Random Retirement Question

[cronewitch]

Seattle but I lived in Detroit 40 years ago, I remember when a tiny 2 bedroom was 9K and some aren't more than 15K now. A beautiful brick home in the country was worth about $35K outside Detroit. My guess is the beautiful home is worth much more than 70K today. The point is if you owned the $35K home 40 years ago in retirement you are living in a paid off home so better off than a young family with a mortgage. Also retired people shouldn't be saving for college for kids or raising kids, paying for braces etc so cost of living can be much less.

I am retired and don't spend much at all, small mortgage, no other debt, no need for new furniture or clothing and not even a lot of food or gas. I spend less than 30K a year buying as much as I want, mom was the same way, no desire or need to spend much. If everything doubled overnight I wouldn't need to spend 60K since my mortgage wouldn't inflate except taxes and insurance, renters would be paying double and hurting and young buyers having trouble getting a foot on the ladder. If my income also doubled I would be much better off, with a fixed income hurting.

[HoneyBBQ]

Oct 8, 2015 10:37:59 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Oct 8, 2015 10:33:54 GMT -5 HoneyBBQ said:

Exactly - you have to personalize it. Some people want to leave a legacy. Some people want to die spending their last cent.

Some people want to travel extensively. Some people just want to putter around the house and play scrabble. You've got to figure out your own desires and go from there.

Heh.. that's the hard part.  I can go from "we have simple tastes and don't need too much" to "Hey... that's a cool refrigerator¹ it's only $4000" in about 3.2 seconds

¹No really it's a beautiful fridge that would look really good in our kitchen. 

That is a pretty cool fridge.

I'd imagine in retirement the conversation would be like "Nope, not in the budget, not happening". 

[movingforward]

That is a cool fridge but that is about what spent for 2 weeks in Ireland.  I would rather take another trip

[midjd]

Oct 8, 2015 15:17:44 GMT -5 movingforward said:

That is a cool fridge but that is about what spent for 2 weeks in Ireland.  I would rather take another trip

See, that's my problem. I wouldn't want to choose, so I'd probably go get a new job so I could justify doing both

This is an interesting thread, thanks Sroo!

The inflation calculator is very helpful... I have the worst time trying to figure out what our retirement expenses will be. I will be eligible for a pension in 25 years, so assuming everything will cost approximately twice as much then as it does now (or just cutting my projected pension in half to match today's dollars) is much easier than whatever convoluted math I was doing before.

[movingforward]

Honestly, I have pretty much given up trying to figure out how much I am going to need for retirement (yes, I lost my YM card).  There are just too many variables and it really just became too stressful for me. I am just concentrating on building wealth right now (as Phil would say), and I will have what I have.  I save around 28% of my income so if I can keep that up I SHOULD be okay.  I adjust fairly well so I figure I can always move to a lower cost of living area if needed.  I don't think I will be eating Friskies. I will at least be able to afford Fancy Feast

The biggest issue in my mind is being ABLE to work as long as I would like.  I hope I am the one who is making that decision and not some random unlucky event making it for me. 

[Chocolate Lover]

Oct 8, 2015 15:27:12 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

I know  

If we were to buy it,  it would come from the vacation budget.  I'm not sure that I can make that choice.  

I found another not as cool... but still in the same style fridge for about 1/4  the price.  That will come from the general household fund.

ETA: www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Artistry-29-75-in-W-20-3-cu-ft-Bottom-Freezer-Refrigerator-in-White-ABE20EGHWS/205507889?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cBase&gclid=CIrn9pHbs8gCFU0YHwod774HoA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Other not as cool but cheaper fridge

Damn I hate being responsible sometimes!   

I like the fridge and the freezer on bottom saves the hassle of not being able to see what's in the top half of the fridge if you're over 4 feet tall. (I noticed both were barely over 5 feet.) My DS does NOT love our current fridge just for that reason.

[CCL]

Oct 8, 2015 15:27:12 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

I know  

If we were to buy it,  it would come from the vacation budget.  I'm not sure that I can make that choice.  

