How Long Did You Save to Go Cruising?

[mesquaukee]

"While working in Florida, I met a number of senior citizens that remarked "When I was young I wanted to go to Alaska, then I got married, then I got children, then I got too old."" Captain58Sailing

The younger you are the less you need, the more adventuresome you are, the healthier you are, .........

Originally Posted by

[I

If I Had My Life to Live Over (by Nadine Stair - at age 85) "[/I]

I would have gone cruising earlier.

[Stillraining]

There is somewhere in the middle that makes the most sense...

Not so cavalier as to always risk life and limb for thrill and a sense of worth in life or a life lived well ....and not so risk adverse you end up looking back wishing you had done everything differently.

The place in the middle is where contentment says sure there are things I have left I would have liked to do or things I'd like a chance to do over but I could die tomorrow and be absolutely content knowing I did the best I could with what I had and the knowledge in me at the time...but most importantly is to make peace by asking forgiveness and apologize to those you may have not.

Everything else is vanity and chasing after the wind.

[Southern Star]

Nice thought, SR, although I must confess that I still find myself 'chasing after the wind' both literally (don't all sailors?) and figuratively, from time to time.

Brad

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Southern Star

Nice thought, SR, although I must confess that I still find myself 'chasing after the wind' both literally (don't all sailors?) and figuratively, from time to time.

Brad

Well if you were to ask my wife She will tell you about the real Me!..

Hint..... Im rarly content (other then the "I could die tomarrow part",that much is true) and I'm Still selfish in many ways........but I do know the "Figurative part" is all folly..................and Im still learning not to as well..

After posting the other day then driving down the road I thought of this...

"Its not how much life your able to do or touch , but how many people you touch doing life that counts"

I hope in some way I touch some of you...you have me.

[s/v Jedi]

The drive to go sailing is much stronger for some than for others. I have never though of saving to go cruising... to sail away for good was the only reason for me to start working!

I immediately realized that just a job wouldn't work for me so I started my own company. After I got enough income to live, I started wild and high risk business ventures, loosing every time with just that base income keeping me up. The way I reasoned was that every failure gave me a statistically better chance to succeed next time! Six years and countless failures later I hit the jackpot and I was shocked to find that something worked. I went all-in and worked 16 hours per day, 6 or 7 days a week for 9 years and retired at 38 with more than enough to live the life I want.

Now, people tell me I was lucky... I sure feel lucky but don't think luck had much to do with it because too much failed before the turn for the better. Most people don't want to take the risk because they will also settle for less. But some just can't be stopped and they will be out there quickly.
I worked the same amount of hours in 15 years that others do in 40 but I would have been happier if I had done it in 6 years. Don't listen to the ones telling you that you should work hard and long, there's more than enough work to be done once living aboard!

ciao!
Nick.

[captain58sailin]

Good on you Jedi!
I have been trying to strike a balance between high risk/big payoff, and Slow but steady. So far it looks like I get to retire by 55, with the boat paid for and my investments paying my Wife and I enough to enjoy the cruising life continuously, but we live simply and have no great appetites, except being on the ocean and freedom to do what we will. Like my father was fond of saying "It's funny, the harder I work the luckier I get."

[Stillraining]

Nice post Nick...

[jm21]

This has been a very interesting thread to read. My girlfriend and I both want to take at least a few years off in our 30's or so (We're 27 now)...I want to go cruising, she wants to live on the cheap in a poorer country....happened to pop in here after talking with her and saw this thread. Really encouraging in some ways. Unfortunately I have student loans, a mortgage, and we have much less income than the OP. Fortunately a decent amount of equity in the house and could rent it out and cover all the house-related expenses and maybe a bit of the student loans. If there's another housing bubble up here sell it off.

I'd like to buy a somewhat larger boat, put enough money away to live for 2-3 years (at $1,000 to $1,500 per month), take off cruising either entirely in the PNW or maybe rotate between PNW and the sea of cortez (I figure that should keep my refitting and maintenance costs way down), and then try all sorts of ways to make money over the internet, on the water, or with short-term jobs and see if it works out. If I can't figure out a way to make a grand a month in 2 years I figure It's not going to work, but if it does, hell yea! But on the other hand I spent a lot of time, effort, and money getting my business started and would suck to have to restart...

Decisions, decisions. Don't think the GF would go for cruising unless there's a hot shower and heater involved.

Now playing devil's advocate, and I'll probably get totally shot down on this forum for even saying it, but between the various welfare programs here in WA (food stamps, state health insurance for kids, etc) as well as the new income-sensitive repayment plans for student loans, if we were making $1,000-1,500 per month we'd probably receive a benefit of several hundred dollars a month from the government, rather than paying hefty taxes. I know that idea is going to be ridiculed and stomped on, but hey...I remember working my ass off while my unemployed friends used food stamps to buy pizza and soda...and medicare/medicaid are far more egregious welfare programs.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by ViribusUnitis

How long did you save to go crusing?



So I've come up with a 3 year plan. 3 years to Paradice.

.

hang on... you have 2 different concepts here...

How long does it take to save? Its your whole life! Every dollar in asset ever earned is harnessed to make the cruising thing happen. Its not cheap. It takes every available cent.

