From family of 13 to cowboy by trade. I have always envied those who had access to books and business knowledge readily available, but for me ...... it always seemed to distant to be able to be accessible and was highly frowned upon by my father. Fast forward; Im now 65 years old and newly widowed (from my wife of 30 years - she was from the cowboy life too). I currently own 2 properties outright with zero debt (other than a years worth of back taxes). 1st property is our first and only purchase where we lived for 30 years (we fostered and adopted many children there). We financed it 1988 for $48,000 and it paid off; I listed it on the market yesterday for $129,000. The 2nd property is a farm we inherited 10 years ago. It was a family farm in which we worked horses out of until about 15 years ago. It was 30 acres but my wifes stepmother split it into 2 15 acre properties and gave 15 acres to us and 15 to her brother. It had a half mile track. has a barn. our side came with an old house (which has secret passages underneath the stairs into outside tunnels: underground railroad). And her brorther built a house on his (currently with 2 mortgages on it and he never put his driveway in so hes used mine the whole time, not to mention my property line goes thru the center of his house)-- thats all secondary and not the reason Im reaching out. My side has been vacant for over 10 years. Both properties have never been kept up on maintenance wise. And have a long running list of repairs growing.
I own both with zero debt. I had to cash out what little I saved in retirement 2 years ago when my wife suddenly got sick. My business went down to zero as with livestock it wasnt feesable to be at work 7 days and 5 nights a week plus give her full care; after 2 years my business had wittled to nothing. I have just began working for another business who has always been my competition. im miserable. We did not have any children of our own. However we adopted one of our kids we fostered, she was a baby at the time. She is nothing like we raised her. she has recently had to back to back kids, she was a run away early, in and out of trouble, has the ability to munipulate anyone and she prefers ho-ing raising her kids in a hotel in another state. she has never worked a real job a day in her life. and despite all efforts she chooses and wants this lifestyle. Her children definately do not get the care they should and do not even rate on her priority list.
Im tired and ready to retire. Ive had a close family family friend that has put in a ton of work in helping me get things cleaned up and caught up (not to mention all paperwork has been by the wayside as well) its the cowboy life. She provided money and put in a lot of work, i mean work. Took a rollback dumpster overflowing out of the town house. fixed the basement leak ( that had been ongoing for years, unburied me out of my avalanche in bedroom. Partially remodeled the farmhouse, cleared 2 overgrown large fields and took me on my very first vacation (she rented a jeep and we a took 3 week adventure to texas (she was originally ordering a copy of her birth certificate and realized I had never been on vacation). we stopped on the way in the mountains (which id never seen) stayed the weekend in chalet, I experience the hot tub for the first time. then on texas 3 days at the riverwalk and 1 week in a beach condo in south padre. I realized thats what heaven has to be like. She has 2/7 years done on our taxes. I dont think my wife ever opened or seen the mail and the rare few occasions that it was me, I probably got it from the box and shoved it somewhere out of sight. Needless to say we've became companions. but now I want to look at my options and my retirement days. If you were in my shoes what moves would you make from this point? Ive been trying so hard to learn as much as i could. Its just kinda scary making these decisions alone and making changes, but Im ready. not to mention I cannot tolerate another winter here.
!st house- appraised at 110k. listed for $129 yesterday and already have a contract pending
2nd property- (farm) 15 acres, appraised at 249k. which dropped 13k in two weeks which until then had remained constant for the last year. I have 3 life insurance policies. no money some little debt (300-1000 per credit card) with about 5 credit cards.
I found out yesterday due to trying to close on the pending contract of the house, theres a 10k lien. after some investigation. my wife had an opened a discover card years ago while i was working out of state and eventually there was a judgement filed in both our names in 2004 for 5,500 plus 20 % interest. Now has a balance owed of 17,000. but willing to accept 12,000.
I need some directional advice? if it was you how would plan for the next 10-15 years (which is more than likely the amount of time I have until death???
Submitted April 28, 2022 at 02:04AM by Ambitious-Spot https://ift.tt/sWVF8zS
