You got it Law Dog.I busted my balls for 50 years,,,so I could retire comfortably.What I DIDNT do was gripe about work the whole time I was working.

Plus,,you got yer fresh eggs every day.I love my chickens. coonman could maybe invest a little more into homesteading and becoming more selfe sufficient.My wife nad I can ALL our own veggies and a ton of meat.Very little spent at the store except for coffee and cleaning supplies and such.

My story is more like the fable of the grasshopper and the ant. I never got a job my whole life...cuz jobs suck. I've trapped and farmed, sang and danced, and now as I enter my twilight years...well, I do make a lot of great red wine from my vineyard!

But in all seriousness, my situation is just about same as Coonman's. Probably many others like us.

But I made about $5000 the past two months trapping!

Will need to move to Alaska or Mexico or Australia or South East Asia. Mexico would be a good bet. 300 miles from USA border in case you have to leave in a hurry or want to visit USA every once in a while. Your money will go so much further. We have had 3 or 4 guys at work that have retired there in the last couple years. You can buy a nice house in country for 5000.00 U.S or rent for 100.00-150.00 U.S a month. You could still do a lot of deer , duck , dove hunting. Trapping to not sure what value will be on coyotes but I bet you could catch a lot of bobcat that could be worth some money. Alaska good choice too because you would have a better chance living off the land and build you that 600 ft log cabin. We all get old when the time comes and when you cannot take care of yourself you need to go to nursing home. I would rather go to nursing home in Fairbanks Then any in the lower 48 states.
You could still look out the window and see the mts. Like Yukonjeff said Mexico could be the winner. Pay a nurse 100.00 a month to take care of you at home. I never been to Mexico but now you got me thinking. Ha ha ha. MD.

Charge labor fees and mileage expense for your services. There is very little to no profit in fur trapping and definitely in the negative when calculating value of time if needing to make a living. If trapping for fun then accept the loss and take pictures.

Beaverpeeler- You found the gig economy before it was a term. I suspect yours has been more a subsistence living "plus" compared to coonman's. Keep doing it until you fall over. Then it will either not matter or you'll be a ward of Uncle Sam via Medicaid for a nursing home after your assets are gone. Hopefully, you'll go the former. I don't think you would enjoy the nursing home route and you'd spare the tax payers some coin.

Wouldn't Coonman likely be eligible for Medicaid rather than paying for Medicare out of his SS ?

The thing with selling fur is to create your own markets when needed, in good times the middle man is easy money and you go trap harder but in hard times find the end user to get your full value.

You would think that would be the end result when he can no longer work that’s what I was thinking also. If I'm not mistaken if he goes on disability he will also qualify for the FULL SS retirement amount no matter what his age is even if he has not hit 62 yet.

Tomato seeds $2.19 a packet raise them up 20 plants 16lb a plant $2.80 a pound $896 bucks beats coon trapping. No frozen traps or skinning very little investment save some time and a bit sales most can be done at a local farmers market or they come to your door. Other veggies are the same kind of deal bedding plants even better you grow them for a few weeks and sell them for $2.75 average.

I haven't seen house in Mexico selling for $5000 or rent for $100 - $150 a month either. It comes in higher than that anywhere I'd want to be. Both my wife and I hate the cold. As far as I'm concerned it could warm up after deer season here. I hate Dec. - March. Where, what part, did those guys retire to MartyD?

Buy a truck and trailer to haul for people and businesses lots of opportunities in there haul for estate sales no telling what they will throw away after they pick through it. Sell what they throw out for 100% profit on the local selling sites their trash is your cash you gotta hustle to make a buck.

I have good friend that has lived in Baja the past 29 years. Originally an Oky. (Love to hear him speak Spanish with that drawl). He says he could never live in the US again because he has so much more freedom there. He always brags that he has yet to get a permit for anything. Just does it like all the other Mexicans. (He got himself Mexican citizenship).

But, you can't legally trap bobcat there. No cites in Mexico so you would have to smuggle them north with cartel help.

I've been on the west side of Mexico twice. Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. We prefer Cabo and saw plenty of vehicles with California license plates while we were there. It's hard to say what the US will be in a few years but it doesn't look good. We're about 12 to 15 years away maybe more from retirement if we stay in the US. Getting very discouraged looking at the news all the time. The choice may be do I want to be cold and poor or warm and stable or at least not as poor.

Boco, They are not just giving you the money, you pay into the system for years. In a lot of the cases you die before getting a dime.

We don’t give our terrorist the money you guys give them either! LOL

Coonman you need to get better with money. Just got back from a 14 mile ride on my $1.00 four wheeler. OK, I think I may have $200 into it now.