Amen to this post! I still say I want somewhere paid off/paid for when it's time to rest my old bones and I'm too old to work, but honestly, I've seen plenty articles advise retirees that retiring OUTSIDE OF AMERICA is the best use of their fixed income dollars...and that lines right up with this blog entry which advocates not killing yourself to pick up a home debt here with all the financial burdens that come with it, and with my secret dream which is to retire back home! Homes down there are cheaper especially if built from scratch, and nobody cares about credit they care about income and job history and whether you have any banking history with them...always said to myself instead of killing myself over the credit score thing here, why not just get a home in an area I can use it for a vacation rental there, then move into it at the end? Now I read your article it's making even more sense. I can't plan on a 30 year career in the same place so i find it hard to buy a house here even though i want one...Jamaica though, I am guaranteed to go there again and again til I die, it's the only stable place in my heart/life when looked at over a 30 year period....I can't get too emotionally tied to anywhere in the U.S. cause it's always and only about where the jobs are!
I do also think the cheap/extreme coupon clipping versus wise spending thing is an important point to note...TIME is MONEY especially if you work and run your own business(es) and the time spent trying to shave pennies off the dollar is better spent making dollars multiply or gaining the peace of mind you need to do so.
There is no way somebody like me is going to work hard to turn into a slave over nickels and dimes...I work to live, I don't live to work! Plus then the things that make life worth living like vacations and quality time with loved ones would be spent stressfully chasing down the blood out of turnips...
I have nearly died at two different points in my life and neither time was I concerned with the bills that I had paid off up to that point in my life...what flashed across my mind were the great MEMORIES, EXPERIENCES...travelling, with friends and family, the things I'd wanted to do or have done to me that I experienced so far...life, love, romance, children and laughter...that is what made me smile, not how well I had paid the cell bill or whatever! Which doesn't mean don't pay the bills but it also means if I rather spend time growing my business or going out with the family than spring cleaning, best believe I consider it wise use of my money to hire a helper to handle that so I can do and enjoy what matters most!
I do disagree though that never owning a house is a wise move...when this blogger is old and can no longer work or they will no longer hire her...is she going to be comfortable paying increasing rents to remain stable or moving every year or two to a cheaper place, or stressing over the same bills in her 70s that she was in her 30s, with half the money to handle them? Buying a house is about looking forward...but just like the first house she bought wasn't the right investment, it's possible that retiring in this expensive country period isn't the right investment either...something to seriously consider.
