Real Estate and Early Retirement: A Personal Experience

[RonPrice 10]

From the age of 55 to 65 I gradually took an early retirement, by stages, first from FT, then PT, and finally casual-volunteer work. Little by little and day by day, I headed for the world of a writer and author, and the roles I have listed above. By the age of 65 in 2009, I was able to go on two old-age pensions, one from Canada where I had worked at FT & PT jobs from 1950 to 1971. My 2nd pension is from the Australian governnment. I worked in Australia from 1971 until I was able to gradually free myself from the 60 to 70 hours a week which were involved in my FT employment from the early 1970s to the end of 1990s. Those 2 old-age pensions, as well as income from a small group of stocks and investments, now bring-in some $34,000/annum.

This $34,000 that now comes in to our coffers annually is enough for my wife and I to live on since: (a) we have our home completely paid-for; (b) we have little debt, and © we live frugally. In 2012, three years ago now as I write this update, we took-out a $20,000 reverse mortgage, our only debt now, in order: (i) to pay-off all our other debts, & (ii) to be able to handle big-ticket-cost items like: car expenses & household repairs, gifts for needy family members & birthdays for many members of our immediate & extended family, big doctor & dentist bills, as well as the occasional bit of retail therapy. Such a form of therapy, retail therapy, also and arguably western civilization's most popular art-form, has especially been the case for my wife who has taken-care of our domestic & family requirements during our 40 years together, 1975 to 2015. I earned the money, & she organized the spending of it; this was & is an arrangement I have always been happy with, & an important part of what has made our marriage last some of the inevitable tests of time.

 

Of this $20,000, to which I refer above, some $3,000 remains as of this 10th day of July 2015 Downunder. We also own a handful of stocks which have a net-worth of some $3000 to $4000 depending on their currently fluctuating stock market values. In addition, we own a house and property valued at $270,000 to $330,000, again, depending on the market. We also have a guesstimated $25,000 in 'other assets' like: fixtures and furniture, art and antiques, plant and equipment, an assortment of business and electronic equipment, car and clothes, intangible assets like this website and my other online writing. It's a miscellany of memorabilia & domestic necessities. Several studies have shown that households of those people now in their 70s in Australia have enjoyed a significant increase in their wealth; compared to generations X, Y, Z, or alpha, war-babies like myself have had a good run. I don't want to go into the fine details comparing the financial life of the generations in Australia going back to, say, the Silent Generation, and the previous generations. Suffice it to say, my wife and I are comfortable with our pensions and our home paid-for, even though our money-in-the-bank does not allow us to go on expensive trips, or engage in extended retail therapy. For an excellent overview of the advantages of the generation I was born into go to this link:http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/2/7/economy/baby-boomers-have-failed-doomed-generation