Read your article because the WSJ wouldn’t let me finish the original, most likely an improvement. I am 81 years old, worked 35 years on Michigan family-owned, low-budget golf course, 20 years in the woods of Pacific Northwest, mostly in reforestation, and an assortment of oddballs including a semester teaching middle school and three years as social work caseworker. Lived twelve years in the Oregon woods without electricity. Currently living outside a northern Michigan village of 250 on paid-for fifteen acres with house and barn, which is where I would live if I won the lottery. Live alone and much prefer it.
Social security about $1200 a month, retirement savings lasted five years after paying off wife #3, probably a bargain. Got a half-time job at Walmart a year ago in the Maintenance Department which gives me an additional $800 per month, about what I need to live the way I want but doesn’t leave me much left over in energy or motivation to maintain the property. Big question is how long can I do this?
Alternate solutions involve selling the treasured property, giving up driving, abandoning the library and self-sufficiency tools and equipment I have built up over the years, and moving into cramped quarters probably costing nearly as much, and with living in my car looming as last resort. Given the hypothetical choice of going back and doing it different, would I? Probably not, I’ve learned a lot from my journey I likely wouldn’t have learned otherwise, but it’s a steep price to pay. Not looking for advice, just thought I would expand your demographic a bit.
Read your article because the WSJ wouldn’t let me finish the original, most likely an improvement. I am 81 years old, worked 35 years on Michigan family-owned, low-budget golf course, 20 years in the woods of Pacific Northwest, mostly in reforestation, and an assortment of oddballs including a semester teaching middle school and three years as social work caseworker. Lived twelve years in the Oregon woods without electricity. Currently living outside a northern Michigan village of 250 on paid-for fifteen acres with house and barn, which is where I would live if I won the lottery. Live alone and much prefer it.
Social security about $1200 a month, retirement savings lasted five years after paying off wife #3, probably a bargain. Got a half-time job at Walmart a year ago in the Maintenance Department which gives me an additional $800 per month, about what I need to live the way I want but doesn’t leave me much left over in energy or motivation to maintain the property. Big question is how long can I do this?
Alternate solutions involve selling the treasured property, giving up driving, abandoning the library and self-sufficiency tools and equipment I have built up over the years, and moving into cramped quarters probably costing nearly as much, and with living in my car looming as last resort. Given the hypothetical choice of going back and doing it different, would I? Probably not, I’ve learned a lot from my journey I likely wouldn’t have learned otherwise, but it’s a steep price to pay. Not looking for advice, just thought I would expand your demographic a bit.