Tuning up your personal economic engine

[The diplomat]

#1 would be great advice for the federal government!

[Japher]

Where are you located?

[Japher]

Tops on my 10 year plan is to get out of dodge... so to speak. I have 1.5 years to do so... uh, more like 1.25 now.

[:) Smiley]

Hmm, what % of US Fed budget is in essentials and what % in Extras?

[Japher]

The Fed doesn't budget, they just hand out money

[Velociryx]

Back from home, storage (still in the process of moving the last few things) and dinner, so apologies for the delay. Japher, I'm in Columbia, SC, and the cost of living here is waaaay lower than Cali....among the lowest in the nation, actually, so if you're looking to relocate, you could do a lot worse (if you don't mind putting up with a couple of months that will make Dante's trips to the Inferno look like the arctic circle! Aside from July and August, however (during which time, the entire state feels rather like a Sauna set in the depths of Hell), the rest of the year is marvellously mild, and if you love the notion of a slower-paced life....this is your bag!

As to the big, top-secret two-step...good advice for everybody, and I totally agree, government included! Sadly, aside from defense, interstate highway maintenance, and the maintenance of our "social safety net," pretty much everything else the government does would have to be categorized as an "extra", which is an awful lotta green, I'm sorry to say.

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Oh...and Japher....just for the amusement value, you should grab a copy of the home-buyers book in your area and pick a house you can afford out that way....let me know what it's specs are, and what it lists for, and I'll pick up a copy of that same book here as an illustrative example of:

a) A comparable house to the one you select here, to compare pricetags

and

b) A home priced the same as the one you picked, to show you what all you could get for your money out this way....

Did that with another friend of mine who lived in San Jose a few years back and he wound up moving here!

-=Vel=-

[Japher]

I love the slower pace of life; B-B-Q, camping, lounging... in fact I consider myself a gold medal Power Lounger!

I'll pick up one of them books, I see them at the store now and then...

Q: How much will insurance cost for an investment property?

[Velociryx]

In that case, I'll save you a lounger! (and the south is almost as famous as the mid-west for BBQ!)

IIRC, a single-family home in the Bay area of decent size runs ~$300,000 (~2000 square feet, 3-4 bedrooms, garage)....for that, you'll be....shall we say, "very pleasantly surprised" at what you could get here, but more on that later!

As to insurance....rates will vary widely from state to state....here, it's a drop in the bucket tho ....I keep all my insurance thru the same company and get a slight (15%) price break for doing so, and wind up paying less than a hundred bucks a month for everything.

-=Vel=-

[Japher]

You would be hard pressed to find a place with 2k square feet for that price... More along the lines of 1200 and it will be a place built before the civil war!

All I know is that I need to get out of here. Columbia looks cool, but there isn't much of a market for Chemical Engineers out there (from my quick 5 minute peep), though my wife would love it, as it looks like there is a lot of Animal related jobs...

Also, I got my credit increased, yesterday, on one of my credit cards I never use. My other card, which I always keep around a zero balance on, also got hiked about a month ago. With my savings and those credit lines I realized that I have about 35-40k that I could use. Yet, even that, would barely nick 10% of a down on the places around here... That is why I need to move

One good thing; my wives company is in Bankruptcy, so if we decide to leave it will only be me having to brake some ties with an employeer... I always hate walking away from a good job.

She wants out too...

[Velociryx]

Hmmm....:: pondering for a bit::

Chemical engineer....I'm not sure what they do, but there's a wampum BIG Allied Chemical plant in town, Dow has a place here where they make Mylar and other strange materials, and a couple of Paper Mills (the nearest one does make use of you chemical types, using an Oxygen bleaching process and some other wizardry that I don't understand). Not a horde of jobs in that field, no....

As to the houses....hold onto your jaw...for that kinna money here, you're looking at either:

* An "Executive Home" in an exclusive neighborhood (4k square feet, 4-5 BR, with the works)

or

* A more modestly sized (2k-2.5k square feet) on the lake, with a private dock for a boat, lakeside or pool side cottege, etc.

The so-called "starter home" (ideal for investment purchases) run in the 60's (you can find them in the 40's-50's, but the neighborhoods aren't great), with the "top-end" starter homes in the 70's and 80's (all of these will require at least some work to be in move-in condition--paint, carpet, misc. stuff like that)

Moving slightly higher, you can find homes in the 2k square feet zone, nice, established neighborhoods, good schools, move-in condition for 95k and up (the house I just moved is a fairly typical example of this, 2k square feet, 4br, 3 bath, privacy fence in the back (no garage, it's only slight negative, IMO, but garages are not particularly common 'round here), nearly an acre lot, listing in the home-buyers book at 106k.

If you're seriously considering a move tho (and more specifically, looking southward), one thing....when you find a place you like, make the offer on it immediately! LOL...the housing market is jumping out here, and even a 24 hour delay can cause you to miss the house! When you go looking, bring your wife, G/F, and (unless you're an architectural ace too, a friend who knows what to "look for" as far as potential problems go)....that way, if you like what you see, you can pen the offer on the spot....

-=Vel=-
(and btw, with that kind of credit, you'd have nooooo trouble putting enough down in these parts!)

[Saras]

--"The best solution to all financial hardships is to make more money."

My friend.

[Velociryx]

Indeed, and that is a crucial part of the equation. In terms of increasing your economic position, however, making more money won't necessarily do it, alone (if you blow that money on toys, as opposed to investing it in things that go up in value over time).

-=Vel=-

[Saras]

If you blow all the money away, you're not making enough of it, so get off your arse and be productive

[Japher]

Thanks for the advice

For those prices I might just move out there and peddle real estate for a living, forget this whole engineering thing!

I Will debate that.

Currently, I am in the pharma industry and I have a lot of opportunities to move within my Company to the east coast... Am considering some of those places (Florida, Mass., NJ, Indiana) and am also considering a change in career and go where ever I like...

Another thing about personal financing that I delight in is online options. They make it so easy to track daily expensises, debts, and earnings that you pretty much don't have to do anything. With all the tools and services out there no one should have an excuse not to budget.