Subtitle: You paid how much for this? (Part Deux)

I don't know... am I overly sensitive to this much spending?  Or is it the new normal?  After writing about my cousin I thought that would be the end of crazy expensive decisions I would be passing by.  I mean I am back home, basically only seeing people at the gym, how could that happen again?  But it (sorta) did.

So wassup?  Well this week I visited an old co-worker friend from my newly departed job.  Really the only friend I had there.  (The people were mostly fine - just when most people are foreigners we just had nothing in common to bond over, except this one guy.  Would I have stayed working longer if I had more friends there???  Huh, I wonder.  Anyway....)  I got him a couple of things when I was in Florida and so I picked a day to go travel and see him at home as he mostly works from home now.

Since I retired he bought a new home.  I saw his old home a number of times, but never this place.  He got it since I retired and its much further away.  So I get there at his "lunch break" and we chat, though mostly it was him proudly showing off his new home.  And good for him.  Really nice, maybe 10-15 years old, or less (I forget the year actually).  And sometime near the end of the visit he tells me - I thought - he got it for $490,000.  Really I wasn't surprised, housing is expensive and he is a good hour drive outside of D.C., and housing is certainly more expensive as you move closer in.  Let's just say my house 20 minutes out is a much lesser house than his new place, and would sell for much much more (which is crazy).  So I said foolishly(?) "with the money from selling your townhome, that shouldn't be too much you have left to pay."   Man oh man, I gotta learn.  The response was "No the $490,000 is the mortgage.  The price of the house was $690,000."  Ugh.  He moved way out from D.C. for a "cheaper" home.  That's cheaper?

I'm just... oh man.  I got it, I am not in the market for a house, and prices have gotten cuckoo again like 2007-8 so yeah, this is not unbelievable.  And he wanted a better house than his old (Paid off!) townhome.  And houses often go up in price, so there's that. 

But here's the rub.  The guy isn't much younger than me, I think about 60 y.o.   Only two kids and both have long since moved out.  He went from a 3 BD townhouse to a 4 BD house filled with top line amenities galore.  Maybe not a McMansion, but darn close.  I know what he earns (sorta) as we had similar salaries when I left and while raises happened after I left (* grumble grumble *) he can be making at most 20% more than I did.  His wife, while salaried, is nothing amazing salarywise as its a school job.  Getting that big of a mortgage may be ok at 30 - 45 y.o especially with kids, but at 60 and empty nest???  That has to be at least 1/3 of their combined salary, 1/2 of their take home, probably well more.  In theory, he could be in his mid 80s and still have mortgage payments.  I encouraged him to save when I worked with him, so they may have $400,000 saved in retirement money, so its not like he has to worry about going bankrupt.  But still... I mean come on.  I thought people were supposed to downsize when they got older, or at least stay put, but not upsize.  

Am I just mentally not like most people?  I'm sorta losing it I think.  Hopefully there won't be a part three of this series.

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To make this a finance post, as part of the above trip I also took some old Geotrax items to a Facebook buyer that couldn't make it to my place, so I took it along dropping it off with her at her work on my way.  Only $20, but hey they were old yard sale items that I'm sure cost me less, and it is nice to get that stuff outta my house.  

I saw a post by Tabs dealing with this subject, and I just needed to do this one...

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A few weeks ago I visited my cousin for the first time in a year.  I try to get up to the place he lives with his mother.  He's a year older than me, and never married, never had kids, I don't think he ever had a girlfriend.  Basically the basement of the place is packed floor to ceiling with brand new toy trains.  Honestly, he could set up a store in the basement and live off the proceeds for a few years at least.  But hey, its his life.  He has no debts (that I knew of!!!), has some type of government pension, though he was lowly paid so the pension can't be all that big, and he already is taking social security - he started it ASAP.  So whatever, his life and good for him.

