Retirement plan to support my "habit"

[Lorenzoid]

I was thinking the same thing. CAD$167k was the price of a single detached working class family home in the “burbs” in early 1980s in my neck of the woods.

For the price of CAD400k today, we can buy a 500sqft condo in the “burbs”. Not even downtown Toronto.

And yet, our pay scale does not increase like our housing increases. Yes, we have a problem.

I moved here from California. That in itself gave me a huge opportunity to increase retirement savings.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I never had much of a salary but I was always frugal with everything except diving. I never go to the movies, restaurants or sporting events. I buy a new pair of jeans for under $15 when my current pair gets too tattered. I own two pair of shoes, one of them being sandals. I don't drink nor smoke. A big splurge for me is going to In-n-Out for a burger.

After the 2016 election the stock market shot upwards enough that my 401k from work reached a point that I could quit early and live meagerly until I get Social Security. I can't buy a rebreather or travel often but I can eat, pay bills and dive locally all I want. I have enough saved to dive in Canada, which I will be doing again in April. It sucks not being able to afford to buy whatever I want, but not as much as going to work at the same job every morning at 4:00 am for forty years did.

 

[Dogbowl]

I never had much of a salary but I was always frugal with everything except diving. I never go to the movies, restaurants or sporting events. I buy a new pair of jeans for under $15 when my current pair gets too tattered. I own two pair of shoes, one of them being sandals. I don't drink nor smoke. A big splurge for me is going to In-n-Out for a burger.

After the 2016 election the stock market shot upwards enough that my 401k from work reached a point that I could quit early and live meagerly until I get Social Security. I can't buy a rebreather or travel often but I can eat, pay bills and dive locally all I want. I have enough saved to dive in Canada, which I will be doing again in April. It sucks not being able to afford to buy whatever I want, but not as much as going to work at the same job every morning at 4:00 am for forty years did.

I envy people who have such admirable discipline. I, for one, could not have lived that way.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It's all about diving.

 

[jlcnuke]

I was thinking the same thing. CAD$167k was the price of a single detached working class family home in the “burbs” in early 1980s in my neck of the woods.

For the price of CAD400k today, we can buy a 500sqft condo in the “burbs”. Not even downtown Toronto.

And yet, our pay scale does not increase like our housing increases. Yes, we have a problem. Everyone’s house is their retirement plan.

And that massive disparity between the change in cost of living vs the change in income is a large part of the reason I chose to live in an average cost of living location. I could have taken a job in Southern California making 30% more, but it would have cost me 2-3x as much to live there, meaning I'd have had even less money leftover to enjoy my life after paying for the basics of life (food, shelter, utilities etc).

 

[Dogbowl]

And that massive disparity between the change in cost of living vs the change in income is a large part of the reason I chose to live in an average cost of living location. I could have taken a job in Southern California making 30% more, but it would have cost me 2-3x as much to live there, meaning I'd have had even less money leftover to enjoy my life after paying for the basics of life (food, shelter, utilities etc).

I highly suspect (i.e., pretty sure) that that is a lot easier to do for Americans. There's a lot more liveable land in the US. And there are 50 states, many (most) of which have big cities with financial centres, meaning jobs. It's a HUUUGGE market.

In Canada, we have 10 provinces and 3 territories, and only 4 business centres (in my view): Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. Forget Vancouver - it is the 2nd least affordable housing market in the world, 2nd only to Hong Kong, according to one survey. Calgary's market goes up and down with the price of oil. Montreal - I don't speak French. Toronto - that's where I grew up, educated, worked, family lives. Most importantly, my line of work has the most opportunities in Toronto. If I sell my house after retirement and move somewhere less expensive, that'll give me a boost for sure, but at what expense?

I found this self-help book - it has my name written all over it.

 

[Schwob]

...I own two pair of shoes, one of them being sandals....

I am surprised, one needs more than sandals in CA?

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Hey it was in the 40's this morning! High where I am expected to be 56 burrrr. Some of us even have boots!

 

[JamesBon92007]

Hey it was in the 40's this morning! High where I am expected to be 56 burrrr. Some of us even have boots!

I even had to cover my tomato plant last night--we actually had FROST a few nights ago. Of course anywhere else the tomato plant would have been dead months ago

 

[JamesBon92007]

If I'm clever enough I could always do yours in reverse <*(((><

My only excuse is that my coffee hadn't kicked in yet--I didn't even notice that WAS the reverse.

That reminds me that I need to buy some "right" fish when on Cozumel. We already have some "left" fish on the wall.