$1 million a Long Shot in US?

[Coolius]

My experience here in California pretty much parallels Harley's.

In 1983, bought a nice home in San Jose, CA and lived in it for a decade. After I was laid off ( first time ever ) in 2002, we decided to look for a place with a cheaper COL, so we went North.

Bought a slightly larger home for about 2/3 of what we sold our old home for. This one proceeded to rise as well, to a high of about $620K just before the collapse. It's now worth a little less than half of that figure.

If I sell the house at today's price, I lose all the previous home gain, plus about another $10,000 more. Pretty dismal situation, as I have now formally retired and want to downsize. Hope things improve soon, even a little - I'll happily take it.

 

[foxfirev5]

I appreciate the honesty of this forum. We've all been through a lot the last few years. Thanks to the people here I see that expenses are probably as important as assets to FI and ER. To paraphase in football terms, we need to balance the offense (income and assets) and defense (expenses). Offense wins games and defense wins championships.

 

[Koolau]

How about these folks?

Hollywood Los Angeles CA Homes for Sale & Hollywood Real Estate - Zillow

Cue the TWILIGHT ZONE music. DOOH-doooh-DOOH-doooh, DOOH-doooh-DOOH-doooh. If I click twice on the "negative" button (zoom out) the map encompasses the house where my grandmother lived out the last 15 years of her life - just where the Ventura and Hollywood Freeways intersect. She really thought she had arrived (see next paragraph).

Since she died (about) 1968, she would have been quite surprised at the current half million dollar price tags in the neighborhood - even if they have dropped from a million! When she was born (about 1890) in Kentucky coal country, the term "Millionaire" meant something. It was probably like the term "Billionaire" today. Something not achievable by anyone she would ever know or even associate with in her lifetime. Now, millionaires are "dime a dozen".

 

[ER Man]

Will $1 Million be enough to retire 20-30 years from now?

 

[REWahoo]

Will $1 Million be enough to retire 20-30 years from now?

Isn't that like asking "how high is up"?

 

[ER Man]

Isn't that like asking "how high is up"?

What do you mean? Do you think inflation rate will be the same too? How about USD value?

 

[Nemo2]

What do you mean? Do you think inflation rate will be the same too? How about USD value?

To put it into perspective, here is an article from a Brit newspaper:
Viv Nicholson, now 75, won £152,319 – the equivalent of £5 million today – 50 years ago this week.
That's ~3% in today's terms.

 

[ER Man]

What about $1 Billion?