Howdy y'all!

[Barboh]

I,m Barboh (or Barb usually) I have lived in the Phoenix area for about 34 years, and I'm losing my Texas accent. It's time to move back to God's country! I retired at 57 from a nuke plant here after my husband of 36 years passed away unexpectedly. I tried going back to work for several months, but I was too distracted to do my job correctly. Terry took care of our financial investments, so I now have it all in an investment firm that I'm starting to have doubts about.
In 1988, we bought an acre of land in the "country" or desert, and built about a 2700 sq.ft. house on it. We never agreed on anything,(landscaping) so here I am with an acre of dirt. Terry was a man of many interests and part time hobbies. And he was a pack rat. so now, I have to find homes for some really nice and unusual things. Telescope, guns, huge photo printer, an oscilloscope, and three lasers. That's a small bit of it. I have some maintenance to do on this house, then I'm headed back home where my family is.
And I'm scared stoopid about it because I have no clue how to sell a place in one state while trying to buy one in another. But, with help from my friends, I'll get it done. One thing for certain, I haven't had one regret about retiring early. For years I had been working 12 hour shifts, rotating between days and nights every week. My body was wore out!
BTW....I tend to ramble. Trying to work on that. How did I find this site? I happened to run across it while searching for everything I could on Fidelity, and a discussion showed up from here about it. When I finally got registered here, I found a bunch of people discussing all kinds of things about leg cramps (yeah, me too) to moving to a retirement place, and some people who want to retire but are afraid to. I think this is going to be a good place to visit often.
I'll shut up now. If anyone got this far, thanks for listening.

 

[MichaelB]

Welcome to the forum, Barboh. Sound like you have a lot on your mind. If that's the case, you've come to the right place. You'll find many helpful members here and lots of advice.

As for the Texas part, well, um, ah, I'm not gonna say anything 'cause I promised not to make any more Texas jokes.

 

[robertf57]

Barb, you have been through a lot. My sympathies on your loss. I would only suggest to you that you not make any important decisions (like moving) for about a year. Too much upheaval can lead to decisions you might regret in the future. If you do sell your Phoenix area home to move back to the lone star state, I would definitely sell before I bought. We've seen quite an improvement in our Phoenix real estate marke, but if you're out a ways it may take some time to sell.


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[Souschef]

Dear Barb,
Welcome! We are so sorry for your loss. I lost my wife some time ago and had to dispose of some of her stuff, including some guns.
The advice of waiting a year for drastic changes is a good one. This advice is given many times on grief recovery chat rooms.
Disposing of the guns can be a little tricky, so i took them to a gun shop and put them on consignment to sell them. Some other things of hers I sold on eBay. You might want to go on to eBay, to get an idea of what some of those items are worth.

 

[marko]

Welcome! You'll find lots of helpful, caring and competent folks here.

Can't think of a better place online to find solace, insight and encouragement. Really.

 

[Katiek]

Welcome! You'll find a lot of useful information here, and a lot of friendly people willing to help. The advice to take some time and not do anything drastic too quickly is good advice. And when you want to learn more about your investments and how to handle financial matters on your own, you'll find good advice here too.

Investing and financial matters can seem overwhelming at first, but it doesn't have to be complicated and you can definitely learn to handle it on your own.

 

[Another Reader]

An acre in the country in 1988? Heck, you are probably in the middle of suburbia now, unless you bought property out by the nukes. It's a good time to sell from a financial perspective, but as others have said, I would take things slow for awhile.

People here will tell you to dump your financial adviser, and long term I would agree. Spend some time educating yourself before making major changes. You don't want to incur big tax liabilities or make irreversible decisions until you are comfortable that what you are doing is best for you. In your shoes, I would check out Fidelity, and it sounds like you are doing that. Fidelity offers inexpensive index funds and low cost ETF's with no sales commission. They have bricks and mortar offices in the Phoenix area and you can meet with a person to discuss your investments. Tell the representative you want ideas and information, but you will do the management yourself. You can do a better job and it won't cost you anything to get advice.

Guns are not difficult to sell in Arizona, but read up on the federal and state rules before you do anything. Check prices online, especially if your husband was a collector. Unusual guns can command high prices, and a dealer might try to take advantage of you if you are not knowledgeable.

At 57, you have a long retirement ahead. Take the time to adjust to your loss and your new life. The folks on this forum are knowledgeable and helpful, and they will gladly help you with any questions you might have.

 

[ivinsfan]

Sorry for your loss and Welcome!

 

[Walt34]

I can't add anything to what has been said so I'll just say welcome to the forum!

And we do have at least one member who has made it his life's mission to discourage people from moving to Texas: http://www.early-retirement.org/for...on-and-cost-of-living-35568-4.html#post660698

 

[REWahoo]

And we do have at least one member who has made it his life's mission to discourage people from moving to Texas: http://www.early-retirement.org/for...on-and-cost-of-living-35568-4.html#post660698

I gave up on this years ago.

Census figures (and bumper-to-bumper traffic) confirm I failed miserably at discouraging anyone from moving here. Maybe I would have been more successful had I listed all the reasons not to move to Florida, Colorado, or Nevada.

 

[Terryjm51]

From one Texan to another we have a place here for ya.
Welcome and sorry for your loss




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[RobbieB]

There's always room for one more!

Take your time, do it easy, you can store stuff too after the move.

You have family and they can show you stuff and you can stay with them and look around.

Welcome to the club and have fun!

 

[Barboh]

Thank you all for the welcome. I lost Terry just over 3 years ago, and you can be sure I am taking my time making big decisions. Heck, he was a photographer back in the early '70s, and that man dragged old photos of all types and sizes through five moves before we built this place. I asked him for years to please get rid of them, and finally told him a couple of years before he died, "You're just going to leave me to take care of all this stuff, aren't you?!" He just smiled. It took me up until about a month ago to finally throw away most of those pictures, and it was like a white hot knife was plunged into me. But, it also helped me a lot. I am finally trying to move on.
As far as not moving to Texas? That is happening. Come hell or high water. I am coming back to those Texas hill country blue bonnet fields. Oh yeah, and the heat, humidity and mosquitos.
And it's too late with Fidelity. They have almost all of my savings except for about $110K I have stuck here and there. So I am actively reviewing all the statements I've ignored for years. They actually emailed me a survey a couple months ago asking how I thought they were doing, and how I thought they could improve. So, I answered back "TBH....it would be great if I get a call every month saying I made money or lost it. And if I lost, then those "Strategic Advisors" who take care of my investments, should not get paid for that quarter. I make money, you make money. I lose it, so do you." Very simple plan I think!
Again, thank you all for the warm welcome. And those times I get on here and end up rambling all over the place, please! Just somebody tell me to zip it Barb!!