how to retire

[gumbo2176]

Oh easily three times as much. More depending on what part of Calif. My son lives in Oakland across the bay from SF and property values there are crazy. He has a house that is one third the size of ours with a teeny little fringe of yard around it (vs our almost half acre) and he paid more than three times as much for it as we paid for ours. Five years later he's getting ready to sell it for five times as much.

So yes, in $$ value our solar panels wouldn't likely add as much here as they would in Calif, but in % of the home's price, probably similar. But that part is all academic, because we won't sell this place unless we have to go into a nursing home.

I've just turned 65 last month and am waiting for the wife to reach retirement age in a few years. Our plan is to sell this house in the middle of the city and buy something a bit smaller with more land in a rural setting and that will be the last house I will live in until we can no longer survive on our own or just go to the great unknown. I can sell my house and buy a house in the country and still put a nice chunk of money away because of the disparity in home prices between the two.

[rainbowgardener]

I admire that, gumbo. I'm 70 and we bought this place a couple years ago. Many of my friends around my age are down-sizing selling their big houses and gardens and moving to a smaller, closer-in place or even a condo or apt, saying they are tired of gardening, don't want to work so hard etc. We up-sized! Similar sized house, but more yard, more gardens, more animals.... I love it. It is what makes me happy.

[gumbo2176]

I admire that, gumbo. I'm 70 and we bought this place a couple years ago. Many of my friends around my age are down-sizing selling their big houses and gardens and moving to a smaller, closer-in place or even a condo or apt, saying they are tired of gardening, don't want to work so hard etc. We up-sized! Similar sized house, but more yard, more gardens, more animals.... I love it. It is what makes me happy.

By the time my wife retires, I'll be pushing 71. I would love a place for a bigger garden, some fast growing fruit trees, blackberry bushes, grape vines, etc.

I would also have chickens for fresh eggs, possibly some ducks too, but no big farm animals like cows and such. I just hope my health is much like it is now and if it is, that move will be a piece of cake.

And I agree, you need to do what makes you happy in life, and if living rural on a nice big piece of land makes you happy, then go for it.

[tomf]

11 years ago I sold my city home on ¾ acres where I did have a garden to move out of town where I eventually wanted to retire. I worked in a suburb of Portland on the same side as where I moved to (between Portland and Mt. Hood) and drove 40 minutes to work. We are not far from shopping the next town over has stores, the mall and hospital are 35 minutes or so the other way. We did not down size as we went from a 2150 SQ foot home to a 4600 SQ foot home on 21+ acres. We have the smallest yard on our street and we are surrounded by miles of forests. There are only 4 homes on our road, 2 of them have over 40 acres so we are not on top of anyone. The house is somewhat big and I needed to put a lot of work into it but we have a room for all our activities and extra bedrooms for people to visit, and a nice music studio. I was luck and smart in that I had been putting away in my 401K for many years and working for almost 39 years at Boeing gave me a good pension, and I have had no need to touch my 401K so far. I retired last year at 62 with no penalty on my pension (new contract allowed that). I worked since I was 14 years old by starting working construction with my dad so even though I do much out here it is so nice not to have to go to work.I love living out in nature. gumbo plan for a tractor and a ton of tools when you move.

[gumbo2176]

I do believe a tractor will be needed for some of the things I want to do, especially if the wife and I can take over her late father's land which consists of 2 tracts, one being 6.75 acres and the other being an even 10 acre tract. The one with the house and shop on it now is the smaller of the two and only has about 1.5 to 2 acres cleared with the rest heavily wooded. I would want to clear off some more of that land and manicure it a bit for a walking garden with paths in the woods.

A friend of mine did this on his property in Mississippi and it is very peaceful walking his trails with the occasional bench, gazebo, garden spots with native flowers, etc.

[rainbowgardener]

Very nice... I would love to have a little bit more land. But compared to where we were, I'm pretty happy. Our little half acre so far has two peach trees, two apple trees, two fig trees, two serviceberries, two elderberries (just like Noah's ark for trees! But a lot of things do produce better with two), one hazelnut, one hawthorne, all the new foundation plantings, a couple dogwoods, AND eight vegetable gardens (soon to be ten) and our chicken enclosure. I really want a bee hive sometime, to take care of all the fruits and berries.

This is my version of how to retire and I love it!

