<p>I have the impression that, if we move back and live in that house again for two or more years, we will be able to shelter the gain again. Am I right?</p>
<p>My intuition is that there is even less likely that my child will move to our new state than the state we used to be in. (Maybe I am well ahead of myself here: DS’s girlfriend told him
that she will not be able to come to our new state for her career development so there is some challenge right here!)</p>
<p>Actually, purely on the financial gain concerns, the housing market in my new state has more appreciation potential than the housing market in my old state. There are a lot of “bidding wars” going on in the city I am at now. If I had money and were eager to go in for the potential financial gain, it makes more sense to be in our current housing market.</p>
<p>We are also toying with the idea of (after our retirement) moving to a place where there is a major airport (e.g., Dallas) like one of the CCers once suggested.</p>
<p>^ That used to be the rule, it was a nice loophole a few people used. Now, in general, the amount that can be deferred is based on the percentage of time you lived there vs. how long it was rented for. I think there’s a corner case if you lived in the house when the law changed, but I don’t remember the details.</p>
<p>I agree with many about ‘inertia’ - and the idea of getting rid of a few things at a time is good. Set small goals. Most of us will probably downsize or relocate at some point.</p>
<p>As others have pointed out here, retirement is affected by marriages (financial contribution and other social and cultural and for some religious connotations/expectations with s/d marriages).</p>
<p>Feeling comfortable in retirement setting for some also means church community (as a poster said about a synagogue in XXXX city). For some of us, living near family is important; for others it is not; many have various ideas on travel etc.</p>
<p>For some of us, faith is an important dimension in our life and affects our decisions. I do not criticize people who choose to be agnostic or atheist or have a faith different than mine (free will), but there are people that must have some baggage to be critical about any mention of faith. I am not trying to convert anyone here - just expressing my position. I can handle the criticism, but I believe some CC posters are very quick to criticize. </p>
<p>Friend’s atheist H did accept people’s prayers for him when he was battling colon cancer. Sometimes people are open to possibilities under certain circumstances - that includes retirement. Our feelings, thoughts, and opinions can definitely change over time, and how secure we feel about our financial picture or our health picture. The caring for parents thread is an eye opener for CC posters who are dealing with many aging parent issues.</p>
<p>^ Interesting. Thanks for the info. I will pay attention to this issue when we need to handle this.</p>
<p>Since many retirees or those who are close to the retirement age may have much of their assets in the equity of their house, this law could have some implication for them.</p>
<p>We joined AARP not long ago. We found that some of the materials they send to us could be quite educational for us. (so is the information on this thread. Thanks!)</p>
<p>mcat, if you don’t need the money, you also don’t have to sell. I don’t intend to sell mine, only as absolute last resort, there is a step up version when the properly is left for inheritance. Then my kids can sell it.</p>
<p>Something I struggle with is how much to enjoy the here and now vs how much to save for the future. I don’t want to be one of those people always putting off for retirement and then not being healthy enough (or even here) to enjoy it.
I feel the pressure of time. Owning our own business there is no side income, this is it and we’ve done it so long it would be tough to transition to something new. Not impossible, but my skill set is certainly a pretty narrow expertise.<br>
It’s always the next thing. </p>
<p>From people I talk and know, friends and relatives, the age 80 is when people start to get serious illness such as Parkinson, Alzeihmer’s etc, even these people were really healthy and mobile a few years before. So I plan to live really well up until 80. Because you never know.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle, Although we are not in a position to leave the house as an inheritance to our child, we somehow like the idea of selling the house as a last resort. I do not know much about investment, but intuitively, for someone like me who is not exposed to the much needed stock market at all, I think keeping the house for a longer time may help reduce the quite real inflation risk a little bit.</p>
<p>Your post is not completely clear to me, but it seems to me that you are saying that to atheists, agnostics, or those with a faith different from yours, that the faith community isn’t an important part of making a retirement decision. In fact, of course it can be to those of other faiths. And many agnostics and atheists belong to church communities, you are jumping to conclusions that this is not the case.</p>
<p>@eyemamom, that’s why I like ESPlanner.com. Undersaving stinks, but oversaving (I.e., underenjoying) is only slightly better. Consumption smoothing is the name of the game for me. </p>
<p>mcat - CO property taxes are pretty reasonable. (I just checked - last year we paid $2126 with approx home value of $315K on Zillow). When we moved here from our starter home in upstate NY in 1990s our new CO house was twice as big, three times as expensive… with property taxes a little less than the old house in NY. </p>
<p>If we sold the house for $300K and put the money in the credit union, at today’s rates we’d earn… almost nothing However, if we invested it we’d probably average somewhere around $1K/month. So we included that and a guess at maintenance expenses when comparing to local rental houses in the paper It’s all “what if” analysis, happy hour conversation for empty nesters… </p>
<p>Faith definitely has some influence on how people in retirement choose to live their lives.</p>
<p>Heck , (tangent to this topic) faith even influences how young people date. DS said to us that he thinks only the couple who are “super Christians” can make the “long distance relationship” work. At least this is what a young-man sees based on his past 6 or 7 years of indirect (not his own but his college friends’) experiences. He could be somewhat biased though because he was somewhat bitter when he said this.</p>
<p>notrich, good to know. I do have a headache reading so many conditions on that write up. Thank goodness I’m not an accountant. I used to be able to digest a lot of these stuff but not lately.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what we can do to improve our brain as we age? There was something on the news regarding baseball players were able to improve their eyeball speed on some online simulation. </p>
<p>If I run out of money, I’ll just rob a bank. Either I get the money I need, or they’ll put me somewhere where I get free room and board and free medical care. ;)</p>
<p>However, in my case, when I was a kid we didn’t have much money and it seems like I have spent my whole life always saving for another goal - first college, then grad school, then to buy a house, next for the kids’ education, to pay down the mortgage, and for retirement.</p>
<p>After all these years, I am finding it very difficult to change and start doing some “consumption smoothing” (which, in grad school, we referred to as Milton Friedman’s Permanent Income Hypothesis). I’m finding that it is easier said then done.</p>
<p>“Heck , (tangent to this topic) faith even influences how young people date. DS said to us that he thinks only the couple who are “super Christians” can make the “long distance relationship” work.”</p>
<p>Good thing me and my husband never believed that. Through long military deployments and different assignments, and 21 years of flying opposite schedules so someone was there for the kids, we didn’t need God to tell us we’d better make it work. We just needed absolute commitment and love. Unfortunate your son hasn’t seen that with his friends.</p>
<p>But then again many young people are more interested in the moment, not the long term. I suspect those in their twenties who are already saving for the future and paying off debt will end in long lasting marriages. I wonder if there is any correlation between that and saving for retirement when you’re young. Or maybe it’s more how often your parents lectured you.</p>
However, if we invested it we’d probably average somewhere around $1K/month. So we included that and a guess at maintenance expenses when comparing to local rental houses in the paper It’s all “what if” analysis, happy hour conversation for empty nesters… </p>