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Last Ditch Emergency Income Options?
05-28-2018, 09:17 AM
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#1
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Washington State
Posts: 2,349
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Last Ditch Emergency Income Options?
We all plan for the future, saving money, reducing expenses, etc. However, despite our best planning, the unthinkable can still happen and we blow through our life savings. What then? What options do you have when you've spent all the money you set aside for retirement?
One of the obvious is to sell our home. Right now that would be very difficult for me to do as my wife and I built our home ourselves with our own hands. It's not just a house to us, but in an emergency I guess beggars can't be choosy.
Are there any other last ditch emergency income options I'm not thinking of?
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05-28-2018, 09:25 AM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,764
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainsoft
WHowever, despite our best planning, the unthinkable can still happen and we blow through our life savings. What then?
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No it can't. I absolutely can't imagine a situation where we "blow through our life savings" short of a global catastrophe that would make the concept of retirement moot, as we would be either dealing with survival or more likely dead. Are you suggesting that we would just blithely sit around eating wagyu beef and ordering from Amazon until the last penny was spent? It won't happen.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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05-28-2018, 09:26 AM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 5,800
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Return to work?
otherwise, probably sell the house and live w/i constricts of SS check plus proceeds of house. Or go live with one of the kids and hand over ss $ every month--have two great kids who both have said we could live with them, so that is a viable option if SHTF.
__________________
Give a Man a fish, he will eat for a day.
Teach a Man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.
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05-28-2018, 09:38 AM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,359
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harley
Are you suggesting that we would just blithely sit around eating wagyu beef and ordering from Amazon until the last penny was spent? It won't happen.
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I think the OP was asking more of a 'worst case scenario' plan beyond our control. Do any of us have some sort of fall-back should something go horribly wrong with our personal RE plan. Maybe like a massive 1929 depression, Argentina-like inflation or something like a wealth draining health situation.
At $100K+ per year for nursing homes, a modest portfolio could be challenged within a few years if one's spouse became so in need. Suddenly, you're 78 years old, Medicaid has taken over the costs but you're broke and too old to work. Now what do you do?
I don't have a plan myself were my portfolio to suddenly disappear or be notably diminished. Sell my house and live in my car? Not something I stress too much over but my cushion is fairly hefty.
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
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05-28-2018, 09:47 AM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: DC area
Posts: 2,479
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SS, medicare, sell primary home and move to the cottage; maybe move in with the kids. But with SS and home equity I could go a LONG time before burdening the kids.
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FI and Semi-ER March 24, 2017
Consulting to stay engaged
"All models are wrong, some are useful." - George Box
“There is always a well-known solution to every human problem: neat, plausible, and wrong.” - H.L. Mencken
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05-28-2018, 09:47 AM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tampa
Posts: 11,226
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Would probably move to Mexico before it is too late, if the reasons were purely just financial.
__________________
TGIM
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05-28-2018, 09:50 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marko
I think the OP was asking more of a 'worst case scenario' plan beyond our control. Do any of us have some sort of fall-back should something go horribly wrong with our personal RE plan. Maybe like a massive 1929 depression, Argentina-like inflation or something like a wealth draining health situation.
I don't have a plan myself were my portfolio to suddenly disappear or be notably diminished. Sell my house and live in my car? Not something I stress too much over but my cushion is fairly hefty.
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In a catastrophic case, nobody would think of buying any home anyway. I bet real estate market did not do well in France when Germany was invading, or in Berlin when Allied bombs fell.
There's no point in worrying too much about this, as one would have to think of an escape route or survival tactic as the situation develops.
Hmmm.... If an asteroid strikes, what's your plan? I have a motorhome, but would they be able to predict where it is going to hit, so I could hightail out of Dodge, provided that I could find a safe place to head to.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
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05-28-2018, 10:01 AM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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What concerns me more nowadays is a sudden health problem, which is a lot scarier than financial deterioration which takes time to develop.
Why, I have been through this 5 years ago, right after I started full retirement. Always been in good health, with the only minor issues being fasting blood glucose in the high 90s, and blood pressure often in the 130/90. My doctor told me my bloodwork was the best he had seen in a while. Then, one day I found myself with the strong likelihood of not even making it to claiming SS early.
Darn! What the heck could I do but to pursue surgery and treatment? One foot before the other, and I am still around with scars of surgery to remind me of the past problem.
