Hello What do you think of this?

[bruce1]

Hello all
I'm turning 51 in September and am thinking of reitiring in December I have made a budget that I would like you to pick apart and point out any Flaws. Being in Canada helps my medical and I have a supplementary medical insurance with the pension. I would actually like to figure it so I don't have to use the rental income or use it for extra cash.
Last year I spent about 80 Cents per day if you remove commuting expenses ect that I will not need in reitrement. This budget works out to 72 cents per day and my pension by itself is 65 cents per day.




monthly annual
Car ins 100 1200
Car Fuel 150 1800
Car mnt/purchase 300 3600
Phone internet TV 100 1200
Food 400 4800
Home mnt 200 2400
Major apps 50 600
Yard 50 600
Furniture 50 600
Property Taxes 120 1440
Hydro 100 1200
Home Ins 75 900
Ent/Traval 300 3600
Clothing 100 1200
MISC 100 1200
TOTAL 2195 26340


Income $2000 month cola adjusted pension (after taxes)
$400 month rental income after income tax
28,800 annual

Assetts Home (farm) $330,000
Investments $136,000

Debt free. single

Have fun ya all

Bruce

Hi Bruce! We (2 of us) have less income and less
assets and still are doing okay. Many on this site
have millions to work with and are still worried.
You are in good shape and will do just fine.

John Galt

[unclemick]

You have crossed the lines - ala the book - Your Money Or Your Life. So keep watching your expense line and make sure it stays south of your income income line (pension plus rental). ?? Do you plan to use the cola part of your pension plus investments to keep up with inflation? ? The value of your rental - do you expect that to track inflation over the long term?

[Telly]

Greetings, Bruce.

After reading your post, I started packing everything up, to emigrate to Canada!

After working up a sweat, I figured I'd better grab the calculator... that was really DOLLARS per day, NOT Cents per day, right?

Looks like I'll have ta unpack the truck now...

[bruce1]

OK so I messed up my dollars and cents and on my first post too. No wonder the border was busy today. Interestingly enough my employer out of the blue came up with an interesting project that I will like doing that will keep me there for another six months.. actually my biggest reason for ER is boredom. After I ER I will take typeing lessons.

My rental is not likely to keep up with inflation but I have a really good no hassel tenant that is likely to be there for another ten years so that is worth quite a bit. They will also feed the St Bernard when I am away.. Hungry St Bernards are not good.

In the short term (several years) I do not want to have to touch my investments. I can pick up extra money if need be working oncomputers, going to auction sales (a hobby of mine) and selling old stuff on ebay, or cutting grass at the local golf course trailer park ect ect...

After that I will go to the river and fish in the shade with a borrowed boat that I help maintain.

Oh well I am rambling so gone for now

thanks for the input so far

Bruce

I retired several months ago at 53, I pay $931.00 per month for health insurance in MN for my wife & myself.
I sell on eBay for extra $$$ and do very well. It is a source of flexible part time income a lot of early retires should look at.

[Skylark]

Pawatt, do you have any suggestions as to how to sell on ebay successfully?

[Adventuregirl]

Pawatt, I'll second that question! I just sold my frist item on Ebay and wondered if anyone out there has some tips on making selling a viable little chunk of income (trying to think of ways to help offset health insurance in ER)?

Adventuregirl

[yelnad]

You can buy pallets of Victoria's Secret underwear and then resell it But you don't know what you're getting until you open the pallet.

When I was younger, I got into quite a lot of underwear
without knowing what I was getting into.

John Galt

[Adventuregirl]

A pallet of panties! Oh my!
Some would think that was well worth "getting into"

Adventuregirl

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

When I was younger, I got into quite a lot of underwear without knowing what I was getting into. John Galt

Remember to do the adams apple check, John

[JonnyM]

So you mean to tell me you can SELL stuff on Ebay too!

What a concept!

[trumpeting_angel]

Ahh, eBay.

I just finished tonight's mailing.

eBay has lots of tips for anyone interested in selling, and they're pretty good tips. *Just click the links for sellers and look for instructions and selling tips. *

One must, of course, use common sense. *eBay IS trying to sell you those extra services, like boldface, subtitles, featured homepage, etc. *Most of them are cheap but they add up quickly. *I always use GALLERY (photo appears in the search results) and sometimes use subtitles, rarely use any other "extras."

Good pictures sell your items.

Accurate descriptions prevent problems.

