Can a Doublewide Save Your Retirement
By Dennis Miller
The rumors are true: Florida is full of 55-plus communities with rows of doublewide mobile homes. The nicer ones have amenities like golf courses, swimming pools, clubhouses… you name it. As you’d expect, the living cost is modest. But here’s the part that blows people away: many of the people who live in these communities are quite wealthy.
That’s right—not everyone living in a doublewide is a NASCAR fan.
My wife and I have friends who live in these communities… people who’ve enjoyed successful careers and built up respectable nest eggs. They still play golf or tennis and participate in the weekly wine and cheese party. Their biggest complaint, frankly, is having a social calendar that’s too packed.
What’s their secret? None looked at downsizing as a step down. Instead, they considered it a prudent way to free up their time and money. These folks are 100% debt-free and are wealthy enough to spend their time however they choose. They found a way to retire rich on their own terms—a milestone I fear most never reach.
A Rude Awakening
When I ran retirement projections in my 40s, I had three teenagers preparing for college and more immediate priorities. I’d tell myself to worry about it later, drop another $2,000 in my IRA, and keep my nose to the grindstone.
Time went by quickly. By my 60s, there was not much “later” left.
According to Fidelity’s annual roundup, savers on the brink of retirement age (55 to 64) had an average 401(k) balance of $165,200 in 2013. While that number is up from $143,300, it still won’t stretch that far.
Even retirement savers with both a Fidelity-managed 401(k) and IRA had a combined average balance of $261,400—still not much. If Mr. Average were to draw down his $261,400 combined balance over 40 years, assuming a modest 5% annual return and 3% inflation, his first month’s income would come to a measly $773.
I encourage everyone to download the Miller’s Money Retirement Income Calculator to run a similar projection. You can personalize it, adjusting the rate of return, inflation, beginning balance, and number of years your portfolio needs to last.
If you’re approaching retirement age and off the mark, you still have recourse.
Remember, the goal of retirement saving and investing is to build enough wealth to live comfortably without working. What’s comfortable? For most, it’s simply maintaining the same lifestyle they enjoyed during their working years.
If you’ve lived in a middle-class neighborhood for the last 40 years, you want the option to stay there. If you keep a nice home at the country club and play golf three times a week, you likely want to continue that lifestyle. Whatever you’ve grown accustomed to is what “comfortable” means for you. We all want to keep on keepin’ on.
So run the numbers. If you’re off the target but still young, small adjustments can go a long way. But if you’re approaching retirement age, you have options… some of which are more appealing than others.
Option #1: Downgrade your lifestyle expectations. At the most extreme, this means accepting that you’ll only have enough for a subsistence lifestyle in retirement. You will constantly worry about money and likely become a burden to your family. I don’t know anyone who wants that, so let’s move on to more optimistic choices.
Option #2: Work longer. Readers often write to tell me they’ll never have money worries because they plan to work forever. Don’t fall into that trap. Now, if you’re healthy enough to work and enjoy your job, by all means, keep at it. But you can’t assume that will always be the case.
All bodies wither. Sometimes our minds fail us. 70-year-olds get pushed out of jobs. And frankly, some people just get tired or would prefer to spend their time doing other things.
So continuing working is not the solution in and of itself. If you choose to work longer than you’d initially planned, upping your savings rate is crucial. Set a new target date and a new savings goal. Curb your spending, and you’ll get there.
This doesn’t mean you have to quit working when you hit your savings target. If you enjoy working and know you can quit anytime, it takes a lot of the pressure off.
There are additional ways to maximize this catch-up time:
- Develop a plan to get totally out of debt. No debt, no mortgage, no excuses. Start with a five-year timeframe. If that’s not enough time, try seven years. If you need longer than that, get real about the next two points.
- Attack your spending. Most people don’t have a saving problem; they have a spending problem. Unless you reduce spending, saving is very difficult. To retire rich, you have to live below your means. It’s the only way.
