So, you are saying get your financial advice from a special interest forum, say like an automotive/oil forum where you are more likely to find wealthy individuals rather than a financial advice forum? Sir, I like the way you think!
South Florida, a senior enclave, sees more people ‘unretiring’ due to living costs
- Thread starter Dave Hess
- Start date
If you have no money is a different problem. I am assuming for someone that does.
My mother lives in her own home. We would love it if she would move into an apartment. I would happily pay. My sister would happily pay. Mom could also easily pay herself. She refuses - but in her case its not about the money. And I am not talking assisted care - just a nice apartment in town where someone else does all the maintenance.
Even if you own your home outright and the taxes and insurance go up and you need a new roof - how do you pay that? Same. problem.
I am sure you have a more specific point but I am missing it.
Owning a home in old age sometimes may not makes sense, IMHO. At a young age if you purchase a home its a method to build wealth. If your elderly, thats no longer the concern.
There is no perfect solution.
My plan was to get our house as ready as possible in preparation for when I was no longer working. This meant fix up everything and, of course, the solar project. Minimize recurring costs...
If I needed money, I could rent out a room. I could sell the place and move somewhere with cheaper housing. In finance we are taught to maximize the value of our assets. Having a house free and clear offers great security and can be leveraged in many ways.
Question for you: Why do you want your dear Mother to live in an apartment vs her home? You can hire someone to clean, do yard work, whatever.
Easier said than done where she lives. Difficult to hire everything done anywhere really. Contractors promise and don't show up, etc. Need some tiny thing fixed who to call? Thats why apartments have a live in handyman usually. Mom is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but not of dealing with contractors, which means we deal with it either way.
Its a long ways from my sisters. She is the only one of us that lives nearby. Closer to her would be much easier on her.
Mom's house is free and clear so its not money. Does mom really need 2500 square feet. She uses less than 1/3 ever.
When dad was alive he did much of this stuff, but over the last couple years it got ahead of him also.
I am not saying its right for everyone, but you seemed to imply renting was wrong in some way?
It sounds like proximity is an issue. With my folks, I lived close and was able to manage the day-to-day. I put workers in place.
My folks would not have been happy in an apartment.
Good luck with your situation. In my case, it became a pretty full time occupation as time progressed.
This is the concern.
I am not there, so easy for me to not worry, but my sister and brother in law do all the heavy lifting. So when you can't take care of yourself there needs to be some give and take.
@JeffKeryk , you question how could old people afford rent. "What if they have no money"? The same could apply to old people with paid off homes: escalating property taxes, insurance, repairs (roof, well, septic, sump pump, appliances, fixtures, on and on), hired contractors, in some cases HOA fees, garbage pickup, failing health to DIY,etc..
You state "My folks would not have been happy in an apartment." Would they have been happy in a dilapidated home they couldn't afford to maintain and/or didn't have a great son to manage it? And you state "In my case, it (parents home management) became a pretty full time occupation as time progressed". So, you are admitting that your parents didn't have resources to maintain their home on their own? Yet, you still insist that a paid off home is the best thing ever.
Again, all some of us here are asking is to not pass judgement on other's choices. Each person's situation is unique.
You state "My folks would not have been happy in an apartment." Would they have been happy in a dilapidated home they couldn't afford to maintain and/or didn't have a great son to manage it? And you state "In my case, it (parents home management) became a pretty full time occupation as time progressed". So, you are admitting that your parents didn't have resources to maintain their home on their own? Yet, you still insist that a paid off home is the best thing ever.
Again, all some of us here are asking is to not pass judgement on other's choices. Each person's situation is unique.
Again-assuming a paid off home-no Senior should be forced out because they now have a tool called the "reverse mortgage". This was put in place in part due to the reasons you mentioned above. Now Seniors can repair their house, pay taxes, whatever and not be forced out.
If they don't want to borrow against their home-then that's on them. They can live in the basements of their kids home.
I agree.....and the American dream is on life support IMO because too many Americans "rely on someone else to take others money and give it to them"....not to mention the outsourcing of so many jobs overseas.
See alarmguy's post above.....which I agree with.
PS: All the talk about 'Social Security' but no mention that Social Security isn't SECURE anymore. Because our 'leaders' decided to use the funds for other than their intended purpose and gave benefits to many who didn't pay into it....it's woefully underfunded to meet it's future responsibilities.
My children are paying into it but I doubt they'll ever collect their benefits.
It's called long term planning. Get the house ready and help lined up. Educate yourself.
I managed the resources. They had $$. I found the workers and made sure the bills were paid. My Dad made it to 95 and got to die in his own home in his own bed. Let's just say I helped financially where needed. I welcomed the responsibility.
Free and clear home ownership offers leverage that renting does not.
