re: If you could purchase a vacation home..

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It's not the buying that is the issue, it is the taxes, insurance and upkeep with nobody around. It's never fun to show up after 2 months and find out something has been leaking the whole time, or the fridge stopped 4 weeks ago. Take that 500k, I vest it and rent what you want whenever you want to go. Much less hassle. I know of what I speak

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This. I know what the OP is saying, but a $500k vacation home is going to cost $20-30k if not $50k a year in maintenance costs. You have landscaping, utilities, property taxes, insurance, etc. if you can't rent it out, you are way better off investing the $500k and spending $30-50k a year on vacations from the income.

Also, I would never own a vacation home over 5 hours away or without have a direct flight. Multiple flights or a long drive is too much of a pita to me to go routinely and relax.