justRich

I used well nuts on my current (and previous) camper to secure the panels using only two brackets per side.

"You can always make more money - you can't make more time."

someone once said.

Along the lines of Solar power - the Lithium battery will probably be replaced by the GRAPHENE ALUMINUM-ION battery.

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The laboratory testing and experiments have shown so far that the Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery energy storage technology has high energy densities and higher power densities compared to current leading marketplace Lithium-Ion Battery technology – which means it will give longer battery life (up to 3 times) and charge much faster (up to 60 times).

( https://graphenemg.com/energy-storage-solutions/aluminum-ion-battery/ )

The University of Queensland holds the patent and recently partnered with commercial enterprise to begin exploitation of their discovery.

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In a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffett outlines his plans to follow the 90/10 rule regarding his wife's inheritance, which will be invested 90% in an S&P 500 index fund and 10% in government bonds.

And Hillary Clinton's tax records showed that she was 100% in the S&P.
So there's that.
But one must be able to withstand periods of recession - in Buffets case, someone with enough money could do well on government bonds alone.

For us with properties - they can be the best choice for keeping up with inflation.
One dilemma with rental properties is for do-it-yourselfers is when getting older the physical challenges may increase. 
Do you really want to be on the roof, or climbing ladders on a regular basis at 75 yrs old.  85?  90?
(I looked up "elderly" to see when that happens and world-wide, "elderly" is generally accepted to be achieved when one reaches 70 years of age.)  

With rentals there are three viable choices for us elderly: sell, donate or delegate (hire a management company).
Sell, get the cash - pay the cap gains tax.
Donate: look into Charitable Gift Annuities - which provide income and avoids capital gains.
Delegate: A good management company will take you completely out of the loop, get top dollar and send you checks and bills.

There is much to consider.  

This is information overload.
I'll have to download the post, save to a pdf and print out when I need it.
The Schematic did not enlarge big enough when I clicked on it - could use a little help there.

Of all the forum topics, "Solar Power" seems to be missing.
(or did i miss it?)

There has been a dramatic drop in lithium battery prices, solar panel prices and now some RV's come equipped for solar connectivity.
But no forum for Solar Power.

Could the powers that be please help?

Zelle - has worked for us many years now.

I haul our trash to the dump here and up north and both sites switched to credit / debit cards only - no cash.
And one site has the simplicity of the credit tap/touch screen device so that no hand-to-hand is no more.

I traded in a camper for a new used camper at Camping World.  They never even looked at the old camper - they had me drop it off in the back lot and then we did the paper work.
Note: the purchase of the new/used camper was paper from another company - not Camping World.  Camping World used a third party for the purchase and sale - don't ask me more than that. 
Next time, I would ask for a copy of the contract and take it home to read through the fine print first (not that it would matter).

13 hours ago, RV_ said:

Rich,

It is now @ $1024 a share! I bought at $350! if it goes up another $25 I will have tripled my money in a year. Hemstead (congrats) has Tesla shares were you in for this one too Rich?

We own Tesla but only through the S&P 500 and a few other mutual or ETF funds - happy to hear that you caught a wave and are shooting the curl!

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Car rental company Hertz is ordering 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla

https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/hertz-orders-100000-model-electric-vehicles-tesla-80768688

Wow!

Well, I bought a "creeper" at Harbor Freight last week for $35. and it's really a nice one.  
A mechanic friend told me about it - elsewhere, creepers usually cost around $125+
No more "inch-worming" under the truck for me.

9 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

https://store.wsj.com/shop/us/us/wsjuslds22/?inttrackingCode=aaqxgxmp&icid=WSJ_ON_PHP_ACQ_NA&n2IKsaD9=n2IKsaD9&Pg9aWOPT=Pg9aWOPT&Cp5dKJWb=Cp5dKJWb&APCc9OU1=APCc9OU1

That might be the student rate via the link above.  WSJ advertises the regular non-student $4 dollar rate on Facebook occasionally - which is where I got the low digital subscription rate.

How long will my savings last:
https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/savings-withdrawal-calculator-tool.aspx

Another how long will my money last:
https://www.firecalc.com/

Portfolio Visualizer: A more advance fun or serious tool set:
https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/

2 million pretty much does it for anyone with a semi-frugal life style.

I recently subscribed to Forbes and Smithsonian since both were offering extreme value subscriptions.  WSJ at $4.00 / month online version (if that counts).

19 hours ago, Kirk W said:

A 401k is probably the best tool for most working folks. If I were at that age today, I think a Roth IRA would be my second investment. 
 

In retrospect, a Roth IRA would be my first choice - and if a company matching fund were available - max it out.
Long term successful investing can actually put one into a position of getting bumped into a higher tax bracket.
We are required to take withdrawals from traditional IRA's (401k's) at age 70 (or is it 72 now?)