- Lower fixed expenses. Do you own too much house, too many cars, and maybe even a boat? You might be surprised by how freeing it is to let go of large, recurring expenses.
- Get a handle on your investments. Get educated and get involved. No one should rely solely on a money manager. Remember, there are no do-overs, and your financial well-being matters to you more than anyone else.
- Be realistic about what will work for you. A good plan you don’t implement won’t help, so be honest with yourself. Then commit and get it done!
Are you thinking about downsizing but don’t want to live in a doublewide? You don’t have to.
If you’re playing catch up, though, don’t just keep working. Build a five-year plan to get out of debt and save as much as you can. If you’re a NASCAR fan, you may even have enough left over for the better seats at Daytona.
All jokes aside, if you’re not on track, overwhelmed, or just need someone to bounce ideas off of, the right financial planner can help you map out a workable plan. There are tricks to finding the right planner—a planner who’s obligated to put your best interests first. You might be surprised to learn that not all financial planners are held to this standard.
There’s a lot to know about financial planners, money managers, and the like, which is why the Miller’s Money team put it all together for you in The Financial Advisor Guide. Find out more about this must-read special report here.
I hate articles like this.
Even with a good middle class income – after getting raped up the ass for sales tax, state income tax, federal income tax, property taxes, wheelage taxes, phone taxes, gas taxes, health care, FICA, you name it – how in the hell is someone supposed to save a significant amount of money?
The answer is they don’t. And this article clearly states most people don’t have enough saved. Now Miller makes some lame ass suggestions – that anyone with a pulse can figure out.
The news is nobody is going to retire. And the only thing worse than no retirement is retiring to some place like Florida or Arizona an live with a bunch of old fucks in a trailer park. I’d rather die.
Or maybe you should work your ass off, save like hell, have no life 21 thru 61 – with the goal of retirement. Retirement is bullshit, a false goal.
@Dutchman, I have to agree with you – it’s like the little house or small space promotions gathering steam…and also the micro apartment assholes, trying to convince us that we only need what our basic needs really are. The fact that thats what an ever increasing number of people can only afford gets no promotion. Like food, all they tell a prisoner about what he needs to eat is found in ‘nutra-loaf’. Plan on working much longer than you imagined is what I tell people who ask me.
I think the Hardscrabble Farmer would agree with me on this:
The reason people want to retire is that the working environment is the US is shit. Know nothing managers, nano-managers, fucking meetings upon meetings. Add to that you can get shit-canned anytime, for no reason. Your company has just been bought out. You have 4 weeks vacation / year. Oh, well. Find another job (use up savings) and reset all your benefits.
In order to live, you need to work. Work can be an enjoyable thing. But for the large majority of workers, work is hell. We have made it that way.
Damn, Dutchman, feeling sorry for yourself much? What a load of bullshit. Man, can you whine like a little girl.
I have employees working for me making $50k per year that are rich as Midas. Gee, wonder how that happened.
They spent less than they earned, they were frugal, they drove old dars and not new, the packed their lunch every day, they stayed away from Starbucks and big screen atVs, and now, they are multi-millionaires.
And hell yes they are going to retire – anytime they want.
Just because most folks live beyond their means does not mean everyone does and that it is impossible to get ahead. You have to sacrifice.
But sacrifice is just too hard.
Lots easier to whine about it being impossible.
What fucking bullshit.
And re the working environment – it is supposed to be work. Work has always been shit.
Get over it.
@ Llpoh: “They spent less than they earned, they were frugal, they drove old cars and not new, the packed their lunch every day”
You are really an old fart. What you are proposing is outdated rhetoric, that really didn’t work, not even in ‘the day’.
There is something to be said for living life in the present. I really like my Volvo’s and BMW’s. It is a pleasure to drive them – very dependable – especially in a climate like Minnesota. It’s also enjoyable to have a home on a lake that’s large enough to entertain friends and family. Having good shoes / clothing / and fresh food / all enhance your life’s experience.
