How and to live in old age with very little retirement savings (55, communities)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What percentage of Americans do think are currently forced to live in a RV due to financial hardship now and what percentage do you think that percentage will rise to in say 20 years??
This is actually happening around me, and it is a new phenomenon. Just about any road I drive down, there is a travel trailer parked at the edge of a field and a trailer pole to supply power. In one instance, there is a guy living in what was intended to be a church outbuilding shed. Up across the border in TN, someone has built what LOOKS to be an RV park, but every space is filled with a similar travel trailer, and the place is full. I suspect that it is the new version of slumlord, without the overhead of having to deal with certain taxes and regulations. This has ALL been within the past four or five years.
I just noticed this, when I was looking for rentals for someone on one of the WA State forums! There were clusters of rentals on small lots, all offered by the same corporate owner, and I thought, "Is this what REIT's are doing now? Funding entire housing developments?" Building the houses as close together as possible, with a strip of lawn for a back yard, and offering them all at the same rental rate--it all looked suspiciously REIT-like. Thank you for posting this!
Even in my backwoods area, I've seen large investors buy up multiple units in a townhome complex, rehab them, then they have to all be bought as one unit. There's one set of units that's been on the market for over six months, but the sellers will not break them up. You buy them all or none at all.
I live in a place like that. A top 100 hospital is a mile away and several others from 10 to 15 minutes away. All kinds of healthcare available. Low home prices and very low taxes since we don't have schools.
We moved from NJ to rural, Downeast Maine after retirement. The property taxes in NJ, and the auto insurance, make it impossible to live there after retirement if you want a car and a house.
Luckily i loved travelling to Maine my whole life, but didn't know i'd end up so FAR up into the state
I could never afford a house on the coast of NJ where they go for millions. We are glad to get Social Security (which i know we worked for), and i'm grateful to get a small pension.
But yes LIFE happens. I thought i was OK with an inheritance - which i decided i'd use to have my home in NJ remodeled and updated several years ago. After my contractor (licensed and highly recommended) finished some of the work, he stopped working and had 3/4 of the money. Which was A LOT. You never know what will happen in your life.
Over a year went by, i was forced to sue, and forced to take out the rest of my savings to have the work finished. It was also more expensive by then. I was almost penniless, and i had done a lot of things right. (My early retirement was due to disability.) You don't expect someone to steal your money. I barely got any back thru the lawsuit - he claimed bankruptcy. We had even tried to force a sheriff's sale of his home.
So please don't ever think life will just go along as is. Be ready for the worst, because it certainly can happen. I am just blessed that i ended up in a state that i love - Maine. We have to drive two hours for some doctor's appts.; many things are cheaper here - heating is not!
Last edited by Jellybean50; 01-11-2022 at 08:40 PM..
There's plenty of places in this nation you can move where even social security will get you far. Sorry its going to be a small town of 1,500 in Nebraska or West Virginia and not Southern California. You are not entitled to retire where you've lived your whole life.
But as a society, we may want them to! Someone is going to have to pay for their long-term care, and for the population we are discussing, it will be Medicaid (taxpayers) or family.
The solution is probably going to be more subsidized housing, not my first choice.
But as a society, we may want them to! Someone is going to have to pay for their long-term care, and for the population we are discussing, it will be Medicaid (taxpayers) or family.
The solution is probably going to be more subsidized housing, not my first choice.
How about affordable housing instead of subsidized? What if the government went into the condo building business? Seems we have a lack of affordable housing.
How about affordable housing instead of subsidized? What if the government went into the condo building business? Seems we have a lack of affordable housing.
Just take a look at our New York City housing projects for an example of what happens when the govt gets in to the housing business
When I was 23 and had just completed college I was a Libertarian. I thought that everybody should be responsible for themselves, and what the heck is this deduction from my paycheck for Social Security? Why should the Gov steal my earnings to hand out to others?
Then I lived life.
Chit happens. For example, just talk to a family with a disabled child or someone who experiences a big loss such as their neighborhood being consumed by wildfire.
Although I'm still a fan of capitalism, I think it needs to be tapered to work for most people, not just the top 10%.
Just because the top 10% get rich doesn't mean the other 90% get poor. We are the wealthiest nation in the world. The people the top 10%, and the companies and businesses employ earn a wage with which they can live off of, and everyone has a chance to get a job, advance, and succeed if they work hard and smart. Our poorest people are still better off than many people in the world.
Capitalism breeds competition, which leads to better products and cheaper prices.
Just because the top 10% get rich doesn't mean the other 90% get poor. We are the wealthiest nation in the world. The people the top 10%, and the companies and businesses employ earn a wage with which they can live off of, and everyone has a chance to get a job, advance, and succeed if they work hard and smart. Our poorest people are still better off than many people in the world.
Capitalism breeds competition, which leads to better products and cheaper prices.
I think the implication is that while the wealthy are always getting wealthier, more and more ordinary people are falling into poverty like never before. And they'd be right. It seems like each day I drive around I am seeing more and more tents pop up on the streets under freeway overpasses and more RV's lining the street parking spots. Quite simply thousands of people are losing their housing every day and have nowhere to go except either the streets or RV's. Many have relatives to go to but many do not--living alone has never been greater than now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
