Failsafe Financing for Cruising Lifestyle!

[cisco007]

Originally Posted by Tellie

No an S10 is one of those small basic white pickup trucks. On mine the windows don't work, the brakes are fair, you have to baby the clutch slave, you'll always grind a pound of gears getting her into reverse. The windshield lamination is separating, no power sterring, brakes or A/C ever installed. The two side windows fall in the door cavity if I hit a bump, a pain to get back up so I leave them down. No headliner and the rear view mirror fell off years ago. The glove compartment has papers in it that probably date back to the Dead Sea Scrolls, who knows who cares. In the back bed there is 300 feet of old anchor chain I was hoping someone would steal, two five gallon buckets with old blocks, soda cans, gum wrappers, misc. bits of sheets and line I've cut off and two gallons of rain water in each. She hasn't been washed in two years so don't rub up against her in a black dress, I haven't changed the oil in her for over a year because it costs more than she's worth and my teenage daughter won't be caught dead in it. But she's never given up the ghost and runs better than any other 23 year old clunker I know. N0 one wants to steal her so I never have to worry if I locked the doors or rolled up the windows and she's always waiting there for me when I get back to the parking lot. I'm really serious this is the vehical I drive. I'll post a pic if you want. Of course my wifes car is different but it's still only a Toyota Camry. Personally I don't think there's a car made that's worth more than 20K.
If I'm going to spend 20K plus It'll be for a nice 65 Mustang or 69 Z-28 Camero. I could buy a nice new midsize car for about 30K and watch it drop in value like a rock or I can spend that money on a 65 Mustang convertable, enjoy it for a few years and get my money back when I sell it. People that buy cars new are throwing away good money. The reason I told the sales manager at Toyota, after he ran my credit check, I could afford the top of the line vehicles they sell is because I won't buy the top of the line vehicles they sell.

You cracked me up with this one Tellie.

You are hereby awarded official "Trillionaire Status" and have won First Prize for "Most Authentic and Best Presented" yachties truck.

It should be put in a time capsule with the notation "This is how the well heeled yachtsman got around 1,000 years ago."

Cheers from Cisco.

[cisco007]

Oh yes, it definitely deserves a pic or two.

[Weyalan]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

I love hearing about you Australians. You guys have a damn good economy over there. I know an Australian that defected to NY (long island). Big sailor (maybe the kind sailor is in your country... haha).

Seriously, he had nothing but bad things to say about Australia. He said you could never make a dime there. The place was horrible, etc... etc... He said he could make much more in NY working on boats than in Australia doing anything.

I find his story harder and harder to believe when I see what kinds of boats and financial plans you guys have. Very interesting.

Can't speak for other Aussies, but, having grown up in a socially and economically depressed part of Scotland, and having visited nearly 50 countries in my life, Australia in general and Tasmania in particular is pretty much as good as it gets (in my humble opinion). Tasmania isn't a place where it is easy to get rich... you might be surprised at how little I earn, but the lifestyle is second to none, the sailing is second to none, land it cheap, housing is cheap, food and grog are cheap. You can still catch a feed of fish easily. The anchorages are never crowded. My maring berth costs $200 per month (40'), taxes are not too horrible, people are, in general, friendly, crime is relatively low... I could go on. I ain't never gonna be a millionaire, but that isn't real high on my list of priorities anyway

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

... I know an Australian that defected to NY (long island). Big sailor (maybe the kind sailor is in your country... haha).
Seriously, he had nothing but bad things to say about Australia...

Isn’t it odd, how those who quit a company, divorce a wife, escape a country (etc) almost always have more negative opinions than those who stuck with the company wife, country, etc?
Well, maybe not ...

[John McLaughlin]

It looks like Wheeler needs to state it again!!
money and budgits go out the window when you have the sailing flu.
JM

[shadow]

I enjoyed everyone's input. I love reusing a coined phrase from one of my favorite comics:

I'm a multi-thousandaire

I definitely have that sailing bug, but my upbringing is holding me back from just:

DOING IT!!