[tomf]

I do believe a tractor will be needed for some of the things I want to do, especially if the wife and I can take over her late father's land which consists of 2 tracts, one being 6.75 acres and the other being an even 10 acre tract. The one with the house and shop on it now is the smaller of the two and only has about 1.5 to 2 acres cleared with the rest heavily wooded. I would want to clear off some more of that land and manicure it a bit for a walking garden with paths in the woods.

A friend of mine did this on his property in Mississippi and it is very peaceful walking his trails with the occasional bench, gazebo, garden spots with native flowers, etc.

I got an HST one as for doing FEL work with it you can control the speed with your foot and leave the throttle alone, gear tractors are good for plowing big fields.

[gumbo2176]

[quote="tomf I got an HST one as for doing FEL work with it you can control the speed with your foot and leave the throttle alone, gear tractors are good for plowing big fields.[/quote]

Had to look up those two---HST and FEL since I don't know much about tractors being a city slicker and see they refer to hydrostatic transmission and front end loader work. Yes, that does sound like the ticket and I would probably get a small to mid size tractor for what I plan to do. I would want an attachment to run off the PTO for digging post holes for fencing or setting posts for certain structures like decks, a gazebo, etc.

Definitely need a bucket for moving soil, gravel, other debris and leveling ground. I would also like an attachment for disking soil and forming rows. No need down my way for a snow blower attachment. LOL

I've got time to think about all this since the wife still has a few years to go before she is retirement age. Who knows, this may all be a pipe dream in the end depending on how healthy I am and what I can honestly undertake by the time she can call it a day and retire. I do know if I feel anywhere near how I feel now, it's definitely going to happen.

[rainbowgardener]

gumbo... re " depending on how healthy I am and what I can honestly undertake by the time she can call it a day and retire. I do know if I feel anywhere near how I feel now, it's definitely going to happen." Sounds like by the time you are talking about, you will be just about the same age I am now. I am going strong and enjoying all this. I attribute much of that to being a regular at the gym for years and getting enough exercise. Use it or lose it happens a lot faster at our age!!

[gumbo2176]

gumbo... re " depending on how healthy I am and what I can honestly undertake by the time she can call it a day and retire. I do know if I feel anywhere near how I feel now, it's definitely going to happen." Sounds like by the time you are talking about, you will be just about the same age I am now. I am going strong and enjoying all this. I attribute much of that to being a regular at the gym for years and getting enough exercise. Use it or lose it happens a lot faster at our age!!

Oh, I agree. I have friends and even a couple of neighbors that are younger than me that are much worse off physically just because they lead such a sedentary lifestyle and don't take care of themselves. There's really not much I can't do if I want to do it. I did try to get back into jogging a few months back and that didn't work out. Considering I've had 3 knee surgeries just on my right knee and the pain I started to feel after a few jogs let me know that part of my life was done.

Medicare allows me free gym membership at several local gyms. I'll probably check into that after the new year and all the holidays are done and dusted.

[tomf]

I have a neighbor who is 92 and he lives in an adjoining house on his sons farm. He goes on walks, takes care of his son's horses, does chores around the farm and has wood working hobbies. Not only is he very fit for his age but he is also mentally sharp.

[gumbo2176]

I have a neighbor who is 92 and he lives in an adjoining house on his sons farm. He goes on walks, takes care of his son's horses, does chores around the farm and has wood working hobbies. Not only is he very fit for his age but he is also mentally sharp.

Sounds like a perfect partner for an older lady I know. She's going to turn 96 later this month, still drives, takes just one medicinal pill a day, is active in her church choir and is out her house for at least 6-7 hours a day doing things for, as she puts it, "The old people I know." I get a chuckle out of that one because many of them are 20 or more years younger than her.

[tomf]

In October it will be 2 years retired and it is so good not to have to go to work. I enjoyed my job as much as one can, every week I got to run a different set of machines including a number of robotic ones, and I had a verity of jobs and responsibilities to keep it from being boring. Being that everything I worked on was critical to the flight and safety of Boeings jets there was a lot of pressure not to make any mistakes, being retired takes away a lot of stress. What I do miss are some of the fun people I worked with. I have been able to get a lot of work done at home and still have time to have fun and sleep, yes sleep!

[Gary350]

If your happy with what you have your richer than a man with $10 million dollars.