Yeah, madness!

LOTS of people here who have those kinds of incomes though is the point.

 

An $800k house around here is a fixer upper. (not exaggerating) It's just what it costs these days.

Here's an example. Anyone here want to pay $900k for this place?

https://www.redfin.com/WA/Edmonds/23...0/home/2762379

It's a strange time in that cars are not so dissimilar from real estate. Two of my three cars are now worth more than I bought them for, and the third (the GS) is very close. So I can cash in on any one of them, but then I have to deal with the prices to buy something new. Same thing with our house. I'd make bank selling it right now - a good $400-500k more than I paid for it just four years ago. But then I switch to the other side of the home buying experience, and fighting and outbidding others to spend that kind of money doesn't appeal to me right now.

 

'after inflation, they probably didn't make much. but one's own home is a good hedge anyway.

and wait half an hour in line too... time is money too.

how does on do that without become destitute sooner or later? or do you mean retire from one job but take another anyway? that's not really retiring then.

bank presidents and CEOs have one or several houses worth millions. some have mortgages for various reasons, others don't. respectfully, you can't compare everyone's lifestyle to your retirement / paid-for condo bubble.

not surprised. you live in a tech mecca and that's n. of seattle and close to the water.

and that's the illusion of rising prices... unless you're just cashing out and not buying something else, those 'gains' just get consumed by the next purchase not to mention commissions, fees, taxes, repairs, etc.

 

oh about that house listing, i see it shows 2.5% buying brokerage commission which on $900K is $22,500. and that doesn't include the selling brokerage commission. so if that's the same, that's means $45K gets eaten in the 'cycle', so if there's churn in the market, local prices there HAVE to go up $50K each time just to break even.

 

Can always sell it yourself and see how successful you are

 

Retirement MEANS retirement. Otherwise, as you note, it is simply giving up one job for another...or two jobs for one job.



I don't think you can label them all that way. Depends on what their personal philosophy of life is. Some of the wealthiest people on earth, for example, drive Accords and Camrys....and not always new ones.

 

Your thinking is out of date. Many people who retire from their careers continue to work in one capacity or another. When my dad retired for instance, he continued to consult with his company on key accounts and did some investing and day trading. My aunt is retiring at the end of this year and she does Rover and watches dogs etc, she's going to continue to do that. I have many clients who retire and own multiple investment properties and take over the management and their "retirement job" is managing their rental properties.

These people who are "retiring" early because of COVID aren't ceasing income producing work, and since they aren't they can retire earlier than they would have been able to when they needed to live with NO earned income.

I don't see myself ever retiring completely and not working in some capacity.

 

you're only seeing it in terms of your own situation.

i'd like to see some examples of the last sentence, but anyway, sure i know a bank manager who lives very modestly, but he's a single guy who would rather be out on his boat or hunting than in a big house (he has a tiny house). drives a nice new f150 or f250 though and thinking of getting an lc500 now he's seen mine.

 

My uncle and aunt retired early, and their income is very modest, but they moved to a cabin in the Poconos, and they don't want to have anything to do with any of the work stress. All they do is relax, drink, and go fishing on their little boat. They have no regrets.

 

When I retired I had a couple of ideas of what I might like to do. As the months and years went by I decided that it wasn't a bad way of life so I just stayed retired and have really enjoyed it.

 

I'm 43 so its way early for me technically to even think about retirement, but sometimes I question if this hectic life is worth it. I could sell my assets, move to southern Ukraine or another nice eastern European country, do some remote consulting and live stress free.

 

I've found from friends and former co-workers you need to be not only financially but mentally ready to retire comfortably.

 

My own situation (or yours) is not unique by any means.



https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/why-...heap-cars.html

 

A lot of people are questioning the same things, and people are making real choices to stop working in the same way and live a very modest lifestyle.

I Had dinner last night with one of my oldest friends who works for me now, he's 64, no wife or kids, he's always done pretty well but never made huge income year over year, $150k or so. He's got about $1.5M in total assets, which is far less than he ever anticipated being enough for him to completely stop working, but he's thinking about cashing in, moving somewhere overseas that is beautiful and inexpensive and living a simple life on what he has. Something that before COVID he never would have considered.

 

I agree with much of this.....The pursuit of more and more material things, just for material's sake, or trying to Keep up with the Jones, is the cause of many human ills.