain't a bad place to be!
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Old 08-08-2011, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Heading Northwest In Nevada
8,913 posts, read 20,314,101 times
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My wife was an Accountant for numerous years and handles all of our finances extremely well! We live in an apartment now and most likely will never own another house. The upkeep of a house/lawn can get rather costly and physical. We budget money quite a bit, in that she takes her lunch to work all the time (except when a lunch is provided by the company). We also don't go out for expensive dinners or out-to-dinner that much at all and I enjoy cooking. I'm on SS/Early Retirement now, but she still works a full-tiime job. She likes working much more than I ever did. I'm looking for a part-time job, but that's not easy either.
In other words, we are doing ok, but that is only due to how we live. Could we use MORE money.........heck, couldn't many of us?
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Old 08-08-2011, 10:56 AM
 
Location: delaware
698 posts, read 1,049,756 times
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i would say i'm between doing o.k. and thriving. i live in a fairly economical area-cost of living, taxes, utilities cost,etc., and that makes a big difference.
i have my pension (small ), my deceased husband's pension ( moderate ) and social security ( above average ), as well as some investments and savings ( limited ). i own a house with a small mortgage, but my real estate taxes were cut in half when i became 65. i own a late model car, i eat out at restaurants generally when i want, usually at least once a week, and i take occasional short trips. i'm not interested in extensive or expensive travel, but like to get away to some favorite places for a few days several times a year. i have limited debt and pay bill balances off each month. i often, not always, have money left over at the end of the month to invest, save, whatever. i consider myself extremely fortunate , and would say i live as well or better than i did when i was working.

i take no credit for the life that i have today,as i never practiced frugality when i was working although i wasn't extravagant. i was not vigilant about saving for retirement, although we always saved some. i'm certain that one reason for that was that both my husband and i were part of a public pension system from the time we began employment, and without doubt counted on that for retirement. also we had no children to support or put through school, so that made a difference. the quality of life that i have now is due , to a large extent, the pensions, but i would also say good fortune and circumstance as well. i'm aware that in the current economic times, social security and pensions can change, and with it, my quality of life. since i have no control over that and cannot change my own history, i remain grateful for what i've had thus far.

catsy girl
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