Well we arrive at the house and what do we (me and mom) find, but a class A camper parked next to the house.  He proudly shows it in detail to us.  Turns out he bought it brand new.  During our two hours visiting I find out from him that he has never taken it anywhere yet.  He never camped before so when it's the two of us I ask how much he paid.  He paid list price, $180k.  I say (kid really) that he must be doing well to pay for the camper.  I mean, I really don't pry with him, or anyone really, and I have no idea if he has any substantial money, but who knows?   And... I hear... "Paid? Oh no I am paying it off.  I got a loan."  Meanwhile my mom finds out that his mother doesn't want to do any camping at all.  So he got this camper .... WHY???   He has a brother but doesn't seem to get along with him all that well, and his sister has used it as a guest room, but otherwise I don't know if she is interested either.  He doesn't go hunting either, so again, WTF???  And he lives out in the country (think forest) already.  So he doesn't really need to travel to be in the woods.

On the trip home I let my mother know I found out the price.  She starts guessing, and all I can say is "MORE", over and over again.  Not sure how many OMGs she said but it was many.  

His health isn't top notch, so I don't know who is the idiot here, my cousin or the company that loaned him the money for this.  In a few years he could die (I could see it), the camper is all rusty from sitting outside, and then what happens?  He's a good person, but really, I'm just speachless.  In no way will I (or my mother) ever let them know how much money we have.  Just never...

I initially wrote the first half of this in January 2025, then totally forgot about it.  So take the first half as from January, the second half as of December.  It is what it is...

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Nah, I don't think there will be a new me this year.   I'm the type that doesn't wait for new year to set resolutions.  The only thing I am doing more of this year is listing things on ebay to sell.  Things have sold, but I have only netted $50, so while its nice to get things out of here, its not like I am living rich here (to say the least).

December ME here... I have sold maybe $800 so far this year, basically paying for my hobbies.

So instead lets talk about the finances and other things on the horizon.

Finances:

Well its the new year, so lets look at the year passed.  

I've updated my investments in the About Me section.  It looks like my investments went up over $500,000 last year.  Holy Moly.  Of course there has to be a bad side to this (booooo....).   With me in the midst of Roth conversions I was hoping for this increase to hold off a year or two.  Instead I have done $275,000 of Roth conversions in the past three years and my non-converted amount has increased over $100,000.  Yeah, first world problems I know, but I was really hoping to get ahead of this snowball.  Instead I don't know if I can ever get that amount down to a reasonable amount.

December ME here: My car loan is down to $22,500, my pension is now paying $6000/mo., and my other finances are close to the same though the Roth portion of the 457 account is now 66%.

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Trip to Florida (#2 of 2024 - Dec.)

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Well I took another trip down to Florida before Christmas.  Took my mother as I had no one else to go with me, and we had a really good time.  A few of the highlights:

We went out in a personal boat on the canals in western florida.  It was the friend of my mother, and during the trip she got lost.  With rain starting and a boat with no roof, ummm.... not the best.  Someone needed to resolve the problem, so I showed her you could use your mapping app on a cell phone to figure out where to go.  She never got lost out there previously?

We stopped at a flea market to spend some time before visiting her friend.  During this there were tons of people selling classic cookware for more than you can find them at yard sales and thrift stores, but.... I found an unloved classic plate that I knew was tough to find.  Apparently no one realized what this was, it was so rare.  I found out when one of these sold online previously it went for more than I paid for a week at the time share.  Wowzers.

We went and did some new things like riding the Orlando Eye, basically a clone of the London Eye which was cool.  We also went to a place called Bok Tower Gardens.  It is a National Historic Landmark built in the 1920s.  Not the most thrilling, but it was a nice change of pace for a day trip.

We also went shopping at some crazy places, drove about at night to see Christmas Light displays, and saw a classic/power car show in Kissisimee.

A nice break from winter weather up north.

===== PART TWO: December ================

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Trip to Florida (Nov. of 2025)

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Another year, another trip to Florida in November.  This is the time share trip of the year.  First, the maintenance fee for this place... OMG.  Its costing me $200/day just for the maintenance fee.  I'll admit I don't advantage of enough of the amenities of the place.  Maybe next year I won't spend money on amusement parks, and just enjoy the place?  (Nah, that doesn't sound like me.)

Like last year it was me, mom, and her friend.  I found out my mother is paying almost everything for her friend.  I mean, she has helped my mother from time to time, but really?  Well, its her money, and she has more than enough that she won't die broke, so if that makes her happy - so be it.

