No exit strategy needed: I drop dead, wifey is happy and likely quite a few others are, too, including me.
Wayne
I ka-hortled a pinch when i read this post. Ive seen it before but never under the guise 'exit plan'.
Well, short and sweet like..... i dont care what anyone says! Im taking my trains with me!!!!! And if heaven wont accept carry-on luggage... then to heck with heaven (pun intended!).
I have blooded, sweated and teared way too much for too long to willy nilly give up my trains just because im dying. Thats no excuse! An I dont even have a layout yet!
So, IF there is a god, which would mean Jesus really was a carpenter (so ive heard), then tellem they better drop the price of lumber - cuz their gonna get one heck of a layout lumber order whenst I pass the pearlys.
(all this is ofcourse based on the fact im going north instead of south oncest i commense to passing, which would mean no trains. Lumber and plastic usually melt down south ways. Prolly make me play with dolls as my pennance for eternity. Anyone know if Satan is a Railfan?)
Coffin with a trailer owner,
PMR
PM Railfan (all this is ofcourse based on the fact im going north instead of south oncest i commense to passing, which would mean no trains. Lumber and plastic usually melt down south ways. Prolly make me play with dolls as my pennance for eternity. Anyone know if Satan is a Railfan?)
"Many are called, but few are chosen". Remember that? Matthew 22:14.
If you are running trains without derailments, and you never experience a short circuit, you are one of the lucky few, living your earthly life in heavenly fashion.
But, if you're like most of us, constant derailments, periodic short circuits, your life is a living hell.
Exit strategy? For most of us, death is a welcome relief. Sorta like giving up golf.
Rich
Alton Junction
I am fully expecting another 15-25 years on this planet. That does not change the fact that I could be hit by a bus tomorrow.
It is important that loved ones know where the will is, what your wishes are, what stuff is worth, and how much you love them.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing.
richhotrain But, if you're like most of us, constant derailments, periodic short circuits, your life is a living hell.
That would be me. Nice to know I am not alone. Misery loves company.
John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing.
In our retirement planning seminars, we would model a "composite executive" whose financial circumstances matched that of the group in attendance. We would project the performance of the composite's financial resources and then kill him off at age 85.
The idea was to maintain a lifestyle that would result in a capital surplus of $1 remaining at age 85. If the composite died at age 85 with a capital surplus of more than $1, we would calculate the amount of additional spending that could be experienced without running out of capital. As John said, that required perfect timing because the composite could not afford to live one day longer than age 85.
richhotrain John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing. I used to provide financial planning for corporate executives, estate planning, retirement planning, etc. In our retirement planning seminars, we would model a "composite executive" whose financial circumstances matched that of the group in attendance. We would project the performance of the composite's financial resources and then kill him off at age 85. The idea was to maintain a lifestyle that would result in a capital surplus of $1 remaining at age 85. If the composite died at age 85 with a capital surplus of more than $1, we would calculate the amount of additional spending that could be experienced without running out of capital. As John said, that required perfect timing because the composite could not afford to live one day longer than age 85. Rich
I used to provide financial planning for corporate executives, estate planning, retirement planning, etc.
Yep. It is possible to live too long. To outlive your means.
As far as the topic. Chances are when I get really old and I'm feeling bad, my interest in having a big collection will wane (Its already starting, even though I feel great). I'll probably spend time selling off stuff to maximize its cash return and then make sure my wife or kids have the phone number to Trainz.com.
The layout is/will be pretty easy for someone to dismantle and toss.
- Douglas
John-NYBW richhotrain Exit strategy? For most of us, death is a welcome relief. Sorta like giving up golf. Giving up golf is not possible no matter how miserable it makes you. There isn't a golfer who has ever picked up a driver who hasn't at some time said "I hate this (expletive) game". Yet we can't give it up no matter how mad it makes us. The golf gods know when you reach that point and will suddenly allow you to have just enough success to keep you coming back and give you the false hope that someday you will actually become good at it.
richhotrain Exit strategy? For most of us, death is a welcome relief. Sorta like giving up golf.