As far as work has been shit??? Man you don’t know shit.
As a STEM worker, I’ve worked for several firms that were a pleasure to work for. Also having worked for myself for 25 yrs – there was many a day that I couldn’t wait to write some more code, design another system.
I have spoken with countless wage slaves – most all of them hate their jobs for the reasons I have given in the previous post.
Dutchman – you really are an ignoramus. That “really didn’t work”? Of course it fucking worked. And it STILL works. I can give countless examples where it did, starting with me and folks that work for me.
Re your work – good for you that you found something you enjoy. But most work is not fun – it is work. Manufacturing. Service. Etc ad infinitum. Young people have been damaged by the myth that they can go out and find fulfilling and fun jobs. There are some, but most jobs are not fun.
As far as me not knowing shit – get a fucking clue. I have and do employed a lot of people. I have run giant plants. I know all about employee retention and turnover. And about their sense of entitlement. That is ESPECIALLY prevalent in STEM workers. Sure, lots of folks hate their jobs. So what? That is the way it is.
I believe that the middle class as a whole is fucked. People have long aspired to be middle class. Can you imagine – hundreds of millions of folks “aspiring” to be middle class. That is a fucking joke. They are happy to be wage slaves, etc.
To get ahead they need to aspire to be rich. The days of the middle class are over. Finis. Done. But it is still possible to be top 10%. Study. Work. Thrift. Save. Plan.
People need to stop aspiring to be average. Average is going to mean poor. They need to aspire to be rich, or at least rich-ish.
There will be opportunities galore in the coming years. But not for the average joe happy to be debt-ridden and lazy.
Those that understand that you have to sacrifice to get ahead still have ample opportunity to get ahead.
And crying about how hard or not fun work is is a waste of time and energy.
Grow the fuck up.
“And the only thing worse than no retirement is retiring to some place like Florida or Arizona and live with a bunch of old fucks in a trailer park. I’d rather die.”
—-Dutchman
Oh, I don’t about buggy, humid Florida, but a paid-for, single family home next to a golf resort in southern Arizona ain’t too bad. A little nippy today. Temps in the mid-60s with a touch of wind chill from a 10 mph wind. Had to put on sweat pants with my flip-flops and T-shirt. Heh.
Lowered expectations.
Many people save little, work the minimum, spend and go into debt, then somehow think they will sell their home and triple their investment and buy a 3000 square foot home with an ocean view.
I just want my primary place paid for, in a lower tax district (which Florida is not, though they play games with the mobile home parks), with little oversight and even fewer bureaucrats.
I just want to be left alone.
Neither retirement, nor being left alone, looks to be on our horizons.
Sadly the gov will steel whatever one owns in Obamas great redistribution and collapse of Amerika and dollar reset No one ever brings up the countries dumping US treasuries and no longer settling in US dollars.When the right to print is gone,EVERYTHING will skyrocket .How will the gov pay for the never ending flooding of indigent illegals Obama plans to give SS food education medical and a plethora of free sh$t?Got me,but I am sure it will come out of my pocket,if there is any $ left to pick.We will all wake up one morning and the banks will be closed and the quadrillion of $$$ in derivatives will turn into martial law.One last fact.Every dictator in history has used starvation and food as a weapon against its own people.I expect Obama to be no different.
Dutchman: it absolutely worked in the day. My parents and in-laws both retired in their early 60s. They had about 25yrs of a wonderful retirement. Houses paid off, new cars paid with cash, trips to Europe, second homes in the mountains paid off. And no debt, that is the secret.
My good friend ragman knows the truth of it. And no debt is indeed the key.
Here’s one for your reading pleasure, Dutchman:
http://deoxy.org/endwork.htm
PJ – who could ever read all of that? What a stinking pile of shite.
Please do not feed the Dutchman.
Work longer and downsize your life.
