Cruising on $5,000 / Month

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by atmartin

The more $$$ you have, the more you're bound to waste keeping it up to an asinine level of 'perfection'.

Ah, the so-called perfect ass...

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Aaza Dana

... What were the words of that famous song about dreams? Oh yeah....
Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream...

Only trouble is, gee whiz
I'm dreamin' my life away

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

Ah, the so-called perfect ass...

Yeah, they are expensive too

[atmartin]

That word is way more fun to say than type

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by atmartin

I think there's a definite freedom to keeping your possessions simple and costs low, even if you have the extra cash.

We have certainly found this to be true. Over the last few years we have gotten rid of a lot of possessions and I have to say our life has gotten simpler and more enjoyable.

[wolfenzee]

When you say $5000/per month I take it that is to cover regular boat and personal expenses only and none of the land trappings you are escaping from (sure $60K/yr isn't that much if you are paying off a huge mortgage, car payments, land type expenses etc) and you are talking about cruising costs on a monthly basis. It would take alot of effort to be able to spend that much *every* month....as a rule I try to keep my fantasies from getting too fantastic, by doing so I have pretty much achieved mine.

[ronocnikral]

interesting reading.

I don't know if $5000/month is enough or not. We have our plan which is about $3500/month. All I know is at age 27 and being fortunate with a generous salary, i get very little fulfillment from going to work day in and day out. So, we stash away $50k/yr in the hopes of being able to shove off when I'm 40. I don't underestimate the human ability to adapt. If we run out of money, we run out of money. I'll take my professionally licensed engineer butt and go back to work somehow, someway. i do know if there is a choice between tightening our belts or me sitting behind a desk, the belts will get tighter.

maybe i'm young and naive, but there is only one way for us to know if we can live or cruise on $3500/month while not working. and that's for us to do it.

coincidentally, this nobel laureate says $5000/month is optimum.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

interesting reading.

I don't know if $5000/month is enough or not. We have our plan which is about $3500/month. All I know is at age 27 and being fortunate with a generous salary, i get very little fulfillment from going to work day in and day out. So, we stash away $50k/yr in the hopes of being able to shove off when I'm 40. I don't underestimate the human ability to adapt. If we run out of money, we run out of money. I'll take my professionally licensed engineer butt and go back to work somehow, someway. i do know if there is a choice between tightening our belts or me sitting behind a desk, the belts will get tighter.

maybe i'm young and naive, but there is only one way for us to know if we can live or cruise on $3500/month while not working. and that's for us to do it.

coincidentally, this nobel laureate says $5000/month is optimum.

Thanks for posting the link, the TED video was fascinating and explains how we get such a wide variety of reactions to the "happiness" question. Hopefully, governments will make use of the research in future policy making.

[osirissail]

Very interesting post and thinking about it brings up the idea that maybe the concept of money vs. happiness is being looked at backwards. I gather from the article that what money does buy is reduction in grief/misery. Happiness according to the article is a mixture of two factors inherent in the individual's basic nature. Some folks are naturally happy in most circumstances and other folks are naturally miserable in most circumstances. So having more money allows you to reduce the external factors that promote misery, tension, aggravation. Mitigating or removing such externally imposed "downers" allows the individual to allow their natural inherent happiness to express itself - or - their natural despressive self to lighten up.
- - Which might explain that in some people increasing wealth brings increased opportunity to express natural happiness and in others it make very little difference as they were born miserable to one degree or another.
- - Job satisfaction is a subset of this where you are paid for doing things that you enjoy and are naturally good/talented at accomplishing.
- - When it comes to cruising budgets the $5K/month seems to be just "over the border" into the greener pastures of not having to worry or stress out over the costs of breakdowns, repairs, parts, or cruising areas. The removal of such impediments to enjoying yourself while cruising is very evident in any cruising community and can be correlated to the affluence of the cruiser. That said, there is always "that 10%" of any population that are miserable and complaining no matter what.

[Doodles]

I though the TED talk presentation (video) by Daniel Kahnemen was most interesting, especially the "experiencing-self" and the "remembering-self" concepts. You apparently can have happy experiences and happy memories, and the two are not necessarily the same. The colonoscopy comparisons were an interesting choice of examples.

And at the end when he talks about the Gallup Poll study that reflected almost zero increase in happiness as annual income starts to exceed $60K, that was reassuring; otherwise, I could see Warren Buffet exploding from so much happiness!

[Einarr]

I have read every post in this thread and I am completely amazed. $5000 a month for cruising?? I raised a family of four, including 3 in college, on a hell of a lot less then $5k a month.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by Einarr

I have read every post in this thread and I am completely amazed. $5000 a month for cruising?? I raised a family of four, including 3 in college, on a hell of a lot less then $5k a month.

You are probably going to be accused of child neglect by someone so look out.

Love your signature line by the way (can you do all those things??)!

[Mariness]

Originally Posted by Einarr

I have read every post in this thread and I am completely amazed. $5000 a month for cruising?? I raised a family of four, including 3 in college, on a hell of a lot less then $5k a month.

So have lots of people. Someone noted that makes it $60,000 a year - a bit above the national median. Maybe realistic, maybe not ... Still fun to consider as an option though

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Einarr

I raised a family of four, including 3 in college, on a hell of a lot less then $5k a month.

I have seen houses looking fine and they were build 400 or 500 years ago... and a set of toilets built 2,500 years ago! But I'm stuffed if a Jabsco will.





Mark

[wolfenzee]

My income is $900/month and I live comfortably by myself at a marina (my brother makes well over $100,000 and is heavily in debt). To spend $5000/month you would have to avoid all the fun places and focus on the part of human culture that cruising is supposed to be escaping from.
I live on board so when you say $5000/mo I think of spending that for the time I am on the boat...to some cruising represents a month or so out of the year...a fling that people spend the rest of the year saving up for.