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How much $ will you need to retire comfortably ?

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Bernie2, Dec 13, 2016.

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  1. LucyR.

    LucyR. VIP Whale

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    I think it is Awesome that Calif. offers affordable rentals for seniors. Our pension plans will be worthless as we get older.
    I most likely will live close to 100 yrs. old. My 95yr old mother still gets $95. per month from my dad's pension plan. In the old days her rent was $35. per month, Food was $20. per month and $40. to pay for utilities and etc. Car gas was 25 cents per gallon. lol.
    Years ago I bought my first Toyota car brand new for $3,000. That car lasted for 25 yrs. I past it on to my dad after I bought me another new car for $6,000. Presently I bought me a Toyota Camry in 2003 when I retired and paid $23,000.
    I only have 30,00 miles and when I get older I will have to use Senior bus transportation at a senior discount rate.

    When I visit Santa Barbara, Calif. I pay 25 cents for using their trolley buses that takes me around town at the senior rate.
    At restaurants and at movies I need to remember to ask for senior discounts.

    I am very frugal when I visit Vegas. I always go to the Happy Hour places and look for the best discounts at hotels. I enjoy shopping at the ABC Stores and the 10 dollar stores in Vegas. I buy the buffet card and also eat at different cheapy places to eat at that has some great foods. i like to eat goodies. LucyR.
     
  2. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Funny you should bring up Santa Barbara, which of course is perhaps the most embracing combination of weather and geography in the land. But those good and lovely people -- who dominate county politics with the gerrymandering of the Board of Supervisors -- love to foist as many of the low-mod "problems" on the north county as they can. And let's not talk about the fine folks of Montecito and the 101 (non)expansion.
     
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  3. LucyR.

    LucyR. VIP Whale

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    I love visiting Santa Barbara the way it looks presently but the day will come when every thing will change in that
    cutsy city.
    I enjoy visiting beach cities. When I was younger I lived in Santa Monica, Oxnard north shore, and San Diego beach area. Now I want to move to a community that has a man made lake or pond or brooks.
    I now need to start thinking about moving near my adult son so he can keep an eye on me in my senior years.

    Ken2v, What do you think about the Valencia, Santa Clarita area for me to move to? My son says it is important for me to move near a hospital. lol. My son lives in lousy Palmdale, Ca.
     
  4. Sonya

    Sonya Queen of VMB

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    Please keep the political commentary out of this thread or we will have to close it to comments.
     
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  5. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    We have friends and family up that way. Not a place that appeals to us, exacerbated now, five-plus years removed from So Cal, by traffic and the weather. Many love it, and understandably so. Where is personal. Maybe our tune will change when we're older but setting and aesthetic are presently our #1 orientation.

    As far as hospitals, with Glendale Adventist and Verdugo Hills on both sides of you, I'm not seeing a lack of emergency and critical health care near you.
     
  6. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

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    I always make a visit to the dollar stores when I'm in vegas. can't find that kind of thing in Honolulu. I also like it because I pick up my reading glasses (150+ prescription only so not too bad yet) there. Can't beat paying $1 for it. But I went from 1.00+ to 1.25+ to 1.50+ so my eyes are starting to get bad. And I usually lose or break the glasses so it's great to be able to pick up another pair for a buck. Some of the dollar stores have 2 liter sodas for a buck and other knick knacks too. I also found one that sells chocolate covered twinkies, 2 packages for a buck (2 in a package).
     
  7. LucyR.

    LucyR. VIP Whale

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    Ken, thank you for your information. Yes, it is true that I have every thing I need living in Glendale. Lots of specialist doctors, several hospitals, eye doctors, foot doctor, allergist doctor, diabetic doctors, Physical Therapists 3 locations,
    Tons of restaurants, 3 blocks away from my condo where I can walk to them. Several Dollar stores, etc.
    BUT.... I am tired of living in Glendale and would like to move to a new location.

    Hi Makikiboy, When I travel I like to visit the Dollar stores. Every city I visit I always find a Dollar store. Even in Victoria B.C. and Vancouver. lol. Where is the Dollar store located in VEGAS? What hotel is close by.... or is it located downtown Vegas? I can't remember. I like shopping at Dollar stores. When I go to Vegas I always go to the Ross stores to buy clothes too. I have three closets full of Ross Dept. store clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry, etc. LOL. I find awesome things at the Ross stores in Vegas. I am super low maintenance. Lucy
     
  8. chef

    chef Resident Buffetologist

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    As a state pensioner in debt-ridden Illinois, the problem with retirement is uncertainty of one's monthly check. Our pension system is the same as a Ponzi scheme, in that it is not sustainable and continues to go deeper and deeper in the hole.
    Eventually, 100 percent of tax dollars will be needed to pay for all pensions. This state is in serious trouble and as a retiree, I'm not sure what will become of my financial condition. Right now, I'm on a gravy train, but really don't deserve it.
     
  9. shokhead

    shokhead No big spender unless eating drinking having fun!

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    No gravy train as you earned your pension. So many people think it just given to people when the truth is most pensions are also paid into by the employee. States are changing how they do this now with new hires because of the cost.
     
