“Old People” Money

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You can’t take it with you, but you don’t want to squander it, either.    So this morning, driven in part by my getting a 12-lead EKG prior to an upcoming hernia operation, we will look at how to win playing the “Old People” Money Game when age creeps into the upper double-digits.

There are a ton of choices possible when building a retirement program, but unfortunately, the playing field keeps getting “tipped.”  As a result, what looked like a good deal a few years back may not be so hot now or in the future.

This morning we go tip-toeing through them tulips.

After the requisite headlines and the charts, of course.

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18 thoughts on ““Old People” Money”

  1. Yo G,

    Why not consider building out a Brood Box and a couple of honey Supers in your shop? The frames with cell structure must be bought from a Apiary supplier. Several good suppliers on line – these guyz also sell Nucs – 3 – 4 brood frames with a new Queen, or source Nuc’s for sale locally .
    Bee keeping is one of my favorite hobbies, will need full suit if allergic. Bees produce tons of Survival supplies for the Homesteader..Honey w/built in allergy defense, Propolis, Beeswax, bumper vegetable and fruit crops. Tons of fun, just be mindful of direction of hive opening to your parking spots – my truck window is covered in Bee poop, little yellow spots, every morning. Those with eyes to see – just smile at me & my bee poop covered truck in public spaces.

    As the great guitarist Ted Nugent wrote..Sometimes you gonna get higher
    Sometimes you gotta start low
    Some people think they gonna die someday
    I got news you never got go..

    – Stranglehold

  2. George, good article.

    Rich? Down here in Costa Rica some expats live on a $1,000 a month, which is the amount needed to obtain residency. They are doing ok and still have enough to eat out now and again. So, rich can also be a state of mind and not measured by $$ alone.

    Property taxes on our 2 houses (2 BR, 2 Bath) are less than $300 a year!. Of course we have no heat or AC. Use some fans when it is warm. Live well on Social In-Security here?

    Gardening is a wonderful exercise as is foraging for wild foods. Foraging is also helpful in controlling weeds, ya eat them! When the lights go out foraging will become even more important.

    NO DEBT is, for me, a necessity. It should be a goal for all people, sheeple included. Plan for ‘unemployment’ which is called ‘retirement’.

    Will be picking a lime for a squeeze in the rum this evening. Life is good.

    Cheers!

  3. George, excellent article. Should be required reading for all college kids.

    But, I have either misunderstood your previous practical advice, or there is a typo here. Not to nitpick, I want to understand.

    Should the following be “They DO the things they hate first”?

    “Exceptional people are clear from the get-go that they want lots of money so they will sacrifice everything in order to get it. The also do something most of us don’t: They don’t the things they hate first.”

      • Regarding alarm stress and alarm clocks: I’ve not used an alarm clock in almost two years. Yes, it’s there if necessary, but coordinating with others early in the morning is never on the agenda. I’ve found that my natural rhythm is not tightly sync’d to sidereal time, and I’ll allow for a significant amount of float. Summertime work is tied to perceived heat and/or sunshine. Winter tends to be more hibernation time and inside work. Spring and Fall are when really active outside work happens. It’s important to have an agenda and timeline, and just as important to realize that it can be changed. After all – why stress if you don’t need to?

    • “Exceptional people are clear from the get-go that they want lots of money so they will sacrifice everything in order to get it”

      When I started working Health care.. room rate was a couple of hundred a month… we worked as volunteers.. today you have to be certified and licensed.. room rate.. my brother said where he is at its around fifty grand a year if your still able to walk and do for yourself in his part of the country.. which is understandable.. you have a crew of workers nurses and floor techs.. to take care of the various levels of care.. maintenance supplies.. etc etc etc.. around here it is a quarter million..and fifty if you just want a place to live.. the way it works at the place I worked.. is you pay for the room.. buy it outright when my father was looking at buying one it was a quarter million for the eleven by twelve room with private bath and a dorm room fridge.. with a life insurance policy signed over to them.. funds etc.. then pay the four grand a month maintenance fee.. per person.. the price of the room guarantee’s you a placement in the facility for the next level of care..none of this goes for your medical needs just your room and basic needs and as your level of care increases so does the costs associated with the care…. I just was talking to an old coworker that said the end costs for their mother was twenty grand a month.. with my mother the end costs for room board and assistance was just shy twelve grand a month..

      so yes.. you will need a lot of money most people will die penniless and on govt assistance. the way it works here.. you have to spend all the money you have.. the homes and facilites are full of new divorcee’s because they don’t care where the money goes.. .. in all the years except for a few billionaires.( I got the best Alfredo recipe from an old movie star that loved to cook.. absolutely awesome.. His family gave me his favorite autographed photo of him off the wall at his home.. one of my treasures.. a rock band wanted me to travel with them as they traveled the globe.. I had obligations unfortunately still hear from the girls from time to time….) there was only one that left with anything left…seen one guy that didn’t divorce his wife and she had a stroke.. they took everything he slept in the car until we let him come in and sleep on the couch.. we actually brought him sandwiches LOL… at one point he was a fairly wealthy man..
      so if you want the new turbo six fifty thing a ma-jig go for it give the kids and grandkids a gift or two help them with college or their home costs daycare kills a young family….. like my tools who would I rather see have it.. for what you can get for it all at a sale I would rather see the kids build something with it….or just give it to some medical facility or my kids and grandkids…. you won’t keep it anyway when I worked at the cabinet shop.. a coworker and I were sitting on a bunk of plywood.. he said he and his brother was going to build a senior living center and wanted to know if I wanted to go into it with him.. I said not on your life.. it takes a good five years before you can get established.. they built one and he called me to tell me that I made a mistake.. he had people throwing farms at him LOL LOL what wasn’t figured was the crap you have to have and daily expenses.. the staffing etc.. and even though they built around forty facilities.. they lost all of them because the costs involved was greater than what the people were paying..( they had that silly idea of being able to take care of someone for what they got in SS).. you do have to have enough to be self pay though at first.. you won’t get a place in a facility unless you have money to be self pay at first. if you don’t.. then you don’t have a choice you just have to wait till there is a room someplace….

