Recent content by mangodance

BTW, I wanted to mention the hard figures I do have show total rent for the property brings in $3650/month...including our rent. Add to that $375/month insurance and around $450/500 month owner-paid utilities.

<grin> I'm not really retirement age. I'm just 74 months from reaching the minimum number of years to qualify for state govt retirement. Doing that, and working another job, we hope to pay off the property early...as early as will be humanly possible. The 100% finance would be necessity...

I should fill in some blanks. We've rented here about 10-11 years. We're looking at it as a hybrid = our mortgage as well as it being pure investment down the road. We know the building well and have been in all apartments every few years. It is a LARGE victorian house cut up into 5 apartments...

We are in the prelim stages of talking to our landlord about buying the building we're in (an 8-plex). Not sure if it will happen. But we want to get into rentals as a way to suppliment our ER plan. We would plan on living in the building for somewhere between 7-10 years. ..and hope to pay off...

We rent, so no home equity. We plan to save like mad now and try to get a large amount of eqity at purchase. We also plan on working to payoff the property, then revert to self-employment. So it isn't really a retirement but more a change of lifestyle. Additionally, by the time the property is...

BTW, I should have said that the $25K pension also gets annual COL increases as well.

I put in many years at an agency that I thought I'd retire from. Then came a wave of hiring corporate lawyers, a new director who decided to rescind the no layoff policy, cut every corner possible to reduce debt and take on bonds with lower interest rates. Many of us found ourselves...

I feel OK about part of where we are...and maybe lacking in other areas. Here's the skinny: 1) Me: State govt employee. Currently working. Have 74 months more to work before I qualify for pension. Pension will start in 75 months. I expect to get around 25K/year starting at age 50. I'll also get...

I had heard of these women on the radio a short while ago. But now, they're in the July-August AARP Bulletin. They're flight attendants that are in danger of losing their "guaranteed" pensions. To call attention to their plight, and that of other folks who have lost or are losing their pension...

How many of you are really using DRiPs for part of your ER strategy?

Is there any additional fee tacked on from the bank method that would not be there if buying directly?

I should have offered a bit more. I would still keep an emergency reserve in cash... but additional money could be diverted to Ibonds...sort of a two-pronged emergency Fund (EF). In the past, with a full EF, it pretty much just sat there, and we did everything we could with cash on hand not to...

We have a (depleted at this point) Emergency Fund that is in a Money Market Acct. I'm wondering whether we'd be better off putting this into I-bonds given that the interest is much better and they can be cashed early with little penalty. Thoughts anyone? Potential drawbacks?

WOW! I have a friend who teaches in Robinson, IL who gets nothing close to that...more similar to what they pay here.

YOW! 120%!!!! http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/11/retirement/risingcosts/index.htm Retirement: It's going to cost you Most people have grossly underestimated how much they'll need to save for their golden years. March 28, 2005: 11:56 AM EST By Sarah Max, CNN/Money Staff Writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money)...