My Retirement Plan

[EddieWalker]

retired 27 days ago ......

Mike,

CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!!!!!!

Hope the market is still good in your area. I hear different things here, so I'm not really sure if we've been affected by the slow down or not. I'm super busy, the realtors that I work for are moving houses pretty quickly and getting their price, but I know of other realtors who are complaining that nobody is buying.

Could be that the effort we're putting into those homes is paying off where the ones that are not moving, are just not staged or cleaned up properly. Hard to tell since I only work for a couple of realtors.

Keep it clean, neutral and light. Treat it as an investment and not your home. If somebody else owned it, what would you tell them to make it sell? I'm still amazed at what people to to sell a house and don't understand that they are not important in the house, their taste and style is not important and what they own is REALLY not important to the person who's considering buying the house. The only thing that IS IMPORTANT is that they see it as "THEIR" home when looking at it.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[jinman]

retired 27 days ago ...... still trying to figure it out.....Plans are in my head ....but haven't reached my hands yet....worked on the house some last week to get it ready to sell -- have a few more weeks to go at the rate I'm working on it. Probably could do it all in 2 weeks if I really worked at it ...but hey ...I'm retired.

retired 39 months ago ........ still trying to figure it out..... Plans are in my head..... but haven't reached my hands yet.... worked on the land and cabin last year to keep it comfortably livable...... have a few more months (or years) at the rate I work. Probably could do it all in 2 months if I really worked at it... but hey....I'm retired!!!

You guys are killin' me. . . I can't wait to see Ron Hall's response.

Just let me say that I'm a little embarrassed to admit that between my wife's retirement income, my military retirement income and medical benefits, my SS, our real estate we are liquidating, and a nice 401k with a good cash position, we will make it just fine. We do not splurge, but live very modestly. Our biggest pleasures are our grandchildren. We are planning cautiously for many loving years together doing for each other and with each other. I can't imagine a better retirement unless I can figure out how to help someone else along the way and give back some of our time to make their lives better. I don't really have a clue what I'll be doing next week, but I bet I'll be doing it with a smile on my face. Who could ask for more?

 

[txdon]

Jim, Ron and Betty were here last week we did a winery, the G. H. Bush Museum, The Donuts Seafood and Restaurant and Games till 9:00 P. M. every evening! I'm now 2 months and a week behind, but who's counting, I'm retired! It's getting cold so Ron headed further south.... we are hunkered down with a warm fire in our WB stove waiting for the icy winter storm tomorrow.

 

[ctpres]

Guess I need to bring my post up to date rather than start in the middle. Have been working on "the plan" for about 10 years now. The big item was my company and what to do with it. Options available: sell, ride it down, and the wild one, give it to employees. Sell***co takes a big tax hit on profit and then shareholders get taxed again. Not good, my advise to others with small co.-look very carefully at sub chapter s. even if you are now a full C corp you can convert but it take ten years. As usual consult with a professional. Ride it down*** no more expansion, gime sales only and for the most part let employees run things, not a real bad idea but risky and still need to work more than I want to. Give it to employees*** also risky but if they screw it up they loose big time also. Very hard to plan and since this is not done very often, there is not much history or advise on how to do it available.
My decision, give it to employees. Only time will tell if I got it right. Happy to say more if anyone wants details on how I am setting this up.
Rest of story up to now is near normal. Trade city life with the big house, small land, big tax bills, big utility bills etc. for big land, small house, small tax bill and small utility bills etc. Work hard to improve place and hopefully get big dollars for it all when time comes to downsize for the last time to old folks home or whatever.
A key part of my plan is no "retirement day" just ease into it with a three to five year transition.

 

[scott_vt]

Retirement? .

My goal is to come home from work, kiss the wife, walk down the long driveway. Be at peace watching the sunset, get the mail. Turn back to the house. Listen to the birds, see a deer, fox, turkey or combinations thereof... have a massive heart attack and go in peace with a smile on my face.

Good Mornin Mike,
Thankyou, very well said !!!

Oh yes and plenty of seat time before the big one and a bit of time with the grandkids I dont have yet !

 

[mikim]

Hope the market is still good in your area.
It's not ... we're going to take a 40 - 50K hit on it compared to what we could've gotten 2 years ago. But we've been in it 15 years so we'll still be able to walk with enough to start the new house in the country.

 

[riptides]

Hope the market is still good in your area.
It's not ... we're going to take a 40 - 50K hit on it compared to what we could've gotten 2 years ago. But we've been in it 15 years so we'll still be able to walk with enough to start the new house in the country.

Isn't this crazy? Almost like 10 years of home value, if you bought in the last ten years is gone.

Just this AM, I see a major builder - Toll Brothers - offering 3.99 percent 30 year fixed rate loans on new homes. I think and hope this starts the banks lending at lower rates again. I think lower rates can help stop the devaluation of prices.

 

[coachgrd]

No retirement plan here. Just what I can make the land worth and get for it when I sell it. Money that I have in the market is becoming less and less, and after seeing how quickly it can go away, I'm not so sure how much more I want to depend on it. Social Security keeps raising the age and requirements for those who put into it, plus most of the people who receive it never put anything into it anyway.

I figure that I'll put all my extra money into my land and do what I can to develop it into an RV Park. It's an all my eggs in one basket gamble that has the potential to do well, or rail miserably. Either way, I'm commited to it and in too deep to back out now.

Eddie

Hey Eddie...ever see Earl Campbell around there? He was THE man in his prime.

 

[pennwalk]

I thought retirement was going out of fashion. Now days we are going to do it the old fashioned way. Work until you die.

Chris