Finally Retired

do mules eat less than horses?

 

My real retirement plan is to preach the Gospel to the Iranians. If I can no longer work.

 

Getting better each day.

 

That's excellent!
It's almost 50 years since I climbed Katahdin, 1973 and 74. The 1973 excursion was with my father-in-law, who at that time was scoutmaster for a troop in NNJ. With interested scouts he hiked essentially all of the AT in NJ and SNY, and reaching the trail's northern terminus was a long-time goal. We climbed the Hunt Tail, of course, on a cloudy day in early August - at the summit the view was mostly cloud tops, with a hole revealing Chimney Pond and another like it on the south side. My goal was to hike the Knife Edge, and since dad was content to wait at the top, I did a back-and-forth trip that took 1:50. Total on the mountain was 8 hours, and on the way back to Bangor we spotted a bull moose in a swamp next to I-95, first either of us had seen.

 

My 1974 ascent of Katahdin was done with a co-worker at the pizza shop. We took the Abol Trail up the south side of the mountain on a warm (80s) and humid August day. Much of that trail is up an old landslide so zero shade with the sun blasting the 45° south slope - Abol is the shortest way to the summit; that day it was the quickest way to heat stroke.
Fortunately, we had lots of water and avoided that issue.

 

The other thing to remember is that the average Australian has over 3 times the personal wealth of the average American. So the affordability of Medicare is relative to that.
There are also many corrupt health system practices in the US that make medical services and drugs less affordable.

 

Mining and Resource boom, Realestate market just about doubles every 10 years, but the main one is mandatory superannuation since the early 90’s.

In Western Australia for instance an unskilled resource worker can earn $150,000 very easily.

Realestate value here is protected by government policies, it’s geared towards making housing more valuable. So we have huge capital growth just by holding realestate.

Superannuation is 9.5 % of pretax employer contribution of wages. People working for 40 years for $85,000 without adjusting for inflation will retire with $1.7 million.

 

So your average bloke here in Western Australia earning about $100,000 per year buys a house. He gets all the capital growth of the property over his working life and his superannuation. He could also self manage his superannuation getting far better returns in better realestate deals.
He could retire with a large realestate portfolio simply by borrowing against the capital growth over time to acquire more realestate.

Many international investors are buying into the Australian realestate market driving up the prices, many from China by proxy.
Australia has become an excellent wealth storage destination and it is snowballing.

 

No snow, but more shrimp on the bbq.

Switzerland ranked 1st for average wealth and Australia 2nd in 2018, but Australia ranked 1st for median wealth and Switzerland 2nd.
Credit Suisse Global wealth report 2018. Average and Median wealth charts.

 

My previous wife died after 30 years of marriage, I have a handicapped son who depends on me... I said I'm done Lord, you lead the way and he did... My son is happy, he has a life of his own... Next month I have been married the second time for 19 years... Make plans if you must but let go and let God... I did and we know each other and I've talked to you many times on the phone... My advise wait on the Lord, he knows better than we do... Your Brother In Christ... Glen