Apologies if it sounded like I am passing judgement. That is not my intention.
Last edited:
When it became necessary, I got a live-in home care giver, a wonderful woman. Without her I could not have managed, period. I owe her a lot; she was with us for almost 5 years and let's just say my father was not a nice man.
We do what we have to do. My older brother passed away at 44; he was not a caretaker anyways. My Sister lives in Gig Harbor, WA. So it was my responsibility to put one foot in front of the other with my folks. What was amazing was my company would not allow me to quit; they told me to make whatever hours I could. Unbelievable; I doubt many would be allowed such a benefit. Silicon Valley is the best.
You and I agree on a lot, Jeff - and that doesn’t surprise me.
I’m not “anti-tech” by the way, in our portfolio, we own Google, Amazon, Apple, and NVDIA, as well as a tech/small cap mutual fund.
But our risk tolerance is high, or perhaps I should say that our full portfolio is balanced, because of three defined benefit pensions earned through military service and government service (the lovely and talented Mrs. Astro just retired after 17 years as a GS). That’s a substantial “fixed income” portion of our overall asset picture.
So, while we are in tech, we are not all in. It’s not the only bet that we have made. We have utilities, industrials, energy, health care and a few other sectors and even then, the preponderance of the portfolio is in the S&P in the form of low cost index funds.
Finally, we made the decision to refinance several years ago when rates were low, and then made the decision to stockpile some short term cash in savings accounts for a couple of reasons, rather than paying off that low rate mortgage, all while continuing to contribute to retirement accounts.
All that to say - we understand our risk tolerance, and we have some very low risk, very stable, assets, but we do not have a paid-off house.
Risk-averse?
Yes, we were. When I left active duty to go back to the airline, there was uncertainty there. Mrs. Astro took a GS job because it offered stability and security (low risk of layoff, defined benefit pension) even though she could have made much more as a defense consultant (she is a retired Captain, USN, and has been a Commanding Officer as well as Chief of Staff).
So, like you, if the tech stocks went to zero tomorrow, we would still be OK.
Which means we can take a chance with tech, and still sleep at night.
The more interesting point of planning for us - how do we plan for high inflation? For huge increases in the cost of food, or medical care? For the chance that we can’t get insurance? For a big assessment on our dwelling?
All those things on the cost side that have hit the retirees in this country in general, and in Florida, in particular.
We are watching all of this unfold, and planning. Employing some arithmetic, of course…
Funny that a lot of seniors don't care so much about the condition of their home because it's their home. There's comfort found living there. An apartment just isn't the same. My mother should be in a condo but she would lose her mind because there would be nothing for her to do around the place.
It is important to me to give others dignity where I can. My folks wiped my .... when I was little. I learned the child becomes the parent.
I can sense another watch shortly!
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
I have a Erebus Ascent w/Adventurine dial due in shortly.I can sense another watch shortly!
There are no retiree troubles, another mass media fabrication which I am surprised some very educated in this thread are falling victim too. Same old troubles as always has been which boils down to how you managed your life heading into retirement. Your responsible for yourself.
In fact there is more support than ever for those who have not. So I dont get some of the posts in here. More so the poverty rate in the USA is at an all time low. If you cant make it, do something different because it will never be as easy as it currently is.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevev...ve-the-same-standard-of-living-in-retirement/
With all the above said, sure, without question there are some very real problems in Florida and I do feel for those people, truly sad.
But that is life, some year it will be another issue in another state, not much can be done about it, moving forward people will know to look out for things like this but Florida will adjust in time but it will bring casualties for sure short term.
Stay away from condos if you do not have a big nest egg because this is only the beginning I fear. Condos are crashing in value and homes too. The market is correcting though condos are a result of new laws governing cash reserves.
In fact there is more support than ever for those who have not. So I dont get some of the posts in here. More so the poverty rate in the USA is at an all time low. If you cant make it, do something different because it will never be as easy as it currently is.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevev...ve-the-same-standard-of-living-in-retirement/
With all the above said, sure, without question there are some very real problems in Florida and I do feel for those people, truly sad.
But that is life, some year it will be another issue in another state, not much can be done about it, moving forward people will know to look out for things like this but Florida will adjust in time but it will bring casualties for sure short term.
Stay away from condos if you do not have a big nest egg because this is only the beginning I fear. Condos are crashing in value and homes too. The market is correcting though condos are a result of new laws governing cash reserves.
Last edited:
That seems reasonable compared to what folks tell me. I would need a depends change with any such thing, $200 alone would put me in catatonia
Last edited:
...and rents increase to reflect higher insurance, property taxes and condo fees.
Yeah, a lot of condo units are rentals. My parents owned and rented a few.
Similar threads
- Locked