If you were....

[michael d.]

...to retire in just 3 month, and you would have just 100k in cash, what would you do to ensure around 1000/month income?
Yes, its possible to live with 1000/month, but not in any western country, so I plan to move in Ecuador for ex., where that amount would assure me PLENTY of space to move around.

Now, back to the business: I got burned from my work, and I realized that if I liquidate all I have, I will have about 100k in cash(no credit cards,no loans,no otrher debts whatsoever..).
I did some homework, of course, and I couldn't find a good strategy..so maybe some ideas from here would help me to decide what I have to do.

 

[John Galt]

I don't know of a way to "ensure" $1,000/mo.
from 100K. You'd have to work part time IMHO.


John Galt

 

[farmerEd]

You can't guarantee 1000 per month indefintely with $100,000. If you feel burnt out, and need a break, you could draw $1000 per month for about 10 years if you can earn 4% on it....if you are young enough, perhaps you can call yourself retired, take off for ecuador, spend $1000/per month to recharge your batteries for 5 or so years, and then come back with $50K or so still inthe bank....you could do a lot worse.

Or else you could draw 500/month instead of 1000/month and earn the other 500/month at something pleasureable. If you take 5 years off, and then in year six start making 500/month at something you can go about 19 years on your nest egg.

Good luck.

 

[John Galt]

Now this is a thought process I go through from time to time, since I am habitually trying to find the
"worse case" scenario ER-wise. Like, what if 4% is safe,
but what if you took 6% anyway. Or, what if you went totally nuts and cashed in some "forever money" and
bought a Cadillac. Whenever I do this (even with my meager pile) I'm always surprised how long it would last. So, farmerEd is right. My problem is I don't have the option of going back to work. Having that as a
fallback position is just as good as money in the bank.
Note that I'm assuming the "comeback" job won't drive you nuts or make you miserable.
In that case, no amount of money will compensate.

John Galt

 

[notTwain]

Let me go out on a limb on this one... maybe it really doesn't qualify as pure retirement. While I am just about ready to pull the trigger, some close friends are curious on how they could possibly accomplish this ... after not accumulated much more than 100K or 200K.

Buy a laundromat, all self serve, open/closed and monitored via the internet, and have minimal part time service staff for basic clean-up, and a repair man in the deal somehow if your not around.

Location/lease/equipment/and all other business aspects are well documented and needs to be fully researched (good books on the subject that treats the business as Benrstein treats investing).

I looked at the numbers and they do seem to good to be true, almost like - gee, I could have retired ten years ago. Like with 100k you get a net of over 14k cash flow.

http://www.businessnation.com/Businesses_for_Sale/Buy_&_Sell/laundromat_for_sale.html

Besides all the obvious negatives, the positives seem to out weigh them especially if you are considering a possible retire plan with only 100K needing 12k per year.

I know it's still working in a big sense, but there doesn't seem anyway out of that with that amount of limited resources.

And then again, there are other similar 'minimal work' business along the same lines - again, i'd research it extensively.

The biggest issue I have personally with this idea is that ... if the business is so easy just collecting the money, with a large return, why would anyone sell the business. The best reason I can come up with is if they are selling to relocate or travel, I can understand - but then again, that may be precisely the issue with this idea with you too (and me).

notTwain

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The catch is that machine repair is expensive, and you have to replace them periodically and they're very spendy.

You also have to carry a lot of liability insurance and deal with vandalism and theft.

 

[charlie]

Some of you may recall from earlier posts that I have
owned a laundromat since 1969. It was in an excellent
location until a few years ago when the area became
saturated. I was lucky to have the same family work
for me until last year. They were honest and steady.
When they retired last year I gave the job to a niece
of theirs. She has been a disaster comparatively.

For me, theft and vandalism have been a minor
inconvenience. Machine repairs run about 5% of
gross sales at my store, and I farm most of it out.

It has been somewhat confining in that I have always
done the collection and servicing of bill changers myself.
This needs to be done at last once per week. You
also need to do the counting and bank deposits yourself. If you have a trusted friend or family member
to give you a vacation break, it's really great.

