[earlyretirement]

[quote=carli]As someone who lived in Manhattan for many years, witnessed 9/11, lost several dear friends and actually came to SD partly to escape the constant nagging feeling that we’d forever be living in fear and paranoia of another event like that, I see both sides. I think that the media coverage can feel like hype, causing all the special personal details of each person lost (and all those who died or were forever changed in the tragic wars that followed) to be brushed over and forgotten. And then there’s also the (valid) criticism about what’s the big deal, why not focus as much attention on, for example, those who’ve died from the famine in Somalia or countless other tragedies or wars?

But for me, after I try to take my personal experience out of the equation, I think the reason it’s such a significant event and one that our country can’t help but obsess over every year around the anniversary, is that it was the dividing line between a time of blissful ignorance and a real loss of innocence. And I think for most, the fact that this even happened is still a shock and almost surreal, as if, 10 years later, we’re still trying to process it. Who the hell ever thought that people would fly airplanes into buildings to kill people, and not just any people, but U.S. citizens?! Crazy.

Personally and very selfishly, I’d be much more comfortable not dredging up the intense sorrow I feel every year thinking about that day and those that closely followed, but on the other hand, I think it’s inevitable and probably necessary.[/quote]

Carli,

This is an excellent post and I totally agree with it 100%. I lost several friends in the financial world on 9/11. It’s hard to believe 10 years went by so quickly.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=jpinpb]ATT worked on our i-Pad, but very slow. Went down a couple of times, then worked again. Texting was not a problem at all on my cell and my DH w/T-Mo. Made a few phone calls and had a few phone calls, as well. No problems.[/quote]

I have AT&T on my Ipad but it was so slow even emails weren’t coming through or I couldn’t send. Occasionally it would download some newspaper subscriptions I have like USA Today and Wall Street Journal but it wasn’t working at all flatlined signal until about 9 PM.

[earlyretirement]

I’m not sure about Lumber Liquidators. I just signed a contract with Jim’s guy and paid the deposit today. Jim was right these guys are true professionals. Always on-time and showed up when they said they would.

They came out and took full measurements. I wanted to get an exact match of the hardwood flooring below but they don’t manufacture it anymore. But they got the closest match and ordered a sample so I could see it.

I just paid the deposit today. Not cheap at $20,500+ for just upstairs and the stairway but so far so good with their customer service. I’ll post an update once they finish the job and post some before and after photos.

Thanks again Jim….

[earlyretirement]

I know this is an old thread revived but I’ll throw in my 2 cents.

First of all, the financing rates on new Audis have come WAY down. Almost all of the dealers now have 1.9% on 36 months or 2.9% on 48 months. Same as BMW.

I bought an Audi Q7 TDI a few months ago and absolutely love it. I’ve never owned an Audi before so didn’t know what to expect but I went with it for the simple fact that out of all the SUV’s that I test drove I looked the look (inside and outside) of it vs. others. Plus I needed 3 row potential for the kids.

My wife was going to buy an Audi A4 and test drove both it and the BMW 328i and she preferred the Audi A4 but all the 2012 that she wanted would have meant a 4 month wait while they ordered it. The local dealerships had a few in the color that she wanted but none of them had the premium package with rear camera/ GPS, etc.

It’s funny as I asked my buddy that works at a local Audi dealership why no one has these premium package. I figured that most people would want GPS, etc. He said that most of the people in San Diego buying A4’s barely can afford them. He said almost all are financing them and they are buying them for the “status” of owning an Audi and they can’t even afford the car let alone the premium packages, etc. I thought that was really telling and interesting.

She ended up going with a BMW simply for the fact that she also liked it and also it was in stock (they ordered it from another dealership and transporting it here). It had all the bells and whistles she wanted).

I’ve owned a BMW before and really loved it and hassle free. Hopefully I don’t have problems with the Audi. Judging from the negative posts here it sounds like it’s better to get rid of it before the 4 year 50,000 warranty ends.

But so far really loving it. Great car.

