How much $$$ in your current/working/access account?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

We have a breakdown of our last cruise at

Voyages of Sea Trek: Cruising On a Working Class Budget

Thanks. I've read your article a couple of times before. Its very good. I think you have an excellent ballance between sitting at anchor and touring and living it up in resturants! Certainly thats what we are looking at


Mark

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

We have a breakdown of our last cruise at

Voyages of Sea Trek: Cruising On a Working Class Budget

I read that a while back and again this last weekend along with most all of the site. Thank you for making it available for me to read at my leisure.

I have been convinced this is the way to do it but dang if the wife doesn't want to keep the house which will keep us from a boat - that is livable for the ADMIRAL. She is "willing to try it" but does not want to leave without something owned to "come back to".

Now why in the world would you want to have to come back to a particular place? What if you found some other place?

Sheesh!

Maybe she will read a blog or two some day..............

[Troutbridge]

With the majority of cruising couples I have met, the female half that wants somewhere to be a fixed base 'just in case'. I don't think you'll change that, but you might have some luck with suggesting 'an emergency apartment' to come back to. I know the housing market is 'difficult' for sellers right now where you are, but that's probably the way to go. I'd suggest that what you don't want to do is head off owing anything on the boat. I know Chuck & his wife did, but maybe they were in professions where it was always easy to pick up some work along the way?

[cat man do]

Appart from mthly cash from investments to live on (frugaly in Aus, lavishly OS if I choose to) I also have a LOC against properties.

It costs nothing to have it sitting there undrawn

Havent and dont intend to use it, but it is nice to know it is there with easy access if required.

Dave

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Troutbridge

With the majority of cruising couples I have met, the female half that wants somewhere to be a fixed base 'just in case'. I don't think you'll change that, but you might have some luck with suggesting 'an emergency apartment' to come back to. I know the housing market is 'difficult' for sellers right now where you are, but that's probably the way to go. I'd suggest that what you don't want to do is head off owing anything on the boat. I know Chuck & his wife did, but maybe they were in professions where it was always easy to pick up some work along the way?

This seems to be what I hear all the time.

I think having some rent money when you get back from somewhere is actually smarter.......who knows where she will decide she likes and then I would have to sell the owned stuff.

I don't want to pay boat payments...............thinking of insurance, at least for a while is headache enough.

We are both nurses and can work almost anywhere in the world easily and she still is anchored..................................

I may be solo..............

[hellosailor]

"We are both nurses and can work almost anywhere in the world easily"
Is it that a US nrusing certificate (license?) carries so much weight overseas? Or do you have to retake qualifications in every jurisdiction?

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"We are both nurses and can work almost anywhere in the world easily"
Is it that a US nrusing certificate (license?) carries so much weight overseas? Or do you have to retake qualifications in every jurisdiction?

Dunno, never tried it.

Each state here has their own license. If I wanted to go to Georgia I would have to apply and pay fees. Just paper work. Oh, and money.

After reading some links about Australian immigrants it seems it would be accepted there. I imagine it varies from county to country but I know of a Danish nurse (I think) working in Brazil. One of my friends (American) went to England years ago. And now all the wonderful surgeries done in Dubai. Another friend is now on contract in USVI - Still the US I realize but has heard of other contracts available in BVI, DR and PR.

Dunno. Probably almost universal being American and all. Another that is well respected/accepted is UK. Seems to be the industrial revolution "invaders".

Dunno.

PS: did you know "Dunno" passes the spell check? Weird.

PPS: My problem is I don't want to work at all any more. I just want to sail away and die there.

[Pblais]

Is it that a US nrusing certificate (license?) carries so much weight overseas?

Actually they do in a great many places. Medical skills actually will get you under the government radar quite often. An RN is valuable even in the US. Just maybe the most portable skill going. Even the ability to find RN's to hire is a portable skill.

[GordMay]

Because a traveling nurse’s assignment is often only temporary, lasting from a week or to as long as the employed nurse is willing to work, this “fits” well with the cruiser’s lifestyle.

People with an RN nursing degree, as opposed to an LPN or LVN nursing degree, are at big advantage since there is a national board exam for RNs, but only state accreditation for LPNs or LVNs.

When you are searching for employment, it’s best to search out agencies, and become aware of exactly what an agency offers (there’s often significant “incentives”), and get everything in writing.
Google < Traveling Nurse > for numerous employment agencies.

