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On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 15:28:38 -0500, John H
wrote:

On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 11:17:22 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 21 Nov 2017 09:13:27 -0500,
wrote:

On Mon, 20 Nov 2017 22:15:21 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 20 Nov 2017 19:12:12 -0500, Alex wrote:

Too many people spend every dime they make, don't take advantage of
401K's, and wonder how they are going to retire on SS alone.

I also wonder how anyone over 50 or so with a mortgage and car
payments ever expects to retire. I paid cash for my house here in 84
and I paid off my mortgage on the condo in 1990. I haven't had a car
payment since the Nixon administration. In spite of all of that I
sound like a pauper when I hear how much money you guys make.

===

Smart borrowing, i.e., borrowing to buy an appreciating asset is good
business when you can earn a higher return than your after tax
interest cost. Even if you can afford to pay cash, borrowing makes
sense if you can invest your cash at a higher return.

That probably describes a house, particularly a second home or a
rental but not necessarily your residence unless you want to sell it
and downsize or live in your car in your old age.
Your home is not your piggy bank., We should have learned that a
decade ago.
Cars, boats and just about every other toy is not going to be an
appreciating asset. It is just an expense and you do not want that to
be an expense that you also pay interest on. Rationalizing that you
invested the money you spent on your toys and the interest is zero
only says you have more money than you need. That does not describe
most Americans and if the **** does hit the fan, as can happen to the
retired, you lose your toys. If that is your car, it is a significant
loss.
Normal people should not be going into retirement with debt unless
they have the liquid assets to pay that debt off ... and that is rare.

Personally I like the idea that I can cut back on the luxuries I pay
cash for and live very cheap if I need to because I don't owe anyone
any money.

Downsizing wouldn't bother me a bit! I'd love to have a smaller house and a much smaller, or
non-existent yard. I could find something to spend the extra on, even if it's just grandkids'
education.

You sound like a condo man. I thought about it for about a nanosecond
when I had both but I decided to go with the house. I want more space
around me and a lot more privacy.
Irma did me a pretty big favor because it allowed me to appropriate
the FPL right of way behind the house and effectively triple the size
of my back yard although I was using a lot of it anyway.
FPL pretty much abandoned accessing that area when the gopher
tortoises took it over. It is a briar patch just north of me now that
a rabbit might have trouble getting through but between Irma and I
just hacking away at it, the whole area under the power lines is
pretty clear behind my house. I have been working on the exotic
vegetation from here to the river (another 250-300 feet) for years and
that is pretty clear too. I am thinking it will make a nice run for
the dog. There is a canal on both sides so it is really only
accessible from my yard.
I am going up there with my weed eater some day soon and start
whacking away at that area. It will give me an extra acre, tax free
;-)
Most of my neighbors up the street before the berm starts have been
using FPL as their own for decades. FPL says, as long as they do not
block the access, they don't care. It is about two houses up that have
let it go and in the last 3 or 4 years it has really gotten ugly.
Nobody comes down here anymore. We used to get hikers but the briars
stop them now. I may go north and fertilize the sticker bushes ;-)
I should have my niece send me some good old Southern Maryland
blackberry bushes. That is like razor coil.