Invisapeeps 2.0

Forty-two · Guru

Retirement planning

Forty-two · Guru

LR, COL in NJ is really high AND taxes are high, taxes in CA are dirt cheap relative to NJ. I told DH that there is tax on clothes in CA where there isn't in NJ, he reminded me that I would NOT have to buy so many clothes because in CA they would last for at least three seasons.

I could never ever live in a red state so I am pretty restricted to the North East and the West Coast.

I could do the RV thing once, I think, my DXH had family members who did it. Their RV was sweeeeeet!

-- Edited by Forty-two on Tuesday 13th of November 2012 07:17:39 AM

living revived · Senior Member

Cost of living in CA is REALLY high, at least in southern and I think most of northern CA. Central isn't as bad, but you could do a lot better for your money in other states. But it is gorgeous. :) It's definitely a different "culture" than back east.

Our plan, honestly, is to buy a midsize trailer that we can hitch to a pickup and live out of that. We'll probably stay in Mexico, but that would give us the freedom to visit our kids/grandkids and to travel around the US if we wanted. I know, not everyone's ideal! :)

living revived · Senior Member

Forty-two wrote:
LR, COL in NJ is really high AND taxes are high, taxes in CA are dirt cheap relative to NJ. I told DH that there is tax on clothes in CA where there isn't in NJ, he reminded me that I would have to buy so many clothes because in CA they would last for at least three seasons.

I could never ever live in a red state so I am pretty restricted to the North East and the West Coast.

I could do the RV thing once, I think, my DXH had family members who did it. Their RV was sweeeeeet!

This made me LOL! Probably true, but I think most people adjust to the weather pretty quickly. :P You'll be complaining how cold 60 degrees is in no time!

The RV thing started as a joke, but then we realized we really like the idea. I guess we'll see where life takes us, but at this point it seems like a viable option! I want one that is towed so we wouldn't have to drive the whole darn thing to the grocery store or pay gas for a vehicle and RV. We'll see, that's all pretty far down the road.

Forty-two · Guru

Oooh I meant that as I would NOT have to buy so many clothes.

That is a good point about the RV, I can't imagine taking the RV just to pick up some tampons in an emergency

Evil Stepmother · Guru

I hope that that expense will be cut out of the budget when I'm retired! aww I save a large portion of my salary every month and have a really good retirement with my company, so I'll be doing ok. That does depend on the cost of health insurance though.

dqm either · Don't Quote Me

I don't really have a 'job' (although I'm going to get one next year) so when I retire my income isn't going to change as my main source of income is from rentals.

My husband 'retired' (by that I mean quit his job in his career that he was trained for and took a year off) in '07 but that was a particularly bad year for us. He didn't really have a plan as to what he wanted to -do- with himself and things went horribly that year. Plus the housing market crashed and ended my career in real estate sales. Now my husband works part time in a retail store and it serves to keep him out of trouble. Mostly.

When he decides that he's done with that and he really is mature enough to retire we plan on doing the RV thing as well. In five years my husband will be almost 50 (48). Our youngest will be in college and our first grandchild will be in the summer before kindergarten. Our goal is to get an RV and take her exploring for three months and to see if that's what we really want to do with ourselves. If it's not we'll still be 'young' enough to make other plans.

Thankfully, with the exception of mortgages on rentals we have no debt so changing our minds about what we want to do is a luxury we can afford.

Mom of half a dozen · Guru

Before everyone starts laughing at me hear me out. Has anyone thought of retiring out of the country? I read an article about it. DH and I had planned to do the RV thing too. Now we aren't sure if we want to do that or retire to outside of the states. What you get for your money is so much better. DH is eyeing Belize and I agree, but the health care in Costa Rica is amazing as well as general cost of living. There are so many more places too. Like Panama, Brazil, and Honduras. There are 13 places they discuss in the article, all with a nice set of benefits. I am only 30 and DH just turned 36 last week so anything can change between now and retirement, but it is worth keeping track of.

This is the article.

http://money.msn.com/retirement/worlds-top-retirement-havens-4

Forty-two · Guru

Mom of 6 Why on earth would anyone laugh at retiring out of the country? DH and I have talked about it. It is one of the reasons he keeps his Dutch citizenship.

Mom of half a dozen · Guru

It sounds so extravagant/expensive, when I have mentioned it IRL people kind of scoff. No one thinks it could be cheaper to live beach side with good benefits, maid service, meals out, ect. than living here. Then you have those that think even if it is cheaper it would be in an unsafe area. The island of Roatan in Honduras isn't unsafe, but they hear Honduras and think dangerous. I have stopped bring it up. I almost didn't mention it here.

dqm either · Don't Quote Me

We thought about it but I think the quality of life/cost of living would be offset by how often we'd want to travel back to the States. We'd probably want to come back every other month or so at which point it we might as well not have left at all.

I could see it though in the next 10 or 15 years it will be normal to have a "Comm" room. Where you go into a room and you're talking to your grandkids in a different country and three walls are set up with screens and you can see everything. You can see them on the stage at their dance recital and all your other grandkids in the audience as well.

Or if you have to miss Thanksgiving or Christmas or something they set up the three eyed camera and you're surrounded by loved ones no matter where in the world you are.

It probably won't even take 10 years for that to catch on. But I'd still want a hug though. I'd be traveling too much to make living outside the country comfortable.

I know people who see their grandkids every other year. I'm thinking more like every other WEEK or every other month. If not that then at least three times a year and it's not fair to expect them to come to us so we'd need to go to them. Might as well stay here if this is where we're going to be most of the time anyway.

living revived · Senior Member

We will probably spend a good portion of the year in Mexico, even if we don't live here anymore. COL is very much cheaper than the US (on most things).