  10. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Never underestimate the value of being able to walk or easily access needed goods and services, if that is something to which you are accustomed. If you move to a suburban community with no real urban core you will be reliant on driving (or public transit, such as it exists in so many places) to access even the basics. I get the move impulse, it is fun to explore and ponder what might be. We do that all the time with our travels, be it pleasure or work trips. We have a pretty good handle on places we think we'd like to live some day, as well as a long list of "no thanks" locales. People move for different needs and reasons.

    If you want out of Glendale, what's your checklist of wants and needs? Healthcare is a default for most as we age. But what does that mean? Simply proximity to a place that can patch you up in an emergency? Specialty care? What does your HMO/PPO allow and how are the providers where you'd be going? (It was a change of us moving out of a Kaiser provision network.) How do other needed services stack up? Public transit? What type of living environment? Weather? Retail and commercial needs? Proximity to an airport? Getting closer to or away from family? What about friends where you are? What type of demographic mix do you want? Is a particular natural or recreational setting important? Ultimately flipping from one So Cal community to another is rather turnkey. By the same token, Venice is not Pacoima and Big Bear is not Indio.
     
  11. shokhead

    shokhead No big spender unless eating drinking having fun!

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    If I moved it would be OUT of California.
     
  12. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    We've enjoyed being out of SoCal -- even as we are back there with frequency.

    Not sure where we'll end up when we "retire." I can see at least another career move for my wife, all else equal. We'll be in the West at the end. Could be here. Could be northerly. Maybe the desert (Coachella Valley, Tucson). We're this-side-of-the-Rockies types.
     
  13. shokhead

    shokhead No big spender unless eating drinking having fun!

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    Tucson Circle?
     
  14. LucyR.

    LucyR. VIP Whale

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    Ken, I heard that Coachella valley has a lot of dust storms that blows dirt all over the valley. I would love to move their because the houses are super affordable and there are lots of senior activities. But I am thinking that once I get really old I may just want to stay home and vegittate. lol.
     
  15. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    It's a desert. Deserts are sandy, windy. But the wind also tears through the Inland Empire when the Santa Anas are up. Most of the time it might be breezy but not perpetual dust storms. Things are more benign down in the coves as opposed to the I-10 corridor.

    You speak in a lot of rather broad-brush superlatives. Like everywhere, the desert is affordable and extremely expensive. The population skews bimodal, with a significant older population and a significant young/family population. It is highly seasonal. It is hot in the summer and if you live in the SoCalEdison end of the valley utilities can be staggeringly high in the summer.

    I'm 55. Cooking, golf, bicycling, the outdoors, active and culinary travel, entertaining ... those are our "senior" activities and I hope we can do them to the very end. But, yes, with the population as it is, senior groups and centers and activities abound. Here's an amazing resource down-valley: http://joslyncenter.org/Exciting-and-Engaging-Learning

    Palm Springs is back being the heart and soul of the desert communities. Palm Desert is the most economically diverse. La Quinta, down in the cove, is recapturing that old desert charm of back-in-the-day. Indio is growing rapidly. Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells are the most mono-cultural. Etc. So while it is "the desert" or the "Coachella Valley," communities do have identities.

    Do the research. Visit. Read and ask questions broadly; don't make a decision like this based on the off-hand "I've heard."
     
  16. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Come again?
     
  17. Rush

    Rush MIA

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    I retired comfortably this last Spring. My idea of comfort is living the same way I lived while I worked. I'm doing that!
     
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  18. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    For me to retire comfortably with the same standard of living I now enjoy, I must pay off my mortgage. I should be able to get that done before I retire, which is nice to know.

    It's really sick, but all I worry about is if I'll be able to go to Vegas, and if I'll be able to bump up the frequency of visits after I retire.

    Earlier in life I lived 100% for the well being of my family. Now that the kids are grown and on their own with their own families I find myself being somewhat selfish and doing things only for me and my wife.

    I'm working diligently to make a 4 or 5 time trip to Vegas yearly a reality after I retire.
     
  19. lostfido

    lostfido I push my fingers into my eyes

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    It is a rarity when I hear a retired person say--"Dammit, I wish I wouldn't have saved so much money for retirement"
    Both my wife and I have been putting into deferred comp programs since we were in our early 20's, we live in a small house in the urban swell and don't replace our vehicles very often (mine is 20 years old, just turned 150,000 miles)
    House has been paid for almost 10 years so we dont have many bills now, which allows us to travel frequently now and enjoy being middle aged.
     
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  20. topcard

    topcard Here's to $10 3:2 two-deck, $5 Craps, and $5 UTH!

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    I plan on working until I'm 67 1/2. I'll get full SS at that point... cleared my mortgage already... no debt (other than wife's car note - which will be paid off in about a year). My 401K should have enough by then to match my SS payments for 20 years...and, on the off-chance that I lived beyond 88 years old? I'll "worry" about that when the time comes. Wife's IRA & her own/my SS, along with what meager life insurance she gets when I go, should be enough to carry her through.

    No - it won't be high-living, but that's OK...it never has been anyway. I probably will have to reduce my Vegas trips though...but only if I lose!
     
    Annual Spring Trip!
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