I agree with the others about leasing. I’ve never leased a car in my life and never plan to. Unless your company is paying for the lease it almost never makes sense. Switching cars every 2 years for the newest model is a horrible use of money. I typically will drive a car until it runs into the ground or I move and don’t want to deal with transporting it.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=ocrenter]http://www.bubbleinfo.com/2011/05/12/mello-roos-to-increase/

what is the exact financial structure and soundness of the Santaluz golf club/gym/spa? what is the larger Santaluz community’s financial obligation to the club/gym/spa? .[/quote]

I just got the Annual Audit Report for the year ending in April 30, 2011 so I thought I’d post an update on this topic.

“The Replacement Fund in which Santaluz Maintenance Association accumulates money to repair or replace all of the associations major assets, finished the fiscal year funded at 100% with a balance of $3,394,098. This places Santaluz in the top one tenth of one percent of community associations in California and the nation and insures that as the roadways, gate facilities, landscaping and other common elements require major maintenance or replacement, the funding will be there”.

As far as I can see the Association is very well run and managed. There are always workers out working on the landscaping and they just resurfaced the street by my house. Also, they got rid of the old transponders to open the gates and put in modern stickers for cars that open all gates.

Everything is very well run and I’m happy with my decision to buy here.

Also, a VERY small world. since I moved to the area, I had to find a new primary care doctor. I just went in for a physical exam and to meet my doctor and we were chatting and it turns out he lives a block away from me at Santaluz… Small world…

[earlyretirement]

Nope, I use TMobile and it barely worked. I would be able to dial out and then it would quit. I have Blackberry service on it as well and even that wasn’t working so I couldn’t send emails. Occasionally I’d get an email or 2 come in but I couldn’t respond to them.

I woke up with hundreds of emails……

[earlyretirement]

[quote=edna_mode]@earlyretirement: is there someway to name your frequent flyer account as an asset to pass on to your descendants? I know British Airways allows householding of flyer accounts, but it would sure suck to die with X00,000 miles and not be able to pass that on.

With that in mind, realize that miles are another type of floating currency WHICH IS NOT PEGGED TO THE DOLLAR (unlike credit card “points” or Southwest’s “points” program). The accessibility of the miles to the flight you want, when you want it, is not guaranteed. British Airways is doing this right now with their program (go see thepointsguy.com if you want all the gory details)

So: earn miles and burn em as fast as you can, is my philosophy. Thus you must have vacation time, be able to plan far in advance to use the miles…or be comfortable burning the miles for non-flight stuff.[/quote]

Hi Edna,

To be honest, I’m not sure if American Airlines allows you to pass on miles to your heirs. I know some airlines do and some don’t. I just read an article on this subject not long ago here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2011/07/13/how-to-pass-on-your-frequent-flyer-miles/

I think a good strategy is to just make sure your family has your username/frequent flyer # and password to your account. I typically book my awards online for my family members typically bypassing any agents on the phone unless the itinerary is complicated. And then they email tickets so it would be a good idea to leave your password to your email account too.

You can always go to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage-445/ and I’m sure the answer is there. Those guys know EVERYTHING there is to know about the American Airlines AAdvantage program.

I agree with your strategy to burn miles as many miles as you can. I try to burn through as many miles as I can and it’s not difficult when you are traveling with a family of 4 or using them to upgrade. Still I have over a million miles sitting in my account that I’ll use for future flights. I’ve not had problems using them planning far enough ahead of time.

Also, I didn’t in any way want to try to say this was the best ROI. Not by a long shot. Only for those that have cash sitting around that don’t want to enter the stock market, don’t want to put them in riskier type investments or major purchase like real estate.

For those that have cash sitting around that they don’t want to roll over into another low paying CD, I’ve found it great and manage to get a great ROI with how I use them.

Good luck.

[earlyretirement]

Josh,

I agree with the others. Don’t even worry about what this ignorant neighbor thinks. I think it makes great sense if you don’t mind having someone live with you.

My neighbor many years ago was fairly well to do and did the same thing. Not only for the income but she traveled quite a bit and she always loved that someone trustworthy was there to watch the house.

