retirement finances... I wish I had a "real" local fish store...

[Magnum Man]

so, full retirement is only a few months away, and a visit to the social security office, and my investment manager reassures me, that I'll be comfortable, but not as liquid as I've been the last of my working years, so I'll need to slow down on the money spent on the hobby...

my tanks and fish are pretty stable now, but like many, the thought of breeding some fish to trade at a local shop seems the easiest way to bring in new fish, as my non breeding fish slowly dwindle... however my only semi local shop, ( basically a dog grooming shop that has a couple aquariums ), that has taken fish from me before, for store credit, doesn't have many fish I'd be interested in, and their tanks are such, that anything most definitely requires quarantine...

so with my morning caffeine, I'm having a vision of my tanks as they slowly get less and less fish in them, or they get taken over as grow out tanks ... and the mixed community tanks I love so much, slowly die out... makes me feel old, and sad... maybe turning 55 gallon tanks into breeding tanks, or grow out tanks will become interesting, out of necessity???

 

[GaryE]

Retirement is interesting. Mine was unplanned and sudden, due to a health crisis in the family during COVID. I went several years ahead of the plan I had.
I had the advantage of selling a house in the city for more than expected, and moving to a less expensive region. That let me build a fishroom and put aside money for these trips I take. This wasn't in my plans, but I'll enjoy it!
I was able to finance my hobby with writing for many years, but that economy is gone. I can't get fish like I used to, and have had to adjust. Since I like breeding fish, I do that. However, I can tell you that unless you focus on boring to breed, ultra easy fish, no small store can sell them. You would think that breeding rare, hard to get species would make them easy to sell, but there is no market. The fish hobby in North America is conservative and stagnant right now, and the number of people willing to try new things is tiny. You can pay a good price for rare fish, but if you breed them, even at a dollar or two they won't sell.

I'm breeding Parananochromis brevirostris, and I'm probably the only North American doing so. It's a nice looking fish. I've offered pairs for free to local aquarists, and they've said no, they don't know what it is, but do I have linebred rams?

I've been looking into part time work. My basic needs are covered, and there's no fear there. But extras? When I was younger, I figured retirement would be a tiny apartment and dog food on the plate, and it's far better than that. But I developed very expensive tastes in fish, and have had to rein it in.
There is no money in breeding for local markets. That's especially true for you and I, @Magnum Man , as we aren't in a concentrated population centre. Someone like Two Tanks is near a huge urban centre with potential buyers for rare catfish species, but out here in the sticks, the stores carry 20 species and nothing sells in numbers that would pay for much. Guppies are too common,and the tetras stores want cost them very little. Because of shipping, I can compete with the wholesalers if I want to, but at $1.50 a fish, forget it.

I've learned to treasure what I do get to watch in my tanks. I've learned to step back on the wish for novelties, and really get to know the fish I have here now. I breed them. I try to maintain species for multiple generations. I buy carefully and get fish shipped rarely - maybe twice a year at most.

Most people here on the forum won't have gotten into keeping things there's little info on as you have. You buy a lot of fish, and many are rarities. I did the same for a long time. Now, while I have the luxury of fishing trips and lots of space, and I do things very differently. It's still fun.

 

[Magnum Man]

exactly... after having single fish tanks for larger cichlids, and I did the rift lake thing, because of the colors, and our naturally hard water... the soft water species I found most interesting, when I got back into fish 4 ish years ago... I have spent a lot of money following that interest the last few years... now I find I'm heading back towards hard water species, as they are easier to breed... I don't think I've had any soft water fish breed, mostly because of the crowded community tank set ups I'm running... maybe as tank numbers diminish, something will breed successfully in one of those tanks...

I'll admit, that the wild type swords I picked up, recently, I found more interesting, than I expected, and with one male, and a pair of females I think as they mature, there will be more fry there... if they become available before the slush fund dries up, I'll buy more... which would be a good thing, as the sail fin mollys have become an unexpected money pit, I had high hopes for...

 

[Ed Pursell]

Well Magnum, only thing I can say is listen to the advice your Advisor gave you.. I recently retired this January after 47 years as a Buyer at one of the worlds leading Pet food company’s .. I Was going to a financial advisor for appx. 3 years before I picked my official date(Jan 2nd, 2026) making sure I was financially ready and we are constantly in touch since I dumped my funds into their recommended IRA’s..They make money from my money, so I did/do trust them. My habits and spending now are pretty much the same, I have no plans on changing what I did forever, but even while working, I watched what I did even when raising the Kids.. So between a pension, SS, and a nice 401 plan, I”m pretty much in line for now at almost 67. It’s a huge change from the daily working life, but slowly getting used to it. Wife was always telling folks I got a honey do list, but it’s not on my list right now. Get your things in order, the next few months will go real quick! Good luck and stay busy.
Ed

 

[Magnum Man]

we have a farm ( wife's families century farm ) that we rent out the crop land , and we raise all our own meat right now... I have never been a traveler, raising animals, but I have a dozen hobbies, and I think the only sacrifices will be trimming back on some of those, and dedicating more time to others, I plan on selling a few collector cars, and a few firearms, to make those hobbies more self sufficient... it would be nice to breed a few fish to trade for new interesting, but I'm looking at at least an hour drive to get to a fish seller with really anything interesting to my hobby, at it's current state... we weren't able to have kids, so I'm not looking at setting aside any 401K money for inheritance, so just to figure out a realistic spend down on those accounts...

 

[GaryE]

Two things to add to your retirement plan are Xiphophorus montezumae and X. nezahualcoyotl. Everyone with hard water should have those in hand on retirement day.

 

[Back in the fold]

Being retired is like being a kid again and your allowance has to stretch . I figured that out right away . My needs are few and simple so I have no problem making my allowance stretch . It helps being a natural tightwad and cheapskate too , which I am .

 

[Magnum Man]

I already have the montezumae, on a notification list..

turns out I already have both on a couple notification lists...