Taking an extended work break

[AKPilot]

My wife and I are in our mid 30s and do this every couple of years. We both have good jobs. The key to being able to do it is we have the house, boats, cars, planes all paid for and don’t believe in credit cards. While other people are paying a car and mortgage payment every month we put it into our little travel account.

My job is super cool and we just have an agreement that whenever I get back they have first dibs on offering me a job. My wife on the other hand has quit her job a handful of times only to be rehired with a raise when we roll back into town 3-8 months later.

The way I see it is of all the Christmas and birthday presents I have received in my life growing up, the things that I remember are the family trips that we have took when I was younger. Why waste your health for a chance that you will be in a position 5, 10, 20 years down the road.

My only advice to someone wanting to do it is to plan on the return. Have more money than you think you will need in reserve because when you come back the house needs work, the car won’t start, the water heater went out, etc while you were gone.

[DenverSailors]

My Admiral and I had a rock solid plan to retire on August 10, 2025. We’d both be 55, all kids in college, houses in Colorado and Florida paid off, ready to sail the world.
Felt a sense of urgency when high school mates started dying.
Then, Admiral and I were each laid off within three months of one another.
Rather than look for a job, we decided we’d rather be poor and happy than wealthy and stressed. Still meeting our commitments to the kids, but I’ve bought my last new car, I will never own a $300,000 Cat, and we’re going to finish the Great Loop this year.
Our generation, I believe, is caught between the “Gold watch” work-until-you-die model, and the “If I post my life on YouTube I’ll be famous and wealthy so why be responsible at all?” ages. I suspect it’s always been thus, but my carpe diem is at full volume. The problem...I don’t really believe I can leave my kids and future grandkids long enough to circumnavigate. So, we’re investing in more real estate, and keeping within a three-hour flight of family, for now.
All of this is to say, I can relate. And rather than a break, can you modify your expectations to just be retired now?

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by DenverSailors

Our generation, I believe, is caught between the “Gold watch” work-until-you-die model, and the “If I post my life on YouTube I’ll be famous and wealthy so why be responsible at all?” ages.

A great line.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Group9

In the end, not many of these points really matter. The ones who were really never going to do it, can't be forced, and the ones who are going to do it, can't be stopped.

THIS ^^^^^ Absolutely!

My general philosophy is, if you have to ask "Am I ready to go?" then the proper answer is "No, you are not."

Anyone who needs to be TOLD that they should go is probably not ready. Those who truly ARE ready would never have asked the question in the first place, and probably aren't going to listen to anyone else's opinions on the matter anyway.

(Note: This is not directed at the OP. He didn't ask "Am I ready to go?" He just asked for opinions on his financial situation. He has gotten that, and now -- as inevitably happens -- the thread has started to drift.)

[sailorboy1]

Based on what I've seen the past 1.5+ years very few of the under 62+ people who start out planning to stop working and go cruising do. Guess that is why it is call The Dream.

[daletournier]

Dreaming of adventure is comfortable ,its the nice fluffy easy bit......having an adventure isnt comfortable, its making decisions that have consequences and some risk.

[zboss]

I’m not really in the camp or retire/quit then buy boat but rather buy boat about 1 year before quitting and retirement. Having that extra cash to fix the boat up is sure useful!

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Based on what I've seen the past 1.5+ years very few of the under 62+ people who start out planning to stop working and go cruising do. Guess that is why it is call The Dream.

Now we start to get into the question of how one defines cruising. We consider ourselves cruisers but I still work full time. We get to enjoy the east coast of the USA and the Bahamas but not much else, unfortunately.

I think you must mean is people that quit jobs 100% well before retirement and go cruising without looking back, which I agree with but -meh- you take what you can get. It’s pretty hard to cut the ties without access to retirement funds or cold hard cash for all the reasons mentioned previously.

There have been an increasing number of YouTube channels of folks leaving to go cruising with about 5k in the bank, with the expectation that they will stop and go back to work for a while. That number is not even close to my wheelhouse for comfort but people are doing it.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by zboss

That number is not even close to my wheelhouse for comfort but people are doing it.

Well, their youtube channel says that they are. Can you ever be really sure what's going on behind the camera?

[zboss]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Well, their youtube channel says that they are. Can you ever be really sure what's going on behind the camera?

True!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by zboss

There have been an increasing number of YouTube channels of folks leaving to go cruising with about 5k in the bank

I met a couple in the Bahamas last year like that. If moldy hot dogs, dry cereal, things that can be eaten out of a can (cold), and cold pasta is OK with you it works out. Every once in a while some other cruiser (like me) will invite you over for sundowners as an excuse to just feed you a hot real meal.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I met a couple in the Bahamas last year like that. If moldy hot dogs, dry cereal, things that can be eaten out of a can (cold), and cold pasta is OK with you it works out. Every once in a while some other cruiser (like me) will invite you over for sundowners as an excuse to just feed you a hot real meal.

My twenty year old self got by happily on food and money that my sixty year old self would never accept or tolerate.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Group9

My twenty year old self got by happily on food and money that my sixty year old self would never accept or tolerate.

Hell my 25 year old self couldn’t tolerate or accept my 20 year old self.

[cyan]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I met a couple in the Bahamas last year like that. If moldy hot dogs, dry cereal, things that can be eaten out of a can (cold), and cold pasta is OK with you it works out. Every once in a while some other cruiser (like me) will invite you over for sundowners as an excuse to just feed you a hot real meal.

This is really fun for us to be generous like this too. The admiral is a chef and and enjoys the satisfied smiles of hungry sailors. The only thing we ask in return for a proper meal with decent wine is a few good stories. It feels like paying the universe back for the folks that helped me as a college student decades ago, eating 22 cent mac and cheese.

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by cyan

This is really fun for us to be generous like this too. The admiral is a chef and and enjoys the satisfied smiles of hungry sailors. The only thing we ask in return for a proper meal with decent wine is a few good stories. It feels like paying the universe back for the folks that helped me as a college student decades ago, eating 22 cent mac and cheese.

The right way to go! If you're luckier than someone, give 'em a hand and you'll usually get something out of it too...stories, knowledge, some movies to copy, advice on somewhere they've just been you're about to go to, fresh ideas, company at a little bar they found the other night, safety by numbers on a sketchy hike or anchorage. All in exchange for a little beer and cookery? Seems like a great deal to me.

[markpierce]

I "toughed it out" and delayed retirement to the earliest financially-viable time. Never desired to go back to the "salt mine."