She did set a few ground rules. She only rented to University students or recent university graduates and only rented to females.

I was actually single at the time so I loved it as she always seemed to find the cutest girls! Ha, ha. Seriously though, it worked out great for her. I think she was charging something like $800 a month and this was back about ten years ago.

She always rented to really great students and the students got to live in a great area in an amazing house. My neighbor always traveled with the extra money.

Her kids were all in college, she was divorced and I think part of it was she was lonely as well so the company was great. But I always thought it was smart.

Don’t waste your time worrying what other people think about the situation. Definitely it’s a good plan.

Me personally I could never do it. Even when I was single and living alone and had a big house I always liked my privacy but I think it’s a great option for people that have the space and need the income just as long as you are carefully screening the people that will live with you and you also set some guidelines and rules for them.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=kev374]So I have $250,000 in savings parked in cash right now earning 1.9% in a CD that’s due to expire soon. I’m just so confused what to do. I don’t want to invest in stocks as I’m not sure the market is in a bubble condition and about to retract soon. I don’t want to invest in gold as it has risen to maniacal levels and i’m not sure if that is a bubble as well.

Given inflation exceeding interest rates (due to our government’s fiscal policies) my nest egg is losing value and i’m not quite sure what exactly to do.

I don’t want to consult a finacial adviser because I personally think most of them are ignorant and don’t know much more than anyone else on this form. I also know many people who have been given extremely bad advice by financial advisers and have lost of lot of their net worth due to them.

I would like to know what you guys in a similar situation as myself are doing to protect the value of your savings.[/quote]

Hey Kev374,

I know lots of people in your situation that don’t want to be in the stock market or already cashed out of gold already and don’t want to get in at these prices.

I’ve mentioned this before on another post but I’d recommend probably sticking it in an account where you will earn Frequent flyer miles. Look at one like this:

http://bankdirect.com/products/checkingmileage.aspx

You will earn plenty of miles. CD’s are paying almost nothing these days anyway. You can rack up plenty of miles per year. Even if you don’t fly much, odds are you probably know family/friends that do. It’s against the rules to “sell” your miles but you can easily barter with your friends or family for them and earn MUCH more than the puny rates you are going to earn in a savings account or CD.

Not only that but the best bang for the buck is using the miles to upgrade to business or first class on international flights. I’ve used upgrades many times on international flights that were worth as much as $7,000 or more.

Also, check out the One World Awards using American Airlines miles. GREAT use of miles if you plan an around the world trip or even a trip with many stops. You can read up on it here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage/433366-oneworld-awards-using-american-airlines-miles-info-not-info-all-partner-awards.html

I’ve done a few of those before and flown around in business or first class on miles I’ve earned in these accounts and a GREAT use of miles, IMHO.

Plus the best part is the miles aren’t taxable…. so it’s tax free “income” vs. the puny rates that you will earn in a CD that will also be taxed.

The banks like Bank Direct have devalued big amounts and made the program more limited compared to before. Before, you could stick in a million or more and earn massive amounts of miles each month. Same at BBVA Compass (old Guaranty Bank). Many of us are fortunate enough to have been grandfathered in at BBVA where we still get miles in our savings accounts. But they devalued them there as well. $100,000 used to earn 10,000 miles per month but now it’s 5,555 miles per month.

These accounts are FDIC insured so no worries there. Plus you can add on your wife and kids as POD beneficiaries so you can easily get the protection levels up. But you’re guaranteed anyway to $250,000 so you’re good.

This is something that is kind of idiot proof. You don’t have to do anything and you get the miles. Plus you can pull the money out whenever you want. No long-term commitments. The low interest rate environment will stick around for the next few years so it won’t make sense to roll it over in a new CD.

I fly pretty much non-stop so these miles are really valuable to me. Maybe not so much for you. But I still know friends and clients that I’ve recommended these programs to and they absolutely LOVE it. It’s typically not difficult to find people that can use these miles.

This would be the easy thing to do vs. any other major investment that has risks like buying a house, etc.

Good luck!

