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Wheelie, what is your "fully retired" plan? If you aren't investing in the market (in some form or fashion), and aren't building your shop into something saleable as a business (as opposed to used equipment, and I'm speculating on that based off other comments), what's the plan when you aren't able to work any more?

No mortgage lowers your monthly needs, and your property is probably worth quote a bit and increasing, but I would think you'll still need some income. And straight up saving cash isn't worth much with double digit inflation.


Not being a troll either, I'm in a similar boat (small machine shop, hate debt, not much invested outside the business) and just wondering what your thoughts are.
 
I have never understood the stock market advise for small sums of cash. My parents are in their mid 70's and have invested a little money in "safe" markets over the past 50 years. They have a few hundred grand total from that. I look at that and think a few hundred grand spread over 50 years is bullshit. What the hell is the point of that?

I invest in Craigslist. I spend $20k to $50k a year on shit I find on craigslist and always double that investment without a ton of work. I buy everything from floor scrubbers to forklifts to work trucks. This last year I have bought several nice work trucks with stolen catalytic converters, put about $1000 in a new parts into each one and sold them for a massive profit. Like somehow replacing a cat is a scary thing. Rockauto $800 for a factory fit unit, done.

A well to do friend of mine does something similar. He starts every year with $300k cash to play with. He buys cars and cheap real estate. He's never failed to atleast double that money annually.
 
Wheelie, what is your "fully retired" plan? If you aren't investing in the market (in some form or fashion), and aren't building your shop into something saleable as a business (as opposed to used equipment, and I'm speculating on that based off other comments), what's the plan when you aren't able to work any more?

No mortgage lowers your monthly needs, and your property is probably worth quote a bit and increasing, but I would think you'll still need some income. And straight up saving cash isn't worth much with double digit inflation.


Not being a troll either, I'm in a similar boat (small machine shop, hate debt, not much invested outside the business) and just wondering what your thoughts are.

My "plan" is very-very loose. As in, I don't really have one. Definitely not building the business to sell. Would I sell? In a damn heart-beat for the right offer.
But, it is not marketable at all, as is. So that will never happen. And, never has been the intention.
The only way I could fathom this would become marketable for sell, is if I someday come up with the proverbial golden ticket product.
One just never knows what will happen. But, my vision is make as much $$$$ as I can, while I can.
And, that part about: "what's the plan when you aren't able to work any more?" That question does not compute. This work is easy. I will always be able to work.
And, I would like to think I will have something figured out well enough that I don't have to work, before I actually can't.
I'm not that dang old yet. I'll turn 51 in a month. I have a Looooong way to go!
I'm sure I will get to a point though where I pick and choose what work I do, and how long I do it. Hell, that is already happening.

My only "real" investment is this property. As everybody knows, we bought it cheap because it was basically a dirt-lot with a run-down house.
In the 5 years we have been here, we've more than doubled the value (had it appraised late last year).
And, we did it all with cash. For about $0.20 on the $1.00. We are sitting pretty on the property.

I also just got the green-light to fire that production job back up! Which is freaking awesome! With the shop overhead so low now, I will actually make money!
He knows Joe is a part-timer now. And that I have zero interest to hire anybody. So he said to just run at a comfy pace, and we'll see how it goes for a while.
He is short-handed as well, as all his people bailed during the plandemic when we were shut down.
So its not like he could keep up with assembly/packing/shipping anyway. Even if I did ramp back up to full-tilt.

So, it looks like I'm going to be putting in some hours for a while anyway. I'll probably put in vigorous 50hrs/wks to see how it goes. Been doing a lazy 30-40.
I'm still going to refuse to work weekends though! LOL. But, finally, all this iron is going to be making me money. Rather than paying itself off! :cloud9:
No idea how long the job will run this time? But, I'll take it!
 
OK, I am putting a pin in your balloon. You are out on your bike or 4 wheeler and an accident puts you permanently in a wheel chair. What are you going to do?

