How Long Did You Save to Go Cruising?

[anotherT34C]

Originally Posted by ViribusUnitis

Well there are alought of ways to ruin a life. I'm 99% sure that what ever I end up doing isn't going to ruin it.

3 years is ambitious. However, the math indicates that it isn't impossible. 3 years to a paid off house was ambitious as well. It happened. I truely belive your going to give it a go, give it everything you've got. And if you fail, your still much farther than you would have been otherwise. It may not happen, and I won't be heart broken if it doesn't.

Then again, if I'm right and 2010 is 1930, I may be doing it alought sooner than I planned!

I'm an engineer and my wife is a teacher. We make good money, but not JPMorgan executive kind of stuff.

Hope you make it. Back of the envelope, you'll need to sock away about 160K/yr to make it happen... and that's to give you the ~25K/yr you think you'll need. I hope you don't get discouraged if things take longer than you hope.

You remind me a bit of a dude, Sean (sully) who used to post pretty often around here. He might be useful to look up and gather advice from. As I remember it, he seemed pretty adept at doing what you're planning. Maybe someone here knows where he went off to?

[Stillraining]

Each of us does at the time what he or she thinks is the right decision...

Forks and T's in the road come for all of us and we do the best we can with them with the information we have at the time...As they say Hind sight is 20/20 and there are definitely choices I have made I would greatly like a do over...but that's not how the game is played unfortunately.

It sounds like you have a pretty good head on your shoulders and are disciplined with money...the later I can not claim for the vast majority of my life.

Your youth shows through in some of your statements but it is also your strength as you can always start over if things don't pan out as you had hoped.

For some the call to be unencumbered and free is much greater then for others of us...yes I hate making house payments like you as well but not enough I guess to do much about it...Ive got about 7 more years to go so Im just biding my time...I could have paid it off and waited to buy our boat and probably would do exactly that now if I had that fork in the road to do over...but it is what it is now..none of us have a crystal ball and I thought the downturn in boat prices then was to my benefit..who was to know it would get where it has gotten 2/1/2 years later.

I too have beat cancer but Im content already and ready to die tomorrow if that were my fate so I have no feeling to rush head long into anything...Getting my Girls through Collage is just as important to me as going cruising..or some selfish bucket list....My family are the ones I live to serve...Its all personal decisions for each of us.

Take the fork in the road that feels right for you and you alone...But wise is the man that listens to those on the path before him...and foolish is the man that doesn't.

Its wise your here.... seeking those.

Good luck in all you do.

[mesquaukee]

One day my wife said to me "what are we working for?"....Huh.."why don't we go sailing and see the world"....Wha.."What are we really accomplishing here"...Okay, ah, are you sure...."Yes".
So we made a 5 year plan, did not buy anything that would not go on the boat, and 4 years later we had rebuilt a 25 year old piece of classic plastic with a solid well maintained engine that she picked out as she liked the portlights in the transom.
Our friends thought we were nuts when we sold everything and what we couldn't sell we gave away.
We cruised a bit, worked a bit here and there,...and after 10 years of cruising have found that if you are "lucky" you do not need to have to dip into your nest egg (cruising budget) to cruise.
So now after 10 years of cruising we have returned to land for 6 months on 6 months off.
What we have discovered is that too many people over prepare for cruising. All sorts of stuff such as complicated water systems, electronic systems, sophisticated nav systems, watermakers, microwave ovens, gensets, etc which costs a year or more to save for and another year of saving so you have the money for replacement parts. And then spending far too much time (and money) in Marinas waiting for the parts to arrive. All of which chews up the cruising budget.

[pressuredrop]

viribus - our situations are frightenly similar, thus i think it is totally doable.