However, you can downsize steeply without living the trailer court life. One of the saddest things about Americans is that they cannot think of living small and inexpensively without thinking “living poor”, mainly because they accumulate so much tacky crap to fill their over-sized houses (and garages and storage lockers and backyard sheds) with, that they can’t imagine voluntarily unloading 95% of the crap they think they “need” and, squeezing themselves into a small, sleekly designed and beautifully appointed small space.
I’m “collecting” photos and plans of tiny houses, and researching costs and potential building sites, with the idea of building a smallish (500 sq ft) house with foldup bed and a tiny kitchen fitted like a ship’s galley with small versions of major appliances. I see many exquisite designs, many of which can be built for a relatively low cost even if you upgrade the interior appointments considerably. The nice thing about small spaces is that you can use high grade materials without busting your bank account.
You just can’t keep your 20-year backfile of National Geographic or Hustler, or every item of clothing and every toy you ever bought your kids. You learn not to buy the crap to begin with.
Somebody on this thread wants to have a BIG hat and no cattle.
Secret has always been, work, live within your means, pay off all debt, save along the way, done.
I keep coming back to my son, only because the kid learned from some of the best.
He and his wife live very frugally, other than his house and boat, they don’t spend money unless they have the money.
His friends all have the big house on the lake, or with a pool and the nice cars, yup, great place to entertain, parties all the time.
They bought a small 1,400 sq foot house two years ago that sucks for having more than four other people over, it will be paid for in three more years, two used Volvos, also paid off.
Then he went out and bought a 38′ Lagoon sailboat that they have been saving for the last seven years, it will be paid off in five years or less.
By then he will be 35, debt free, he will then have another company set up he can run from the comfort of his boat for residual income, you don’t need much living on a boat.
Take the wife and his two kids and go live.
Card – right you are. People justify their circumstances by saying it is impossible. They sleep better that way. It is not impossible – but it requires sacrifice. Most folks cannot even spell it much less do it.
I really enjoyed that article! I like his humorous use of alliteration and his writing style is otherwise enjoyable as well. Besides, llpoh, you have done a lot of bitching about your job, which just goes to show that for every person complaining about their manager, there’s a manager complaining about having to manage people.
Chicago is on to something about working longer and downsizing. You don’t have to work in a sweatshop when you are 70, but helping a company out with its year-end audit work probably won’t kill you. And you (llpoh) and ragman are also right when you say the key is to avoid debt.
(I also say to not have kids, which is awesome because I like the color red and always see a lot of it in the downvotes I get for pointing that out.)
But for what it’s worth, my semi-retirement is working out well. I actually enjoy doing number-crunching and financial analysis, and creating metrics and building databases for reporting, and some of the other things I get employed to do. And there is a booming demand for contract work, if you can stomach the unpredictability of it, which you can if you have no kids and no debt. I just don’t like doing the same thing for 40 hours a week, for the same company, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Even your most favorite activities would get old if you HAD to do it all the time, and I think that’s the point the author of that article makes. Why do we do it to ourselves? Because we have to pay taxes and pay debts. (Or pay for children.) These are all self-inflicted choices.
When I get to the end of a contract assignment, I am happy to have accomplished a job well done and am excited about the few months of time off I will have to pursue “the flow.” (Google that if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) When the time off comes to an end and I start back to work, I feel curious more than anything else – what will the new people be like, and will I enjoy what I’m doing? But even if it sucks, it’s only for a little while, so there isn’t a bunch of stress about Making The Right Choice. I’ll still do my best and just won’t go back there again if I don’t like it. The company I am working for now is actually pretty good, and although I wouldn’t want to do what I am doing now full-time, I would be happy to go back there to work on another project again. Their work is seasonal, so they hire a lot of contractors, and they are only four miles from my home.
It has changed my thinking. Every time I think about spending money on something it translates into how many months of time off I could afford. A cruise for $4,000, or two months of not having to work? The time off wins every time. I don’t give a crap about cruises anyway. A friend of mine just bought a $70K car (Porsche) – and I thought that’s almost three YEARS of time off! My 16-year-old heap still runs just fine, and when it dies? I have savings account with $10K in it for just such an occasion, so I’ll get a nice boring car that is reliable and slowly build the savings account back up.