Tom

In red ^^^^^
Whatever it takes.
If everybody thought like that all the time? Nothing would ever get done.

A gorilla could escape the zoo tomorrow, and come to your house, rip your arms off, and beat you with them.
Do you let that fear affect your decisions? Didn't think so.
 
As someone who has been following along for years, I'm glad you are where you're at. You've got the stress way down and the work is flowing. Keep up the awesome work and let us know how it goes.
 
I’m not sure what rate your mortgage is, if it’s really low like mine(2.5% on a 15yr), you would be foolish to pay it off early. I made 14% return on my investments in the stock market last year, and even if this year is worse I can easily make 6 or 7%, far better financially for me to invest my money and I have no plans of paying off my mortgage early.

it's not your investment return that matters, it's your investment return net of interest and inflation. So if your mortgage note is 2.5% and inflation is, say 2.5% (I wish!), then you need to clear 5% annual return after fees to beat paying off your mortgage. That's not super hard to do on average, but inflation and investment returns are all over the place right now, and a guaranteed return of 2.5%+inflation from paying down your mortgage is hard to beat.
 
it's not your investment return that matters, it's your investment return net of interest and inflation. So if your mortgage note is 2.5% and inflation is, say 2.5% (I wish!), then you need to clear 5% annual return after fees to beat paying off your mortgage. That's not super hard to do on average, but inflation and investment returns are all over the place right now, and a guaranteed return of 2.5%+inflation from paying down your mortgage is hard to beat.


That’s the exact opposite of how it works.
The $ of your mortgage stays the same, while (theoretically) the value of your labour goes up every year.
Paying your mortgage later is paying it back with money that is worth less than it is now.
In addition, you typically get higher inflation at lower interest rates.

On the other hand, not having debt also does wonders for the mental health.
 
I can see how inflation can reduce the relative value of the principal over time, but that assumes that your income keeps pace with inflation. That may be the case, but it also might not (I haven't had a pay rise in 5 years). However you still have the interest to pay off, so any investment would have to at least cover the interest, even if the relative value of the interest declines with time due to inflation.
 
I can see how inflation can reduce the relative value of the principal over time, but that assumes that your income keeps pace with inflation. That may be the case, but it also might not (I haven't had a pay rise in 5 years). However you still have the interest to pay off, so any investment would have to at least cover the interest, even if the relative value of the interest declines with time due to inflation.

That is still not correct. I have been in the real estate business for over fourty years and own multiple investment properties so perhaps I know a little about this subject. Real estate has long been described as the ideal investment. This is because you get it all. Inflation protected appreciation & rental income plus leverage and tax benefits.

Inflation does not reduce the value of your principal (real estate), it keeps it even with the value of the depreciating dollar. The definition of inflation just means that the dollar buys less things of real usefulness to humans like gold/real estate/ milk/ etc. than it used to. Paper money's usefulness is limited to whatever useful thing you can trade it for. An over supply of paper money just means it takes more of such paper
get useful things so the price of all useful things goes up. The relative value of useful things between themselves stays the same.

If a gallon of milk cost the same as two loaves bread nothing has changed between them if bread goes from $1 a loaf to $10 a loaf while milk goes from $2 a gallon to $20 a gallon. It's just the dollar that has lost value due to inflation.

Real estate is useful, and if the property is located in an area with a growing population, in addition to the phoney increase in value due to inflation, there is a real increase in value as with this larger population, more people desire it.

If your property is off in a rural area, things are different. Places like NYC, LA, San Fran, Washington DC, etc. and their close in suburbs are much superior places to own property. Like everything else, real estate's value is based on supply and demand. There is a huge demand in such areas because of proximity to high paying jobs but limited supply because these areas are fully built out. In areas with lots of available land to build on, you are forever in competition with newly built stuff so your older and older structure becomes less desirable. Location, Location, Location.
 
