Places Where You Can Retire on $200,000 and Feel Rich

[stewie]

11.42%. If it looks to good to be true, then it probably is.

[lightguy]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Most of the wealth disparity issue, we see today is the media playing class war games telling people they are so poor because others have done well rather than telling them to do better.

How does someone living in the most prosperous economy in modern times, in the most powerful nation, with almost full employment get to feel trod upon and "unequal" ?

Why compare everyone with American Billionaires... not your neighbors.

Its revolting to watch the press and politicians play mind games with simple people.
Stirring discontent for ratings or votes.

[stewie]

I take my comments back about 11% being too good to be true. Lending Club is a very respectable institution.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by stewie

11.42%. If it looks to good to be true, then it probably is.

Citizens of the top richest countries should not have to concern themselves about such details, than the line-item pricing of their hospital bills.

Absolutely criminal IMO the predations USians just accept as "normal". . .

[roam]

Originally Posted by stewie

11.42%. If it looks to good to be true, then it probably is.

Lending Club lets you choose how much risk your willing to accept. I think the long term return is closer to 8%. I'm a pretty cautious investor so have only invested a small amount of money with them so far.

If there are other and safer avenues to getting close to a 10% return on a relatively small investment I'm all ears.

https://www.lendingclub.com/investin...s/how-it-works

[roam]

Originally Posted by stewie

I take my comments back about 11% being too good to be true. Lending Club is a very respectable institution.

Cool, I'm pretty much a lamb in the woods when it comes to investing and am currently just trying to save a $100k so i can purchase a nice boat. It irks me to see my money sitting in my savings account not getting any sort of return but I'm too chicken to place it all in my lending club account.

[a64pilot]

Obviously the greater the return, the higher the risk.
All I can say is diversify, have another source of income besides the investments, and be debt free.
If it hits the fan and the market crashes, we will be hurt, but as I have other income sources we would survive, if we had significant debt? Then maybe we wouldn’t.
Other people make money off of you if you have debt, these are major corporations, and in my opinion the likelihood that I’ll outsmart them isn’t real high, so I try to avoid debt.

My belief is that if you can’t buy something without going into debt, is that you can’t afford whatever it is.

If you look back into history at who has done well in hard times, it’s very seldom those that have significant debt, they most often go under.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Dave9111

...Until we fix the medical system in the US, unless you have a BIG wad of cash in the bank, or a really healthy pension, you are at risk of burning your retirement saving in a very short time if you have major issues.

Completely agree. I speak from a Canadian perspective. Given American healthcare insurance costs, I’m amazed any middle class person can chose a cruising life.

Originally Posted by Dave9111

And according to the graph and the retirement of the baby boomers its only going to get worse for many of us.

I believe this is true.

Originally Posted by a64pilot

...My belief is that if you can’t buy something without going into debt, is that you can’t afford whatever it is.

THIS .

I live by this. I owe nothing, so no one owns me. If it all goes belly -up, we (I and she) can manage on very little. But we live very well regardless. Tonight I’m sipping a craft grapefruit IPA, and will enjoy a fine ripasso over a dinner of moose stew. What could be better

[daletournier]

If you look back into history at who has done well in hard times, it’s very seldom those that have significant debt, they most often go under.

An old bloke I respect once said to me " Dale no one ever went broke by having to little debt"

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Dave9111

I have a friend in the USA - Midwest who is trying to live on $21K of SS income plus some other minor income and its not working. With any medical issues (which he has) it just buries him. Until we fix the medical system in the US, unless you have a BIG wad of cash in the bank, or a really healthy pension, you are at risk of burning your retirement saving in a very short time if you have major issues.

Honestly I think he would do a lot better in Mexico, but that's not happening. The US can be a hostile place for low income folks.

And according to the graph and the retirement of the baby boomers its only going to get worse for many of us.

So he's on Social Security, but not medicare or medicaid?


Seems like the numbers don't add up.

[sailorboy1]

If I read this thread slower I would probably get depressed

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Obviously the greater the return, the higher the risk.
All I can say is diversify, have another source of income besides the investments, and be debt free.
If it hits the fan and the market crashes, we will be hurt, but as I have other income sources we would survive, if we had significant debt? Then maybe we wouldn’t.
Other people make money off of you if you have debt, these are major corporations, and in my opinion the likelihood that I’ll outsmart them isn’t real high, so I try to avoid debt.

My belief is that if you can’t buy something without going into debt, is that you can’t afford whatever it is.

If you look back into history at who has done well in hard times, it’s very seldom those that have significant debt, they most often go under.

I agree completely and would like to add something.

Has anyone ever stopped to think what a credit report is?

It's nothing more than a measure of how likely you are you make a bank or other large corporation money.

[sailorboy1]

I look at it more that it's a measure of whether you have the character to borrow and then pay back on your commitment. It's not the banks fault if they make make money because they took the risk that you had good character. But it is a measure of your character if you don't pay it back.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Obviously the greater the return, the higher the risk.
All I can say is diversify, have another source of income besides the investments, and be debt free.
If it hits the fan and the market crashes, we will be hurt, but as I have other income sources we would survive, if we had significant debt? Then maybe we wouldn’t.
Other people make money off of you if you have debt, these are major corporations, and in my opinion the likelihood that I’ll outsmart them isn’t real high, so I try to avoid debt.

My belief is that if you can’t buy something without going into debt, is that you can’t afford whatever it is.

If you look back into history at who has done well in hard times, it’s very seldom those that have significant debt, they most often go under.

Of course there is debt and there is debt. If everyone followed this line of thinking then only the richest of us would ever be able to purchase a house. After all, most places your mortgage is about the same as your rent would be on the same place and given you gotta have a place to live, why not own it after 30 years of paying out a given cash stream vice having nothing? Plus fixed rate mortgages fix your payments, if you were saving up to buy a house in the San Fran area 30 years ago you'd be much further from your goal today than when you started, no matter the diligence.

In many cases being overly conservative can be just as bad or worse than being profligate when it comes to financial planning. It's just important to know which type of borrowing is wise, which isn't, and at the end of the day to realize that while doing something unwise like buying a boat may be the second worst financial decision anyone can make (behind buying an airplane!), maybe wise financial decisions aren't all there is to life. Your saying about looking back in history at who has done well in hard times makes me remember the quote “A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.”

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I look at it more that it's a measure of whether you have the character to borrow and then pay back on your commitment. It's not the banks fault if they make make money because they took the risk that you had good character. But it is a measure of your character if you don't pay it back.

Ah, but in most cases the banks DON’T take any real risk. Most of the time they allow you to borrow against established assets which are put up as collateral. For large loans they buy insurance (often at the borrower’s cost) to cover any default. And they are first in line for repayment in the case of bankruptcy.

The fact is, banks take absolutely minimal risk on most loans, yet they reap most of the rewards.