1000 reasons

[DaveBen]

I have worked on some rather "nice" homes around here that are in the $14M range and they are not all that extravagant. They do have theaters in them but that is about it. I wish I lived in one of those. I do plan moving away from the Bay Area when I retire in 7 or 8 years. Cash out like you said.

Dave

 

[fordtrucker4life!]

$480/yr plate on my F-350 in Michigan because I pull a work trailer with it.


Best reason to visit the U.P.

Sledding for a whole day on a weekend and only running into a couple other people I will never ride the lower penninsula again! too crowded!

Do you have 24,000 lb tags on that 350? Yes sledding is much better in the U.P I haven't even rode once this year and don't plan on it. Too much going on right now and no time to race up north. I hope the cabin still has propane.

 

[Crumm]

It is much higher than 600,000. Try more like $900,000.

Dave

For a house??n How do people afford them?

 

[DaveBen]

I don't know, but there are a bunch of them who can afford them. I guess they go to college here and stay at the electronics firms around here who pay big money. I bought my house 29 years ago for $75,000 and now it is worth something like 900,000 to 1,000,000 dollars. I know the house isn't worth it, but the land is. I live on the peninsula just south of San Francisco and there is no more land. So the prices just keep going up.

Dave

 

[Maxtor]

For a house??n How do people afford them?

My best friend just built a $700,000. house here in Redding, and he and his wife both work. They make a tad bit over $200,000 a year between them. The monthly payments are high, the taxes are high, and utilities for their 4000 sqft house are high. Pool maintenance is high. They plan on selling when the house is worth 1.5 million, then retiring and moving next to where we move to. One of the reasons for taking our 5-9 month trip across the country is to see if we like an area that we might want to move to. If we find a (small) mini-ranch, we might buy it and then build a house and then sell our places here. We have learned 100 acres is to much for an old man to take care of. 10 to 20 acres max. Bigest problem is moving stuff that old people accumulate over many years. It would look like a military deployment. Only reasonable solution is to sell the stuff, but then you get into sentimental stuff.

 

[Crumm]

I bought my house 29 years ago for $75,000 and now it is worth something like 900,000 to 1,000,000 dollars.

Dave

So why don't you sell, retire and move to a nice community outside of California? Just curious

 

[DaveBen]

I will when I retire. I can make more money here than any other place I know of, so I will stay until then. I am in no hurry to retire.

Dave

 

[Maxtor]

Hey Daveben;

I retired in 2001, also liked my job. The job I have now is even better. I get up a little after 8am. have breakfast, read the paper, and around 10a.m., I get my day started. I like the fact that I get paid to do what I want to do. Every day is a Saturday. Before my surgery, we would take short trips here and there, also work in the garage on the race cars. Today is three months from the date of the surgery, and my left hip is in great shape. My right one needs surgery, but I am going to try to hold off until November of this year. The freedom of being able to go or do anything that you want to do each and every day is a great feeling. I have a older brother that said he wanted to work until the day he died, because he enjoyed his work so much. That is great for him, but not for me. Medical coverage is a big issue when you retire. In our case, we get full coverage after retirement. Otherwise each hip would have cost us $100,000.
For all you guys that are getting ready to retire, check on a low cost medical coverage plan, because as we get older things start to go bad.
I have friends my age who retired, and then had to go back to work to pay for medical coverage.

 

[DaveBen]

I have a few things I need to make sure that they are in proper order before I retire. Medical insurance it one of them, although I do have med ins, but not after I retire. AARP is a possibility. Other things too.

Dave