How much “Home” would it take to Retire Happy?
Published | Posted by Jennifer Schumacher
How much of a home do you need to be happy after retirement?
Retirement weighs heavily on a large proportion of the population. However, most of the people have little perception of what do they need to retire, other than taking retirement early along with comfort. Now you don’t need to think as much for your retirement.
It’s good to dream big. The thrill of competing for making it on or the Forbes’ richest listing can be a lot of fun. Not only having a grand estate to live in, but numerous vacation homes would be incredibly attractive. Nevertheless, according to the Moss survey released at the year end, there is a clear plateau where happiness derived from homeownership drops off. Surprisingly, this wasn’t $10 million, or even $1 million, but just $350,000. Actually, the median home value on the happily retired seemed to be just $300,000.
Needless to say, this may be the result of declining home values in recent years. So what is now a $300,000 house within San Diego, a popular coastal city, would have been a $400,000 for you to $600,000 a few years ago. These numbers might often be twisted by countrywide averages. Consider the particular national median residence value today, when compared to median home price in certain real estate hot spots which can top $700,000 or perhaps $1 million.
For those looking to purchase a home within sunny Southern Colorado, what can this manner or money enable you to get? A search of active San Diego County, California homes listings before writing this write-up was found:
- A four bedroom 1,500 square foot single-family San Diego short sale intended for $300k
- A four bedroom Fannie Mae Homepath, bank owned foreclosure intended for $339k
- A 680 sq. feet, two bedroom 1924 Spanish bungalow for $350k
- A re-designed 3 bedroom residence with large lawn for $350k (already impending sale)
Needless to say, the home you obtain and live within during your retirement is one of the major parts of the puzzle when it comes to finding happiness. Ironically, when happy retirees were surveyed made a lot less than $30,000 over their unhappy counterparts; clocking in at typically just over six figures annually during their doing the working lives.
What actually seemed to make the difference in getting happy after their working years was the confidence in getting financially comfortable, having disposable income to invest in hobbies and article topics, having diversified interests as well as a purpose. Other notable distinctions which separated people who were happier within retirement included getting no mortgage (which means more free cash), together with education.
Education was found important not only for the retirement but well-rounded interests. Getting to a happy retirement not only require committing to real estate for a lot, but also experienced tax planning, finding whatever you are passionate about and securing streams of passive income besides wealth.
Related Articles
Keep reading other bits of knowledge from our team.
Request Info
Have a question about this article or want to learn more?