$100k will get you a used laundry that has gross sales
of about $70k per year, if that, in my area. Your cash
flow before depreciation and janitorial services would
be about $25k per year. Your take-home before
depreciation would be about $16k if you hired a janitor.

The catch, like TH said, is that you need to replace
equipment and remodel from time to time so I would
guess that you need to set aside at least $4-5K per
year for that purpose on a $100k store.

Yes, notTwain, it can be a good steady business and
my experience on the whole has been good. However,
I don't think michael d could run a business like this
from Ecuador, completely absentee, and net $12k per
year.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[John Galt]

Hi Charlie. I always believed that a well located
laundromat would be a great investment, especially
to ease you into (or sustain you in) retirement.
Never tried it myself. Just thought about it a lot.

John Galt

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I remember someone telling me the two big inflation and economy proof moneymakers are a laundromat and a liquor store. Both do well in good times and bad.

The decision matrix went something like this:

If you want to make lots of money and count lots of change, with low risk, buy a laundromat.

If you want to make more money, not have to count change, meet lots of very interesting people and get robbed at gunpoint once in a while, buy a liquor store.

Of course liquor stores worked better in MA than in CA, where you can buy booze in a drug store at midnight on a sunday. I can still remember making trips back home to boston and becoming very confused when I went to a liquor store on a sunday and they were closed...

 

[John Galt]

A friend moved from a small town in Wisconsin to
Rockford, Illinois back in the 60s. His folks came to visit
and his Dad was quite amused to find they couldn't buy beer on Sunday. "Yep, come to the big city and can't even buy beer!", or something like that. Where we
are now, you can't buy any alcohol until after noon on
Sunday. This means I have to plan ahead or face
forgoing my breakfast martini

John Galt

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep we had that too in MA. I remember going out to brunch on sundays and seeing the waitstaff readying for the noon time booze extravaganza. People would have all their mimosa and bloody mary glasses at the ready and at 12:00:01 waiters and waitresses bearing a pitcher in each hand started zipping from one table to the next...


Oh yeah...I almost forgot...

ARRRR MATEY!

 

[panhead]

Well, this info on MA is now outdated ! You now can buy alcohol on Sundays ! No more trips to NH (or border MA towns who were allowed to be open) for booze on Sundays ! You will never know how excited I was ! Oh yeah, even though you couldn't buy booze at a liquor store on Sundays in MA, the restraunts and bars were always allowed to serve, even before Noon on Sundays. I can't tell you how many bloodies I've had at Lola's on the vineyard on Sunday at 10:00am.....

panhead

 

[John Galt]

Damn panhead, I hope you weren't riding with all of those Bloody Marys sloshing around in your tummy.
Great riding here the last week or so. I have logged quite a few miles just meandering. My biker season
will officially end after October 9. That's the day of a kind of miniSturgis here called the Turkey Testicle Festival,
and yes they really serve them. Live music and a beer tent all day. The locals go nuts and I always have a
ball myself.

John Galt

 

[panhead]

Well, well, John Galt, glad to hear you have been packing on the miles ! I was home last week and did 1200 miles in 5 days, and 350 straight on the ride home from Mt Washington (yeah, after climbing it, wanna see an unhappy Harley !!??). I'm in Germany now, and it's Octoberfest, so I'm doin' just fine ! Turkey Testicles eh ? OK, uh, sounds, uh, good ?? Anyway, it does sound like a ball, have fun ! My "biker" season doesn't really ever end. I'll ride right up till the first snow, and if we get some decent weather over winter, she comes out to play.

Have fun !

-pan-

 

[haha]

Some of you may recall from earlier posts that I have
owned a laundromat since 1969.Yes, notTwain, it can be a good steady business and my experience on the whole has been good.  However, I don't think michael d could run a business like this from Ecuador, completely absentee,  and net $12k per year.

I haven't been back to any Andean country in quite a few years. But it may be an even better business proposition in Quito or Guayaquil or wherever he is going than it would be here.

It's probably worth a look.

In fact, the more I think on it, the better I like it

Mikey