Follow up to living in RV by necessity

[jesseannie]

In the spring of this year I posted about a dilemma I had about the high cost of housing in Boise, ID. We thought about living in our RV temporarily to find other housing or decide if we were going to move.
There were some good responses and some curmudgeons who said we should have planned for retirement better to those people spfffft.
Well here is the rest of the story we moved to Roseburg Or. Put the RV on my brothers property which has full hook-ups. We then purchased a single wide trailer, set it up in a nice park and with my carpentry skills and help from my talented brother completely renovated it.
We spent 7 months in the 26 ft trailer while doing the work.
We now are moved in to a paid for house with a small monthly bill for the lot. This will allow us to have a home base and travel when we want and not spend 50% of our retirement income on housing like we were doing in Boise.
It will be a thankful Thanksgiving!

[jplante4]

Walaby wrote:
I think the OP made his/her/their own luck. I went back and read the original thread. All 5 pages. And unless there was a lot of editing of the thread, I didn't see much in terms of negative commentary. Certainly nothing that I saw that fit the curmudgeon description.
Mike

Yes it was heavily edited, just like this thread. Every time I believe I've seen the worse of the people here I am disappointed.

CLOSED.

[pasusan]

Jesseannie - kudos to you two - job well done. I don't think all the folks talking about planning are coming down on you - it's a good subject that has taken a life of its own.

As far as planning - sure it is important, but there should be the realization that unforeseen things can and do happen.

We know a farming family - the farm was going to be passed on to their son. The father had an unexpected debilitating stroke in his sixties and mom took care of him at home till she got unexpected alzheimer's. The care folks took the farm.

Another family - the wife got unexpected early alzheimer's. The husband took care of her at home until he couldn't. They didn't lose the house, but all savings were used up and the kids helped till she died.

We, ourselves are in a scary position. Yes we saved and didn't spend on unneeded luxuries. Worked for a major corporation for 38 years and contributed to pensions and 401Ks. The former blue chip company is completely on the rocks and looks like it might go bankrupt. Have you heard of how many people have lost their pensions? Certainly through no fault of their own.

Bad things can happen to good planners.

[Grit_dog]

Some really good comments here, spoon059 and westernrvparkguy in particular, and ppine.
Also some lack of understanding by a couple of the same, not spoon059.
I agree that the majority of people could be incharge of their own destiny and many do not take responsibility for their destiny at the same time.
I see it every day, just like the rest of you that are responsible do.
Like today, at my kids hockey tournament. Not a cheap sport, especially so at the level he is playing. Yet there are parents who can’t “afford “ the $5 a person for the pizza party at the hotel or the $14 for their kids to go see a WHL game in the evening.
But they’re driving a new Chevy Tahoe, while I’m rocking the 12 year old Dodge pickup that would spank their $60k suv 6 ways from Sunday!!

[mountainkowboy]

You cant please everyone and people are snarky by nature, glad it worked out for you. I've been Rving for over 40 years and there is all kinds of people out there...the more expensive the rig the more opinions you'll hear about how you should live your life. In the end your opinion is all that matters to you, who cares what other people think...their opinion has no effect on your life anyhow.

73's

[shelbyfv]

:R never mind....

[westernrvparkow]

TurnThePage wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

shelbyfv wrote:
Congrats to OP and thanks for posting the happy ending! Regarding the smug snipes, it's not uncommon for those of us who have it relatively easy in retirement to attribute our condition to our own genius financial planning, self restraint, etc, etc. The fact is luck plays the major part in how this aspect of our lives turns out. More specifically, the absence of bad luck. Illness, derailed family, an economy that changes on the whim of others.... These things can bite anyone who was not lucky enough to have been born into affluence.

I disagree that luck plays a major part in a person's success. While it is true that bad luck does befall a few, most of us make our own luck. You mention health, family, the economy as factors that change on a whim. I disagree. Your personal habits effect your health more than luck. Eat well, exercise, take reasonable precautions and your health will benefit. Family issues are often within your control. Divorce, alcoholism, drug addiction are all matters of choice, not luck. Live within your means and downturns in the economy are bumps in the road, not disasters of bad luck.
Successful people most often achieve that success through hard work, proper planning and making well thought out decisions. It is an insult to the millions upon millions of people who are financially successful to attribute that success to luck.

