What Pays The Bills?

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by Tscott8201

I'm and engineer for a power company with aspirations of investing in real estate to supplement my income enough to purchase a cruising catamaran and eventually move aboard full time.

I'd love to know what you all do or did for a career that allowed you to live your sailing dream.

Tom

I too find people's paths interesting. I never had money to save, raised my son by myself, but never lived beyond on means or on credit. A jack of all trades, cook, bookkeeper, legal sec, model, pharm tech. Retired on soc sec. finally realized I wanted to sail. Went back to work at 68, and at 71 bought my bought 3 months ago and will splash in Ct in Aug. and continue on so sec.
I'm VERY good at doing what I want. I think most people worry too much about money. Wishing you the best.

[scuba0_1]

Originally Posted by NoShoes

Real Estate (residental/office space) and Square Groupers (for pocket change)

In the 1970's and 1980's, Everglades City and Chokoloskee became notorious for their trade in "square grouper", a euphemism for bales of marijuana.

Boats and airplanes were dropping the stuff into the mangroves of the 10,000 islands where it was picked up by locals and delivered all over the United States

Lol

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[Kenomac]

Lot's of hard work over 40 years in the music business, construction, piano tuning, house painting, commercial real estate, property management and both of us continue to work full time as Registered Nurses... in addition to construction, piano tuning, painting, snow removal, property management etc., etc.

Work hard.... play hard.

[Rapp]

Originally Posted by JKP

My wife and I are in our mid 20's with pretty nice corporate gigs where we are rising pretty quickly with no debt other than basic mortgage. We are following in the foot steps of our family members and some of the people that posted here by taking advantage of company 401K match, maxing our Roth IRA, investing the rest of our "play" money in single or multi-unit rental properties that have cap rates between 6-13%, and being conservative in our life style. Even if our retirement portfolios only provide marginal returns, we expect to have around 15-20 properties by our mid-40's that will be producing approximately $4-7K of conservative NPAT that will partially fund our kids college with the rest financing our monthly cruising.

I currently own 15 properties and they allowed me to retire at 48,the problem is you can't find anyone to manage them like you would,go after the rent as aggresively.I make a good living from mine because I stay on top of repairs and rents.I've had people manage them in the past,it's not good.

[jkindredpdx]

Like many here, I worked hard and lived with smaller home and cars than we could afford... started investing in 401K early and planned to retire at 55. Got divorced, bought my boat, live even more simply and now hope to "retire" from IT consulting in 2 yrs at 62. I made a deal with my daughter to help with her house down payment if she would have a shed or garage where I could sleep in old age

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by jkindredpdx

Like many here, I worked hard and lived with smaller home and cars than we could afford... started investing in 401K early and planned to retire at 55. Got divorced, bought my boat, live even more simply and now hope to "retire" from IT consulting in 2 yrs at 62. I made a deal with my daughter to help with her house down payment if she would have a shed or garage where I could sleep in old age

Hahaha, that's cute. That's all you need, is a roof over your head!

[Captain Dharma]

We are lucky enough to own our home, so we built a small apartment in the basement for ourselves and rented out the main space. The rent pays all of the bills and we have a small profit left over each month. In addition to our Social Security and savings, we are able to cruise when we want to.

[jkindredpdx]

Oh yea, I'll add that in the last 4 years, I've been employed 8 months of the year or less, so it hasn't been all or nothing. 3 of my IT contracts were out of town and my living expenses were paid by the client allowing me to save even more cash... but at the expense of being away from my boat.

[JKP]

Rapp, completely agree with that. Many members of my family own real estate development and property management companies and have given us some good tips.

We are going that by the time we purchase our lagoon and finish refit our kids will work it while in college and graduate and continue building the portfolio.

[Rapp]

Originally Posted by JKP

Rapp, completely agree with that. Many members of my family own real estate development and property management companies and have given us some good tips.

We are going that by the time we purchase our lagoon and finish refit our kids will work it while in college and graduate and continue building the portfolio.

Well if you could get a family member to manage them ,you'd be ok.I keep trying different things like taking in a partner,but am being very cautious,its my lifes work and the bulk of my investments so I'm very leery,but good for you,you're on the right track,its been very good to me

[Duct Tape]

I'm the Captain of a 92 ft Mangusta...but sailing is my first love.

[FamilyVan]

IWork in a high demand industry. In my case- professional mariner. You can work for 6 months or a couple years, quit your job for a while and be confident you'll be taken on by the same or a different employer as soon as you post your resume- if not before.

I also got my pension in early on working 13 years as a Federal Officer, I'm actually surprised in this thread how many guys are former Feds. This means I can focus on saving for short and mid term goals, rather than stressing about retirement savings.

This strategy has worked out pretty well.
- 2x5 month ski season's
-one season trekking in Nepal (as you can see- mountaineering was my thing before cruising)
-2011 took 8 months off to do absolutely nothing (also highly recommended).
-2013 pretty well the hole year to cruise locally.
-2017 aiming for another year for a caribean cruise.

Another thing worth mentioning in this winning formula- I'll be 41 for my 2017 cruise.

Unlike many of the above- I own no real estate (I don't like tie downs). I don't waste money on frivolous items and I don't buy flashy cars (although my Harley is pretty pimped).

Also, I don't have an expensive boat. Less than $30k into it. Cheap to buy, cheap to maintain. But- absolutely no electronics (except of course auto pilot and vhf), no hot water, simple, cheap systems.

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[jkindredpdx]

Agree on boat price. Mine was less than $50k and my marina cost is $258/mo. No real estate here either.


JimK

[thomm225]

There was a guy up here that sorta took a short cut as compared to some of the above posts with all the hoops folks had to jump through to go cruising or maybe go cruising one day.

This fellow was in the grass business both cutting and smokin.

He lived on his boat, a Columbia, at a marina in Norfolk, VA. He kept his lawn mower on a trailer below the ramp leading down to the floating dock.

He usually had his bike on the boat or locked up near the mower trailer.

He pulled the trailer with his bike.

He sailed when he had the cash. When he didn't, he worked or if he need more smoke.

I saw him sail out of his slip a couple times when is engine had quit.

Some save their whole lives for retirement while others do what they love their whole lives and never really stop until they are infirm. Something to think about.

[Steve1944]

I have this 60 foot schooner with the basic 10 sails that I manage one hand, no one can believe it.


With some money for a quarantine flag, I solicit help from passing cruisers, then board them -- rape and pillage and take the goods for money in Torguga.


It's an old family business model, but it still works.


Ayre!