  4. Great article. You pick your acceptable risks and adapt your life according to them – with eyes wide open. I’ve chosen a slightly different set of risks than you have, and that’s right for me, as yours is for you. Living WAY below your means is key, though that contributes to the dismal M2. Such is the fallacy of consistency.

    I think the “goals” thing needs to be expanded on. I have small goals, such as upgrading property, investing “appropriately”, and running a tight ship(LOL). Big goals might be finding a worthy and permanent spouse or building a Von Braun space community in ten years with cheap and regular passenger service. These are sometimes needed to keep real dreams alive for those of retirement age. That and making war pointless and obsolete, of course, while maintaining a sustainable population. If you ever do achieve a big goal, it’s important to imagine another one even bigger and work toward that!

    The problem in the eighth decade of life is that working for dreams fifty years out is much more difficult than for someone in his 30’s. You’ll likely never see the result, yet it’s important to keep the dreams deep in your heart, with short term rewards to keep on task. Without such dreams, you WILL get old.

    I don’t have these answers, other than to have a significant other(s) that you are bonded to and care for, yet I do feel it’s important to have this discussion. If we can give older folks reasons to envision and dream 50+ years into the future, rather than just worrying if they’ll have burial expenses, then we’ve done the entire world a favor.

  5. Great column this morning George. Even a 77 year old coot like me can dig it. To extend what Richard said, I think it should be required reading for everyone of any age on this voyage of life.

    I am glad that you put stress at the top of the list. You are so right. I think it causes more disease (physical and mental) and more death than anything else. Last year, I buried a friend my age that went through an ugly divorce and then fought with his children every day until the day he died. I pleaded with him to “let it go” and move on, but he couldn’t. He looked 90 when he died with a troubled mind in a hospital bed in a long term care facility.

    You can find something to worry about every day of you life without looking too hard. Front page of the paper this morning talked about the Democratic debate last night. Buried on page 3 was the news that China is massing troop on the border with Hong Kong and Kim popped a few new missiles out of North Korea. I used to worry about things like that but no more.

    Like you said, none of us get out of this thing alive. It just makes sense to plan well, enjoy it as much as we can and be able to look back at the time of the life review without too much regret – unlike my friend.

    Keep up the good work and good luck with the operation.

  6. Good article. You need to come up with a secondary water supply. Water for irrigation doesn’t necessarily have to be potable, but if it is, then it is that much better. Ideas to look into:
    – Quick fill syphon from a pond or stream for garden irrigation. I have the parts for one, but haven’t fabricated. Next best would be a solar pumped DC version – but expensive.
    – Shallow well with hand pump and DC electric solar pump. Every well ever dug on my property has been a bone dry hole, and there were a bunch drilled and dug in the depression era and before. I’ve got a spot picked out in a locust grove which has been a natural seep for the past 100 years. Should be 20 feet to solid limestone.. I’ll have someone dig it this winter when business is slow for the drillers. I’ve seen Youtube clips of home-drilled wells, but that doesn’t look like my kind of project. It is expensive to prospect for underground water (no faith in water witching here), but to have a good permanent well as back-up is simply priceless in this arid country. The existence of a water well can turn a dry gulch deathtrap into a relative paradise.
    Not everyone is cut out for the retirement lifestyle. Attributes to be looked for in a retirement age job are reduced physical demands, and hours that fit in with your goals. OT is great when you are young, but old timers need their beauty rest. Some need more than others. Finding a job which caters to your inner child sounds great, but isn’t always possible. A job with a good rate which you are good at can be satisfying. I wish there was a resource for identfying employers who are oldster friendly, but I’ve never found it. My current gig was stumbled onto by chance, and seems to be working out. If it plays out, I go to the house. You never know what will wash in on the tide, the castaway said.

  7. I have noticed that Russian Sage is a very good Bee attractor. This variety of Sage has purple or lavender colored blossoms that bloom here in Colorado in early June and continue to blossom through the summer. Being a Sage water requirements are low and they expand their growth footprint every year with runners. There are hundreds of Bees on our Russian Sage every day all summer. Our Bees pose no threat or aggression to humans even if you brush the plants as you walk by their plot. I think that is due in part to the relatively abundant nectar source and also that they are Worker Bees I guess. My tomatoes are doing well with many bearing a lot of still very green ping pong ball size fruit despite not being in the ground until just after Memorial Day.

    • OUrs don’t even have a ping, let alone a pong. I put the LED light arrays on ’em yesterday.
      I did a “sun survey” and that’s the issue this year – overhead limbs from big pines so one of these days, they’ll have to go. Better for lettuces, but I didn’t put any in this yeart…

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