Thank you MrExtrm and DanMarino - those are good ballpark figures, that helps me figure it out.
Yes, I'll also do my own research by trying to see availability from the renter's end on the areas / types of houses I'm thinking about.

Yes, it is in the black.

Good luck! This housing market is nuts. I'm in Central Florida and Opendoor keeps upping their offers. They started at ~$270K a little over a year ago. The last offer was $372K a week ago. A home just like mine with a pool, but backed up to a busy road just sold for $440K. It's a tough market to buy a house in.

Ever since I started looking on Realtor.com, I'm getting a bunch of e-mails everyday and I'm seeing many houses that seem ok to me for those purposes within my price range, but of course, location, location, location. They do typically look pretty expensive for the size but as long as the AirBnb market follows I guess that works.
I have a look at https://crimegrade.org/safest-places-in-jacksonville-fl-metro/ to try and only look at the green stuff.
Keep in mind that my primary goal is to spend only a few months (1-3) out of the year and for the rest of the time it should be AirBnB friendly, so I'm not looking for something that needs to be very large.

One thing I hadn't thought about until this weekend though is the HomeExchange thing - maybe that would be another way to get away from the Quebec winter and just have a change of scenery once in a while at little or no cost.
Still evaluating the scenarios - if the AirBnb could end up paying for itself I guess that should be my #1 plan.

I retired on 1/1/2021. I did COBRA the first year of retirement. Planning ahead, I saved up enough to live off of cash the first year in order to convert some IRAs to Roths (helping to help minimize taxes due to no work income). But because of the IRA/Roth conversions being treated as income, we wouldn't qualify for the Affordable Care Act (ACA, i.e. Obama Care) subsidies since the cliff for subsidies was around $68K. If your income went a penny above the limit on Dec 31st, you'd have to pay the subsidies back. COBRA was pricey at ~$1.1K/mn. I could have just outright bought insurance, but those had max plan limits. COBRA didn't.

Fast forward to 2022, the subsidies cliff went away (it just decreases now) and the ACA plan we signed up for is only ~$233/mn. Just a huge difference. Yes, the deductibles are very high, but if you think about it...I was essentially already paying the deductibles w/COBRA because of the high premiums, whether I got sick or not.

So far we've used the ACA plan for just minor stuff (common meds, some PT) and I have to admit...the copays are lower than our super-duper COBA plan. We may get a low cost supplemental plan for things ACA doesn't cover, but wanted to let the dust settle first.

this thread died, did everyone retire?

Current high inflation forced them all back into the workforce.

Right on lol

Retirement is transitory.

I have 8-9 years still, nothing has changed in my planning. Trying to ramp up savings for additional real estate income property, as I think a housing correction is imminent. Still plugging away at 401k and Roth maximum contributions.

Also, no extra payments on my primary mortgage!!! That 2.875% 15yr fixed is looking real nice these days..

Of all my work, biz I owned, etc, Real estate outperformed all, to reach retirement.

I've been thinking about that too (buying a 2nd home...but more of a winter 'getaway house' in a warm climate than an investment). More and more articles are showing up about mortgage applications slowing down. There's a national mortgage chain headquartered in a nearby town, and they are definitely seeing a drop in applications, resulting in some layoffs. But we're also considering just utilizing AirBnB's and traveling around might be a better option. No maintenance to worry about, water heaters to leak, roofs to replace, taxes, etc. Just keep the primary residence.

We seriously thought about buying during the 2008 dip, but didn't want to own a 2nd home 1800 miles away at that time in my career (now retired). Not sure what's going to cause another crash (i.e. loan defaults or just a big slowdown due to interest rates).

I’ve been considering the same thing for awhile now and looking at the cost of purchasing, maintaining and insuring a vacation house vs. the cost of constantly renting but not establishing any equity. When the cost of housing skyrocketed during the pandemic it was a better deal to just rent than to buy at the height of the market. But if the housing market has a correction I’ll need to crunch the numbers again.

You can make money in real estate speculation, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Lots of fees, taxes, insurance to deal with. Repairs, carrying a second mortgage, bad tenants, assessments if you have a property in a community, damage if you have storms. and appreciation is very cyclical so you could go years where prices go down and then it takes many more years to recover. If you have the stomach for it, go for it, it’s not for me.

Another plus of AirBnB would be to let you experience a lot of other locations so if you do decide to get a 2nd home (or just outright move), it's in a location you really enjoyed.

Haha, still retired. Trying to balance "Do I want this much money in pins?" with "Do I want that money invested and growing?". I'm eager to see what the next few months and years bring us in terms of market fluctuations and news. I find it all very intriguing.

Everyone loves talking money when thing are going up and are high. When there's a drop, people get a little jittery

I say short term rentals is the right call. If you’re trying to retire early a second home is a bad idea - Unless you are wealthy enough that it won’t matter. Rental property is another matter entirely.

Pins keep up with inflation plus some traditionally. Ok the past year may be an exception. I once calculated my pin collection appreciation over time as if it were an investment and it amounted to about a 3-4% apy return. So you could a lot worse: for example keeping it as cash or in a money market or even a CD. So I say hold on to them!

Retire Age 50? I think that's pretty uncommon for majority of population.
Most people don't want to diminish the quality of living so soon.

A. Your not going to be happy if you withdrawl your 401k - Don't do that
B. Your probably not going to be able to ever return to your previous life before you Skipped out - Year away maybe - couple years no way.

Just find something you love doing and do that for a living.
Retirement is really a state of mind. Some people never live to make that milestone.

