How much is enough??

[cat man do]

You may find this site and the link's within helpful as well.

Penang Travel Forum

I certainly did.

Dave

[Denim]

We are going on three thousand dollars a month, I may be crazy, but I think we can do that,and have the occassional room in a hotel if we choose, and to eat out when the cook is tired. If the three thousand a month is not enough we will increase it, but for starters, that`s where we are.

[DtM]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread so I apologise if this has already been said.
If you start with (say) $500,000 invested at (say) 5% then if your budget/expenditure is $50,000 per year then you can do this for 13 years.
Now that would be fun.

[starfish62]

This is such a personal question, and it touches on so many points. Hunger. Fear. Desire. Uncertainty. I have a very dear friend who is a much more accomplished yachtsman than I. When I first met him in 2002, he was living aboard his 45-foot ketch, and about to embark on a Caribbean cruise. I was in awe of the man. He could fix anything, and owed nothing on his boat. I left before him, and came back stateside to make money, leaving the boat along the trip. Every year that I returned, he was still living aboard and planning his escape. Now, five years later, I've gone about 20,000 miles, and he's still living aboard and planning his escape. Money represents security in the American mindset, but to go cruising is the antithesis of security--you're a very small boat in a very big ocean, and no one cares about your social status at sea. Hence the idea of "financially secure" cruising is a chimera for the vast majority outside of the lucky sperm club. The important thing is to go. Now. The answers will reveal themselves along the way. You will not starve. I promise.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by DtM

I haven't read all the posts in this thread so I apologise if this has already been said.
If you start with (say) $500,000 invested at (say) 5% then if your budget/expenditure is $50,000 per year then you can do this for 13 years.
Now that would be fun.

Or you could cruise indefinitely, with a $25K budget.

[starfish62]

In the western Caribbean or south America you'd have difficulty spending $25,000 per year.

[seafox]

You have trained your misses well Starfish

[starfish62]

Thanks, Seafox. Linda's not much of a shopper. She does have way too many bikinis, though.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by starfish62

She does have way too many bikinis, though.

Danger Will Robinson! This does not compute!

[scgilligan]

Wow, there seem to be a lot of people making / anticipating making some good money..60+K per year USD.??!! Without working.?!! I'd certainly be able to cruise for less..Heck, I currently support a family of 6, house, 3 cars, etc. on 2 incomes that are only totaling about 105K..Without the house and cars, that could drop 25K easily. Then consider you are sailing most of the time and will not be docking every night, eating out every meal, supporting kids (when they leave the nest)..I have lived off of 20K per year before (with dependants)and I am sure I could do it again..boating costs are the only expenses I have no experience with..and I expect to have a fully paid for boat when I decide to go out..so maintenance and other fees would be the big part..food, clothing, etc. is a small percentage..
Just my uneducated guess here..

[Alan Wheeler]

We need an extra price range of $1000-25K up in our poll. $25K/yr would be about what we would spend total and that is assuming we still retained the Marina Birth at $5K/yr. And that is NZ$'s. I just can't see how you would have to spend more as a minimum. Anything above that is luxury excesses. Like Flying home or staying in a hotel or whatenver. And why would you do those things. You set out to live on a boat for goodness sakes.

[ess105]

Wheels - people go cruising for different reasons.

In our case, when we go our purpose will be to travel and visit places. We will also be leaving friends and family in different parts of the world.

Therefore it makes sense to us to budget for airfares (us to visit family, family to visit us, fly to places we can't/won't sail) as well as budget for occasional accomodation when we leave the boat for more than the hours available in a single day.

I don't expect everyone to be the same - it would be very boring if they were.

[seafox]

Some people will also keep their own house with it's mortgage, rates etc. Pay for the pets to go into care, health insurance, touring, travel, repairs and maintenance of expensive boats........

[Alan Wheeler]

That is true. But they are all additionals to actuall cruising budgets aren't they. This is the question that gets asked, but the answer is never really given. All those additionals are added to the actual cost and they all vary from person to person.

[ess105]

If you're going to budget, the only meaningful budget is one that takes into consideration all costs. These other costs have to be funded too - or scaled back. The budgetting excercise helps us focus on how important these things are.