I have set myself up so that my total yearly expense without car payment (which will be paid off by the time I retire) is about $24K. I do not plan on taking any expensive vacations around the world as I have been there and done that. I will not be able to live a lush lifestyle when I do retire (unless a few things fall into place) but I will be able to pay my bills and have enough left over to enjoy some nights out, new clothes, etc. I got all that I wanted our of life while I was young. If worse comes to worse and I have to retire earlier than expected due to illness or such, I also have the option to sell my existing home and get one less expensive. Our plan is to stay in TV no matter what the situation.

It is a good question. The 93M is being used to attract business to the new town center and maybe it reflects current people building in the area. Thus not a true measure of retirement income. My guess from reading the blog would be under 1/2 of the households would be less than 50,000. Over 100,000 would be 10%+
I think 12ridehd had a good answer. I don't have my budget (I am not at TV either) but I think I hit 1,400 for similar items but I think the 1,000 is a good livable number. However not sure but he might not be including the cost of the bond.
You might want to set up a pole and ask for retired full time residences to answer. Important considerations to work into the pole is how they pay for health care and if they have assets set asside for major expenses or if their income has to cover.

one question that I have is, are you only counting full-time residents are they counting snowbirds who are still working.

I know for a fact that you can live very comfortably here on a whole lot less than that.

Yoda

I'll bet you paid more in CA state tax than the $135 monthly amenity fee. In NM, I paid about $150 per month in HOA dues and state income tax. I'm saving money on the amenity fee here and most of it goes to support things I actually use.

Somewhere on this site is a poll just as you have suggested.....not of much value.

i think l2ride's figures are very reasonable....gn

My mother lived in the historic area on $15K/Yr. House, car and medical was paid for. She saved about $200/Mo too.

.

SookeyJo
Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Lancaster, Ohio
Posts: 23

Affording to live in TV

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This may seem kind of personal, but I was wondering what the average retirement income is for people who have moved to TV. I realize much depends on the type of housing that is chosen and the extra amenities one might want, but I've been asked this question many times and I'm kind of curious, too. Not that anyone needs to say what their income is!! I'm not nosey!

TOTV members:

Maybe I'm missing something but whether the actual answer is 44K or 93K, my impression is that SookeyJo is asking is how do I compare to others in terms of income and will TV be affordable to me?

SookeyJo:
Is that the real question?

I am home and have access to my budget. This is an estimate of a non resident. I estimated on the high side.

Builder My Estimate
Est Annual Monthly
Insurance House auto cart 1,200 1,800 150
Bond DDA 2,000 167
CDD assessment 100-300/m 2,040 2,200 183
Realestate 3-4.5m (8MNJ) 2,880 3,500 292
Utilities -
Trash 216 216 18
Elect 1,008 1,500 125
Telephone 480 1,270 106
Ammenity fee 1,620 1,800 150
Sewer 252 300 25
Water( 3 tier rates) 456 525 67
Cable / Internet 636 1,300 108
gas (or add to elect) 1,008 1,200 75
Total 11,796 17,611 1,468

The first column is the builders estimate so you can see where I increased my estimate. I think there is general agreement, when posters commented on costs, that the builders estimates are reasonable. Real Estate tax assumes you are a full time resident and get the homestead credit.

Sorry the format looked great until I posted. The builders total was 11,796 and my total 17,611 for the year. The first col. is builder, second is my annual and 3rd is my monthly estimate.

RJM1CC,
Thank you for the budget breakdown -- very helpful. On your real estate taxes of $292/month -- is that just for your home in TV? Your phone you estimate $106/month -- is that for both cell and landline service in TV? I'm in suburban Chicago, and my cell phone is $45/month (including 200 text messages/month) and landline is $35/month, total $80/month for phone service. Is landline or cell phone service in TV more expensive than up north?
Laura

RJM1CC

Thanks for the info but a few other things may needed to be added to the budget.

Newspaper
Pest control inside and out.
Lawn service (cutting and trimming the grass) if you do not do your own
Lawn fertilizing again if you do not do your own
Landscaping (weeding, trimming plants and trees)
Power washing (at least twice a year)
A/C maintenance contract (if desired)

Inflation
 

Do not forget to take inflation into your consideration. It may be flat right now, but at some point it will come back.

The RE is just TV and it is, hopefully, on the high side. My impression is that what ever house you settle on the extras might add a lot of dollars and RE tax could then be higher. Prices will go up a little each year and part of that is included. Phone is for both cell and land line using my current pattern of usage. I would hope to cut the expense but I have to keep in mind my responsibility to support the phone companies. Remember I am not a TV resident so these are just my estimates from what I have read and putting in my living patterns. I would think your Chicago prices would work as an estimate. You might look at Google phone (free) for a land line number and go with just a cell phone.

I agree. I was figuring to do most of that myself but you still have a couple of hundred dollars supplies. I broke my budget into sections such Household, Food & Clothing, Transportaion, Health, and fun.
The A/C maintenance brings up another problem. Do you budget a little each month toward major repair expenses or do you have assets that you can use to cover the expense.

Inflation is a big problem, espicaly if you are using annuities that are not inflation adjusted. I think you can expect living costs to double in the years that you are at TV.

Income
 

2BNTV wrote: "One post from "cybrgeezer" claims they know of a couple who are living on 32K per year."

Nope, someone else wrote that, and I asked for details on how they are doing it.