The big exception that came up recently was spending $7,600 (about four months of time off) to try and save my sweet little old pug lady’s life. It didn’t work. She had developed pneumonia and even with the oxygen tent and nebulizers to try and get the fluid out of her lungs, frankly she was just too old to beat it. She died in my arms, and I saw the light leave her eyes.
If I had KNOWN AHEAD OF TIME that it was hopeless, I would have just let her die at home, but she was getting better for a couple of days, and shit, I thought I would be bringing her home by the weekend and she’d have two or three more years with me. But I still don’t regret it. I can look back and know I did the best I could, and that I did the right thing. That is worth four months of time off work. A nicer car? No.
Now I will have to take less time off this summer than I had planned. But those refunds from Uncle Sam tend to be pretty good when you work so little you are in a lower tax bracket. I’m working until the end of March, and then I’ll adopt another sweet little old pug lady to be home with when I am off this summer.
RIP, my sweet little Holly-berry. Drool on the planet! (And save me a seat for when I get there.)
My goal in life is to just live. As long as I can grow it and raise it I will survive.
PJ – sorry about your dog. I have 3 old dogs, and next few years we will lose them all. The frigging cats will live forever, tho.
Difference between me and Dutchman is I may bitch, but I KNOW it is the way of the world. Work sucks. I do not expect it to be any different. I am not bitching so much about the job (which is not very pleasant, admittedly), but about the way people have changed – that employees have no respect for their jobs, no sense of responsibility, etc.
The problem I expect you are going to have is when you get too old to work. Does not sound like you will have anything saved. SS sounds like your fall-back plan. I hope it all works out for you.
It is a reasonable plan. However, the reality is that the current societal structure could not take too many of you running about. We need folks to keep the pump primed – ie to pay for all the parasites.
PJ, you are not doing your fair share. You are not paying for enough parasites. If everyone did what you do, the poor old parasites would starve.
Lipoh , what if you are 50 years old and don’t have much saved. I work with some guys that are in their 50 +60s .They have admitted to me they haven’t saved enough to retire. I haven’t either .I have saved but one sickness could wipe me out.Any advice as to what we could do this late in the game.
llpoh,
You really nailed it when you wrote that most people today just want to be average middle class. That may have worked in the past, it sure as hell is not working now or will it in the future.
“They are happy to be wage slaves, etc.”
When I was married and in my early 20’s I bitched and bitched about how all those other people have the great stuff. Back then I had friends with the new houses, the nice cars, the great vacations, for me it was simple stuff like a microwave, or a VCR, or when the DVD players came out, sweet shit.
I had a friend that would get a credit card to pay off another credit card, I didn’t even have a credit card.
My father in law sat me down and explained that if I spent more than I earned and never saved, I would never have anything but bills to pay for the rest of my life.
Slavery to debt didn’t sound great at all. It was a revelation when we sat down and created a simple budget, I really had extra money, just didn’t know it.
This was back in 1981, I was married, one child, house payment of $390.00, mortgage rates were 12% back then, had to pay my own health insurance of $300.00, used truck, used car, union dues, wife did not work to raise our kids, all on a tradesman’s pay of $9.00 per hour.
I worked side jobs to add income, started to hire help to help me on side jobs, eight years later I started my own company with no debt.
bb – I do not know how old you are, but you said you were now starting to make a bit of money.
But, let’s say you are 50, and have 15 years left, and say you are making around $80k. Taxes will take 20k. So you have $60k left for all else.
PJ elsewhere has said she can live on $25k. So it is doable to live frugally. Let’s say you can live on $40k.
That leaves $20k. So it is possible to save $300k plus whatever low-risk earnings you can get from it over the next 15 years. Perhaps that grows to around $400k.