We went to the Universal parks again.  This included the new Epic Universe park.  Well... that park is still working out the bugs.  One of the two biggest rides didn't open, and the other - which we did ride - had a two hour wait to ride.  Don't get me wrong, the queue for the ride was amazing.  But with the other ride down, everyone was here, and it really showed.  Also, if you go to this park, take some hearing protection if you are going to the "Nintendo" land.  Everywhere in Epic was loud, but this area took it to an amazing level.  Maybe you need to have been a gamer to appreciate this - I dunno.  

The big issue for all of us was our health.  My mother and her friend are getting on in age, and even with a scooter, it was hard on them in the parks.  And for me... OOOOOhhhhh baby.... I was getting out my car the scooter parts our first day and threw out my back.  OMG.  I gutted it through that day the best I could, but wow I was in pain.  I decided on a "hail mary", so to speak.  I went to the local Target that night and got a heavy duty massage roller.  Basically 12 inches in diameter, and while foam it is very dense so it barely budges when pressed.  Anyway, I had seen my ex-gf use a similar roller for her back, and I tried using this for mine.  I used it the best I could and it was terribly painful, but I thought it might have done something at one point.  I felt my spine and it felt straightened out, but it still hurt.  So we took a day off and went to the park the day after.  It still hurt, but each day I felt better.  By the day I headed north I felt at maybe 80% ok.  Not perfect, but my emergency self help seemed to have worked.  The next week on Tuesday I saw the chiropractor and while he did do an adjustment he said he didn't see anything terribly bad.  Anyway, note to self: be more careful with getting extra heavy items out of my car!

I did (or tried to do) the yearly time share sales pitch.  I say tried as I was quickly booted out of the presentation within the first 15 minutes as they checked their history with me and decided I was a waste to talk to (they're RIGHT!).  Anywho, I still got the goodies they were giving to attendees.  And I got something new this time.  The prize is..... a 5 day ocean cruise for free for two.  Sounds too good?  Yeah, it sorta is.  You need to get yourself to the port, there is no free parking, and there is some type of time share for ocean cruising presentation you need to attend.  And there is a "port fee" of $190/person.  And it turns out my mother did it too, so we both have this available.  No specified dates though we need to take our cruises before March 2027.   So what is my plan?  Well, 1) I can afford it, 2) I hope I can have someone new in my life to go with by then, but given how things are playing out - I don't expect it, so 3) I'll probably go with my mother.  In fact, 4) We are thinking of going out of Port Canaveral on a week before or week after the time share, so both would be in one trip.  If the dates don't line up exactly, then we spend a few days in a motel between the cruise and time share in November.  Plans... plans.

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A River Cruise (and more!)

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Well my mother wanted to do at least one more river cruise before she couldn't do it (I guess she did one back in 2018(?)), so I went with her in May.  Down the Danube River.  Actually I believe we went upstream, from Budapest to the German border.  Every day we were in one port or another, taking a guided tour in each port, though a few place we were driven to another location for part of the day.  Every day we were fed well, and while the room was cramped, it wasn't that bad, and I suspect even ocean cruise rooms are like this one.  While it is a great time, you really get to see so little of the places you go.  Everywhere is one 8 hour day in port at the most.  Otherwise the boat is moving.  

However.... we went with two other women, one we went with previously.  So the four of us extended our trip to Prauge for another three days.  A nice drive to there - we even drove past old cold war check points (WOW) on back roads.  Then after walking the town for days we headed back to North America, but my mother and I stopped over for three days in Iceland.  That was crazy.  At one point we were on a tour bus and the road it was on stopped but the bus continued as it drove over a cooled lava flow from 2024 (the road was gone). And then at a mineral springs location the same lava flow had been about 200 yards from the springs before passing south.  The parking lot was wiped out from the lava, just some gravel parking for now.  We returned at midnight, yet the sun was still up in the sky.  And of course we saw other great places there.  Just too much to itemize here.

Those extra days after the cruise really made the trip.  

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Well that's all for now.  We'll see if I write something more promptly next time.