BTW:
There's an immediate opening for an MP&E construction project coordinator, in the Cayman Islands. Excellent pay, 22 month duration.

[Joli]

We both plan on working 1~2 months per year when we get out of here. We are too young retire but too old to keep working like we have. We will not have a residency other then the boat but we have done that before so it's no biggie. Not sure how much cash we'll keep on hand but it is so easy to move funds anymore it really is not a concern.

[Rhosyn Mor]

I plan each stage of our cruising as a seperate venture- most of our cruises take anywhere from 6- 9 months, we work out a budget for that, at the end of the cruise find somewhere to work. work until we have enough for the next cruise and off we go. this way I find we very rarely have major unexpected expenses, i.e. if the diesel was getting finicky it would be rebuilt while I am working and bot while cruising. Usually plane on having about 3-4k as a transition budget at the end of the cruise.

[Gene :^)]

I think I see what you are after... You want to have the bulk of your $$$ in vested in high yield accounts which are usually slow to withdraw from or you get penalized for withdrawing. Therefore you want to have a readily accessed fund but are afraid of making it too big that you loose income from interest on that money, but large enough that it would cover the "just in case".

So many places offer high yield savings accounts. For example, Etrade has a normal savings account that pays around 5%.

Why not keep your liquid "Just in Case" money there? It would still be earning something, it is not risky, it can be withdrawn or added to, and it can be managed online from anywhere you have internet.

Knowing you are still earning interest, you could raise your "just in case" fund up to about 10K to cover more things.

You can easily transfer to an Etrade checking account or electronically to another institution. The internal is almost instant the external is usually next day.

[Gene :^)]

BTW: From reading the posts I think some people voting over 15K are misunderstanding.

This is not your entire nestegg. Or your return to civilization money. Or your cruising kitty. Or your worst case scenario accident coverage.

This is just the money in between what is "invested" and what is "cash in hand". So that if you exceed your 1k per month budget for a couple months it will run low, but if you fall below your 1k per month budget it will replenish itself. Or if you need a major unexpected repair, it will run low but slowly replenish itself when you save elsewhere. This way, you don't have to adjust or alter your fixed income of 1k per month from the investments. Like a buffer.

Of course a serious accident or health care issue would be treated anyway possible, including early withdrawal of any investments necessary. So this little fund does not need to cover everything.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Gene :^)

BTW: From reading the posts I think some people voting over 15K are misunderstanding.

This is not your entire nestegg. Or your return to civilization money. Or your cruising kitty. Or your worst case scenario accident coverage.

You are exactly right Gene. Many folks have 'fixed' investments such as real-estate where you get the rent once a month but can't, of course, sell the place if you need to change the Yanmars oil. Or, as you say, a nest egg that pays interest so you spend the interest, not the principal.

So the question is how much ready cash do you need to survive cruising? And yes, that too can be in high interest deposits but say drawable in 24/48 hours.

My current problem is the Aussie dollar went down badly between when I paid the deposit on my boat and when I paid the full amount! My sailing kitty is bust! So I have to go find a quiet island to hide behind till the investment income catches up!

The whole point is to have that bit of flexibility so whatever our problem we can keep cruising without the worry.

As far as I can see anyone with $15k in cash account needs to see an investment advisor! Or they must be living the life I aspire to!

I reckon I'b be happy with $5k up my sleve. Enough for most unexpected 'big' repairs, or 5 months sitting behind an island!

Mark

[GreyRaven]

I would say that having € 10.000 or the equivalent “on hand” in the till on board should be sufficient. That should cover all “running operations” and small emergencies. I would keep 90% of that well hidden and create a “Trojan” kitty for the rest.

Last I checked one can also withdraw € 1,200 cash per week off a Master Card. I have two of them so all the better. If one is sailing in Europe one can also withdraw € 400 from an automatic teller every day, as long as the account is not overdrawn. Opening an account anywhere in Europe is no problem. Keeping it fed might be, according to one’s spending habits.

What I plan to do when I’m underway outside of Europe, is to transfer funds via electronic banking from my own accounts to wherever I am when I need to replenish the till. All I need for that is my notebook, an internet connection and about three minutes. I can then transfer any reasonable amount to a local bank account set up just for that purpose. The only things required for such transaction are the BIC and/or SWIFT codes of the local bank - usually no trouble. All banks worldwide have them.

I figure that if I do a transfer as described above once or twice a year, things should be fine.

After all, a man does have to keep his wine cellar stocked...