"Just two more years, honey, and the party's gonna start!"  How often have you heard about retirees from past generations slaving their lives away to save for their golden years, only to find there was precious little time left to enjoy it? Either their time was just too short or they didn't have the health and vitality left to enjoy it with their children and grandchildren when "golden years" finally arrived. Instead of the quality time their families were looking forward to spending with grandma and grandpa, all they were left with was the fruits of years of their hard work.

Family Memories - Your Best Investment Yet
So much more than an investment in real estate, a second home is an investment in irreplaceable family memories - the highest dividends available. Anyone who has grown up with a vacation home, lake home or cottage can attest to the indelible memories of their youth spent playing with family and lifelong friends. For many urban families, these times represent the lion's share of childhood time spent outdoors getting exposed to nature. Whether it was fishing with dad, mom or friends, exploring in the woods, catching frogs, spotting deer and other wildlife, or just swimming, boating and waterskiing, the days spent away from their everyday "city" life was part of their education about the world around them.

A Shifting Trend
Perhaps this is why the trend has shifted toward buying second homes well before retirement: Life is too short to put off spending quality time with children and grandchildren until they've grown up. In fact, second home owners will tell you the best way to get your kids to come visit more often, with or without grandchildren, is to invite them to the lake house. Other factors enter into this trend. While a second home may help you escape technology for the weekend, it is also helping bring about the dream earlier. Availability of high speed internet access in second home communities has allowed parents to bring the family for much longer weekends or even weeks at a time during the summer. After getting a few hours of work done around the kids' schedules, or even working remotely all day, parents are then able to spend time on the lake with the kids during the longer daylight of summer.

 

Financially Wise, Too
At a time when home prices have been depressed and interest rates are at historic lows, an investment in a second home is also a great way to diversify a personal investment portfolio. Most investment allocations are far too heavy on stocks and bonds and too light on real estate. Real estate, over the long haul, has consistently been one of the safest and strongest investments available to most people. With interest rates in the mid-single digits, there has never been a more affordable time to lock in your dream home. Buying a home now is like taking the lemons the recession dropped on us and making "Lake House Lemonade". Even if you never sell your home investment, its dividends - cherished memories - will continue to be collected by your family, perhaps for generations to come.

"My doctor made me buy it."
Ask any second homeowner what they like most about their home away from home and you'll likely hear the same refrain: "It's just a whole different atmosphere with a lot less stress. We've reconnected with our kids. They hardly ever watch TV or play video games, they don't have their iPods stuck in their ears all day, we play together, we eat together, we all read more, we make s'mores around the fire at night and actually talk. It's just more laid back than when we're with all the other distractions of the real world." And it's not just the stress relief, it's actually just what the doctor ordered . . . it's healthier. Most second homeowners report they spend more time on activities like taking walks, swimming, water skiing, kayaking, canoeing, motor boating, hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, chopping firewood and just spending far more time in the fresh outdoor air.

 

Let Me Entertain You
Some people also use their vacation homes to entertain clients. This real quality time is far more effective and memorable than another round of golf or a restaurant dinner. Your tax advisor can tell you which of your expenses can be written off as a business entertainment expense. Whether you want to be the social butterflies of your group of friends and clients or make your second home your own private getaway, you control the guest list. Speaking of guests, nothing makes them feel more welcome than being included in the weekend preparations for a visit.