OH, WHAT A DAY THAT WAS

A great day up here today. Sunny with cloud, no wind, no rain. Ideal conditions for a good walk which is what we did. We did the long walk around Reotahi and then up and over Mount Aubrey from South to North. This way means that at the top you are looking down on McLeod Bay, looking down on our house and the the boats in the bay. It's a great outlook.

"Down come a bolt of lightning Start an electrical storm Starts a chain reaction Go pull a fire alarm

I'm dreaming of a city It was my own invention I put the wheels in motion A time for big decisions"

- David Byrne Oh what a day that was. 

I like Talking Heads and David Byrne's music and as I was walking I had this song in my head. I have the Catherine Wheel album and have always liked this track.

OH WHAT A DAY THAT WAS

We have been thinking about our future of late. The plans haven't been helped by me working part-time only and planning to jack even this job in soon. We have things we want to do (travel etc) as well as making sure that we are secure for our dotage. We have our living places (house and apartment) with a small mortgage but have no savings or other assets. The old 'own your house and have a million in the bank' as a retirement mantra makes sense but we are way short of that.

At the top of Mount Aubrey I had the thought of divesting assets. We can keep the apartment but why own a house that we basically won't need when we 'pop our clogs' We have no one to leave an inheritance to (no direct descendants and family on both sides have their own stuff). A while ago we discussed the idea of reverse mortgaging the house. The more I looked into this though I decided that it's really a scam operated by finance companies who end up with all the benefit. Bugger that. We need to control our own lives, money and assets. What I thought of was, in some time in the future - maybe five years, maybe ten - to sell the house (at a good price not being under any pressure to sell) and to bank the money. We can then rent a similar house that will give us everything we want or need at the time and the interest on the money will pay the rent. The capital, in the bank can be used to fund travel, lifestyle etc as long as we are compos mentis to enjoy it.

Things always change and maybe there are a lot of flaws in this plan but it does ease the pressure a bit and The Old Girl is in agreement so we'll quietly work on this.

Meanwhile the strenuous walk and climb did us good and we felt that we'd earned a relaxing afternoon reading books and doing crosswords - although The Old Girl worked on the computer. Hey! She has to for at least the next five years if I'm not working.