I've been thinking about this lately, not just because a retired doctor friend has strongly advised our retiree breakfast group to think seriously about "continuum of care" retirement villages, but because a group of older modelers on an email/Zoom list I belong to have been sharing their stories about themselves and their friends, including a group trip to an estate sale where a guy they knew had been accumulating top of the line stuff to start his dream layout and then -- died suddenly. 100s of Kadee freight cars selling for under $10, that sort of thing
Now that it no longer runs Trainfest, my NMRA Division has started to express interest in making money by becoming a repository for estates/leaving the hobby/downsizing and holding sales or even doing Ebay. I have quite a bit of stuff that I now realize was accumulated for projects and plans that are not going to happen. So although I am not yet an estate (I try to verify this every morning), nor leaving the hobby, I guess you could call this a form of downsizing, althugh not due to changes on housing, and I hope this Divisional project goes forward as I think it is a good practical way to thin out the collection. I just don't hope my instincts don't kick in and I start buying other people's stuff!
It used to be that when a modeler died the plague of locusts would descend on the rolling stock and structures, leaving the layout itself a dumpster candidate, but someone told me that with the cost of new lumber still way too high (and the quality often way too low) there is sudden interest in salvaging layout lumber and plywood. This makes sense to me.
My large collection of railroad research materials, books/magazines, and prototype photos/slides/digital images are a whole 'nother topic.
Dave Nelson
John-NYBWMy exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing.
My grandmother always said she would leave on her 80th birthday and broke.
She passed three months before her 80th, and her total assets were about $10,000.00 when she was gone.
In her life she travelled the world and enjoyed everything. She is my hero.
SeeYou190 John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing. My grandmother always said she would leave on her 80th birthday and broke. She passed three months before her 80th, and her total assets were about $10,000.00 when she was gone. In her life she travelled the world and enjoyed everything. She is my hero. -Kevin
She's my hero too. I'll bet if she had three more months, she could have spent that last $10K.
John-NYBW SeeYou190 John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing. My grandmother always said she would leave on her 80th birthday and broke. She passed three months before her 80th, and her total assets were about $10,000.00 when she was gone. In her life she travelled the world and enjoyed everything. She is my hero. -Kevin She's my hero too. I'll bet if she had three more months, she could have spent that last $10K.
Just got my analysis from my financial planner - after 1000 or 10000 Monte Carlos the median result has me ending up with 2x plus what I am starting out with - this to avoid the 1% chance that I run out of money at 85. If I want to target say a 50% chance of running out of money at 85, I'd have to double our current spending plan, probably triple it if I want to be certain to run out of money.
That being said I am building the final layout in our last home, hopefully a 20+ year project. No thought of portability or salvageablility. When I'm gone I won't care what happens to it, though hopefully some of the nicer FSM modules will find a home on somebody's future layout. As far as burden to the family - I worked damn hard for 40 years to provide for them, they can deal with the layout when I'm gone. Dumpster, break it up for sale, it's all the same to me ...
I really haven't given much thought about an "exit strategy." But I view all of my models as a sunk cost. (Cliff Notes definition: an accounting principal which states that once money is expended, it no longer holds financial value). Like bubble gum, once you chew it, the only value remaining is the intrisic value you receive from the actual process of chewing the gum. Whatever is left over after the chewing is spit in the trash.
So, basically I believe that all of the money I spent on my trains was money spent towards my entertainment and enjoyment. The joy that this hobby has given me cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, and far exceeds the cash investment I made to purchase my model railroad equipment.
There is no expectation on my part that my heirs will reap a financial reward from the sale of my model railroading equipment. If they seek value at that time, that is fine. Their choice; although I may provide some guidance if the subject ever comes up.
I've recently completed a semi-exit strategy. We are moving, the new home not realistic for a layout and I had not built the 5 x 10 layout moveable anyway.
I decided to keep 4 favorite engines, my DCC system and a favorite 7-car heavyweight passenger set I repainted. Plus a few odds & ends. I may join a modular club in my upcoming new home town (Denton TX) and even have a module.
- I sold other rolling stock on EBay farily successfully. Unfamiliar with the process, I learned it selling unopened car kits that I had, which made selling the primo items later quite easy. I also sold items such as vehicles, usually in groups of 6 or so. All in all, it was worth the effort, and I had the time to manage it. If you get into that, be sure to check out the free USPS shipping boxes of various types.