Well I've been reading this thread from the start over the last couple of weeks, and I've come to the end.
Oh well, I've really enjoyed it, with all the ideas and technology, and of course all the drama !
Good luck to Bill, and all you other guys pushing your dreams.
I don't watch reality TV, but I did enjoy this thread !
'Cause it really was real, perhaps.
Thanks Bill, and all you others that contributed.
Bob
 
Well I've been reading this thread from the start over the last couple of weeks, and I've come to the end.
Oh well, I've really enjoyed it, with all the ideas and technology, and of course all the drama !
Good luck to Bill, and all you other guys pushing your dreams.
I don't watch reality TV, but I did enjoy this thread !
'Cause it really was real, perhaps.
Thanks Bill, and all you others that contributed.
Bob
Ohh it was "real" alright! LOL (That was the whole intent of the thread from the beginning)
I could have done without 99% of the drama myself. But, like you said: REAL. I shared the good and bad.
No matter if the bad was self driven or not. Learn from my mistakes maybe?
Since it got bumped, and I'm replying, only update I can really give is:
I'm still here. Joe is still doing his part-time thing, and loving it (he keeps the weirdest dang schedule! LOL). Iron is still all the same.
Work is still mostly the same. I'm down to 2 or 3 regular customers. And a couple stragglers I still service a couple times a year.
I have no complaints! I'm in a good place. The low to no stress since achieving debt-free status has been heavenly :cloud9:
I'll hit 10 years in a couple months. And as I look back, I have to say, I'm pretty satisfied with the results.
I'm pretty much right where I intended to be. Home based small shop. I answer to pretty much nobody (except SWMBO of course! LOL).
If any major changes happen, I'll post up. If not? I wont. Hopefully I wont have any updates any time soon :cheers:
 
Ohh it was "real" alright! LOL (That was the whole intent of the thread from the beginning)
I could have done without 99% of the drama myself. But, like you said: REAL. I shared the good and bad.
No matter if the bad was self driven or not. Learn from my mistakes maybe?
Since it got bumped, and I'm replying, only update I can really give is:
I'm still here. Joe is still doing his part-time thing, and loving it (he keeps the weirdest dang schedule! LOL). Iron is still all the same.
Work is still mostly the same. I'm down to 2 or 3 regular customers. And a couple stragglers I still service a couple times a year.
I have no complaints! I'm in a good place. The low to no stress since achieving debt-free status has been heavenly :cloud9:
I'll hit 10 years in a couple months. And as I look back, I have to say, I'm pretty satisfied with the results.
I'm pretty much right where I intended to be. Home based small shop. I answer to pretty much nobody (except SWMBO of course! LOL).
If any major changes happen, I'll post up. If not? I wont. Hopefully I wont have any updates any time soon :cheers:
Bill, I just re-read the last part of what I wrote.
When I said "real, perhaps", what I meant was perhaps I enjoyed so much because it was real.
No doubt it was real !
Bob
 
Ohh it was "real" alright! LOL (That was the whole intent of the thread from the beginning)
I could have done without 99% of the drama myself. But, like you said: REAL. I shared the good and bad.
No matter if the bad was self driven or not. Learn from my mistakes maybe?
Since it got bumped, and I'm replying, only update I can really give is:
I'm still here. Joe is still doing his part-time thing, and loving it (he keeps the weirdest dang schedule! LOL). Iron is still all the same.
Work is still mostly the same. I'm down to 2 or 3 regular customers. And a couple stragglers I still service a couple times a year.
I have no complaints! I'm in a good place. The low to no stress since achieving debt-free status has been heavenly :cloud9:
I'll hit 10 years in a couple months. And as I look back, I have to say, I'm pretty satisfied with the results.
I'm pretty much right where I intended to be. Home based small shop. I answer to pretty much nobody (except SWMBO of course! LOL).
If any major changes happen, I'll post up. If not? I wont. Hopefully I wont have any updates any time soon :cheers:
So, are you spending time playing with your own toys, some?
 








 
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