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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
There’s cheap places to retire to in the USA. I wouldn’t leave the country as many cheap countries inevitably end up being unstable and dangerous.
Friends in Indiana just qualified for more retiree Property Tax benefit. (20% Disabled vet). $3/yr total property tax! That's a good retirement story (at a large cost).
COL Benefits for retirees vary greatly in different USA locations.
As does HC cost and availability.
no doubt once one isn’t raising a family expenses should be less .
but our kids were out for a decade when we retired so we were still working as a couple for many years so we saw once we were home daily we were spending far more then when we were stuck at work all day .
the kids were no longer part of that comparison.
travel , entertainment, eating out and bringing in increased big time , we wanted a more high end car so our car budget jumped a lot , we now have expensive long term care insurance premiums .
starting next year we want to be snow birds
so our budget easily exceeds the old working one
MJ, after your Poconos experience, are you buying a place for snow birding or renting?
Always have backup plans...
-rent out a room in your house
-sell some stuff
-live lower and more frugally
-rent out all the rooms in your house and have a Rooming House.
Same here. That's why I simply don't believe the brag: "so busy, how did I find time to work" trope. Just as hacked as the "drop dead at work" trope.
If I was a rich retiree, I'd be out DOING stuff every day, traveling, etc. Not being on social media, lol.
Back to topic: We did try to work a couple more years in TX before settling down here. Could not even get a low-end Home Depot-type job due to age and not being bi-lingual. So we retired earlier than we planned. I'm glad too, since we already had the "go-go" phase and are now in the "slow-go" phase. Dreading the next phase, yikes.
is that the "no-go" phase where you are dead as a door nail?
my plan is to retire in the "no-go" years. that saves me a lot of trouble. lol.
My dad retired at 56. The parents studied hard, got good jobs that paid very well, were ridiculously frugal, (I've joked many times on CD that they acted like we were living paycheck to paycheck), and didn't 'need' fancy schmancy anything. We did take annual vacations, but they chose the cheapest transportation, and typically the cheapest way for accommodations, unless it was a hotel, they did normal hotels - not worn down trash, not fancy.
He could have worked to 65, but he knew it wasn't worth it. He retired, enjoyed his hobbies, and then got a very part time job driving a small 'bus' to take the elderly to appointments or the store. It was not because we needed the extra money, but because he enjoyed it. He would have done it for free if that was legal.
My mom retired about 10 years later because pension, but mainly because she enjoyed her job.
Now they just do hobbies, and go on little vacations, and are content.
They are in their 80s now, still doing well, financially.
No need to work until you die. It is possible to let go, and enjoy your life...almost 20 years retirement for her, and almost 30 years of retirement for him, at this point.
I grew up below the poverty line... And I played with free cars. I've never had a problem growing my career to mid six figure range, raising a family, and now head toward retirement in a couple months, while playing with fun cars (and you can see the kinds I've had). My wife is a car girl too, and while my son was growing up, he'd help in the garage with me and when he got to driving age, he and I built his hot rod truck together. A lot of sweat equity in it for him meant he respected it and took care of it. Something that doesn't happen when you hand a kid a cheap car that NO one (especially the kid) cares about.
According to my dad, when I said my first word when I was ~1 year old in '64, it was "Mustang" when pointing to a new one driving by. I grew up immersed in the west coast hot rod and custom car scene and, like I said, was building models of custom cars starting when I was 5 or so (at the same time that my dad taught me to drive). As I got into my teens and saw the factory concept cars, I started drawing them.
After I got my license, I started racing with the local sports car club. Started with a free car that I put about $150 into to make work for that and went from there. By the time I was 21, I already had moved up the ladder, with my own money from working in a vintage car restoration shop (and eventually opened my own), to old Porsches and that black convertible Ferrari I built up (both pictured in that photo montage). Every car was nicer when I sold it than when I got it, and each one paid for the next one up the ladder, using sweat equity to take a cheap version and make it better and nicer. Because I grew up below the poverty line, I had learned how to work on them myself. Same with household projects/repairs and more. THAT saves more money that simply eschewing cars/houses altogether, and allows me to have nicer things for less money. It amazes me how many homeowners don't even know what end of a screwdriver to hold... Talk about saving money? I did every thing you see in this kitchen remodel myself, from the flooring to installing the appliances, cabinets, crown molding, lighting etc. Saved myself about $30k. (I had gotten a quote to just reface the cabinets and paint them for $24k. No counters, floors, anything else. Just those old cabinets with new doors and paint). I can imagine what a complete gut and remodel would have been if I had to have someone do it for me...
So yeah, I'll do me, thank you. I'm going to continue to enjoy driving fast, fun, attractive cars that *I* like. And I'll wonder about those that have to have everything done for them, so that in order to save money, they simply forgo anything that might simply make them happy. I mean, I've saved enough money by doing all this myself to go to Scotland twice, go on a number of Caribbean cruises, and get an RV to travel the country in. And still have fun cars, a wonderful family and a home with a ton of equity in it.
A true car guy. Just like my brother. I totally respect those who can work on their own cars, and both my bro and my first and second hubbies built vintage cars, so I totally get that. While my future DH was driving the pea green Malibutt, there was a fully restored pearl white '66 El Camino in his garage, along with a vintage Harley Low Rider. He bought them for cheap, restored and held them for over 30 years. It was sad when he sold them in the last couple years, but it was his choice to clear out the garage workshop for new toys. Rock on!
Last edited by TheShadow; 05-09-2024 at 07:29 AM..
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