[quote=Petey1]I agree backup plans are needed but at some point you just have to live your life and enjoy what you have. I have had great luck with rental properties. I used to worry about all the little things that could happen but now realize you can just walk away and start over. I did sell a few and diversify my money.
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I agree with you about just living your life and have stated so multiple times on these forums. In terms of rental property, I know many people who have done well with them (in the past) and continue to do so. That is changing or will be changing for many landords though. I'm a landlord myself and I haven't lost any money yet but as I said, it's been my poorest investment, both in terms of monetary returns and in terms of time invested. I think a lot depends on one's personality too. We've delegated management because we just don't want to be bothered with unplugging someone's toilet at inconvenient times. Plus, I don't deal very well with foolish people who do foolish things and then whine and complain about it. For example, someone who dumps food down a bathroom sink and then complains when it gets plugged up. But if one has the personality to deal directly with this type of silliness, in many areas, one can do OK or even well. We have a local, very nice, extremely well managed, large apartment complex that has the highest occupancy rate in the state. People don't leave. You have to wait until they die before you can get an apartment there. But the circumstances there are unique and this complex was built and established at a time that was much more fortuitous economically.
In terms of just walking away, that's more easily said than done. If you've read some of the stories popping up in the news about this issue, in many jurisdictions, you can't just walk away from your responsibilities. There are a number of legal issues that can actually cause your problems to multiply and your situation magnify into a nightmare. I can't find a link right now but the stories are out there and growing in number.
I recently became obsessed with economics when it started to dawn on me that our system for exchanging goods, services, and money is completely out of whack with any "real" value of goods and services. So naturally it is exciting to see so many other people thinking about these same things.
This is the tip of a much larger conversation than can fit in a comment. But in a nutshell, I think that we need an objective system for rating the value of any good or service based on actual resources used to produce it. Much like transparency of nutritional information is a basic requirement for any food packaging, I think that complete transparency of resources will be instrumental in creating the shift in perspective needed to get our money in sync with our actual wealth. The implications of such transparency are far-reaching.
I look forward to reading "The Wealth of Nature".
Similar to my plan. Family farm in E Iowa (my Mom grew up on it). We had a big family reunion on the farm last July, and several of the family members there (my Mom's bro still farms it with the help of one of his sons – and the other lives juuust down the road with his family and helps out at harvest with the combining, etc.) made subtly clear in conversation that I'm always welcome back on the farm. Nobody wanted to discuss the 3Es outright other than in generalities, but they're sharp enough (if reticent conversationally – that's very "Iowa": less talk, more Do) to smell what's coming.
So if it came to a seriously heinous collapsey-type sitch, I'd up stakes and head to Flyover country. That's a major security blanket for me in the wee hours of the Dark Night of the Soul… [gentle grin]
Viva – Sager