re: How many missed checks are you….

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Was on my run and saw the house down the street just went up for sale. I live in a nice neighborhood, 1-2 acre lots, mostly people doing well in their careers, etc. Couple has only been in the house for 2 years. Divorce? Living above their means? Hard to say. The wife drove home a brand new Suburban/Tahoe just two months ago.

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Probably trying to get away from you

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For the uneducated maybe. Property taxes were the preferred method of taxation of this Nations founding fathers

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Do you believe they intended for property taxes to be a tax levied in perpetuity and in the rate as it is today?

I have 5 to 6 months of bills saved and accessible.

But..... we just got a house less than a year ago. Now its for sale. Moving for a new job with better pay and benefits. Why are you assuming they can't afford?

Hey! You suck!

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Was on my run and saw the house down the street just went up for sale.

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Sounds like someone wants to move.

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Couple has only been in the house for 2 years. Divorce? Living above their means? Hard to say.

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Or they want to move.

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The wife drove home a brand new Suburban/Tahoe just two months ago.

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Probably want to move away from the busy body neighbor.

I built my home and once it was finished I had about $100k equity in it at completion. I mean some
People do build to sell and eventually build a home and are mortgage free.

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…away from having to make some big financial changes?

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My wife and I couldn't make it more than a month until I turned 30 back when we lived in Memphis. We could barely rub two nickels together. Her parents gave us about $7500 for the wedding, and we put it into savings and had the reception at Corky's BBQ. My parents felt sorry for us because my wife had a super unreliable car at the time (old Chrysler PT Cruiser) and they gave us an even older, higher mileage Chevy Trailblazer that was infinitely more reliable and safer to drive around Memphis than that hideous little Chrysler.

Once I went into consulting, we were able to save a lot more. Enough where we could last 5-6 months if we absolutely had to. Moved to Pittsburgh area where most people just don't have much money - kept a couple of basic, cheap Japanese cars (that I knew would eventually rust out in the snow belt) and had no concerns with living in a vinal box of a house. No kids at the time either so our expenses were low.

Then I moved into a more lucrative field and we moved to Chicago. Got a nicer car. Nicer house. Expenses went up but our income also grew substantially; then my wife started earning a nominal salary as a resident. In those years we could probably go a year or so if we had to - part of that was fueled by my paranoia that a lot of us were going to be laid off during the pandemic. We didn't spend much and put away a lot.

When my wife became an attending our total gross pay doubled - and by that time our spending habits were already sort of set - but we also started having kids which significantly increases our expenses. We max out our 401k and invest a healthy amount into 529 plans, personal brokerage accounts, and our rental property business. From there we can **almost** live off her salary alone.

Between the two of is, the most likely one to get RIF'ed abruptly is me - if that happens we could go a year or more before we had to make some real changes. We definitely could not contribute to savings very much and our constant search for rental properties to invest in would have to end.

I'm still one of the youngest in my field, so I should be safe. Only about 20-25 people in the US and Canada that can do what I do. Sadly the next generation in my field will probably all be outsourced. That will eventually happen to me too probably.

My goal is to be able to "quiet quit" in about 12-15 years. Not saying I will, but I want to be able to if I need to. My passive income stream just isn't there yet.