Spoken like one who's not been burned. It doesn't have to be YOUR health to trash YOUR plans. There are so many variables that play into life. You could do everything right but work for the wrong boss. So many things. Quit being smug.

I have paid for the right to be, as you call it, "smug". I have made the conscious decision throughout my life to sacrifice a bit of drinking and gambling money to pay for good health insurance and good disability insurance. I chose to put a portion of my income into investments, rather than take a month long trip to Europe. I chose to work long hours and do the things not everyone wants to do to secure my future.
The fact is I know many people who have had severe health crises. They had family disasters and yet they still are doing just fine financially because they took the same steps to mitigate what might happen. And these are people who were not high born. They didn't grow up with a sliver spoon, but they all had a work ethic and a commitment to not live only in the moment.

[spoon059]

shelbyfv wrote:

spoon059 wrote:
Not to get on too much of a high horse,

You think?

No, I really don't think that by encouraging people to be responsible and plan for the future I am being too superior. Its common sense, taught in childrens parables. Sorry if that offends you.

[shelbyfv]

spoon059 wrote:
Not to get on too much of a high horse,

You think?

[Cloud_Dancer]

For many years I looked down on people,....then I retired...:B

[Walaby]

More and more, people seem to rely on parents to "take care of them", or "help them out". I have a son that I have to help out, and it's a result of his bad choices in life. Not saying everyone who needs help is in the same boat, but everyone should strive to be self reliant, and not rely on parents to take care of them. I am saddled with that burden, but even with that, I have choices. I choose to help, because the alternative isn't palatable to me.

Now, if it is an inheritance (unfortunately), then glad your father had the forethought to plan ahead for something for you to have in the future.

[lfcjasp]

shelbyfv wrote:
Congrats to OP and thanks for posting the happy ending! Regarding the smug snipes, it's not uncommon for those of us who have it relatively easy in retirement to attribute our condition to our own genius financial planning, self restraint, etc, etc. The fact is luck plays the major part in how this aspect of our lives turns out. More specifically, the absence of bad luck. Illness, derailed family, an economy that changes on the whim of others.... These things can bite anyone who was not lucky enough to have been born into affluence.

This is so true. My family has been blessed. We are all in pretty good health and able to do what we need to and even what we want to. My dad is still taking care of us girls, so financially we're in a good place.

But it could all go up in flames...look at what folks are going through in CA. We live where we could be wiped out by a healthy hurricane...look at the folks in Florida's Panhandle and North Carolina.

You can take care of your health diligently and still be struck down by cancer or some sort of dementia. Or an accident.

Yes, we worked hard to get where we are today, but I know all too well we have been blessed...with great luck and good fortune. Can't stick my nose in the air over anyone.

[Walaby]

I think the OP made his/her/their own luck. I went back and read the original thread. All 5 pages. And unless there was a lot of editing of the thread, I didn't see much in terms of negative commentary. Certainly nothing that I saw that fit the curmudgeon description.

You can plan all you want, but if cost of living in a particular area exceeds what you planned for, then you have to make a decision, which OP did. Having enough flexibility to be able to deviate, as necessary, is part of planning.

It's not so much whether you plan perfectly or not, it's what options you choose when you have to deviate from the plan. I feel I have a pretty good plan going forward, but things could obviously change, outside of my control, to impact that plan. I believe I will have enough resources to make adjustments to the plan, as necessary. That, I believe, is what happened to OP, and what most folks posting here are saying. Plan as well as you can, and make sure you have enough assets to keep your plans as flexible as possible.

Mike

[shelbyfv]

;)Yep, we certainly can't take credit for IQ! Nor for our country of birth, race or gender. These things are all more reliable predictors of where we will end up than any specific actions on our part. It's an interesting and relevant subject, easy to find info online if you search.

[Cloud_Dancer]

The word LUCK has a definition: "success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions"
IMO it's more happenstance than anything else. I believe in good luck and in bad luck, because I look around and compare myself to others, and wonder about the "what-ifs". It get's me to wishing I had a higher IQ....