Retirement planning

[300UGUY]

I should point out that our new home is less than two miles from a great grocery store, four miles from our work, five miles from the airport and about 10-15 miles from downtown Grand Rapids. If I'd have been willing to go another 10 miles out of town, I'd have gotten all of that for half the cost.

I'm on a gravel road, 7 miles from the grocery store, 5 miles from a gas station. 60 miles +/- from Metro airport. I drove 51 miles each way for work. The gravel road is the only thing that bothers me. My neighbor definitely overbuilt for the area, but it was supposed to be his retirement home. He died right after it was built, before he could retire. This is a bedroom community, very few jobs here that pay well enough to live here.

 

[Parkanzky]

Before this house, we lived in a very nice 2500 sq. ft. home (in some ways nicer than the new place, although the new place has more land and way more potential) 24 miles from work. We sold it for half of what we paid for the new house. Like you said, location, location, location.

 

[riptides]

Property values in California are way higher than what we have. You can buy a nice home here, on a few acres, for 150K. One of my neighbor's just sold a beautiful 3000 sg ft home. On 10 acres with a 30x40 pole barn. Really nice place, looks like something from a magazine. $300K. In 2005, it was built for $375K. She had it for sale for 3 years, only got 1 offer. Location, location, location?

Same description like that in my immediate area would go 400-500k. Just a zipcode away, 600-700k, a few more zipcodes to the north, well above 1 million. The further north one goes from me, the acres just don't exist.

 

[coveredbridge]

My Two Cents : Retiring at 55 and 58 is way too soon. I've made more money between 50 and 56 than I did in all of my 40's. And I'm not done, yet. Why would I retire now, when I can still make some nice bank in the next 10 years? Don't give up your big earning years.

That's fine if you love your work, but there are many who work to live and not the other way around. For those people, including myself, I don't want to work one day longer than I have to in order to live comfortably in retirement and hopefully spend my last dollar on the day that I die. What good is all that money if you can't enjoy it doing the things you love to do?

 

[Travelover]

That's fine if you love your work, but there are many who work to live and not the other way around. For those people, including myself, I don't want to work one day longer than I have to in order to live comfortably in retirement and hopefully spend my last dollar on the day that I die. What good is all that money if you can't enjoy it doing the things you love to do?

+1. I retired at age 54 with a pension I can't spend every month and a portfolio that would replace my pension if it went away. I'd have been a fool to work any longer. What is precious is time, especially when you have enough money - key word being "enough".

 

[ultrarunner]

You guys are killing me...

December 31 2003 I bought my current 1956-57 1725 square foot home for 598K and had to fight with the assessor for the next year because he said my purchase price was below market for East Oakland California... mind you the bathrooms are untouched 1957 as is the kitchen except the linoleum was changed to green sometime around 1980???

I did buy it because it was built and owned by a car guy and it has a separate 22 x 30 shop which is most unusual here...

Here is a link to a home that just went on sale in the area... I know the owner who at age 101 decided she no longer wanted to live by herself...

50 LEAMONT CT, OAKLAND, CA 94605 (MLS # 40683286) - Sharp Realty

I'm old enough to remember when these homes were selling for 30k back in the 1970's... and Oakland is reported to have the one one of the highest incidents of crime in the country...

 

[PapaPerk]

You guys are killing me... December 31 2003 I bought my current 1956-57 1725 square foot home for 598K and had to fight with the assessor for the next year because he said my purchase price was below market for East Oakland California... mind you the bathrooms are untouched 1957 as is the kitchen except the linoleum was changed to green sometime around 1980??? I did buy it because it was built and owned by a car guy and it has a separate 22 x 30 shop which is most unusual here... Here is a link to a home that just went on sale in the area... I know the owner who at age 101 decided she no longer wanted to live by herself... 50 LEAMONT CT, OAKLAND, CA 94605 (MLS # 40683286) - Sharp Realty I'm old enough to remember when these homes were selling for 30k back in the 1970's... and Oakland is reported to have the one one of the highest incidents of crime in the country...

"They called it paradise the place to be."

 

[SandburRanch]

I wouldn't trust an insurance company as far as I could throw the Empire State building. I have a life policy that's been paid in full for nearly 60 years that my parents took out on me as a kid. I have the policy in hand. That original company has been sold 3 times, the last in 1999 and the present company has no record of it.

 

[300UGUY]

You guys are killing me...

December 31 2003 I bought my current 1956-57 1725 square foot home for 598K and had to fight with the assessor for the next year because he said my purchase price was below market for East Oakland California... mind you the bathrooms are untouched 1957 as is the kitchen except the linoleum was changed to green sometime around 1980???

I did buy it because it was built and owned by a car guy and it has a separate 22 x 30 shop which is most unusual here...

Here is a link to a home that just went on sale in the area... I know the owner who at age 101 decided she no longer wanted to live by herself...

50 LEAMONT CT, OAKLAND, CA 94605 (MLS # 40683286) - Sharp Realty

I'm old enough to remember when these homes were selling for 30k back in the 1970's... and Oakland is reported to have the one one of the highest incidents of crime in the country...

It's currently 5F, windchill of -13, going below 0 tonight. Last year my back yard still had patches of ice on April 20. We also had a period of -15F weather, that broke some pipes in my rental. The insurance paid out about $10K in damages. Jobs in this area pay lower than national averages. Basically, it sucks. There are reasons why folks want to live in California.

 

[smstonypoint]

I wouldn't trust an insurance company as far as I could throw the Empire State building. I have a life policy that's been paid in full for nearly 60 years that my parents took out on me as a kid. I have the policy in hand. That original company has been sold 3 times, the last in 1999 and the present company has no record of it.

I hope that you haven't given up hope in getting this matter cleared up to your satisfaction. If you haven't done so already, I would contact the office of the Insurance Commissioner in your state: National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) State Web Map.

Steve