[earlyretirement]

[quote=pri_dk]If you can successfully fake it your entire life, is that any different than actually having it?

I know some people that I suspect are faking it, but it never seems to catch up to them.

So, either they are not faking it, or perhaps they are so good at faking it that it doesn’t matter that they are faking it.[/quote]

I don’t think it really matters what your friends/neighbors have or don’t have. As long as it’s not affecting you then it doesn’t matter at all.

I don’t base my friendships with people based on their net worth. So it doesn’t really matter to me. But I do have some people that I know that this kind of thing is really important for them to know.

However, the people that are typically faking it usually has it catch up with them at some point. I once had a neighbor that I assumed was doing very well….he lived right across the street from me, drove a Mercedes, kids were in expensive private schools and one day I found out he and his family moved away in the middle of the night. It seems he was in the middle of a foreclosure and rather than stick around to face the music and shame…he just moved…. He didn’t even say bye to anyone.

Of course this was back in 2003 when foreclosures and short sales wasn’t totally normal like they are now… Now you have people almost bragging in newspaper articles about not paying rent for 30 months like something they are proud of….

[earlyretirement]

Check out American National Insurance company based here in San Diego. Their rates were really great and customer service was wonderful. PM me if you want and I’ll send you contact information for my agent.

[earlyretirement]

Yep, the others provide good advice and I agree with it.

Amounts for umbrella coverage just depend on your personal situation and the amount of assets you have/own. Obviously, the more you have, the more umbrella coverage you want to get.

No reason to hold a multi million umbrella coverage policy if you have little assets, IMHO. Coverage is very affordable these days.

I do think you can buy stand alone coverage but most places will ask you to have minimum amounts on your car, home, etc. as flu mentioned. It’s always cheaper to bundle it all together.

[earlyretirement]

No doubt there is a lot of wealth but I agree there is probably an equal amount of fake wealth as well in North County.

Even in affluent neighborhoods. I was surprised to read in the annual report of the HOA where I live, which they recently released, that they just wrote off $676,075 in uncollected assessments resulting from 3 years of foreclosures and bankruptcies. “Amounts left owing due to foreclosures have been pursued and about 60 personal debt judgements have been secured. Collection on these debts continues”.

These are mostly $1 million on up houses in this development where I live. So I’m sure that the neighbors assumed that these 60 people that have debt judgements against them were truly wealthy but I guess that wasn’t the case.

Often times it’s really impossible to know if someone is truly wealthy or faking it. Just look at shows like Real Housewives of Orange County or Real Housewives of Beverly Hills where these people are blowing insane amounts of money on expensive watches, expensive cars, live in nice places. Only to see that several are faking it and spending money they don’t have. Losing their houses in foreclosures, and one so called Venture Capitalist just committed suicide due to financial woes.

This is a guy who spent $60,000 on his 4 year old daughter’s birthday last year! I think California is full of these “keeping up with the Jones” types. Very sad.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=svelte]My wife and I wind down weeknights by watching House Hunters International.

Fairly often, it shows people buying a vacation home in a seaside community somewhere…we always shake our head – they’ve just locked themselves into taking all their vacations at that one location.

Also don’t quite understand how it can be cost effective, unless they plan on living several months out of the year there.[/quote]

Svelte,

I agree it’s not always wise to buy a place overseas. Take anything you see on those HGTV shows with a grain of salt. Most people don’t realize but they are all fairly “fake”. All of the properties are already purchased before the show airs. The production company can’t take a chance the deal won’t go through so in many of these cases the shows are faked and the properties are long purchased/owned. Plus all the properties they are going around to for comparison are also typically fake and many times the realtor’s house, friend of the realtor, friend of the property owner, etc.

I’m not saying all those HGTV shows are fake but those HGTV House Hunter’s International shows are just about all fake pretending to be buying a place. They are already long since owned in many cases with them moving out furniture out of each room to film it.

Keep in mind that many of these owners that are buying 2nd homes are renting them when they aren’t using them. And that can help maintain it during the year. Even in expensive locations, renting the properties can pay for the entire year’s worth of expenses.