3 years to save: Save every last possable cent... every one. Why? Cos it takes every available cent

[snorklegirl]

My husband and I are 52 and 55 and we can both retire in 6 years. We have just come to the idea of 'sailing away' this year - although my husband has been sailing since he was 15 off and on.
Our plan is to put a mortgage on the house and use that money to buy a catamaran (my compromise...I'm going, but I want a cat our rental income and investments and pension should give us enough money to live on and we can stay with our son (big house no kids) when we want to come home for a bit.
In the meantime we are consoling ourselves with taking courses and next summer will buy a small 22ft boat to 'practice' and update our sailing skills.
We have a plan........if nothing else we are having a great time living the dream! beats the heck out of staying home and staring at the TV

[osirissail]

I feel the cruising community is divided into two main sections with both sharing the same lust for "getting away from it all" and/or a "thirst to explore."
- - The "retired" group are out for the long haul basically trying to find a niche somewhere in the world where they can recapture their youth and independence after many decades of "conforming" the their home country's social norms. They have good and better long term sources of income from investments/pensions/etc., so can afford to be "independent." And also financially secure especially if cruising in low cost of living areas. This group is personified by having kids that think they are crazy and grandkids that idolize them.
- - The other group are natural gypsies, renegades, and maybe even libertarians in that they do not like bureaucrats and condo-boards telling them how to live and raise their children. So this group sails off as soon as possible but eventually the "world" catches up with them in the form of children or family and they return after finishing a "major" cruise or 5 to 10 years whichever occurs first. First world countries are "candy stores" of conveniences and opportunity that no matter how strong your aversion to candy is you eventually break down and indulge.
- - So "how long did you save to go . . ." is a variable between a whole lifetime of working towards retirement down to a few years or a decade depending upon how lucrative your income is during that time.
- - There is a "happy medium" between the two of what I call the "sabbatical" cruisers who alternate between cruising and working to refill the cruising kitty or earn points toward retirement benefits. It can be 6 months cruising, 6 months working or 2 or 3 years cruising in between decades of work.

[ViribusUnitis]

Well, I'm deffently in the 2nd boat.

Libertarian? Check. Hate for condo boards? Check. Hate for Home Owners Assocations? Check.

Now, how to avoid "the world" catching up with me!

[ronocnikral]

this being my first post...i've been lurking all day.

i'm 27 (and an engineer) as well. i would love to take off today. wife have never been sailing and it has been awhile since i sailed LOWISA. and i've never been on the ocean. i blame a relocation to arizona. anywho, we would need to brush off the sailing and ensure my wife likes sailing.

but...my immediate plan is to buy a cheapie cruiser, mainly for sailing around houston...maybe an overnighter here and there. something for us to learn on and build our time on the water. also to test how my wife likes it.

assuming my wife enjoys sailing... <--biggest hurdle imho

my "fast-track" to cruising plan involves me taking an international rotational position where i work 28/28. preferably somewhere in west africa or kazakhstan. i would collect a sizeable premium for working there and with my company's tax equalization, the 60-65% premium is tax free to me. we sell our house, pour the money into a boat, cruise around the gulf, bahamas and maybe the eastern US and then head across one of the big ponds once we are comfortable. we can hop places 28 days at a time...making headway as we see fit. I would also have vacation, so in all practicality, i would have one time a year where i would have 12 continuous weeks off. while i'm gone, my wife would get an apartment where ever we are for a month (landing in ideal places for her). we'll have young kids by then...so we'll see. maybe we never leave the eastern US...this is my "cruising in 3 - 4 years" plan. still maintaining my retirement savings and we would have plenty of cash to spare (most likely netting $150k/yr after taxes). side note: i met my wife while working 14/14, but i was skiing. she thought i was crazy then...so i may as well keep the idea going.

my "somewhat intermediate plan," is to live the life on land...save, save, save. still maybe doing the international thing and getting the first dream boat. making short trips (2-3 weeks) a couple of times a year.

then there is doing the wait until my pension kicks in thing. but...like i told my wife, we've been living on land and dreaming about seeing the world for enough time...we don't want to be the kind of people who only talked about and never did it (like my sister in law), but we want to actually do it. and i want my kids to experience the world (maybe they'll hate me for that?).

my hat is off to the OP, as I don't have the cajones to pack up shop, quit my job and sail.

[osirissail]

Working 28/28 you might want to consider renting/chartering boats for a few years. Crossing oceans can eat up too much of your time off to be comfortable especially since most sailing - ocean or island - involves waiting for acceptable weather windows which can happen in two days or two months depending upon your skills, boat and comfort level.
- - Another advantage to chartering is to gain skill and knowledge on "somebody else's" boat. And an even better reason is to get first hand knowledge of the different kinds and models and sizes of boats before you put down mega-bucks to buy your own boat.
- - Especially with a wife with no prior sailing experience - starting off by renting boats in exotic, romantic localities with a mixture of on-land and on-water adventures can be very effective in convincing her that this is a life-style to be seriously considered.
- - If you pick your cruising grounds to match the main cruiser migration routes, she will have opportunities to watch how other couples interact on a cruising boat and also see how families with young children take to the sea. You can talk till you're blue in the face extolling the cruising lifestyle and not convince her - but - an hour or two with another woman who is living the lifestyle and loves it - will convince her. The main thing is to introduce her to the lifestyle gently and slowly over a long time. Taking her out on a rough, wild passage for her first time or her first year will quickly convince her that as to cruising - no way, jose.

[ViribusUnitis]

Originally Posted by ronocnikral

and i want my kids to experience the world (maybe they'll hate me for that?).

Your kids will probably hate you anyways. My wife grew up as an Air Force brat. They moved every 4 years or so. She hated it. I grew up liveing in the same house, in the same school, for 19 years. I went to college right down the road from my parant's house. I hated it.

It doesn't seem to matter what you do, your kids will probably decide the grass is greener, and dislike the decission you make regardless of what you do.

I'd do the 28/28 thing too. I think I'm in the same industry as yourself. (Your mentioning some of the places I wouldn't mind going.) It's really a hell of a deal if you can hanndle the 28 days on. You just have to trust your wife alought. More than a few wives find new husbands during the 28 days the husband is away!