I tend to be too careful about making sure that my future will totally finance my sailing dream. But, I am also aware that precious time is passing by while I do the mundane stuff to satisfy this economic obsessed world. I am constantly torn.

Some days, I just want to just DO IT and be off and running. I totally agree and would love to be like that old 80 year old guy who just picked up and left to live his life the way he wanted to..

I do really enjoy hearing everyone's different versions on why they did what they did. Keep the stories coming.

[mangus]

my boat represents 90% of my net worth. I live on it because I can't afford to buy a house and rentals are out of the question. Oh, did I mention... I like boats, the people at the marina, sailing, the view. Sail on...mangus

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by cisco007

We learnt a lot of this financial stuff from you guys.

Scary when is your banking system going to fail then.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Tellie

...my teenage daughter won't be caught dead in it. But she's never given up the ghost and runs better than any other 23 year old clunker I know. N0 one wants to steal her so I never have to worry if I locked the doors or rolled up the windows and she's always waiting there for me when I get back to the parking lot.

Just to check you are still talking about the truck and not the daughter, right?

[Lancerbye]

Just to check you are still talking about the truck and not the daughter, right?

I am now rolling on the floor laughing.

[waterworldly]

For the last few months I have written down every penny spent in my land life, so I could get a handle on how much I would need to retire, month to month. The interesting part was where the money was going. It is much easier to cut the fat when you can see it in black and white. Where we thought it was going is now a fact due to the little book I carried. It was very comforting to know for sure how much was getting spent each month and on what.

[ess105]

The awareness that is raised from writing down what you spend will change your habits. What I also find useful is to have a budget where you set in advance what you expect to spend by category. When you do this and you encounter a situation where you want to spend a little more on something than you budgeted you can easily tie this in with the corresponding thought "what am I prepared to give up to have this?" The budget, after all, has to balance. You may decide nothing is worth giving up and you don't spend the extra. The discipline keeps you focused on what's important. No budget is set on stone of course as you won't get it entirely right and things do change on you. However, the process is very effective.

[fombyjambox]

Originally Posted by David M

Gawd, if that were a required criteria, then there would be about five cruising boats out on the ocean all owned by very wealthy people.

I don't know for sure but I would imagine most serious cruisers have more than half their net worth wrapped up in their boat.

It would be interesting to hear from those who care to divulge their financial situation regarding this.

Not to mention that Robert Kiyosaki is a proven phony and his books provide virtually nothing technically useful. His continued success is an amazing look into how the masses buy into image rather than substance.

[Jackstee]

Dont really know what to say.
This seasaw's (if you pardon the pun) from far left to far right. I would think that if you had a couple of million dollars a year ago you would feel safe, However I know a Brit who's objective was to achieve this, he is now worth less than 500k, it was all in "FailSafe" stocks and bonds.

We have been "lucky" in some respects this year. Sold our house in UK at end of March, used a company that pays slightly less than market value but I knew we would have to spend on it if we kept .
Bought the boat 12 months earlier than we thought because we got a bit of insurance cash.
Decided we could live for around twenty years on $1000 or around 12 for $2000 ( this includes marina fees and after a full refit of boat) As I am 57 now it actually sounds like a good bet, BUT then we went to look at property in the Med.
Last month, or I should say May, bought a small house in Turkey with the profit from selling the UK house.
Now broke of course but saving again very hard.
Marina from house , 15 mins walk, no mortage, boat will cost between $1050 to $1800 year.
Reality, the mate I had last year who had just about made his 2 mil goal, is probably now less well off in life than we are.
Lesson. Just do it when you can. We have been down, like most people, but it's life, bouce back.

PS. Hope I dont have a bloody heart attack before we can get the house and boat together.

Best regards all
Steve

[bvimatelot]

Originally Posted by Weyalan

.....
I'm currently trying to get myself to the position where long-term live-aboard cruising is achievable... it is still a few years away, but it is getting closer to reality every year. I figure that in about 5 years, my boat will be about 20% of my assets. My passive income stream will be enough to get by on, and if we need cash for anything above that,w e will will just stop and work for a while.

Please do try not to die in the meantime........that would be very sad.....Tony