Cruising on $5,000 / Month

[sailorboy1]

I'm tired of the low down cruising life discussion. Lets get to a real dream and shoot higher! In the almost impossible odds of winning the lottery; what would you do cruising if you had $5000/month to spend?

[Vasco]

Have two pairs of Crocs!!

[shadow]

With that kind of disposable cash, I would already assume that the yacht is well equipped and huge!! With $5,000 a month, I doubt there isn't anything that you can't do, that you want to do. If you just wanted to keep moving, you can as that would more then pay for the constant petrol, easily. If not, you can easily afford any and all marinas with daily consumption at the nearby restaurants.

That kind of cash really opens up nearly all possibilities!! And believe it or not, it's actually not that far out of reach?!?!

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

I'm tired of the low down cruising life discussion. Lets get to a real dream and shoot higher! In the almost impossible odds of winning the lottery; what would you do cruising if you had $5000/month to spend?

hail--iffn i could cruise on 5k ./ month. i would be frugal as hell for a while then buy a vagabond 47 and LIVE!!!!!!! mebbe save up and buy an island or some dumfool thing.....open up a reesort bed and brunch and make checkout time be noon.....stay longer if you help clean up the place for guests..lol....

[Sabbatical II]

Congratulations Don, Great Thread

I am certainly not an extravagant person, but how can be $500 per month be living the dream? Sounds like a nightmare to me. The great thing about living in the free world is you are allowed to earn as much money as you like. Think like a $500 per month person and that's all you'll have to play with. If you think like a $5000 per month person, you'll find the way to do it. Hmmm, now which one will I choose?

Greg

[Brogan007]

Er, maybe I'm speaking out of turn here...but 5k a month is only 60k a yr....and there seems to be an awful lot of government workers ( police, educators, etc etc) retired on a helluva lot more than that. Index linked, to boot.
Here in NC, we see retired folks...aged ~50-ish, moving here and starting a new career...while pulling in 5k a mth in pension.
And even after some tax is deducted......is 5k all that far out on left field?
C'mon..........this is 2010.
Retiring on much less would be a pretty miserable existence.
I'd always assumed that a quality cruising lifestyle would need about that to cover all expenses, incld maintenance. Depreciation not included.

[sailorboy1]

Yes $60k/yr isn't a fortune. But remember we are talking cruising not dirt living. And I could have picked a "rich" number than would be accepted by most as such, but chose this number as reasonable high life cruising in the context of the normal postings of this forum.

So what would you do?

[jackiepitts]

Oh wow we are retired and living on 1/2 that so we must be pretty miserable? Thanks for letting me know how miserable we are
We would have loved to have retired on 5k a month but we would have to work another 15+ years to do that.....time is worth something too.

[Brogan007]

Yep, I guess that was a little harsh...to say what I thought.
Sorry. Didn't mean to insult anyone. Now put down those pitchforks please.
Re. what I would do on 5k?
I think the correct expression is "live abundantly" never mind the "pursuit" of happiness...
Say:
1k a month into emergency/airfare fund
1k a month into boat repair/upgrade fund
$100 a day all in, living exps.
Seems fine to me.

[Sabbatical II]

Living on $5000 per month is not extravagant. It just might mean that I can fly home occasionally for special family events. It might mean that when the boat gets pulled out for anti-fouling, I can go to the movies while the boatyard does it for me. It means I might be able to afford to catch the taxi to the shops instead of walking back lugging jerry cans of fuel. It means that I can get the boat fixed properly as it needs it. It means my wife can afford to get her haircut when she wants and maybe even buy a dress occasionally. Would we eat out all the time? Of course not, that's not cruising. I think $3 - $5K is a pretty good budget. If I had to do it on 500p.m. I'd stay home. I think you can get $2000 per month (husband & wife)to live on the dole in Australia although some here might be more up to date than me on that subject.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Crusing on 5K a month? Hmmmmm. Could maybe bring the Butler

[jackiepitts]

I agree that 5K is not alot but it really is enough to make life easier when you are out cruising.
I think if our budget was 5K a month we would head over to the Med instead of putting it off until the euro is more in line with the dollar.

[s/v Moondancer]

I think it is a lot more realistic than $500/month.
My insurance is $600/month!
Add maintenance on a 55 ft boat, fuel for a generator and a 175hp engine, marinas (which we rarely use), golf, scuba, eating out, sight seeing, car rental, flights back to the US, flying the kids and grandkids in from the UK!!!

We are out here spending our children's inheritance and intend to keep doing it until we drop!

Don, you might have to raise the ante!

[sailorboy1]

I'm starting to feel poor! And yet this is 10 times the amount that got all the earlier debate.

I probably wouldn't make it to the $5k/mo spending because I think I'm going to chose to go sooner so have to make it last. But if I did have it;

- I wouldn't think about the fuel cost of dropping the sails when the wind dies.
- I also wouldn't do bottom paint (doesn't agree with me)
- I wouldn't patch my dodger and bimini anymore and would get a new one
- I would make sure I could take a hot shower EVERY day and leave the water ON during it (well maybe for a short while at least)
- I would consider beans and rice something to have with my REAL food
- YES I will take a cold one, thank you! (can say it anything I want)
- Yes we can stay in town after seeing the X and X

I'm sure I will come up with more

[Surveyor]

$500 or $5000, its a choice and does not make the person making the choice any less of a living, breathing human being for choosing the smaller amount or something close to it. Usually the choice is dictated by what a person has available to them.

The amount that I will cruise on a month falls somewhere in between these two figures. The most important thing for me though is how I feel about myself and that is directly relative to what others think of me as a person. It is for that reason that I will not be so condescending to think that because someone has a smaller budget than I do that they are not able to enjoy or have a fulfilling experience cruising, even if its just $500/mo.