I am 23 and will have my B.S. in Ocean Engineering from FAU this spring (w/zero debt), and hope to enter the work force in the oil or defense contracting industry (well not really what i want to do but that is where the money is, and what my degree is geared towards)

for me the cruising seed was planted about 2 years ago, and my has it germinated. i got the boat last may (the one in my avatar) and have since rebuilt the interior, new elec system, solar panel... new old seacocks, proper head, started recoring the deck... i have about 13k into it now (including cost of boat). i have a monitor windvane on the floor of my bedroom, and a manual windlass in peices ready to get back together, all the peices that are nessacery for passage making are there, just allot more work to do.

i too have a 3 year plan... i hope to get as sweet($) a job as you got and work for 3 years while i live on the boat and finish getting it ready... i figure another 30k before the boat is ready to go. new standing rigging (synthetic), running rigging, sails, paint topside and hull, and rebuild the deisel, add a fiberglass water and waste tank, and im off. i have been and will continue to do 100% of the work myself, keeping costs reasonable.

with the boat %100 ready before you/i go, maintanance costs will be minimal. my plan is the $1000/month budget, and i have a feeling i can keep well under that, the areas i intend to cruise are the type of places where it is hard to spend money, and you cant spend any out at sea. i will cruise until the money runs out or i am ready to live in the mountains, but i have a feeling i could earn money on the way working on peoples boats, should i choose to live this life indefinettly

i will send you a PM, id like to talk about the industry a little, and if you know of any entry level engineering position let me know!

Fair winds,
Ben

[Southern Star]

Don't get me started..... When is the perfect time to pack in your career and go cruising? No one can begin to answer that question for anyone else. I have struggled with that question for years; sadly, I am still struggling with it. Just when we think we have the answer, something life-altering is almost bound to happen; as John Lennon sang on 'Beautiful Boy' (from his so-called 'comeback' album Double Fantasy), "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans".

I had originally planned my departure for last year and then life intervened - I became involved in a relationship with a wonderful woman and, since her youngest was only starting college, decided to put off my departure for a year to enable her daughter to have a safety net, just a little while longer . Do I regret it? Not in the least.

After losing the love of my life (to that point) to cancer 5 years ago, I had not really expected to be struck again by the 'lightening' that is true love. I had resigned myself to either no relationship, or to one that would/could never be a 'game-changer', like the one I had with Sheila. Blessedly, I was wrong.

Coincidentally, over the last few days I have found myself once again thinking about delaying my departure - and this time for four more years! Why? Not because my new relationship demands it; in fact, Julie is adamant that I 'follow that dream'.

But by leaving now as opposed to in 2014, my pension will be reduced from $80.000. a year to only $34,000.00. This was something that I glady accepted, when I had no one else to think of but myself. But now.....

Sure, I can afford to leave now and, in all likelihood, we will not want for money. Over and above my small pension I have a small RSP ($400,000.00) and, once I sell my home, sufficient funds to finish off a very small boutique resort I have started on a great beach on Isla Margarita. I fully expect that this will also generate some income.

But should I forfeit $46,000.00 a year of guaranteed income for life (and if my life expectancy matches my parents, I'll have another 45-50 years) in order to get out now? On a purely practical basis, working an additonal four years (during which time I will also increase my 'nest egg') in order to have a pension that could pay out an additional 2 million dollars over the course of my life, is a no-brainer. But then again, how can you be practical when you are longing to be impractical? And what if within the next four years something happens to me (or to the new love of my life) to render our plans of sailing south, starting this resort and then heading off cruising on a full-time basis, impossible? Put another way - how many people have saved for a future that never came?

Anway, I clearly can't answer the question for anyone else, if at the moment I am unable to firmly answer it for myself (although I have a strong inclination). What I believe I can confidently say is this:

Yes, by all means make plans for a few years down the road. Direct all of your energies in that direction, if you so choose. But keep your minds and hearts open. Do not allow yourself to become enslaved to a plan that is designed to free you. Recognize that the plans of men are written in sand and, if adjustments become necessary or even desireable, give yourself the freedom to go with the flow. And even if others accuse you of wimping out (I can hear it now), or of having never really been committed to your plan, be true to yourself. You'll decide when the time and circumstances are right for you and the woman you love, based upon your own comfort level and needs, and not the encouragement, or naysaying of others.

Brad

[anotherT34C]

"Do it now, because you might get hit by a bus tomorrow" isn't an argument that I find all that persuasive. When you're dead, there are no 'coulda, shoulda' regrets because... well... you're dead. If I die a month after retirement, I won't regret it... I won't anything it.

