The accountant says we can retire early. Woohoo!!!

[Snobdds]

What is complete BS is that with a family plan here.. It makes no difference how many kids are on it.. You can have 1 kid or 30 and it's the same price. It works out to a bit over 1080.00 each for my wife and myself every month..

On the bright side...you do get to write off a lot of that on your taxes.

 

[Tomtint]

On the bright side...you do get to write off a lot of that on your taxes.

I do, But I still need to make it before I write it off. ..

 

[ultrarunner]

Still on track?

Thought I circle back for an update?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I'm enjoying this years returns to date.

Letting me focus on rebuilding a couple motorcycles

 

[gsganzer]

Still on track?

Thought I circle back for an update?

Yes and no. Yes on the finances being there, but I ended up taking a couple of projects and I'm booked with work until April. Currently, I'm on a disaster of a project in Taiwan and will be here for the entire month of February. The end-user is begging me to stay longer, but I have another project that starts March 3.

On the finance front, I have almost all of our accounts switched over and a special account put together to fund our retirement land purchase. We'll start looking for that place next.

After these current work projects, I really am done. Or extremely selective of what projects I take.

 

[EddieWalker]

Where are you wanting to buy land?

 

[ultrarunner]

I know some land in Texas that might be available for a price… heck I know 5 acres in East Oakland California too.

 

[gsganzer]

Where are you wanting to buy land?

Good question. Definitely TX, with a slim interest in OK.

I'm wanting to be closer to Mason, TX where my deer lease is. There's still a possibility the rancher sells us a small part of their ranch. Shellie is wanting to stay closer to Dallas, maybe near Bowie, where Jimmy Inman used to live. I think my wife is short sited, with the mindset that she thinks our youngest will settle down close to Dallas after college. If my daughter doesn't settle down near Dallas, then what?

The bottom line is I think there are a lot of places we'd be perfectly fine with and we have a land budget that's reasonable $400- $600K. Definitely not the plains or far west TX (Lubbock, Amarillo etc.). But I think the property itself will dictate it. I'm going on the premise that "we'll know" when we find the right place.

One thing for sure is I need to start spending more time at home, so we can come to a decision and start looking.

 

[gsganzer]

… heck I know 5 acres in East Oakland California too.

I've always joked that I could never live in California, where all the things I love are illegal... and all the things I hate are legal.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I decided to move to Texas, my first choice was in the Kerrville area. I really like the terrain and all the free ranging exotics. But it didn't feel like a good area to find a job, and the land was already very pricey there. I looked farther out, but that meant fewer opportunities to find work.

Sometimes we talk about where we would move to if we left Tyler, and the Hill Country is still one of our choices, but so is Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. In all reality, we're probably just going to stay here as long as we can. I really hate the idea of packing up, selling all my stuff, and starting all over again.

 

[ultrarunner]

The starting over and packing up isn’t fully comprehended unless you have experienced it.

Have you ever checked your parents Hayward home or your San Leandro home estimated market value?

 

[EddieWalker]

I just looked on Zillow for the house I grew up in, and there isn't anything in the area that's for sale right now, but they have $1.35 million listed as its value. They sold it in the late 90's for $350,000 and thought they did very well. They bought it in the mid 70's for $27,000

 

[ultrarunner]

Amazing isn’t it?

Just think the annual property tax if that home was in Oakland today would be a few thousand short of what your folks paid…

This is why many here retire by cashing out and leaving…

It’s been a few years but my co worker retired to Alabama where her husband is from.

They sold their double wide in California for 220k and bough a brick home with a little land for 110k and pocketed a 100k

 

[EddieWalker]

When I moved to Tyler in 2002, it was easy to buy a really nice brick house in a good neighborhood for $150,000. Land was a thousand an acre. I looked at some houses on some of the local lakes with nice docks, an acre of land and around 2,000 square feet of living area for under $200,000. Now it's all triple that amount except the land, that's getting hard to find at $10,000 an acre.

 

[ericm979]

After these current work projects, I really am done. Or extremely selective of what projects I take.

My former employer contacted me last week and asked if I'd be willing to do some consulting. I actually thought about it for a few minutes before saying no.

 

[ultrarunner]

Several offered early buyouts during pandemic have been courted to come back.

So far no takers.

 

[jyoutz]

When I decided to move to Texas, my first choice was in the Kerrville area. I really like the terrain and all the free ranging exotics. But it didn't feel like a good area to find a job, and the land was already very pricey there. I looked farther out, but that meant fewer opportunities to find work.

Sometimes we talk about where we would move to if we left Tyler, and the Hill Country is still one of our choices, but so is Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. In all reality, we're probably just going to stay here as long as we can. I really hate the idea of packing up, selling all my stuff, and starting all over again.

I have always liked the Kerrville area, but real estate isn’t cheap there.