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Can I afford landscaping?
03-16-2021, 10:54 AM
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#1
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,890
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Can I afford landscaping?
Last day of work was 4 days ago and I am already struggling with spending in retirement. My plan was always pretty simple: 100% Probability of Success (Ps) with $25k / year of discretionary spending. We far exceeded that and we now have $400k more than we need for 100% Ps. Ok, great. Let's just keep that as an insurance policy for unknown unknowns. Let's get through year 1 hunkered down and prepared for battle.
Well, DW is getting estimates for putting in landscaping, including a kick butt fire pit area. Estimates are coming in @ $35k. We'll see what the final tally is because she is getting all the bells and whistles in the estimates.
My difficulty comes in deciding whether we can afford it. And I cannot for the life of me come up with an answer. We have exceeded our goal of 100% Ps. Current VPW calculation puts us @ $50k year for discretionary spending. We are ok with sticking to $25k / year, but BAM!, here we are on day 4 looking at spending $35k on landscaping.
Please help!
__________________
Consistently sets low goals and fails to achieve them.
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03-16-2021, 10:58 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: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,000
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^ And you had no way to see this coming and bake it into your spending plan prior to retiring? Scary.
__________________
Numbers is hard
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03-16-2021, 11:02 AM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
^ And you had no way to see this coming and bake it into your spending plan prior to retiring? Scary.
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What's your point?
__________________
Consistently sets low goals and fails to achieve them.
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03-16-2021, 11:03 AM
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#4
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,543
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Now that you have a bunch of spare time, you can do most of the landscape work yourself. At least until you get too old to do it. It's fun in moderation.
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03-16-2021, 11:10 AM
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#5
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 317
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Do it. Life is short. Might as well enjoy what you worked for.
Don't feel bad...when our refrigerator started leaking, the oven stopped working, and we discovered a slab leak under our kitchen, we blew $140k on a 3 room remodel including the kitchen. That was 4 years ago and was the best thing we ever did. Don't miss the money at all.
__________________
To endure the unbridled micromanagement of one's time on this earth, whether paid or unpaid, is to offer up one's soul to a paradigm of increasing tyranny, exploitation and indignity.
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03-16-2021, 11:16 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: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
Posts: 50,000
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Quote:
Originally Posted by corn18
What's your point?
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No point, just an observation.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
__________________
Numbers is hard
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03-16-2021, 11:23 AM
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#7
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Southeastern PA
Posts: 764
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Quote:
Originally Posted by corn18
Last day of work was 4 days ago and I am already struggling with spending in retirement. My plan was always pretty simple: 100% Probability of Success (Ps) with $25k / year of discretionary spending. We far exceeded that and we now have $400k more than we need for 100% Ps. Ok, great. Let's just keep that as an insurance policy for unknown unknowns. Let's get through year 1 hunkered down and prepared for battle.
Well, DW is getting estimates for putting in landscaping, including a kick butt fire pit area. Estimates are coming in @ $35k. We'll see what the final tally is because she is getting all the bells and whistles in the estimates.
My difficulty comes in deciding whether we can afford it. And I cannot for the life of me come up with an answer. We have exceeded our goal of 100% Ps. Current VPW calculation puts us @ $50k year for discretionary spending. We are ok with sticking to $25k / year, but BAM!, here we are on day 4 looking at spending $35k on landscaping.
Please help!
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Not sure what you need help with, since you can easily afford this. Sounds more like you're just observing/complaining that this one expense is coming so soon after retirement.
Over 2 years you have $50k of discretionary money. That still leaves you with $15k after this expense, and that's all your discretionary money for the next 2 years. DW and you just have to be onboard with that reality. Or you and DW have to sharpen your pencils and find ways to trim back the $35k expense. Do some of the work yourself, scale back plans, do it in phases over several years, etc.
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03-16-2021, 11:23 AM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Puget Sound
Posts: 3,191
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This should not even be a thing. You're talking about landscaping that's going to last you 15 years or more. if it helps you to sleep at night just do that and amortize it out in your head now you're talking 2300.
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03-16-2021, 11:27 AM
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#9
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: solomons
Posts: 848
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just say DW no more clothes for YOU !!!! ;-)
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03-16-2021, 11:31 AM
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#10
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 13,844
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Considering how many detailed questions and threads you've made in the past few weeks leading up to retirement, it is odd that this one big expense is a surprise and wasn't on your radar.
That said, if you have the discretionary budget and are on board with the actual project, it should fit right in. And if you reran Firecalc starting with -35k it should come in no different if you've planned well.
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03-16-2021, 11:38 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: Nov 2016
Posts: 9,373
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Well, sure you can and you should go ahead and do the project. Like Ronstar said, take on a new challenge and do all that you can on the project yourself.
If concerned about if you can you will or might need to cut back somewhere else to feel comfortable to do the project.
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03-16-2021, 11:42 AM
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#12
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,593
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Hopefully, you won't get hit with a $40 K dental bill like I did when all the old work in my mouth started falling apart.
I did all my landscaping myself and saved bunches. The dental work I couldn't do myself! LOL
__________________
*********Go Astros!*********
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03-16-2021, 11:43 AM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
^ And you had no way to see this coming and bake it into your spending plan prior to retiring? Scary.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RetiredAt55.5
Not sure what you need help with, since you can easily afford this. Sounds more like you're just observing/complaining that this one expense is coming so soon after retirement.