What I know I would regret, is if I found myself 85 years old and realizing that I hadn't planned properly to live that long, back whan I was 35.

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by anotherT34C

"Do it now, because you might get hit by a bus tomorrow" isn't an argument that I find all that persuasive. When you're dead, there are no 'coulda, shoulda' regrets because... well... you're dead. If I die a month after retirement, I won't regret it... I won't anything it.

What I know I would regret, is if I found myself 85 years old and realizing that I hadn't planned properly to live that long, back whan I was 35.

Your right it isn't the bus scenario. It is the paralysis or cancer or lung disease or any of the many things that debilitate people every day and keep them from doing what they want. Some might regret not having done the things they wanted when they were young if they find themselves facing old age without the ability to do any of them.

But your right the bus thing is actually pretty convenient.

Jim

[Stillraining]

Excellent post Brad...you and I think much the same...wish our finances were as well.............and Congratulations on finding true love again.....well done on all quarters.

[mesquaukee]

Originally Posted by anotherT34C

"Do it now, because you might get hit by a bus tomorrow" isn't an argument that I find all that persuasive. When you're dead, there are no 'coulda, shoulda' regrets because... well... you're dead. If I die a month after retirement, I won't regret it... I won't anything it.

What I know I would regret, is if I found myself 85 years old and realizing that I hadn't planned properly to live that long, back whan I was 35.

At 30 I lost everything in a divorce, I lost myself in Mexico.
At 33 I returned, fell in love, married my wife who also lost everything in a similar fashion.
At 42 we bought a boat and went cruising.
After 7 years of cruising I was diagnosed with a movement disorder.
In the 9th year of cruising I was told it was Parkinson's.
Now at 53 Parkinson's has slowed me down a bit, I spend some time on the boat and some on land.
I have no regrets for not having "properly" planned to live to 85. Cruising has prepared me to live to 85. My wife and I came back with much more than we started with. We now know from the experiences we had how to be content with what we now have.
The friends I had at 30 had planned to work hard and retire at 55, now they say that what they have saved is not enough and they now need to work to 65. I look at all the time they have spent working to have a better life and wonder if they will realize one day they have sacrificed so much of their life in the hope of having a better life.
Perhaps instead of saving so we can go cruising in our old age we should find something we could do in our old age so we can go cruising when we are young.

Which is more valuable at 85, wealth or memories.

[David_Old_Jersey]

At 85 I am going back here:-



Or earlier if my health fails.

It might not be a long term arrangement, but it's good to have a plan B

[Hampus]

Originally Posted by mesquaukee

Perhaps instead of saving so we can go cruising in our old age we should find something we could do in our old age so we can go cruising when we are young.

Which is more valuable at 85, wealth or memories.

That is spot on! I don't think anyone could have said it better. Thanks

/Hampus

[Southern Star]

Thanks Stillraining, finding a true 'partner' in life is more valuable than anything. I am indeed blessed.

And Mesquaukee, thanks for sharing your experience and insight. Jkleins, as you say, the risk is not that one will be 'run over by a bus'. While my health has been remarkably good, I need look no further than my late wife Sheila, my brother and his wife to recognize that we all have a shelf-life that is indeterminate.

Sheila ran marathons, competed in half ironman competitions, ate no red meat and succumbed at age 47 to cancer. My brother and his wife took 'early' retirement a year and a half ago, sold their home, purchased a house near mine on Isla Margarita and, in the month they were staying with me prior to departure, had the rug pulled out from under them: Di was diagnosed with metastisized breast cancer and then, six months later, my brother was diagnosed with prostrate cancer necessitating the removal of his prostrate.

No, I'm not worried about errant public transit. But then again, there are enough other threats to a secure and protracted future that are much closer to home. Sure, plan for age 85 - but don't count on getting there. Put another way, in life, sometimes less is more. The difficulty for most of us, I think, is in attempting to predict where that line will fall - the point at which the law of dimishing returns dictates that we stop saving for the future and start living it. Again, there are no easy answers.