I retired 15 years ago. Got married. Have 3 kids and work everyday. Trust me I love what I do. Wish I would never have
to stop doing what I'm doing and retire. I love life and not workin would be hell for me.

After the crash in 2008ish, there were some really decent prices out near Phoenix. Builders were going crazy putting in additions as fast as they could prior. Even on a good day, I thought this was insane.

Even tho I could have done it, just the thought of an empty property that far away didn't set well. Son was out there, but didn't want to burden him. Wife could have went out in the winter for 2-3 months and visited the son if she wanted (cheap direct flights made it very convenient). But the upkeep...ins., taxes, maybe some utilities, and you always run the risk of someone just 'moving in'. Plus I didn't want to be a long distance landlord. Bit my lip and put it behind me.

Of course, those houses probably are x3 or x4 the 2008 selling price now. Still don't regret my decision tho.

401K: Plus you'd get dinged for tapping into it before age 59.5.

Not necessarily. They rule 72(t) for SEPP withdrawals can be used to withdraw money from a 401(k) if you retire before age 55 or 59.5.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/retirement/rule-72t-early-withdrawals-sepps/

If anyone has done this and can share their experience, I would be interested in hearing about it.

Some ways to pull early are also the rule of 55 from your employer sponsored 401K or you can pull initial contributions from your Roth to bridge the gap as well.

But that looks like it's used for exceptions, not the typical early retirement?

I think if someone retires and diminishes their quality of life they're doing it wrong! It's critical to be happy with whatever you're doing. Someone can always have "more", but once you have "enough" you just don't need more anymore. Especially for the price you have to pay to get it. It's great you're happy with what you're doing, most people are pretty unhappy. I would ask, though, do you love it so much that you'd do it for free? If not, it's worth re-evaluating what retirement means to you. To me, it's getting to the point that you don't -have- to work anymore. If you love it so much that you keep going, great. I have a very part time job driving cars that I'd do for free (and have joked with my employer about). But working is like fishing...and most anything else...it's a lot more enjoyable to do it because you want to vs because you have to.

You can use 72t for any reason you want. It's important to know the details - for example, you can't undo it. But it's a great tool for the right situation.

Excluding the last few years, I think you'll find that really hasn't been the case. Pre-covid if you took a brand new High Speed, or Ripley's, or your average pin, you would have lost value on average. A 4% return means they double every 18 years, which hasn't been the case. If it were the pins selling for $3500 new in 2000 would be almost $7k today. Of course, if you buy a beater and fix it up that's a whole other situation. As a fun factory, pins traditionally have been great. As an investment, recent results aside...well, they're great fun!

It has worked out to like 4% apy for me given the prices I paid and how long I keep my machines. One example. Funhouse purchased for $1200 around 2001 and if you grant me it’s $6k now then that like an 8% apy. So when I calculated my whole collection and prices I paid and current values it was like 4%. It will vary for each collection on those factors.

Also, have not pin prices doubled or a lot more in the last 18 years?

PS I don’t see pinball as an investment. It’s a hobby. I just did some of this math for fun and curiosity. I’ve never sold a machine in 20+ years collecting!

Anybody buy ibonds? I know the limit is low and they come with strings, but the return for now is decent. I bought some for the wife and me….

Where is everyone else parking their cash? I got into a fluid fund that returns just over 2%, beats the bank anyhow. Most of my other cash is in the market, rolling the dice…

Yes, I-bonds are a no brainer right now. You can put up to $20k as a married couple. I did in April. For other cash best I have come up with is a money market or high yield savings which are around 1-2%. Closer to 1% I think so what is the 2% fund you mention?

If I look back at the pins released in the mid-2000s, no. No doubling. If I average the turds with the rockstars of that era they're probably breaking even factoring in the post-covid price increases.

It's interesting to note you said you don't see pins as an investment. I think that's a smart way to approach it, but despite what everyone is saying many people are much deeper into the hobby because "pins prices always go up". They believe they will always "get paid" to be in the hobby.

It’s a Morgan Stanley Preferred Savings account, 2.15%. Not great, but beats my bank offerings.

We also did $20k in ibonds. I’m constantly debating rolling some of our rollover IRAs into Roths. It’s a gamble of taxes now vs. retirement as I see it. And of course, any rollover now gets hit as income, at the highest tax bracket. First world problems. I don’t see taxes going down though, someone has to pay (eventually) for the reckless spending by Uncle Sam. Unfortunately, I assume my children will have to take on some of that burden….

Yes I hear you. Same thoughts here. You can hedge and put some $ in traditional and some in Roths. If you make too much to contribute to Roth IRAs you can see if your 401k plan allows backdoor Roth contributions. You can use that to contribute to your traditional 401k then up to several 10s of thousands (forget exact limit) to after tax roths and you will never pay tax on that money again. No captital gains, no more income tax. It’s been a while since I’ve read up on all this so maybe a got a detail or two wrong but just google back door Roth or mega back door Roth IRA

We did too. Very easy to do, did the married couple limit as well.

Just curious, what do you do for a living that’s so satisfying? Of course, most people aren’t that fortunate.

Retirement can be divided into three sections:

The GoGo years ( bucket list, travel, dine out, visit family )
The SloGo years ( travel less, dine out less, family on holidays )
The NoGo years ( NO travel, traffic, family or restaurants )

The goal should be to expand the GoGo years as much as possible and reduce the NoGo years as much as possible.
Retirement also changes priorities. #1 Time, #2 Health, #3 Money will become the new order.