new to this forum

[ed_teach]

Hi all. I need a sounding bord, and hope you guys have a few opinions in my situation.
Myself and my wife, have both worked for the last 25 years, we are DINKS, both are 42,
I have worked in the service industry owning my own business most of that time. [small just me and a partner]
my wife works in the realestate business not selling managing in the service side.
I have a couple of questions. 1. Most of the time we have worked I have saved as much as possible, but have been very consertive in investing. we have appx 620k in cds. I have my home and 80 acres paid for, and sold another home on land cont. for 100k with a balloon in july. so we will have cash 700k this summer. In this climate I have been able to get appx., 5% return avg. on our investments.
I bought appx 50k in gold and silver many years ago as a headge. It just sits in a saf-deposit box. I also have of the 620k appx. 40k in my schwab account. stocks and mut. funds, I have been putting away 6k a year for ira tax ded. I have one home that I rent that brings in 500 a month and it is paid for. the only thing we owe is 9k on our car. our truck is paid for. my wife makes 35k each year and gets our health ins. through her work. I still pick up appx. 20+k each year through contacts that I have doing smaller jobs, my question comes in. that we are thinking of moving to a warmer climate, If we do this we loose her job, my contacts,the health insurance she brings in.and we have to live on [if neather of us get any work] our investmates. which would be higher as when we sell our home we will bust the 80 up and our home, we could save another 100k+ from the sale of our home and still have 200k for another home where we would move to. Or we could save it all and buy a travel trailer and live for a while , and let the other grow for a couple of years, Or should we just stay put for now? we could draw appx 2k a month that is with out selling our house or rental, or gold,or property. I feel mired into our situation, although not bad. I do love the old south and would love to live in a historic dist. that has lower tax rates. any advice appreciated.

 

[John Galt]

I never in my life got to be a DINK. I love my kids
but man they were expensive.

First of all, had I been in your financial position at 42
and been thinking like I did at 49, I would be long gone.
I too have been planning for years to move south.
For me it's been difficult to get it done, but I am
working on a very tight budget and so have to do it like
I retired (smoke and mirrors). Anyway, I believe the sooner you can make the move the better. I am almost
60 and find I lack the energy now to work out all of the
details. Or it may be partly laziness. Bottom line is
that I am starting to wonder if I will get it all done
while I still have time to enjoy it. If I had a lot more money it would be easier, but I can't afford to make a
mistake since I don't feel that I have either the time
or resources to recover. Like a lot of things, moving to
warmer climes looked like a slam dunk until I got into
the details.

John Galt

 

[Nords]

Your questions remind me of the Terhorsts

You might want to read their website at http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/5315/ and see if you can get their book (long out of print) at your local library. Or Amazon might have a used copy from their resellers.

Essentially you can do it now in a low-key lifestyle. You'll want to see if Terhorst's ideas work for YOUR lifestyle.

 

[ed_teach]

thanks. I do not plan to live HOTH, but would like to travel some, enjoy the warm weahter and sun. I lived in fla. for several years and came home for a sick parent. and stayed. my problem is that I am very entrenched, a home , rental, 80 acres, and tons of stuff. small boat for fishing,quadrunner, many tools , and lots of hobby stuff. I would need to sell lots just to manage with space. I have just under a hundred guns in my collection. I could keep a few, and sell the rest. I have also collected german war medals. you would not believe the intrest and expence of these things. confederate notes, same thing. my problem is that I do enjoy these things and wonder what if I sell them then regret it? but it would go a long way to paying for a nice travel trailer and a year or 2 of living. which would make me happier. I am not sure. but I am getting very antisy for a change of scenery. as far a where to go, my wifes idea is to get a trailer and spend a month in several places each, then decied where is home.

 

[unclemick]

Listen to your wife. In our case, we got a 'new/used' camper and went rip tearing all over(long weekends and 1-3 wk vacations) and ending up staying in the same place(greater New Orleans) after ER. We wore out two campers and two pickup's in 20 yrs. We live in an area where people people 'from the city' come to spend summers in their 'fishing camps'. ER'd in 93 thru layoff - too much stuff and couldn't see moving just to get a job. Also slipped in Europe, Cruises, Mexico, Bahamas, Las Vegas, Reno - the usual during our working years.

Home base plus where ever and when ever can work also. Last few yrs. home (no travel) has been just ducky - although being in New Orleans has brought a lot friends and relatives coming to visit.

I.e. - there are many varations on the theme - try some some and if you don't like it, then try something else - that's the fun of ER.

 

[ed_teach]

I love nola, and have a dream of living in the french quarter. but I dont know if I would like after a year. I like the garden dist. but house prices seem a little high.
I would like to live in a historic distric. is there a place like that near nola? where the housing prices are more in line? and you could slip in and out of nola when you wanted to have a bennie and coffee?

 

[unclemick]

I'm the last guy in the world to ask about real estate (my last purchase was 1979 -'da camp' where we live) so I'm out dated. Everything seems 'high or out of line to me'. Small areas like Algiers have already made This Old House - a shotgun renovation, and old town Slidell, Mandeville are well known. There might be some nooks and crannies in old Metairie.

I'd be inclined to take a longer vacation to do some poking around on 'foot' if I were to investigate a 'new' location. I never had the knack nor developed much background in RE so I must pass on your question/s.

 

[John Galt]

I agree with unclemick, i.e. listen to your wife. We spent
an enormous amount of time discussing, debating,
traveling, talking to realtors, sellers etc. etc. before
we decided on Texas for our ultimate ER destination.
Why Texas? Primarily because I lived there
(1994 -1998) and liked it a lot. Relocating without
this established "warm fuzzy" is pretty scary.
Regarding possessions, collections, etc, I went through all of that. I had guns, artwork, extra vehicles, extra
boats, raw land, etc. etc. Mostly all sold now. If you
use the stuff, then fine. If it is just gathering dust, or
worse. holding you back from being where you want to be, then I say dump it!

John Galt

 

[ed_teach]

that is the conclusion that I am coming to. my collectons were a security and warm feeling at first now thay are becoming a logistical nightmare to take care of and a mill stone around my neck. I have started to sell, ie. my rc plane collection on ebay. my roman armour ect. the guns will be a different story. I have started to contact people I know and put the word out and will buy a table at the local gun shows. my german collection is going on a forum that collectors buy and sell. so this will take several months. but will give me something to work to.