Monday, May 21, 2012

My Sweetheart Jeannie is Making Great Progress

Two weeks ago my wife Jeannie’s blood pressure dropped below 90/60 and her heart rate went up to 120.  We have a home blood pressure monitor so I was able to check her blood pressure and pulse regularly.  After caring for her for a full day at home without improvement we went to the emergency room on Monday morning May 7th.  She was diagnosed with sepsis and pneumonia and admitted to the hospital for what became an 8 day ordeal.  For a while they thought she had a staph infection but it turns out to have been strep, which was the first tender mercy since it is “easier” to cure. 

Her right lung capacity had been at 1/3 its normal when she was admitted and improved to close to 90% due to miraculous treatment to drain the infectious gunk through a chest tube.  It was no fun for Jeannie with lots of pain but as usual she was a real trooper and patiently waded through.  As I recollect she only broke down once and cried in frustration and due to pain.  I am so proud of her resolve to fight this.        

After long difficult days in the hospital, on Monday evening May 14th she was released from the hospital and has been home on continued antibiotic treatment to clear up the rest of the infection in her right lung.  Coming home was tender mercy #2.  We were so glad to avoid the long-term care recovery center the doctors thought they would send her to. I have been able to be her home nurse most of the time.   

I am grateful to be able to do this for her since last time she was in a serious health situation in 2007 I got sick and spent 10 days in the hospital with a ruptured appendix, and was not able to care for her during chemotherapy for stage 4 oral cancer.     

Today Jeannie goes to her infectious disease doctor for an evaluation to see if she is progressing well.  She has been improving steadily and yesterday went for a short walk outside holding onto my arm. 

Life is slowly getting back to normal around our home which is tender mercy #3.  It will be a long process to get Jeannie back to “full” health but we have made it through the most difficult weeks. 

She appreciates all the thoughts and prayers offered for her.  With being this sick it “takes a village” to get better and all the positive input has been motivational for her to rally again.  Thank you for your kindness and love.   

Thursday, May 3, 2012

A Great Source of Money if you know How to Do It

How to buy your next home.  There is major interest in this retirement strategy.  Interest rates at are historic lows right now.  We have been fortunate over the years to be able to make money on all the homes we have purchased or perhaps I should say "invested" in. It's easy to do, if you know a few basics.

There is no substantive reason why you have to stop using your home as an investment as you go into retirement. In my most recent private letter to my secure email group I shared how we have set ourselves up in our first retirement home in Idaho with an immediate equity gain due to it being a short sale property one year previously.

We were happy to do it this way since the seller had already been through the intense process of negotiating with the bank. We got the house for less than what they had paid once we considered the $21,000 professional landscaping project they completed. We watched the Boise homes market closely for 18 months to find the right home. Internet know-how makes this easy now a days.

As much as I appreciate all our real estate brokers over the years, keep in mind that they always have a "conflict of interest" as they negotiate on your behalf. Listen to their counsel but take charge and make your own decisions when it comes to negotiations.

If you go after a foreclosure or short sale, be prepared to walk away when the business process gets pushy. You will almost always hear that another potential buyer's offer is about to be on the table as they try to get you to settle on a price. Don't let your emotions govern your decisions.

If you know what to do you can make 10's of thousands of dollars as you buy your next home. We picked up $60,000 equity the day we signed our new home papers in Boise last week. If invested wisely, at 5% draw that can be an inflation proofed addition of $3000 in retirement income per year for perpetuity. Not a bad bonus.
To get more detail about this and other investment strategies you can join my secure email group by signing up in the box to the left of this post: http://saferetirementfreedom.blogspot.com/