How would you like to be money-free?

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February 14th, 2012

Meaning you don’t have to earn any longer

It’s an age-old dream: to be independent of money. Not to have to worry about working. Not to have to worry whether you will earn enough to get you through the month. Not worrying about being fired. Well, my old friend Sid has done it. He is “money-free” as he put it. He sold his large apartment and bought a much smaller one in a retirement home. “I’m getting a lot of change out of the deal. I will invest it and the income will be enough for us,” he said.

Sudden decision

Sid made a sudden decision to take this giant step. I asked him many questions about it and in the end it all came down to money. Of course the fact that he is 79 also influenced him. “Apartment prices in our particular area were moving up at very quickly and I decided to sell our apartment before the bubble burst. I called an agent, got an estimate of what we could expect and then did a tour of the retirement homes in the area. It didn’t take long to understand that I would get quite a chunk of change if I bought an apartment not in a 10-star home but in a 5-star, I would not have to rely on other income, so I went for it.”

The money

“I then went to my bank and sat with the investment manager, much to the chagrin of the other customers who were waiting in line to see him. I spelled out my needs and he slowly and carefully built an investment plan for me which will produce the amount that I need each month. These retirement homes are not cheap you know. There is a monthly maintenance fee which has to be paid. It covers most, but not all of one’s monthly living costs such as utilities and various other costs. A resident still has to provide himself with food and run his car.”

Investing

I asked him where he was investing his money so that it would be perfectly safe. “The bank counselor suggested bonds and debentures in blue-chip companies and perhaps even some in government bonds. The interest rates are low but the money is supposedly completely safe, well, as safe as anything can be in this world going crazy. The money is split among many different entities and it’s unlikely that all of them will go bust at the same time. In the worst scenario I will use money from my capital to pay the monthly maintenance fees and my heirs will get a little less.”

Up to now

I asked Sid how he has managed with money up to now. “I get the old age pension. Then I have a small monthly stipend from a pension fund. I am still attached to my old accounting firm and they call on me from time to time to help out, which I can do from home. If it all continues that way I’ll be fine!” Good luck, Sid!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 5:53 am and is filed under Business, Economy, Employment, Finance, Personal / Internet, Retirement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How would you like to be money-free?

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