Do your research. *If you want to sell something you can get wholesale, look up your items under "completed sales" and see what people are getting for those items, er, undies. *If you think you see potential bargains at an auction, you'd better be at the preview. *If you are new at this, write down what you see at the preview, go home (or out to your Wi-Fi laptop or whatever) and see what those items bring on completed auctions on eBay. *If you're an experienced antiques dealer, you might know what something is worth, otherwise, research, research, research. Price guides are not nearly as useful as "completed auctions" for finding out what something is worth nowadays.

In antiques and collectibles, pay attention to condition!

And be my guest, visit my ebay auctions. *Just go to SEARCH by SELLER, and look up trumpeting_angel. *And place a bid!

Anne

[Skylark]

I guess my question is:

How do you find things to sell, garage sales? Dumpster diving? Late night urban entrepeneurs?

That seems to be the key, since I have very little worth selling (that I want to get rid of).

[yelnad]

We've bought and resold stuff on ebay, too.

For instance, we bought 9 postal shipping scales in bulk, new in the box, for what turned out to be about $25 a piece. And then we resold them for $45-50 plus shipping. The guy we bought them from just didn't want to take the time to sell them separately.

Pictures are necessary. Many people won't look at a listing without a picture (much like personal ads).

[trumpeting_angel]

I started out selling stuff from my sister's estate, I think. But just breezing through tag sales, after I'd done some selling, made me realize it's easy to make money when you educate yourself a bit.

I dropped my daughter off at a car wash early one Saturday morning, and although I'd just thrown on some sweats rather than actually getting DRESSED, I stopped at the tag sale next door. Bought a beautiful old Stanley wooden level for $2. Sold it for, I think, $34 on eBay. I don't know anything about old tools, but I knew it would bring more than $2.

I picked up an old metal dollhouse from the side of the road at "bulk pickup" time. Put it on eBay. It turns out to be a rare Marx; sold it for something like $230 or thereabouts.

I have an advantage; my close friend and roommate is an antiques dealer. With a little research, experience, or tutoring, one can go to an auction every week and buy something that will sell for more on eBay. The prices are higher than at tag sales (or those things from the side of the road!), so it's good to know a little more about what you're doing. Of course, you make mistakes starting out. Even the experts make mistakes. But, especially if you are selling in November and early December, things move fast enough on eBay to wash out the mistakes AND the listing fees.

I don't know anything about buying wholesale, but if you know how to do that (AND if you research your product and make sure you know what it will sell for, and how well it will sell), it could be easy. In antiques and collectibles, we are forever hunting for different-sized boxes, especially for larger items. If I sold CDs, the shipping would be a lot simpler.

OK, gotta go send out tonight's haul.

Anne

I find stuff to sell on eBay in multiple places. I know antiques & collectables fairly well so buy at auctions, flea markets and garage sales. That is great entertainment for me as well. I also buy off season close outs at Wal Mart, Target, ect. Unique items at the Dollar store. I have sold items others have disgarded. I have a tax resale number from a previous business so I can buy in bulk from manufacturers & wholesalers. You can buy large lots on eBay and sell these items one at a time at a profit. You can also sell for others and charge a comission. You can make anywhere from a few 100 dollars extra per month to 1000's a month depending on how hard you want to work and your talent & lots of luck. I once sold a rusty tin can for $900.00. I paid $30.00 for it. Most people wouldn't pay $30.00 for a rusty tin can but I had a hunch it was unusual. It was a Jack Sprat popcorn tin can. I have great fun with selling on eBay and make a few $$$ too. It is possible to loose money too. some keys are buying right, and having an odd ur unique product that few others offer. Some used clothing sells well as well as certain used books. You can study ended auctions to see what brings good prices and how the ads are written by those that do well. Good quality digital photos are important in order to get good prices. expect to lose $$ on a few items until you get the hang of it. don't give up. Before selling on eBay you should buy a few things so you get a buyers perspective and get the hang of how it all works. It also helps to build up some positive feedback. Give it a try & have some fun, make a few $$$. Careful it is addicting.
Ron in MN

Hi trumpeting_angel, I just took a look at your auctions. Looks like you are on a good roll. even a truck for sale.
I sell under pawatt. I am taking a month break from selling at the moment. Fall is our favorite time for RV travel and we expect to be on the road off & on for at least the next month. That is another advantage of selling on eBay. You can lock the door and take off whenever you want to take a break.