And money taken from a traditional IRA is taxed as ordinary income.  Money taken from a Roth is tax free.
If one does not need the money it is better to leave it alone - in a Roth.

To me, your plan sounds very difficult to achieve.
I suspect that others have attempt your plan and find themselves in homeless encampments.

Campgrounds are very full nowadays.  
And free spaces are being used more often as the crowded RV boom continues to grow.

I agree with the trailer idea.
And I wish you well with finding a spot.
I've found that there are often covenants against RV parking when looking at land.
And you don't want to be too far away from urban amenities (I assume).

There's a small chance that your plan might work handsomely as a caretaker.
Take a look at caretaker.org for a few ideas.  Maybe the right fit might come along.
Try a google search for "caretaker jobs" for additional ideas.  

Best of luck in your endeavor - it sounds like an adventure.  
 

Stay the course has been my lesson learned.
Hillary Clinton's tax return investments were not press worthy: 100 percent S&P 500
Warren Buffet stated that he would invest 90 percent in the S&P 500 and 10% bonds for his wife.

So there's that.
And then there are the "Lazy Portfolio" options: https://portfolioslab.com/lazy-portfolios

Generally, at this late point in life, we are not as adventuresome as the early days.
Investing early in one's career is most important - though that can be hard to do when many demands are placed on one's income salary. 

Mayo Clinic Phoenix is now allowing two visitors.  No temperature checks.
Two months ago it was only one visitor.
Last winter - no visitors allowed.

Masks are required at all medical facilities regardless of vaccine status.

Yesterday I was in ACE hardware looking at faucet hose sprinkler timers - for the kind with two outlets, battery operated timer that attaches to a faucet.  (full timers can ignore this - probably won't make sense to you 🙂 )
ACE price was $45.00
Knowing that I could probably get it cheaper online I checked Amazon: $49.00
I checked Walmart: $50.00
Conclusion: ACE has yesterday's pricing (for the moment).

I'd start with GVWR - which is meaningless by itself.
You also have to know what the vehicle weighs. . .which is the UVW.
(The first sentence in sandsys's post says it all.)

"Unladen" weight means no people, fresh water or fuels in the tanks when it's weighed.
GVWR is the maximum weight the vehicle should ever weigh.
Typically, that includes people, fuels, water, food, gear, additional batteries, solar panels ---any stuff that you can put on it or in it.

Subtract UVW from GVWR and that is - weight you can put in or on the vehicle.

When RV shopping I found that I could not put as weight in a Class C as I could in a Class A
As a rule, the Class A's had a higher GVWR and lower UVW than the Class C's - thus allowing me to collect more stuff (weight).
So. . .good question asked.  
 

On 8/1/2021 at 9:52 AM, Wrknrvr said:

   Have been reading forums on how to make my rifles shoot accurately. It takes a lot of reading, reading and more reading. Then make a mold, try that bullet design.

  That has not worked very good up till now. Read more forums. I read one site seven times. Finally slow the heck down understand what the other person has experienced. 

  So said person is one of the top muzzleloader shooters in the world. Really understand what he is saying. Put all my old bullets in the melting pot this am. 

  Made a new mold the correct diameter and shape .  While polishing it on the inside the diameter was oversized. Then it took 4 tries to make a Swedge To compress the bullet to just the diameter I wanted.  441 thousands diameter is what was needed. One was .449, one was .452 and the other one will be used for my next rifle. 

 Does this equal reading a book.

 

   Maybe I should just read books.

 

  Vern

Maybe you should think about writing a book.
I'd guess that you've gathered enough accumulated knowledge to do it.

Melting ice has not caused an actual "rise" in water levels - but ice that  melts over land will do that - and sea level may well change with that event.

Fresh water sinks - as it is added to the ocean it was theorized (many years ago) that it would slow the gulf stream - which brings warm currents and air to the US east coast and Britain.
It's only theory - until it's tested and proved otherwise.

Looking forward, the collapse of the Gulf Stream ocean current is expected to cause freezing in the Northeast and western Europe.
The climate will probably whipsaw.

"Desert-if-ication" is what I think is happening.
According to one of my long departed university professors (pre-global warming) the earth has been heating up for ages.  The desert areas have been moving north and south from the equator for decades.

Deserts temps are typically marked by higher-high temps and lower-low temps.  The average may remain the same.
Currently, it seems that both the highs and lows are becoming consistently higher.

And droughts are becoming more common world wide.
"Desertification" is too much of a mouth-full for the news media. 
And so it will not become a media star.
The consequences are serious beyond belief.

Thanks for the reminder about head walking into the slideout.
We've been grounded mostly because of health issues but I loaded the camper onto the truck yesterday and took it for a short test drive spin.

I had remembered everything except to put air in the air bags and adjust the shocks to a higher setting. 
The ride was really cush till then.