Anyone have regrets about having gone full-time?

CKNSLS wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
I don't think ANYone should ever have to apologize for going full time because they had children college bound or not. Not everyone in the world (in fact it is the majority now a days) could and/or can afford to finance a college eduction for their children. There are grants/loans up the wazoo and many many many kids have benefited from these being available to them to further their education on their own.

I get a kick out of people who point fingers at those retiring, purchasing an RV and choosing to travel. Claiming that they are bad parents and what a waste of money buying an RV, yada, yada, yada.

These are the same people who have purchased homes way larger than they need to impress loaned up the wazoo, new luxury cars every year in the driveway again to impress, used their homes as a piggy bank to borrow money for their toys they buy year after year after year. They pay and pay and end of dieing paying.

So just who IS really the one that is making bad investments? The one who 'dies' with the most toys in debt up to their eyeballs or the person who planned for retirement, has no mortgage, ample income and thoroughly enjoying their golden years debt free? :C

Depends what are of the country you live in as to whether an inheritance will actually help your children buy a house or other necessities. Go on Realtor.com and check home prices in suburbs outside Chicago,Check anywhere decent to live in Southern California such as Irvine, Tustin, Mission Viejo, Chino Hills and other locations along the East coast. Those are not Kansas real estate prices. Your going to need 100K to close the deal.

I'm sure not many of our kids have that laying around.....a few do-not many.

When kids are of the age to be able to buy a house I would sure hope they are still NOT under the WINGS of their parents finances. Parents job is to raise a child to be able to go out on their own. Then it is up to them to get a job etc. Certainly NOT the parents job to support them for the rest of their lives.

If a kid that is grown and looking for his or her first house? If they do not have the money to put down, pay cash and/or credit to buy a $100,000 house then they have not worked and saved as they should have period.

I have to admit from what I am seeing with the newer generation of parents is that none of their kids have a clue about life and/or how to survive in it. Welfare, food stamps, etc statistics pretty much shows where the next generation is going to end up.:C

We have only been full-time for three years now and love it. Once we sold the house (to our kids) and all our belongings we had nothing to worry about that was not with us. No house rental, storage rental.

We don't have a formal backup plan. My son and his wife that we sold the house to said we could move into the basement if needed. I don't know how two alpha males would work in one house. But I am fully aware it is HIS house so I guess I would adjust.

We full-time in our 35' motor home with one slide. The park where we workkamp in the winter is in south Texas and has a lot of park models. I consider the option of one day buying a park model, but have made no plans yet.

It seems the topic changed a bit from regrets of full timing to real estate and investments, to leaving a legacy. I have enjoyed reading peoples view points though. I sold my house and don't plan on buying another anytime soon. I want to travel and see as much of this great country as I can. This is why I retired, not to look after a home, groom the yard, buying a new roof? Yuck!! I have enough to buy another house someday when I can't go anymore, but it won't be for an investment it's a place to live. Investments don't mean anything to me any more. I saved for retirement and it's here so off we go.
My 3 kids are excited for us, and they know what ever is left when we go, money, house, whatever is theirs. I'm not leaving them a legacy, I think me and DW have already succeeded in that aspect. I hope we all can enjoy our retirement how ever you choose to spend it.

CKNSLS wrote:

I just retired form Southern California a year ago. I sold my home (of 20 years) in Southern California for double the price I paid. Had I waited another 12 months-I could have sold it for additional 30% over the price I sold it for a year ago. That's REAL WORLD!

Just double? In over 20 years? Not really all that spectacular. We did much better with our IRAs/403bs.

I'm glad you made money, especially since you seem to equate that with happiness. We moved quite a bit, so the longest we ever owned a house was 13 years. Yes, we made money when we sold it, but not that much, nor did we buy it just for that. You must realize that a lot of the rest of the country didn't see the same thing that California did in terms of real estate. So maybe your preception is somewhat distorted.

But back to the initial question - are you a fulltime that regrets going fulltime? If not, are you a fulltimer that has no regrets on being a full timer?

Barb

MookieKat wrote:
Real estate is different everywhere. Prices around us have gone down to what they were over 20 years ago.

Same thing in parts of north GA. Partly because the repos brought down the values.

On that note, we've bought and sold a few homes in our lifetime in different parts of the country. Only on the first one did we make any money on. That was because we bought it as a repo and sold it a year later with some improvements. The 2nd one the Realtor walked away from closing with more than we did.