For example, in one of my 2nd homes, I rented it out for up to $8,000 a week during high season. And I got it too. But it came to a point where I couldn’t even enjoy my own property because I couldn’t justify to myself turning vacation rentals down for $5,000 to $8,000 a week. So it’s a catch 22.

Owning a property overseas for many people is NOT about it being cost effective. Many times it simply is NOT. Without renting it out while you aren’t using it, you are stuck maintaining it.

I own several properties overseas but I rent out each and every one of them and it more than pays for themselves plus generates income even after accounting for management fees, utility bills, insurance, local income taxes on the rental income, annual property taxes, plus accounting for paying income tax here in the USA.

It just depends on the locations but many people aren’t buying overseas and thinking about it being cost effective.

Also, many of these people buying are wealthy and it doesn’t matter to them if they are losing money on it. In fact, I sold my beach house after one of the European guests that I had really loved it. He made an offer I couldn’t refuse and last I heard he only uses it a week or so per year and not sure if he is renting it out.

Also, you can also do home exchanges via sites like http://www.homeexchange.com We’ve done some amazing exchanges around the world where we will swap a small apartment for luxurious properties in places like Manhattan, Paris, London, Maui, Monte Carlo, Nice, Zurich and many others.

I realize that is NOT the norm but you can find creative ways to make the most of the property and maximize your ROI.

But I DEFINITELY agree with you that you really have to think twice before you buy a property overseas and also know ALL the laws and also what the taxes are like in each country. Many times abroad, no one tells you what the tax consequences are, or they flat out lie to you about it.

I’ve seen Americans buy a property because it was “cheap”. But then they never pay their property tax or municipal taxes for years and years and have problems when they sell.

In many countries, you do NOT get any bill in the mail. It’s your responsibility to hire an accountant to file the taxes. No one ever mentioned this to you but you find out when you sell.

Also, in some countries you have to get a permit to sell the property which isn’t always so easy. So it really makes sense to think all of these things through before buying abroad.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=Happs]I mentioned this video in another post a few months ago on here about the topic of retiring/moving to Costa Rica. Moving/Retiring to a foreign country is not necessarily a panacea or paradise. Food for thought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMKT5pGDvSo%5B/quote%5D

I missed this post first time around. I just watched the video and this guy makes good and valid points about living and retiring abroad.

The things he is totally spot on target is that you can’t go by what the “locals make”. Many people retiring hear that the “median income in X country is X dollars”. They hear that and they think it sounds dirt cheap and they can move here and make it.

The biggest problem is the “median income” in some countries includes tremendous amounts of poverty and the vast majority of Americans can NOT live like the typical local. No way no how. Most Americans are accustomed to a certain quality of life and it would be next to impossible for many of them expecting to get by for what a local can get by for.

Also, other misnomers that people easily mistake is they hear things like “healthcare is guaranteed and free for people in this country”. The reality in many countries is that the free hospitals are horrible and you wouldn’t want to get stuck or depend on them. And most of the middle class on up, have private medical insurance which isn’t cheap. So you have to investigate all the ins and outs of the healthcare system in foreign countries.

The biggest part of that video that I agreed with is the “Mañana Mañana Mañana” mentality that you will see in much of Latin America. Customer service simply doesn’t exist in much of Latin America and other parts of the world. At least not like the USA, where there are consumer protection agencies and tons of competition.

Cable broken? Mañana can mean 2 or 3 weeks. Gas problem in the building? It can literally mean 2 MONTHS to get it fixed. Even in wealthy neighborhoods where the affluent live. Or even having your high speed internet go out for weeks at a time. And no matter how much you argue with the company, sometimes there isn’t anything you can do.

Not everyone can deal with these sort of things. What I’d recommend for anyone thinking about permanently retiring in any certain country is going to live there for several months first and seeing how it is.

I know many people that retired to a place they vacation in year after year but they are only there a few weeks per year and that isn’t enough time to see all of the problems in that destination.

I’m not saying it’s all negatives because it’s not. But you have to be super realistic before you leave the USA to go retire somewhere else.

[Author]

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