I a sort of popped into the forum yesterday and became quite excited finding a lot of folks with a mind set close to mine. I then made the brief post to this thread with the intent of coming back to add a little more detail. However I felt I should read the thread first, having done that I am confident I am in the right place. So some history and a bit of what I'm up to who knows it may be helpful to some one at some point.
I have been self employed most of my adult life (I find it hard to follow others) and did OK. About 2006 / 2007 the writing on the wall suggested trouble on the horizon. I had 6 properties and my home - Yes Bills BIG Ones! Two of the properties were unimproved land the rest were rentals and a Beauty Salon so they mostly paid for them selves. I had a talk with my wife and told her we needed to do something or get caught hard. I had for a few years been trying to get her to agree to changing one of our rentals to commercial and brought this up in the discussion. She agreed, and I went to work on the best property location for the intended purpose as luck would have it we had just evicted that tenant.
Going to take a side trip here I suggest you not do this unless you really understand your local gov. and what you are doing: To save time and cost in converting the property I went to work without pulling permits. I knew if I went to the county they would want a site plan and that can add real cost in a very big way. I went to work on the ground creating parking, lighting, etc. leaving the structure alone knowing a cease and desist order would appear on the door at some point. The object here was to complete the ground work as fast as possible. When the order came I applied for electrical and structural permits which made them happy and what I did let me off the hook for a site plan.
Three months before completing the property conversion getting the door open the bottom fell out of the new homes market. I was a Drywall Contractor with crews and my builders began asking me to work for less damn near at cost. We lost one builder after another (I won't work at cost) when we received our final inspection on the now commercial property as opposed to leasing it we decided to use it our selves. We closed the Drywall business and opened a gaming center / PC & Game Console repair. The gaming center did not pan out the numbers just weren't there, after a few months we shut it down but the repair took off. We were able to carry our debt for a while but could not do it for ever, the properties were the retirement plan. We were faced with some really hard choices. My wife and I talked about this and what to do we are partners in all things. The economy was down, we could try to hold on in hope the economy would recover. But if it did not we could lose EVERY THING! The choice was made and we moved to file for bankruptcy letting everything go including our home with exception to the new business property I made changes there to allow us to live and work there (bankruptcy takes a little time). We did this choosing to believe the economy would remain poor long term and not gamble on recovery in a year or two. The hole left by closing the gaming part of the business we filled with roll your own tobacco products. There are things in life people will buy no matter and tobacco is one of them. The PC repair has been fading over the last few years as mobile devices take over and that is OK it carried things while the tobacco became established.
This history told, brings me to yesterdays post.
I believe bad things are coming and want to be rural when it happens, just so happens I'm at a time to retire as well. The only thing keeping me from unplugging is the business and ground it sets on. It is currently on the market and fear I will have to make the sale happen others will drag their feet. Debt to value is good so a few bucks can be pulled from it plus other monies. After looking at property, tax, and real cost of living across the country in search of the best, offering what I can afford and want I have found a location. Low tax and low property cost there are few job opportunities there.
I want:
50 plus acres mature timber with home 1000 to 1400 square feet in good condition
Well / Septic
Current property tax under $800 a year
Thriving wild life and fishery
Year round spring with good flow
Cost under 120K (I have my eye on one that is 74K and under 400 property tax)
Within 70 miles to medical
Cost of living under $1000.00 month leaving money for the mattress.
.
The idea:
To be far enough away to hunt unrestricted for meat, raise a few chickens for eggs and meat, fish, grow fruit, vegetables, and tobacco.
We will gather wild berries, herbs, and nuts.
Power - Methane, used oil, wood and other - this will run a steam engine to turn a generator creating electricity and I'll also use the wind.
The home I will change a little I have skills most windows will be removed and insulation upgraded if needed and a large enclosed sun porch on the back.
I'll build a tooling shop, things break, need repair, or created I can do this. I'll also build a garage with pit to service our vehicles. I have most of the equipment for these things now.
I'll dig a root cellar and my wife and I will can, dry meat, dry fruit and vegetables.
I think I have expressed the idea. As many here have said you can not trust in any thing unless you are in control of that thing and retirement built on investment portfolio or promised pension plan may disappoint. True Independence is the lack of Dependence.
Life joy is really family and nature not the glitter and glam that forms the walls of a cell. I have two tattoos one reads born free and the other reads money slave they are a reminder.
Yesterdays post spoke of a steam engine I have built don't let the size fool you it is up to 6HP and 1200 RPMS. I'm adding a link (if permitted) to a video of my boiler build from there you can find other videos of the steam engine etc. and I'll be making more.
The boiler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nniuKMnaoRQ 
