Too Much To Ask For?
Readers suggested a topic on retirement. “I would like to see a topic on retirement planning for those of us who are younger, (22-35 or 22-40). The Plan B post had a few comments that touched on this but I would like to see more on this subject. Personally I’m in my early 30s and have managed to acquire a decent amount of retirement assets. I still will have to save more over the next few decades and even then I have no way of knowing if it will be enough. The reason I have been able to save as much as I have is because I am not married and don’t have kids. It seems like the choice is between a secure retirement and having a family. I’m curious to see what everyone else has to say on the subject.”
One said, “I would be interested in the discussion of buying a house FOR RETIREMENT. Watching my sick and elderly father bounce from sublet to sublet on a fixed income (and sometimes ending up on one of his kid’s couches) after being evicted from his apartment got me thinking that owning your residence (not being mortgaged up the wazoo) IS a good retirement plan. And it is forced savings.”
“When you are old, you have 3 basic needs: housing, food, and medical care. OK, 4 - you need family or community, human connection. Many of my generation (genx) and class (middle/lower middle) have been priced out of housing in the past decade. Unless we work for yahoo or google, we are looking at raising our kids AND retiring in rentals. Honestly, I want to grow old and relax in my PAID OFF home. Is that too much to ask for??”
“And yes, we might have been able to afford a house if we were a childless couple. But cute as they are, them little ‘uns are costly.”
A reply, “My human connection with my neighbors is answering questions on fixing their cars/refrigerators/lawnmovers/motorcycles, and getting my expensive tools back when I’ve loaned them out.”
“My dream home will be situated about 50 miles west of Lubbock, on the Llano Estacado.”
Another said, “I know people who ended up moving almost at a rate of once a year because of landlords having financial problems. None of them are elderly and it’s annoying enough for them. I can’t imagine having to move between rentals at that rate as an elderly person.”
“Being financially secure for retirement is one thing but what about security in general? My parents are getting up there in years and things like power of attorney falls on me because I’m their only child and they’re both only children. That works for them but what about when I’m old? Being financially secure won’t help if/when I get dementia.”
“The problem for someone who is my age is that I have to pick financial security in retirement or family and children. You can’t have both.”
My Fox Twin Cities. “The FOX 9 Investigators followed Jeff and Kathy Richardson through one of the most difficult days of their lives. On this day, they were racing to pack their life’s possessions before the sheriff showed up to evict them from their home. ‘Hanging in there. It’s kind of sad,’ said Jeff while walking through the house he bought right out of college.”
“After 30 hours of packing boxes and moving their possessions to storage and their temporary home, the couple had some choices to make. ‘What (are) the most valuable things that we can not live without — and we loaded those first so that if the Sheriff came before that, we would go, ‘Okay Fine.’ We can live without those other things or we can replace them, so that’s hard,’ said Kathy.”
“The Lakeville couple spent months trying to get a mortgage modification and save their house from foreclosure. It’s important to note that this couple didn’t deliberately get in over their head. ‘My mom called up and said she went in (to the hospital) and hospice told her she had two months to live,’ Jeff said.”
“Jeff, who is self employed, said he lost several clients — and incurred extra expenses — because driving back and forth to Montana to take care of his dying mother. In the process, he and Kathy got behind about $5,000 on their mortgage. What made the whole situation such a big mess, according to Jeff, is when the bank representative told him he would not face foreclosure while trying to get a modification.”
“‘This guy said, ‘If you give me the paperwork, we won’t foreclose on you as long as you’re in the process,’ recalled Jeff.”
“The bank did foreclose on the Richardsons, taking the home, the equity and the couple’s peace of mind.”
The Courier-Journal. “When Eamon and Mary Margaret Mulvihill moved into their condo in Audubon Woods in 2008, they were the second family to call the development home. Three years later, they’re among the investors hoping the economic climate has improved enough to attract some new neighbors. The upscale five-story building has 40 total units that range from about 1,700 square feet to 2,500 square feet, but its original developer, Louisville-based Renaissance Development, sold less than half of them and couldn’t get additional loans to finish construction.”
“‘Hopefully, we’re on a move in the right direction now,’ said Mary Margaret Mulvihill, a former Louisville alderwoman who retired in 1997 as administrator of the city’s human services department.”
“Audubon Woods got its financing through Patten Sales and Marketing, which is now working aggressively to sell the condos, doing everything from dropping prices to taking out full-page newspaper ads. Patten has purchased full-page ads in The Courier-Journal to promote the development and to draw attention to a two-bedroom unit the developer planned to sell April 30 for $200,000. A similar unit recently sold for $352,540.”
“The Mulvihills paid a pre-construction price of $315,000 in 2008. But she said she understood because the recession was causing problems for developers in the nation. ‘I like to go out there to read on a nice, sunny day,’ said Eamon Mulvihill, 69, who retired as controller of the Kentucky State Fair Board in 1995 after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.”
“Their spacious condo gives Eamon Mulvihill plenty of room to move around in his wheelchair. The couple moved there from Greenleaf Drive, which is just north of Audubon Park. Mary Margaret Mulvihill said she hopes more Audubon area residents will move to the condos as they get older, calling it ‘fabulous living’ that requires much less property maintenance.”
“‘It’s like living at a resort,’ she said.”
