Another govt. grab, property taxes. You see, even if your house is paid off, which includes the land you bought, you don’t really own it. The govt. can take it from you if you don’t pay their property taxes. These can change yearly at the will of the govt. and usually do. One of the largest portions of your property taxes are the school levy’s. This is an absolute joke, especially when you don’t have kids. But today, we disagree with the majority of the things they try to teach kids in school. I say try, because out of 40 developed countries, we rank number 40 in performance and number one in spending per pupil. Couldn’t be worse. Another example of the govt. taking your money and wasting it. $$10,800 for us! A comparable home in Montana is about $2800! Thanks Colorado. Enough said.
Lori and I are headed to the gym today. She has a lot of work to do so we’ll get out of here early. It was nice yesterday but once the sun goes down, so do the temperatures. Should be nice today. We’ll have our fellowship tonight. Not sure where, as I’m not sure if James’s is in town or not. One of his two homes.
Ty’s doing well, and so is Jag. Jag had a ugly mole taken off his head a couple weeks ago and I got the call yesterday, after they did a biopsy, that he’s good to go and it was just that, an ugly mole. They send everything in these days as skin cancer is nothing to mess around with.
Our espresso machine finally broke down a few weeks ago so we’ve been using these French Press coffee pots I bought a while ago and have had in the pantry, just in case the power ever went out, or something like our espresso machine dies, like it did. It makes really good coffee! It’s also nice as it forces you to slow down and go through the process as it takes 5 or 10 minutes to make, which in this hurry up world, is a blessing.
Not sure if you can tell, but we’re in the beginning of our self-imposed planning stages towards retirement. This means change, hence the potential move to Montana, or wherever. When you retire, unless you have a ton of money, you need to look at everything from property taxes, to State tax, vehicle taxes (we’d save $7K a year in vehicle registration by leaving Colorado!) health care and more. Basically, the total cost of living as once you stop having money coming in, you’d better make sure you have enough to live on. Not sure what we’ll do or where we’ll end up, but you need to go through the process. Right now, Whitefish Montana, up by Glacier National Park, looks like an unpretentious version of Aspen with a lot less snow, nice lakes and rivers, and all the amenities you’d want. We’re going to go check it out this Spring. We’ll also be looking in Arizona next week. Ideally a main home in Montana and a smaller place in Arizona would be great. Then you spend June to January in Montana and January through May in Arizona. This is what Mom and Dad did. More to come, we’re not going anywhere this year, or probably next, but it’s never too early to start planning.
That’s it, time to get to the gym. We’ll work out until 8 and then Lori has a PT appointment. I’ll go grab breakfast with Ty and get her at 9. I’m loving my carnivore diet and leaning out fast. It’s just meat and eggs, nothing else. Going for six pack abs at 68! Ha.
That’s it, be well, stay safe and God Bless.