Can't worry too much about financial problems, when you could get hit by a fatal health problem out of the blue. I have seen that with some former posters here, who were of the type to take care of their health. They were not as fortunate as I am. Life can be so unfair.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
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05-28-2018, 10:15 AM
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#9
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,472
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I could survive on what my SS and mini-pension provide, since my house is paid off and I have no debt. It would not be easy but I could do it. Luckily, cutting way back on my spending is something I have done before and I am pretty good at it.
My TSP "G Fund" is guaranteed not to lose share price value, so if inflation is not an issue I could supplement with cash and G Fund. Medicare is subtracted from my SS, and my supplemental BCBS is subtracted from my mini-pension, so my health care would be the same as always.
NO WAY am I selling my Dream Home, though! No way, no how, huh-uh, not gonna DO it until exhausting all other options. Besides, if the economy became that bad, I am thinking that home buyers would be few and far between.
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Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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05-28-2018, 10:45 AM
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#10
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Washington State
Posts: 2,349
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harley
I absolutely can't imagine a situation where we "blow through our life savings" short of a global catastrophe
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I was thinking along the lines of an accident, illness, or medical condition that would require expensive care, medications, and possibly ongoing long term care. Even with health insurance that could drain our meager savings quickly.
In any case, it's more of a theoretical thought than an actual concern. I was reading a book lately talking about selling your home to pay for long term care and it had me wondering what other income options there were if I couldn't work anymore and had no more assets.
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05-28-2018, 11:41 AM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,008
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apply for many credit cards and rack them up.
Then rob banks, get arrested, go to prison and demand medical care.
__________________
Fortune favors the prepared mind. ... Louis Pasteur
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05-28-2018, 11:56 AM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 8,968
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True story. I worked with a guy who was in his 50's, a degreed mechanical engineer who was making good dough and he picked up cans and bottles (from the street and park garbage cans) to recycle for dough.
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05-28-2018, 12:17 PM
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#13
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tampa
Posts: 11,226
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunset
apply for many credit cards and rack them up.
Then rob banks, get arrested, go to prison and demand medical care.
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Methinks one will need extra medical care in prison.
__________________
TGIM
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05-28-2018, 12:43 PM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 4,661
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A reverse mortgage is an option we would consider rather than selling our home. Hopefully never will be necessary but we aren’t concerned about leaving an estate behind. Our beachfront So CA condo is already worth about $1.5 million so plenty of borrowing power there.
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05-28-2018, 12:56 PM
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#15
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 8,968
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Yeah, same here. If the feces gets deep reverse mortgage and stay for life. No heirs.
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05-28-2018, 01:43 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Colorado Mountains
Posts: 3,165
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One of the guys out here lives on a little over $12K/yr. My SS will be 3 times that when I am 70. I should be good.
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05-28-2018, 01:59 PM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Beaverton
Posts: 1,382
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Wife and I discussed this. Short of a global war starting we have about $77k between SS (at FRA for me). We would divorce and she would add $5k onto pension (non survivorship) and she could get $14k non taxable veteran benefit from her late husband. That is if there was a very long and deep crash. Outside of that I have a pickup and a camper to head to the hills
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Jump in, the water's warm.
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05-28-2018, 02:51 PM
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#18
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,642
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Move to LA, beg for pocket change. That seemed to work for a lot of people when I was in LA (working).
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*********Go Astros!*********
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05-28-2018, 04:37 PM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,405
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My only back up plan is for a major earthquake that destroys the California properties. It involves moving into one of the Arizona rentals with whatever has ended up in the storage unit in the way of furniture and appliances.
A couple of weeks ago, the emergency planners over there had a planning session/drill where the scenario was 400,000 Southern Californians invading after a destructive earthquake. How do you feed and house 400,000 people that suddenly show up at your door with nothing but their cars and whatever is in them?
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05-28-2018, 05:02 PM
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#20
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Seattle
Posts: 452
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If the goal is to keep your home if SHTF, is there some way to turn your house or property into a money maker? Airbnb, pet sit, rooming house, rent garage for storage. Maybe it would be easy to turn it into a multifamily unit. Etc.
I occasionally temp rent out a room and also dog sit. It makes me feel good to verify that I could ramp either of these up and at least cover some of my bills. Plus, it's fun
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Retired 2015 at age 55...50/45/5 AA
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