if you had 4X the assets and monthly income of that gal in Germany, but are now nearly broke, she must have been near the poverty level! sounds like you got back to a better part of the world...
one thing you could do is move out of that depressing state of California (although i just paid $114 for a one-year tag for my truck here in lower, slower Flori-DUH [have to have a vehicle for hurricane evac] - i'm going to write the new governor and ask for a $20 rebate because i'll show him how to save a $1 million on DMV costs in 2012 [not mandate the issuance of a new plate and tags when renewing for two years])
:-)
seriously though, maybe you need a change of scenery and lifestyle?
keep riding!