One year ago today: April 6, 2016, where the value is.
Five years ago today: April 6, 2012, the stolen gold.
Nine years ago today: April 6, 2008, on trusting the government.
Random years ago today: April 6, 2011, quick picture quiz.
If all goes right, I should be on the road to Snapper Creek. Since I can’t type on the road and I don’t use Dragon, now might be a good time to talk money. No, not advice. Instead, you get my semi-famous articles on what to do next. For the longest time, “next” meand buying this house and the ongoing renovations. All I’ll say about that for now is I got in at a fantastic price, buying at the bottom of the market just months before prices began recovering. But what about the future? The planning doesn’t stop just because I’m comfortable. Retirement, I tell you, is a moving target.
Have you seen these before? If so, where, because my cursory search on the Internet didn’t return much. This lead me to think possibly it is an overseas company. I’ll spend more time on it because it has the heft and appearance of an entirely workable heavy duty appliance.
Actually, I’m not on the road. I awoke to a rainstorm and I’m waiting it out. So, I made a king’s breakfast and tried to find that Watchdog station. Nope, but I stumbled across something I am equally interested in, or at least so when I found my house worth nearly four times what I paid for it. The broadcast gripped my attention because it seems the government may take steps to regulate the reverse mortgage industry. This is total news to me. For when the feds get involved, you seek the true danger by looking at the opposite of their stated motives.
In my situation, giving me a reverse mortgage is akin to handing me a pile of free money. It would not bother me a twit to sell the place before I croak rather than passing that obligation on to my estate. And I’m far too disciplined to take a pile of free money and go on a bender. Nope, I invest the money, and take the return on investment to party it up. I have some definite views on that way of doing things.
Now, I do not need or want a mortgage, but the clause that intrigues me is how I can occupy the house for free as long as I live. If the world wants to give me a free place to live, thanks. You are only fifty years late. There are, I suppose, a lot of people who need a reverse mortgage to bail out of financial difficulties, but I’ve always viewed the arrangement [reverse mortgages] as a line of credit concept that grew naturally out of the second-mortgage market. My house is probably too old and too small to qualify, but that could all change if the feds stick their noses in. Hmmm, what is their reasoning? My first guess is they are out to prevent old people who are living in paid-off million-dollar mansions from going on welfare. That’s been going on, you know.
Like it or not, that scenario fits the facts exactly. The government would make the eligibility requirements so low that one should have a plan in place should that occur. After I turn 65 would be a good window. I think you have to be 62 right now and I doubt the government would raise that limit. There’s some hidden agenda over there that I’ll leave alone for now. But if I could finagle a $100,000 reverse mortgage on this place, I would immediately go buy a rental property in the SE end. As for a property like that, I’ve had a complete plan in place for the past forty years.
1980 concept car.
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This is a picture of the front of one of the jewelry boxes found in the pile, after the application of a secret mix of linseed oil and wood oils to bring out the grain. These were practically grey from age when salvaged. In the background, you can see one of the velvet lined drawers.
I was in Miami by 4:30PM. The trip was down I-27 because there was a lane closure south of Zolfo Springs. After waiting 15 minutes, I illegally crossed the median and backtracked, heading east on the old Route 66.
Next, I stopped in Lake Placid to visit, but dang, I could not find the address. Continuing south, I stopped for fuel in South Bay, the nothing town of the big lake, then darted down 27. Many asked if I saw the smoke from the brush fires. No. It was clear and cool the whole way. My first stop was at the Sprint office in Hollywood to get my phone working. No luck there either. I understand they were piggy-backing with Radio Shack that just closed a bunch of locations, but I don’t buy their explanation that the system is down. That’s a lie.
The reality is the head office has to supply a passcode to open the module that processes cash. These Sprint Millennials are a real piece of work. They can’t do a damn thing, but they are obeying orders not to say so. Problem is, the customers catch on to this. Instead, these Sprint people are brimming with ideas of what you can do, not what they can do. Afterall, from their viewpoint, it is your problem their system is a piece of crap. I told the one guy to cease telling me what I could do (buy a gift card, drive to West Palm) and tell me what he could do. Nothing. So I then told him to shut up.
It turns out the nearest location to pay was up at the Fountains, a shopping plaza Jag & I used to play the coffee house many a year ago. But the clerks, or whatever euphemism they prefer, could not guarantee if I drove out there at rush hour, they could accept payment. In the end, I had to leave it until end of the next day, when I was out there for my medical appointments. I asked the clerk to mapquest the address for me. Thus, I made all my appointments and commitments without being able to confirm the times, often arriving a wasted hour early. All I asked her for was a screen dump of the map.
I stood there in amazement how it took her 16 or 17 screens and 94 mouseclicks to bring up the display. Two or three times I had to ask her if she had any idea what she was doing. Her reaction was that I was an old guy who just didn’t know what was involved. Is that so, sweetheart?
Now, there’s a gal who is going places, d’y’think?
“Wrap it in latex or
she gets your paychecks.”
ADDENDUM
There was a picture of the Guy Fawkes mask guy on the cover, so I watched a DVD called “V for Vendetta”. A disturbing film in a lot of ways, centering around government corruption and censorship, but not your standard Hollywood claptrap. It addresses the suspicions of many that the government is behind a lot of the evils and disasters that afflict society. The portrayal of government as self-serving hypocrites who work against the electorate is not so far-fetched when taken in small doses. The portrayal of government complicity in cover-ups from top to bottom is much better known now than when the DVD was released ten years ago.
I’ll say it once more. There is no longer any chance of simply keeping off the lists as I have successfully done for so long. This is no longer possible. The average person has 91 databases tracking every move, recording every phone call, watching every tax return and credit transaction, monitoring everything from grocery purchases, to school marks, and motel rentals. Privacy as a meaningful right is a thing of the past. Mind you, I’ve heard rumors that the authorities, after examining European laws, are reconsidering the American concept that people in public places can have no expectation of privacy.
That expectation was derived when a society that did not record everything and broadcast it instantly around the world. I know that if I have a choice between two places where one videotapes and the other doesn’t, which one I opt for. I know many people who automatically place their thumb over ATM cameras. It makes sense to me. There is no way those pictures can be used “for your protection”, I understand that. And to claim they can eliminate you as a suspect is bull, for that concept dismisses your right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. In fact, that should be changed to state presumed innocent until AFTER proven guilty. Too many newspapers and television stations are a little unclear on the timing using the ridiculous premise that things don’t get to the trial process unless there is at least some guilt.
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