I came out here (about 100 miles east of where you're going to be) via I-40, I-81 and US-11E) in 2008 under unfavorable circumstances that I'd rather not talk about, but in that time I've put that behind me, put down some roots and plan to stay in my eventual retirement.

You may or may not know a few historical facts about East Tennessee. When Tennessee seceded from the Union, East TN tried to secede back out. The terrain and soil don't lend themselves to plantation-style agriculture, and subsistence farmers didn't want, and couldn't afford if they did, slaves. Before the war, Jonesborough was a sort of "hotbed" of the abolitionist movement. The 1st congressional district (represented by Diana Harshbarger) hasn't had a Dem rep since 1881, and the counties comprising it voted as much as 70-30 Trump. There's much more.

I just drove through that area on my way home from Virginia. Very pretty and the residents were very nice.

flashguy

On the one hand, I wish we still had the 54 acres near Bybee. On the other, it was too far for us to enjoy on a regular basis.

Congratulations on your new plan.

Sounds idyllic. Best of luck.

Sounds like a great plan, Kevin! I'm sure it'll work out well for all of you and you'll enjoy your peace and space.

I've been thinking of something similar.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Congrats. May you and your wife live long fulfilled lives enjoying the fruits of your labor. You certainly earned it.

How young were you when you learned and decided to incorporate the value of delayed gratification into your life?

Not as young as we should have been. We had to learn the hard way. We experienced a catastrophic failure in a business I built. We were defrauded and lost everything. Upon analysis we saw our mistakes. The most consequential mistake was our debt load. We had been taught that as long as you could make the payments fit the budget comfortably, debt was a tool. Nope. That strategy doesn't allow for the X factor.

We learned to only go into debt for education (in moderation) and for our home. When we eventually did buy a home again we way under-bought and paid it off in 7 years. We drove old cars that were debt free. We ate out infrequently. We didn't buy toys. We squirrled away assets and delayed gratification because we were never going to go through a catastrophic failure again if we could avoid it.

This is only difficult at first. Human nature is to be enthusiastic about what we invest ourselves in. We see that demonstrated here on SIGforum. We buy guns and become enthusiastic about them which motivates us to buy more . Same goes for saving and investing. The more progress we make, the less sacrifice it feels like to be disciplined. I remember back in my body building days. I experienced the same thing there. There is a quiet confidence and peace that comes from being financially sound. Later in life we were positioned to leverage our assets and grow them by greater percentages. Our money worked along side us. We are positioned to finance this whole deal out of pocket which fits our policy of staying out of debt.

So to answer your question, we started 10 years later than we should have but at least we started.

You start when you start.


It’s a journey on purpose.

Barndominium?

Congratulations.
My wife and I purchased 3.5 acres on the side of a mountain in Eastern Tennessee back in 2006.
It is for our retirement. We originally wanted to retire in Florida however the area we moved to in 1999 has grown so much it's out of control, we can't stand it anymore.
If it were up to me we would have moved already. My wife has a really great paying job she loves and is not ready to retire from yet.

Sounds like a good move Darth. I love visiting Utah but am always glad to get back to WV where everything's green and lush, water flows freely, and 90 degrees is rare and considered hot.

I hope to see pics of the property, home and most important garage/shop sites!

Congrats Darth. Eastern TN is in my retirement plan as well. Somewhere near Gatlinburg - but not too close. I should have bought land when it was cheaper - but nothing I can do about that now.

Best of luck on your move.

Congrats Darth! I’ve similar plans in another state, just much more modest. If I can get 20 acres I’ll be happy but shooting for 50. Big fat Morton building with a 4000 sq ft.garage, and probably 1400 sq ft of HVAC space.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:


So to answer your question, we started 10 years later than we should have but at least we started.

At least you started. I was in my early 20s in the navy when I was interested in becoming "successful" which included finances.

Since then I learned setting aside 10% of what I earned into savings. I was actually setting aside whole paychecks as I was making loans $20 for $30 payable on payday that came twice a month.

But, even then, there have been stumbles and pitfalls along the way like the 2008 housing crash.

I read (I think from "Rich Dad, Poor Dad") that the best time to fail at business when you're young. It gives you important lessons learned while having the time to recover which you obviously did.

I've started to wise up to efficient tax planning in your retirement years. You might want to look into it if you have tax deferred retirement accounts. You don't want Required Minimum Distributions that start at 72 to kick you into higher tax brackets. One method to sidestep that is to do efficient tax harvesting and convert a portion into Roth IRAs ahead of when you are forced to.

Congrats DF.

I empathize with your kids not being able to afford the Wasatch front. My newlywed son in Orem is in a nice apartment but the prospect of buying a home is out of the question.

I’ve been visiting your neck of the woods all my life (family in Provo) and thought it’d be I ego retire there. I was always amazed by the young couples with a Newhouse, $50k new pickup and SUV hauling ATV or side by sides. How could they afford it on Utah wages? Now I know. Massive debt.

I still may consider St George or Cedar City, but perhaps after a downturn in the housing market.

Good luck in TN!

Welcome my friend, we are almost neighbors, we are less than 2 hours from Knoxville in N.C., if it is anything like where we live you will have a blast. We are not blessed with as much land but only 8 families live on our mountain, we all have our space and love the privacy.

We are even considering installing solar on some vacant land we own that has a true south exposure. Just one more step to improving our independence.

Yeah. If we had to start in today's environment we could not afford to do it here. This economy and real estate demand has passed the average starter. Each of the boys would have to leave the State so we are going with them.

Mrs DF and I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad late but not too late. We listen to Dave Ramsey occasionally too. We stayed the course and kept untethered to debt. I drove a Toyota Tundra for 20 years and put 500,000 miles on it. It was paid for the whole time I owned it. Mrs DF finally had to show me that it made more sense now to sell it and buy a new (to me) truck than to keep patching up my old beloved. Like my favorite college sweatshirt that was in tatters over the years. One day she talked me into discarding it because it was embarrassing. Hard to let some things go.

Congrats on getting your dream. Hubby and I have talked about moving when we retire, but never figured out where would be best. Right now, still gotta work for a living, but current home is paid off, as are vehicles. Just saving what we can now.

We are over the hill in Boone. Give us a shout when you arrive.

Congratulations on your new exciting chapter.

Great place to live.
A number of us are just south of there in north GA.