I found another not as cool... but still in the same style fridge for about 1/4  the price.  That will come from the general household fund.

ETA: www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Artistry-29-75-in-W-20-3-cu-ft-Bottom-Freezer-Refrigerator-in-White-ABE20EGHWS/205507889?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cBase&gclid=CIrn9pHbs8gCFU0YHwod774HoA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Other not as cool but cheaper fridge

Damn I hate being responsible sometimes!   

Buy the GE!

[CCL]

Oct 8, 2015 13:59:34 GMT -5 cronewitch said:

Seattle but I lived in Detroit 40 years ago, I remember when a tiny 2 bedroom was 9K and some aren't more than 15K now. A beautiful brick home in the country was worth about $35K outside Detroit. My guess is the beautiful home is worth much more than 70K today. The point is if you owned the $35K home 40 years ago in retirement you are living in a paid off home so better off than a young family with a mortgage. Also retired people shouldn't be saving for college for kids or raising kids, paying for braces etc so cost of living can be much less.

I am retired and don't spend much at all, small mortgage, no other debt, no need for new furniture or clothing and not even a lot of food or gas. I spend less than 30K a year buying as much as I want, mom was the same way, no desire or need to spend much. If everything doubled overnight I wouldn't need to spend 60K since my mortgage wouldn't inflate except taxes and insurance, renters would be paying double and hurting and young buyers having trouble getting a foot on the ladder. If my income also doubled I would be much better off, with a fixed income hurting.

Yes I agree with you. A paid-off house is certainly cheaper than a big mortgage. I don't want to live in the same house forever though. I think the thing that's important is by keeping your expenses low you have much more flexibility, whether retired or still working.

I sold my big house, now I'm buying a smaller house, not necessarily for a lower payment. I want less maintenance, too. I want to put less time and effort into it. I'm getting lazy lol. I don't need a mortgage but will take one since the rates are so low, aka Phil's strategy.

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2015 11:14:22 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Oct 9, 2015 10:13:44 GMT -5 CCL said:

Buy the GE!

That's what we decided on  

The other wasn't $2000 cooler and I don't think I could do freezer on the top anymore after 15 years of having a bottom freezer.  Good choice.

[cronewitch]

Oct 9, 2015 10:27:05 GMT -5 CCL said:

Oct 8, 2015 13:59:34 GMT -5 cronewitch said:

Seattle but I lived in Detroit 40 years ago, I remember when a tiny 2 bedroom was 9K and some aren't more than 15K now. A beautiful brick home in the country was worth about $35K outside Detroit. My guess is the beautiful home is worth much more than 70K today. The point is if you owned the $35K home 40 years ago in retirement you are living in a paid off home so better off than a young family with a mortgage. Also retired people shouldn't be saving for college for kids or raising kids, paying for braces etc so cost of living can be much less.

I am retired and don't spend much at all, small mortgage, no other debt, no need for new furniture or clothing and not even a lot of food or gas. I spend less than 30K a year buying as much as I want, mom was the same way, no desire or need to spend much. If everything doubled overnight I wouldn't need to spend 60K since my mortgage wouldn't inflate except taxes and insurance, renters would be paying double and hurting and young buyers having trouble getting a foot on the ladder. If my income also doubled I would be much better off, with a fixed income hurting.

Yes I agree with you. A paid-off house is certainly cheaper than a big mortgage. I don't want to live in the same house forever though. I think the thing that's important is by keeping your expenses low you have much more flexibility, whether retired or still working.

I sold my big house, now I'm buying a smaller house, not necessarily for a lower payment. I want less maintenance, too. I want to put less time and effort into it. I'm getting lazy lol. I don't need a mortgage but will take one since the rates are so low, aka Phil's strategy.

I will eventually get a different house, smaller lot and no stairs. Selling this for say 325K no matter what a little house cost it won't have much mortgage putting 200K down or more. I may wait until I am 70 so my income is much higher to qualify. At 70 I will switch SS from half of ex's to all of mine and start drawing down the IRA so no longer be low income.