Over 2 years you have $50k of discretionary money. That still leaves you with $15k after this expense, and that's all your discretionary money for the next 2 years. DW and you just have to be onboard with that reality. Or you and DW have to sharpen your pencils and find ways to trim back the $35k expense. Do some of the work yourself, scale back plans, do it in phases over several years, etc.
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I knew she wanted to do some landscaping, but not $35k of it. I guess I am just trying to adjust to spending rather than saving. My severance was a lot larger than I planned and covers this expense easily (as pointed out by DW). There will be more unplanned spending, I'm sure.
__________________
Consistently sets low goals and fails to achieve them.
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03-16-2021, 11:48 AM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Sunny California
Posts: 2,567
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That unemployment money that you're not going to file for would pay a good portion of this expense.... Just saying
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03-16-2021, 11:56 AM
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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 2017
Location: City
Posts: 10,308
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I'm with the "do it" crowd, but will observe that we humans tend to spend easily obtained money more easily than the money that was accumulated with more effort. Your unexpected bonus amount was easily obtained but every dollar has the same value as the money you have painstakingly saved.
So I suggest forgetting about the bonus money as a special category, then getting the details of the landscaping quotations and evaluating each one for is-it-worth-the-money? and for unimportant bells and whistles. That is just good financial management. (She is getting two competing quotes, right?)
__________________
Ignoramus et ignorabimus
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03-16-2021, 12:03 PM
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#16
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,468
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Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
^ And you had no way to see this coming and bake it into your spending plan prior to retiring? Scary.
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+1
Immediately after buying my Dream Home I spent a lot on landscaping, regrading, bringing in new dirt, sodding, and redoing the concrete. While I was viewing it for the first time, before I even made an offer on it, I was estimating the cost of re-landscaping and adding that to my offer amount, in my head, so I knew what I was getting into. I just cannot imagine ignoring this cost and thinking, "hey, whatever, it's all good". But then probably you have more money than I do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by corn18
My severance was a lot larger than I planned and covers this expense easily
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Well, there you go! You can afford landscaping if that is what you want to use that severance compensation on.
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03-16-2021, 12:05 PM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OldShooter
I'm with the "do it" crowd, but will observe that we humans tend to spend easily obtained money more easily than the money that was accumulated with more effort. Your unexpected bonus amount was easily obtained but every dollar has the same value as the money you have painstakingly saved.
So I suggest forgetting about the bonus money as a special category, then getting the details of the landscaping quotations and evaluating each one for is-it-worth-the-money? and for unimportant bells and whistles. That is just good financial management. (She is getting two competing quotes, right?)
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Three quotes. Have the one for $35k so far. Maybe the other two will be less.
__________________
Consistently sets low goals and fails to achieve them.
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03-16-2021, 12:06 PM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,568
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Corn - I don't know how big your place is, but $35K doesn't go very far in landscaping, especially hardscaping, these days. Labor costs are killer. I was quoted $300 an hour just to have people dig up some dead trees that weren't even all that tall. I ended up cutting down the trees myself and just paying to have the stumps ground out.
It's either do it and pay the freight; live without the bells and whistles; or be like the old couple in that dumb ad on TV:
He: We planned carefully for our retirement, but
She: we quickly realized we needed to do something to supplement our income.
Sorry I can't be more help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by corn18
Last day of work was 4 days ago and I am already struggling with spending in retirement. My plan was always pretty simple: 100% Probability of Success (Ps) with $25k / year of discretionary spending. We far exceeded that and we now have $400k more than we need for 100% Ps. Ok, great. Let's just keep that as an insurance policy for unknown unknowns. Let's get through year 1 hunkered down and prepared for battle.
Well, DW is getting estimates for putting in landscaping, including a kick butt fire pit area. Estimates are coming in @ $35k. We'll see what the final tally is because she is getting all the bells and whistles in the estimates.
My difficulty comes in deciding whether we can afford it. And I cannot for the life of me come up with an answer. We have exceeded our goal of 100% Ps. Current VPW calculation puts us @ $50k year for discretionary spending. We are ok with sticking to $25k / year, but BAM!, here we are on day 4 looking at spending $35k on landscaping.
Please help!
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__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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03-16-2021, 12:19 PM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amethyst
Corn - I don't know how big your place is, but $35K doesn't go very far in landscaping, especially hardscaping, these days. Labor costs are killer. I was quoted $300 an hour just to have people dig up some dead trees that weren't even all that tall. I ended up cutting down the trees myself and just paying to have the stumps ground out.
It's either do it and pay the freight; live without the bells and whistles; or be like the old couple in that dumb ad on TV:
He: We planned carefully for our requirement, but
She: we quickly realized we needed to do something to supplement our income.
Sorry I can't be more help.
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They are doing quite a bit including lighting, gas fire pit and hardscaping. I think it's way cool and we would use it a lot.
__________________
Consistently sets low goals and fails to achieve them.
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03-16-2021, 12:20 PM
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#20
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by corn18
I knew she wanted to do some landscaping, but not $35k of it. I guess I am just trying to adjust to spending rather than saving. My severance was a lot larger than I planned and covers this expense easily (as pointed out by DW). There will be more unplanned spending, I'm sure.
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I would focus on 2 things, 1) are you planning on spending enough time at that house that you will enjoy the new landscaping and 2) (although for some in retirement, including me, this isn't the end all/be-all criteria for anything) will the investment improve the value of your home by that same amount roughly.
And lastly, I'll add, "new landscaping" often mean "new landscaping maintenance"... beware.
Good luck and congrats on the recent "win" of retiring....
__________________
Well of course it is my opinion, why would I express someone else's??
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