Life Goals before goals don't matter anymore?

[sdifox]

I wanted ro be a NEET. Failed badly at it.

 

[sdifox]

I'm currently trying to talk my wife into letting me build a barndominium. Awesome, huge, and reasonably-priced! Tons of tools out there for options, pricing, etc. Good starting point here:

Barndominium Costs: How Much Does it Cost to Build? [2024]

Discover barndominium costs: factors, averages, plan costs, and how location impacts price for your dream barndominium build.

www.barndominiumlife.com

Check out this monster:

You can get steel frame kits delivered to all 50 states:

Metal Barndominium Kits: Floor Plans, Cost Savings & Design Options

Our barndominium kits are customizable to fit your residential and recreational needs. Explore our barndominium floor plans and design options, and schedule a free consultation today.

www.worldwidesteelbuildings.com

Amvic has a really nice ICF-based tilt-up concrete building system:

Tilt-up Building Revolutionized | Amvic Systems

Amvic combines the best of ICF building with tilt-up technology to create the EnerTILT system The copious advantages of building with concrete are already well established.

www.amvicsystem.com

I'm really liking TruCedar steel siding:

https://www.qualityedge.com/siding/single-6-inch-trucedar-steel-siding/

Wait until you need to change ceiling lightbulbs

 

[JulesMaximus]

 

[Mai72]

I turned 60 a few weeks back. I get SS and my pension without a reduction at 62. If I go now, I
A) quit accruing DOH!
B) Lose at most $170 per month off the pension; it is 6.5% annually before 62 on a small portion of the pension, adjusted monthly. The bulk of the pension is 100% at age 60.

The accruing thing, that is the rub. We can go now but it would be a little more comfortable later. A whole lot of this personal angst is I am on a really shitty job ATM. It ends on Tuesday or so.

I've always figured past 60 the chance of death, dying excels at a much quicker pace. We think that this life is forever. You might only have a few years left.

My mom was very healthy at 60, developed an immune issue over night, and was dead at 64. It seems to me that this is when health issues crop up. Maybe you should take what you can now, and not worry so much about the future. Lessen your expenses. You don't need much to be happy. Good luck.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I feel like it's been forever since January....I returned back to office life in May and am already going stir-crazy with wanting to do something other than be here. After this past vacation and booking a few grand of airfare for September, my credit card went from $0 to $10k in just a few weeks. I'm still pushing hard to pay off the stupid mortgage (gonna be done by December if it kills me). That monthly mortgage payment expense is what's hindering me from saving real money for fun stuff.

I have 2 projects I want to pursue that I mentioned. I want to finish my pilot's license and get a sailboat.

For the sailboat, I filed a federal request this week to install some mooring buoys that will hopefully be approved. I want this just so I can tie the boat off 6 months of the year and keep it on the water without having to move it. My plan is to go for a cheap boat when I'm ready to do the refit work. I'm bummed because I found a 22' Catalina with everything for about $4k last year, but couldn't pull the trigger on it. The boats I've seen since have all needed new sails or lacked a suitable outboard/trailer.

For the pilot's license, I'm going to take things slow to start and maybe look at doing some initial flights and build from there. I have a number of hours already and could probably solo within a few flights. Unfortunately, I can't find my pilot's log book and am afraid my wife may have thrown it away. (just knowing how she is when she sees something she doesn't want to see anymore ) The good news is that the hours I flew previously was less than 20. I need to fly the minimums on the license anyways to practice and get experience....I'll just
be logging in a book AND electronically this time around and may purposefully skip the first few pages of the logbook in case I ever find my old records in storage.

If I get working toward the pilot's license, I'm wondering if I should look into buying a plane. I'm just torn though on the cost associated with maintenance, insurance, and storage somewhere. I suppose it may be possible to meet some locals and work out rental arrangements. It's just not as clear-cut as in a larger city where there may be flight schools that have a fleet available for week or weekend rental. My boat docks are within a mile or so of the major airport here, so I get to see planes on the downwind leg of their approach all the time.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I've always figured past 60 the chance of death, dying excels at a much quicker pace. We think that this life is forever. You might only have a few years left.

My mom was very healthy at 60, developed an immune issue over night, and was dead at 64. It seems to me that this is when health issues crop up. Maybe you should take what you can now, and not worry so much about the future. Lessen your expenses. You don't need much to be happy. Good luck.

My mom was healthy at 60, a tumor showed up in her leg at 61, and after surgery, radiation, various chemos that didnt help, she died at 62. It was a year of misery and horror. I miss her dearly.
Im glad she was able to retire early, and spend a lot of time with my niece and nephew when they were little.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My mom was healthy at 60, a tumor showed up in her leg at 61, and after surgery, radiation, various chemos that didnt help, she died at 62. It was a year of misery and horror. I miss her dearly.
Im glad she was able to retire early, and spend a lot of time with my niece and nephew when they were little.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[skyking]

@Scarpozzi my advice regarding the pilot's license. This is as a pilot and flight instructor.
DO NOT start slow. If money is the question, gather it up. Go take the written when you are ready, then push through the license as fast as you possibly can. Do it like it was a weekend job, every weekend.
What happens with the slow start/piece it together is you spend a goodly portion of each lesson reviewing everything that you did x number of weeks ago. What could take as little as 45 hours ends up being 65 or more.
Many aspiring pilots don't regret more time with the instructor, but that same time could be spent on instrument training or basic aerobatics.
Think of getting your license as a job and get it done.
As for the sailboat, I can't help you there. It is the worst time to be looking for a decent used boat of any kind. Last year pushed prices so high with the added demand.