- Since structures would be tough to pack & ship successfully, I put them carefully in roomy boxes and donated them to the local train museum, for sale in their semi-annual train show. Other miscellaneous items (used Tortoises) also went there.
- I did not attempt to save the trackage, even turnouts, since I found it too difficult to remove (much less clean) the painted, ballasted trackage.
- The cookie cutter layout got carved up and loaded in the pickup, disposed of at the dump.
FWIW...
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
A modeler friend of mine said he wanted to eat a large bag of unpopped popcorn just before his last breath. He said his cremation would be "epic".
Twenty plus years ago we made an agreement that the survivor between the two of us would dispose of the other guy's stuff. We shook hands on it and never mentioned it to our families or to each other ever again. When he had about a day left of his life I visited him in the hospital. He asked if I remembered our agreement. I said "yes". He touched my hand and said "you lose". I sold everything he had, gave the money to his wife, and kept the items he had previously given to me. As for my stuff, my son in law and grandson are into trains and will inherit the house after my wife and I are gone. What happens then, well I really don't care.
Mark B.
Mark BA modeler friend of mine said he wanted to eat a large bag of unpopped popcorn just before his last breath. He said his cremation would be "epic".
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Paul wrote: "If you get into that, be sure to check out the free USPS shipping boxes of various types."
Hmmmm... what are these "free USPS shipping boxes" you speak of...?
OldEngineman Paul wrote: "If you get into that, be sure to check out the free USPS shipping boxes of various types." Hmmmm... what are these "free USPS shipping boxes" you speak of...?
If you are willing to ship items priority mail flat rate, they give you the box. You can request the boxes, or pick them up at the post office in advance, and pay when you ship the item - for more than a decade now..... read the whole page.....
https://www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail.htm
Sheldon
ATLANTIC CENTRAL If you are willing to ship items priority mail flat rate, they give you the box.
There are also priority mail, non-flat rate, boxes available free at the PO.
My exit strategy will or might be in the next 30 years. Sell them all in a train show or individual sell them online. This way my family isn't going to struggle, figuring out the price tags of everything I own.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
We recently had this discussion in the model railroading club I belong to. If requested, we will help the the deceased member's family to liquidate anything of value on the layout.
As I mentioned in my initial reply to this thread, I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. It's on my to-do list along with lots of other things I have been putting off. I am going to include suggestions as to how to sell off the usable stuff. There are two LHSes very close to each other that deal in used model railroading items. The other option is ebay. The entire lot could be offered but that would likely get low ball offers. The most lucrative way would be to sell the items individually but that will require more work by the executor. That will be for him or her to decide. As I noted in my first reply, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
John-NYBWI'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years.
If there is no Will, there is no Executor.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor.
John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years.
rrebell BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor. Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you.
Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you.
Court-appointed. Big time, big money, and often nothing left for those left behind.
BATMAN rrebell BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor. Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you. Court-appointed. Big time, big money, and often nothing left for those left behind.
Ohio law sets the limit on the percentage the executor may take. I was the executor of my father's estate and I took a fixed percentage in addition to my share as an heir. I don't recall what the percentage was but I'm pretty sure it was in the single digits. There was a lot of paper work involved and lots of time meeting with the attorney, who also got paid by the estate. I would have been perfectly happy had someone else done it and taken the fee but since I was the only one of the siblings still living in the state, it fell to me. I was also named the trustee of my father's trust and for that I got no payment. Much less work involved but since the trust still has income and distributes to the beneficiaries, I have to file a trust tax return in addition to handling the distributions.
richhotrain rrebell BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor. Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you. Witout a Will, the probate estate is handled by the Administrator, not an Executor. Rich
Witout a Will, the probate estate is handled by the Administrator, not an Executor.
I'm sure it varies from state to state. In lieu of a will, the probate court will decide who is entitled to a share of the estate. Whether the court appoints an admistrator or executor in Ohio is something I don't know but it's probably just a question of semantics. That person would certainly be paid an amount set by state law.