It is short of the real mark but if managed tightly it can help augment SS very substantially.
Any equity built in your home, etc. will help.
And in this scenario is where a double wide or somesuch comes in.
For probably $50k and under $600 per month fees or so, you could buy a doublewide or similar. There you would be – debt free, in a surrounding where there are things to do, company, etc.
Ideal? No. But with $350k in the bank, SS hopefully at least trickling in, you have a chance of not eating dog food in your later years.
So, even if it is late, there are still options at 50.
At sixty, there may be just enough time to scrape up the money for the trailer, and then you need to hope that SS pays out. Or work far longer than 65.
Whatever age, it is better to start than to not.
And retire where it is cheap, for the love of God. There are places. For instance, CA is not one of them.
Folks that say they have left it too late and then do nothing are just making excuses, and are headed into a realm of hurt.
Card – you and yours understand. There will be dividends in the end.
llpoh, right now my “nest egg” is enough to live on for five years. I am 44. It’s more than most baby boomers have saved. Will it be worth anything? Hopefully the gold and silver will, but what does it matter? I don’t WANT to live to be 90 and be turned into a useless eater. The point is to live now and enjoy it while I can. When I can’t enjoy life anymore, it’s time to die. This is a shocking view to a lot of people, but it shouldn’t be, because what else is life for? It’s there to be lived and enjoyed.
Card, what concerns me is that you still think that by delaying current gratification you will enjoy future security. You may be wrong. You’ll have spent a lot of years of your life making someone else rich and have nothing to show for it.
Llpoh, old dogs are the best, aren’t they? My preference is for pugs, but I just love old dogs of any breed the best. They’re so mellow. They don’t chew up your shit and have the best senses of humor. Give your three some extra love from Pirate Jo, who misses her little love.
There is this weird fear people have that they will live to be 90 and run out of money. Man, if you’re ninety, who gives a fuck? Just die already. I’m more afraid of getting that old and having nothing but working in my memories.
PJ – maybe I could send you a cat?
PJ – five years is a start. If you take care of yourself, you can be active and enjoy life for a lot of years to come. We have an aunt that is 103. Still lives alone. Still smart. So 60 more years is not out of the question. Keep putting some aside for a rainy day is my advice for what it is worth. You have many more dogs left in you.
Now, about that cat …..
I wish I could envision what America would be had we not had the Fed, WWI, the great society and WWII foisted upon us.
The time and energy of the people – the spiritual currency – spent in ways that benefited themselves and not necessarily someone else. Rich is relative. Self sufficiency is to be admired yet undermined every step of the way. Yes – frugality is the way as long as there is a pay-off. Wage slavery has become debt slavery.
I keep wondering why I concern myself with paying off the mortgage when the property tax forbids me from actually owning it. I could grow my own food, slam some solar panels on the roof, take care of all the home repair and maintenance and unless I come up with the annual property tax I am incapable of living independently.
I have been reduced to that of a dependent regardless of how minimally I choose to live.
“One of the saddest things about Americans is that they cannot think of living small and inexpensively without thinking “living poor”, mainly because they accumulate so much tacky crap to fill their over-sized houses …. etc, etc”
—-Chicago999444
Correct. Before my wife and I moved to Arizona, we gave away, mostly to charities, 3 tons (!!!!) of stuff. I know because our household goods weight moving to Virginia was 13,000 pounds. 20 years later, in moving from Virginia to Arizona, it was 7,000 pounds. After we got to Arizona and moved into a rental while looking for a home to buy, we gave away ANOTHER 1,500 pounds of stuff, mostly to charities.
You don’t know how good it feels to unburden your life from stuff and give it to someone who may need it. I hate stuff.
“Lipoh, what if you are 50 years old and don’t have much saved. ….. I haven’t (saved enough)either. I have saved but one sickness could wipe me out. Any advice as to what I could do this late in the game.”