 

[Scarpozzi]

@Scarpozzi my advice regarding the pilot's license. This is as a pilot and flight instructor.
DO NOT start slow. If money is the question, gather it up. Go take the written when you are ready, then push through the license as fast as you possibly can. Do it like it was a weekend job, every weekend.
What happens with the slow start/piece it together is you spend a goodly portion of each lesson reviewing everything that you did x number of weeks ago. What could take as little as 45 hours ends up being 65 or more.
Many aspiring pilots don't regret more time with the instructor, but that same time could be spent on instrument training or basic aerobatics.
Think of getting your license as a job and get it done.
As for the sailboat, I can't help you there. It is the worst time to be looking for a decent used boat of any kind. Last year pushed prices so high with the added demand.

I'm not looking for the kind of sailboat that had its prices pushed high. =P I literally just need something with decent sails and rigging...it doesn't have to be pretty cause I have a pontoon and fishing boat to float in. The lake is small enough that the boat will also have to be fairly small....just a dream.

I know exactly what you're saying. That was one of the hurdles I hit before. What I'm struggling with is the time suck because I've got 2 kids and a full time job. Spending 40 hours + drive time to the airfield (which definitely should be factored in to the hobby time required), my wife will be most annoyed when she's picking up the slack if I'm not here to do stuff. She doesn't handle things well when I'm not available and handing things off to her mother always ends up costing her more in the end. I'm thinking I may be burning paid leave for those 40+ hours and flying during business hours.....maybe doing 2-3 lessons/day to rack up 4+ hours/shot. My plan is to start slow this Summer....meaning get my feet wet. I don't want to be in a hot plane that doesn't have AC....and if I recall, you gotta get above 4k feet before you start to get cooler air. We're going to Maui the 2nd week of September, so I figure I'll jump in more when we get back...

I got a reply from the guy over one of the flight schools. It looks like their primary trainer is an Arrow....which makes me happy. They have a 172 and Cherokee 140 that will be online before too long too. I'd like to own an Arrow or a Lance if I can ever save up enough money to front the cost of most of the plane. (which would be a few years down the road) The Arrow they have, he said, could probably do a 10% block time discount. I'll likely go that approach and just burn through time once I get started, but I do want to see the seasons change a bit. I think I'll enjoy learning more in the Fall once the temps get back into the 70s.

 

[skyking]

A retract for a primary trainer? WTF ?
Yes I was lucky to not have small children while tearing into the flying thing. I got single inst multi commercial inst instructor in a couple of years. Then commercial single engine sea.

 

[Scarpozzi]

A retract for a primary trainer? WTF ?
Yes I was lucky to not have small children while tearing into the flying thing. I got single inst multi commercial inst instructor in a couple of years. Then commercial single engine sea.

I'm guessing that they're using private owned aircraft for the flight school and it just so happens the two that see the most use are in for overhaul. That's fine...I don't mind learning on the Arrow some. I'll definitely fly the others as they're available. I doubt they'll be down for too long.

 

[AdamK47]

I'm on that FIRE life goal. Just 8 more years.

 

[Mai72]

My mom was healthy at 60, a tumor showed up in her leg at 61, and after surgery, radiation, various chemos that didnt help, she died at 62. It was a year of misery and horror. I miss her dearly.
Im glad she was able to retire early, and spend a lot of time with my niece and nephew when they were little.

Sorry to hear that. We tend to take life for granted. I'm no exception. We want to ignore that we only have a very short time on this planet.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Covid reinforced my goal of living off grid as my retirement goal. The possibility of losing your job because the government says you can't work, (did not apply to me thankfully), supply chain breakdowns, shortages, tyrany in some cases, like people getting arrested for just being outside etc... While it was not THAT bad, it could have been. Being off grid has way less reoccurring costs so being jobless would hurt less, and being in a situation where parts of society are breaking down I'd also be less affected. I would eventually arrange myself so I can build my own stuff, so as long as I have materials in stock supply chain breakdowns would hurt less too. Ex: when you could not buy TP, I would just build machines to make my own pulp and paper from trees on my land. But even not taking anything like covid into consideration, I just want to reduce my reoccurring costs so I can retire at a half decent age. And bonus is reducing my carbon footprint. As is now with rising costs of living I don't think I will actually be able to retire without going another direction in life, at some point I will need to get a secondary job even. I have a good pension but I have to wait to 65 for that, I don't really want to work that long. Also the pension will not be that great by then since costs of living will probably be like 5x what they are now. So yeah my primary goal needs to eliminate as many reoccurring costs as possible so that I don't actually NEED so much money. Of course I'll still want a source of income for hobby stuff and toys etc. But one time purchases like that don't suck up as much cash as monthly stuff.

Just need to find good land, and I can start building that goal. Right now the real estate market is crap, there's hardly nothing. Off grid land is being bought so fast that it's sold before it even gets listed.

 

[Kaido]

Wait until you need to change ceiling lightbulbs

Way ahead of you

 

[sdifox]

Way ahead of you

You must live in a barn.

 

[Kaido]

You must live in a barn.

tbh a barn house + an actual barn would be the bomb dot com for me. Throw in an electric cherry picker for maintenance & I'd be a happy camper!