Back to the original
concept - living on $500/mo - It all seems to boil down to apples and pears - what are you talking about as "living on"? Forget all your fixed costs of
medical and boat insurance,
taxes, etc., etc., and you are left with food/drink and
fuel. Then sure $500/month is fine. I spent 8 months anchored in Luperon, D.R. and could not spend $2000 for the whole period ($250/mo). That was
food,
beer, and harbor charges.
- - Very old
boats are not insurable so that eliminates a serious expense. If the boat and you can "sail" and only use
diesel to get far enough out of harbor to sail - and - you are "off the wind" that cost goes drastically down. I don't think Columbus has many expenses beyond
food and musket balls and powder.
- - For those still connected to the modern world and have boat bank loans, etc., etc. that $500/month multiplies by 4 to 6 times.
- - Living down here in the eastern islands, locals can live on a few dollars per day - but they don't live as long.
Medical facilities are minimal and centered around fixing ordinary
health problems. Get a serious or complicated problem and they just start taking measurements for your casket. What North Americans consider "ordinary" medical
equipment and care is non-existent down here or the local medical personnel have no idea of how to use it or interpert the results. That means "med-evac" insurance and/or the ability to buy airline tickets on short notice.
- - Which brings up "credit reports". It is supposedly illegal for the Governments to "track you" in the
USA at least. But it is okay for private entitities to track you. So the "big-3" credit reporting agencies have total records on anything and everything you have ever done from birth, schooling and grades, to all criminal/civil and also all your financial transactions - everything that you have done that has a "paper trail." That information along with your
current record of financial transactions is used to determine your "credit score." Used to be as a business entity you could
purchase from the credit reporting agencies anything from the total dossier to just what interested you. Now, they use the "credit score" as a simple indicator of financial and social risk.
- - You will "have to" have a credit card to
purchase an airline to anywhere involving the
USA. Trying to pay in cash will get you arrested as a "potential terrorist." Same with car rentals, hotels and dozens of other activities. Inactivity in using credit or other financial activity lowers your score.
- - By the way back in the Jimmy Carter regime, your Social
Security Number was transformed by Federal Law into your USA Official Identificaton Number. After a phasing in time period every person born in the USA is issued the number automatically, no
legal exceptions. Failure to provide the number upon authorized request is a Federal Crime and any financial transaction can request the number or legally refuse you the
service if you fail to produce the number. The rest of the world has had national identity numbers for many more years and is used to showing their "papers" when requested.
- - So living onboard a sailing boat for $500/month is possible if you stay out of all first world countries, their financial, medical and transportation facilities, and never get sick or have a medical condition requiring modern medical techniques.
- - Actually, that is a major factor in a lot of full-time
live-aboard cruisers or what could be called "waterborne" ex-pats. Of course, you will find thousands of "ex-pats" living in 3rd-world type countries just because they cannot deal with the total lack of freedom and privacy in the major 1st world countries especially the USA.
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