—-bb
Yes, provide more information about yourself. Llpoh wisely advised you to look carefully at your lifestyle and cut expenses accordingly, but he’s just guessing after that.
I’m not talking about name, address, and phone number. Forget that. I’m talking about annual salary, job stability and benefits, rent or mortgage payments, etc. Otherwise, you are just subjecting us to a giant guessing game as to what to do.
How much more do you need? He has a mom and an ex-wife to support, he basically lives in his own truck, hunts wild boars with his buddies and pays for a cell phone which he uses both for business and entertainment. He’s been earning somewhere in the neighborhood of $60K but with lower gas prices and better routes, he has bumped up to almost $80K. He shops at Sams Club for deals in tuna and kitty litter and Walmart for hunting ammo and Mt Dew which is probably affecting his weight and sex drive negatively.
FYI—this might be of some interest, it’s a comparison of average home size for different countries.[img
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El Coyote , that about sums me up.Haven’t been pig hunting in a couple months.My mom is retired and my x wife is still crazy but I have gotten used to her .
Lloph ,thank you .I will tell my co workers what you said. Most are contractors working for FedEx who have realized they might never retire.I should have never gotten married. This was my big mistake .I lost my house which was my biggest asset.I made some money in stock market but I owed back taxes. So the IRS got most of it.I will probably be working the rest of my life.
In other countries the thing you notice fairly quickly is that houses are smaller, that’s true in both Asia and Europe. They are about what American houses were in the 1950 and earlier. The 2000+ sqft house is not a necessity it’s more a luxury. So “downsizing” from the 2000+ American size home is just adjusting to what is normal for the rest of the world.
Bb – if I can help anyone I am more than happy. At least via answering questions and such. It is never too late. It will all help. I am sorry for your situation. Re marriage, I do not believe it is a mistake at all if you find the right partner. Easier said than done. I know both sides of that coin.
If Wip is out there, I have considered your request. Mentoring is not something I can do via distance or the internet. I would be entering into a situation where I would be making a commitment and I could not do you justice. If you tell me where you live, I may have some suggestions on getting you started, though.
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Pirate Jo:
“Card, what concerns me is that you still think that by delaying current gratification you will enjoy future security. You may be wrong. You’ll have spent a lot of years of your life making someone else rich and have nothing to show for it.”
Maybe I wasn’t clear or I left out information because I felt it was bragging.
I’ve spent most of my life running my own business that we started with no debt, we continue to run the business with no debt.
I live in a 1,500 sq foot home that we built ourselves in 1988, it’s paid for. I could afford a huge house on Lake Michigan, but why? Property taxes are a killer, and the new home smell wears off real fast.
The building our business is in is paid for. My airplane, truck, car, fifth wheel camper, kids college, kids weddings, all paid for.
We don’t do European vacations, we camp, we hike, we fish, I hunt in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and will visit Argentina again next year to Red Stag hunt. I’m also a camera bug so we travel to Montana, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolin, Arizona and soon to the Rocky’s for a back country horse back trip.
All the while we were paying off debt we also saved, in about five years (or less) we will sell the company to a great young man we have been grooming, my son and are are working on a few ideas for continued residual income. When we call it a day we will continue to live within our means. This may be in a trailer, but one we pull around the country to see more of it.
This all didn’t just fall into my lap. It was hatched with the help of my long ago deceased father in law that sat me down at a young age and taught me the power of a budget and the ability to look to the future.
A good quote to think about at a young age:
“Live like no else today, so you can live like no else tomorrow.”
No one else dammit!
PJ, you are doing great building your next egg, much better than I was doing at your age. I was too busy trying to prove I could make it in totally ridiculous business. Too bad, so sad for me.. I should have had more sense and packed it in long before it collapsed my finances. I’m now scrambling to make up for lost time.
Don’t be me. Always be truthful with yourself and recognize when something just is not working, to cut your losses in time. If something is working, stay with it, while packing away money as you are.
