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When I was younger, I never saved up enough money for retirement and thought that once I turned 62 I would be forced to live mostly on Social Security, but that changed with the death of a close relative. She left me a large farm which we lease out and now live a very comfortable life financially from the proceeds.
So just for the sake of interesting discussion, how many of you are using money obtained through some type of windfall to pay for your expenses in retirement? Tell us how you got the windfall and what it has done for your finances and retirement lifestyle. I bet there are some interesting stories out there.
Windfalls could be a large cash infusion due to:
Inheritance
Lottery Winning
Huge Profit due to the sale of a house in a strong real estate market
Selling stocks, mutual funds or ETF that had gone up significantly since you originally bought it
Sold a successful business
Etc.
Last edited by Old Tired Man; 01-17-2013 at 07:53 AM..
We worked, scrimped, saved, and invested to fund a modest retirement where we live on our small portfolio. There was never a windfall on the horizon. I expect there are many more retirees in our situation than yours.
not at all. but that is the entitlement mind set. people retire and got money bek they got "lucky" eddie murphy school of success. most envy what i got, none envy what i had to do to get it.
I wouldn't consider these to be a windfall. These are things you worked, paid for or earned.
Some of it is luck like picking a lottery number and being in a place with a great real estate market or picking a good stock at the right time, but regardless I mean a windfall where you are given or earned sudden quick payoff for some activity and your cash position goes from poor to rich in an instant.
I have relatives (not my own kids) whose plan A is to inherit. I plan not to do that.
I did inherit some stock when my father died. Less then 20% of my net worth but am grateful to have it. Now that I'm retired people assume I'm living on the largess of my father. It annoys me because I worked and planned and saved on my own. Some of what I have is "luck" from owning and selling a home. Definitely stock market gains. Haven't hit the lottery yet.
Not as many people with nice houses were cash poor like you might think. At any rate in many careers the percentage of income spent on housing decreased with each salary increase. Thats why they were able to retire with sizable home equity and considerable investments.
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