Real estate is different everywhere. Prices around us have gone down to what they were over 20 years ago.

soren wrote:

CKNSLS wrote:

You know I completely understand that. Real world-TODAY a college education is now the equivalent of a high school diploma. Right or wrong big business and society do not put much value in a high school education, thus the emphasis on College. And while memories are a great thing-they don't pay for college. Historically real estate has been a sound investment. Selling that investment and buying something on 4 wheels is not going to help your grandchildren. Keeping you S&B home then going Rving for extended time-nothing wrong with that. Fulltiming-you do JUST BECAUSE.

"Looking at the longer-term data, we also see quite a different picture. For the period 1890-2005, inflation-adjusted home prices rose just 103 percent, or less than 1 percent a year. One can only imagine how many fewer investors would have piled into the residential home market if they were aware of the historical evidence. As Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously remarked: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."


Quote from a recent article written by Robert Case, one of the most respected economist in the real estate arena. Another expert I read recently quoted a 4/10th % annual return based on a slightly shorter duration, 1910-2006, IIRC.

The whole concept of your home being an investment, or to quote our societal delusion, "your greatest investment" is a fraud. A Stick and bricks home should be viewed as a place to live, not some rock solid investment. There are many examples of places in this country where homes are selling for the same unadjusted dollar amounts that they brought 10-20 years ago. When you factor inflation in, these particular "investments" are a horrendous loss.

I am a builder. I just sold our 12 Y.O personal home for 71% of my replacement cost, or a bit over half the going rate to build a similar custom home in the region. In retrospect, give the expenses, lost opportunity costs, and negative rate of return, it would of been far cheaper to rent.

Far too many folks have little understanding of finance. Take the typical couple who convinces themselves that they are doing great since they paid $85K for a home in 1983 and now it's "worth" $400K. The same amount invested in a balance stock fund would leave you with a nest egg of nearly three times that at $1,127,000. Now encourage them to grab the files and figure out their expenses to maintain, repair, insure and pay property tax on "your greatest investment", and if they don't reach the conclusion that it was anything but, they really shouldn't be handling your own finances.

I certainly agree that buying an RV is far from an investment. I also think that home ownership is a vitally important part of our economy, and part of our social fabric. It would be better for the financial health of many of us if we managed to get the whole concept of what a single family home really is and isn't. It is many things, but historically it's never been an investment for the vast majority of homeowners in the US.

I just retired form Southern California a year ago. I sold my home (of 20 years) in Southern California for double the price I paid. Had I waited another 12 months-I could have sold it for additional 30% over the price I sold it for a year ago. That's REAL WORLD!

rockhillmanor wrote:
I don't think ANYone should ever have to apologize for going full time because they had children college bound or not. Not everyone in the world (in fact it is the majority now a days) could and/or can afford to finance a college eduction for their children. There are grants/loans up the wazoo and many many many kids have benefited from these being available to them to further their education on their own.

I get a kick out of people who point fingers at those retiring, purchasing an RV and choosing to travel. Claiming that they are bad parents and what a waste of money buying an RV, yada, yada, yada.

These are the same people who have purchased homes way larger than they need to impress loaned up the wazoo, new luxury cars every year in the driveway again to impress, used their homes as a piggy bank to borrow money for their toys they buy year after year after year. They pay and pay and end of dieing paying.

So just who IS really the one that is making bad investments? The one who 'dies' with the most toys in debt up to their eyeballs or the person who planned for retirement, has no mortgage, ample income and thoroughly enjoying their golden years debt free? :C

Depends what are of the country you live in as to whether an inheritance will actually help your children buy a house or other necessities. Go on Realtor.com and check home prices in suburbs outside Chicago,Check anywhere decent to live in Southern California such as Irvine, Tustin, Mission Viejo, Chino Hills and other locations along the East coast. Those are not Kansas real estate prices. Your going to need 100K to close the deal. I'm sure not many of our kids have that laying around.....a few do-not many.

taigarazz wrote:
We live in beach town that many people come to on their vacations, or to retire. We picked our home, location and community with a clear eye on sustaining us through retirement (if we ever get there !), and 'aging in place'. We love to travel in our RV and look forward to 'anytiming' as much as I think we will enjoy returning to the beach.

Now, THAT sounds like OUR ideal plan!! I have always wanted to live in a beach town!! But, being able to anytime it as well, for variety!

Yes, on a long raining week, the RV can get a little small. It is important that your best friends when you decide to go fulltiming. As to clutter - it happens. But then you move on and everything gets put back into its travel space. And I would venture to say that most of us, as time goes by, continue to 'declutter' and get rid of stuff that we thought we had to have and find out just take up space.

Barb