If you can stay on track for another 20 years or so, until you’re in your early 60s, you will have enough money to keep you comfortably for 25 years. Given that the average female life expectancy is 83 (and life expectancies will probably drop a little going forward), you’ll be able to retire in a reasonable degree of comfort whether social security is still available or not.
Llpoh says: Re marriage, I do not believe it is a mistake at all if you find the right partner. Easier said than done.
I’m taking El Doggy’s classes, there is so much stuff I had no idea and neither do a lot other guys, it is the antithesis of flash’s link about chicks and that professional lecher, whats-his-name.
I don’t know about all this. Yes, you should be frugal and save, but, hell, when you are 75 you may not be in shape to enjoy things like going off to Italy for a couple of weeks, the kind of thing that makes life worth living. Or even golfing or fishing or whatever. No, I don’t want to be eating dog food but I can tell you that I have seen too many people scrimp and save and never have any fun in life, never have a decent night out, never wear decent clothes, never have a good vacation…….and they drop dead a year after they retire at 65. Their worthless brother-in-law enjoys their money. Think about it. When you are a 90 year-old duffer it will be a waste of time and money to buy a convertible or vacation on the Riviera. Plan for a comfortable, cozy retirement, not too extravagant, and when you downsize unload all your nice stuff on your kids. Throw the rest out. Enough said.
A Billionaire Lectures Serfs in Davos – Claims “America’s Lifestyle Expectations are Far Too High”
Liberty Blitzkrieg – 2 days ago
… are Far Too High”. Michael Krieger | Posted Wednesday Jan 21, 2015 at 11:51 am 8 Comments.- Exactly what “they” have planned for the serfs
Southern Sage, I was just talking to my brother last night, and he said something similar. He said it doesn’t make a lot of sense to trade a good year of your life now, doing something you hate, in exchange for some year way in the future when you’re really old. When you’re 90, are you going to sit in a nicer nursing home and feel smug and superior to the other old people, who aren’t in such nice nursing homes, but enjoyed life while they still had the ability to do so? (I’m not going into a nursing home at ANY rate. I’ll end my own life first. A grim possibility, but there are worse alternatives.)
Card, thanks for clarifying – I was thinking more of middle-management corporate wage slaves. It sounds to me like you have really been doing things right. Your circumstances are enviable, but I don’t take it that you are bragging. Good on you for leaving a business to your son! All the people I know who are rich are people who have inherited a farm or a business from their parents and have continued running it successfully. (The only exception is a financial planner who gets rich ripping off old people and gave his wife a STD that he picked up from a hooker, and being rich doesn’t make up for being a shitbag of a person.)
Chicago, thanks for the words of encouragement! I always read your posts and respect your opinion a lot – I think our mindview comes from the same place. Since I don’t work as much now, I don’t contribute to my nest egg as much as I used to, but that is where I try to put the tax refund every year. (This year, sadly, it will compensate for those vet bills.) It has a good start, though, and I have quite a few years yet. I currently take 5-6 months of the year off, and eventually I’d like to whittle that down to three, just doing a year-end audit work assignment every winter. I don’t expect to quit working altogether until I’m about 70. A lot can change between now and then, though. I don’t expect to receive any SS, and god only knows what will happen in the financial markets over the next three decades. But I’m trying to find a good balance. It can always be tweaked later.
“Exactly what “they” have planned for the serfs” – I read about that. I actually agree with him in some respects, but let this arrogant person serve as a warning for those who expect to be taken care of by the system. Maybe the serfs should stop being so damn serf-like.
Hey PJ, sorry to hear about your pup. I like dogs better than most people I meet and losing one blows! I tend to agree that older dogs are great with their mellower disposition but the past year has been great for us raising this new puppy. She is a wild little thing to be sure but so much fun and so full of life! She has a mountain of toys to shred so she pretty much leaves our stuff alone. Her big fascination was electric cords so we put three or four extension cords on the floor and every time she even looked at them she was scolded and now pays no attention to cords. Took about two months.