Brad

[Stillraining]

A little off topic but..like some one said... "life Happens'

Plan all you want and save all you want... but where does responsibility end is what this untimely boils down to, for each and every one of us it will be different.

If your single and have no dependent children or parents then the world is your oyster so to speak...same goes for those with significant others or kids that are unencumbered and on board with your ideas and desires as well...Like many cruising couples here or cruising families...then its all good and maybe no better life could be found anywhere.

On the other hand if there are those depending on you for life's very needs ...its only a very selfish person to live their life the way they want to with out concern for others.....no matter if you ever get exactly what you hoped for out of life yourself...unfortunately the "Just do it 'and the "live now" mantra has produced 10s of thousands of these could care less types over the years...there is a higher calling at times in our lives then that.

I have told my story before but I will recap here for those that haven't read it...For I have been that selfish before.

I worked on the North Slope of Alaska for 5 years, my wife of seven years could not deal with the sometimes 6 to 7 week on 2 week off schedule the first year of slope work provided and found comfort in another mans arms..my fault for chasing my dream not hers and I take full responsibility for not being the man I should have been for her I was a young selfish hot headed jerk as well...She was a jem and deserved a way better man then I was at the time.

Several more years on the slope single and living the bachelor life left me empty and searching as many that come here do for a new direction, a new life and freedom.. I loved to sail and it was always a goal to buy a 35 to 45 footer and sail off..

So it was 1986 with 80K in the bank and I thought now is as good a time as any..I am not responsible to anyone but myself...so I was getting ready to Move to Florida..The plan was to go to Bar Tending School, and get a job in some Marina bar whereas to rub shoulders with as many boat owners as possible hopefully getting invited to sail with them and to figure out first hand what I wanted in a boat and what I didn't...Buy one and 3 G-strings and crew up for lands unseen.

Well not 2 months before my planed departure into my life walks my second chance at true love ..and the rest is history...she had two years of collage left ...we married after 1 year and then I paid for the last one ( well all of them now if you want to think about it.. think studant loan paybacks here

Did I lose my dream?...yes and know...Yes I didn't get to be some playboy on a boat some where..Possibly contacting AIDS..or who knows what.

But I have the love of my life and 3 kids I would'nt trade for the Mirabella V and a limitless credit card.

Its taken me an additional 21 years to get the boat I was headed off to buy..and its still tied to the dock...but the pleasure I have received from my Wife and kids so far outweighs that other life I could set torch to the boat tomorrow with out much duress over it.

Finding life and "Just doing" or "Go now" may be just as far as the alter for some of us to be truly happy..."everything else in life are just tools to enhance relationships"

I have for the most part loved my job as a self employed Excavation Contractor..It has kept me some what humbled as to income and what we have been able to do as far as vacations and fancy things..But God had allowed me to share a few opportunities with my girls not every one gets to have..Like owning there own Horses, Boating in some form or fashion, Camping, Fishing, Club Soccer at high levels of play..and dinners with the family around the table every night...If I can send them Through Collage and keep my wife in love with me as I truly am with her I can die a happy man..boat tied to the dock and all..

Do the blue lagoons still call...you bet! or I would not be here on this forum right?...will I abandon everything and everyone to get there?..not on your life...But God willing I'm make it someday.. but its on his time frame not mine.

So go ahead and plan...Just don't buy into the your a Failure if it doesn't work out accordingly..and get all depressed about it.

But I will say Don't Plan too much if your ripe to leave being that know one else is depending on you...then you should trim the fat and cast off as soon as posibal....Life Happens.

[gonesail]

i would say another decision after going is what you do when you come back .. or can you come back at all? most people don't cruise forever. how tough is it to return to whatever it was that didn't like much in the first place? or do you just keep going like moitessier? i would say take a year and go sailing but build something in there for the return trip.

[DesertMermaid]

This thread highlights opinions and stories from some pretty wonderful people. I love this forum.

You are collectively some of the wisest, most mature, and amazing people I have every virtually interacted with.

I am humbled and grateful to have the opportunity to read your stories, and get to (at times) communicate with.