Any early retirees turned cruisers with big careers have regrets?

[tradrockrat]

Two words guys: "Ignore list". It makes life sooooo much easier online. Use it often and early.

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by tradrockrat

Two words guys: "Ignore list". It makes life sooooo much easier online. Use it often and early.

Some lessons are harder learned/retained than others...

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by Mook1e

My wife and I are oh so close...I think:

So, right now our only question is, do we have enough for totally comfortable full-time cruising on the cat we want? We're prepared to compromise to a point, and I can work the full 5 more years (yuck) to ensure we finance our dream cat fitted out with a substantial cruising kitty (we're planning for $100K in reserve for the yacht)

Well... we each have to find our own comfort zone and you're the only one that can find yours, but I'm pretty sure if we're talking on financial security only the overriding feeling from after reading your list is...
What are you waiting for??

Seriously... you have way more in most of the above columns including passive income, retirement plan, backup plan, etc than most people out here we know dong this very comfortably and happily (and WAAAAY MORE than the rest of us).

The only place in your plan I might suggest you run numbers and consider options both ways:

Originally Posted by Mook1e

We will probably finance a boat and pay the loan payments with our rental property rent. We will close out the mortgage for the rental property before retiring.

My answer to this may have been different pre-covid as I wished we had more in the bank or that our monthly cashflow wasn't as tight... but when covid hit and the rent checks from home literally stopped and at the same time the ability to consider chartering or other modes of income also stopped at the same time... it certainly got interesting around here.

It also felt like those who didn't own their boat were even more stressed out.
At least we knew that a good provisioning could have us living off the land for a very long time and even if everything went south back home with all our other/backup plans we at least still had the boat(our home) beneath us.

Don't get me wrong, we could have gone back home to the house (except maybe idea of having to evict someone during a pandemic (eck!) and suddenly having to pay the mortgage again (ECK!))... but once you're out here I can almost guarantee that that won't sound like such a good plan when you have to give up the boat and lifestyle to enact a backup plan.

Just a thought - if this year has proved anything, it's that some things just don't go according to plan... and not having to think/worry about losing your boat/home is pretty sweet value add.
You also can't write off the boat payments, as where you can (much of) the house payments back home.

[dannc]

Once upon a time, many decades ago, well into last century, I worked for a company that treated employees like family. Working for the company was a really big part of one's life and identity.

Most people who retired from the company died within 18 months.

I think that a major cause of death was that they lost their work family, and for some, part of their identify and self worth when they retired, so they died. They also worked well into old age which did not help either.

For some reason, YouTube recommended a sailing video on a channel I don't watch. I did watch the video because it was about a gathering of cruisers somewhere in the Caribbean having a party on some little itty bitty inlet. They were having a great time, until a wife got on the VHF and said her husband has passed out. Long story short, the community went to help her husband, including at least one doctor, but her husband had had a heart attack and died.

They had finally gotten the boat and started the dream. She said everyday he woke up and said he could not believe they were finally cruising. He died six months or so into living the dream. Better to have had six months than no months.

I don't think people will continue to work for a company like I first mentioned. That sort of company is long dead and gone in the US.

So the hard part is balancing one's family responsibilities, including earning a living to pay family expenses, while saving for a retirement that allows one to go cruising, but then knowing when it is time to GO.

If one has regrets about retiring then one made a wrong decision...

I doubt many, if any people, lay in their death bed wishing they had continued to work when they could have retired and done something they really wanted to do with their life. Frankly, it is rather sad, if at the end of one's life, one's accomplishment was working for some organization.

Later,
Dan

[goboatingnow]

Just a thought - if this year has proved anything, it's that some things just don't go according to plan... and not having to think/worry about losing your boat/home is pretty sweet value add.
You also can't write off the boat payments, as where you can (much of) the house payments back home

I personally would never retire , with a boat loan outstanding , or for that matter a home loan outstanding

im an retired and cruising and I own both clear

[mako]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I have a friend who is firefighter and is in her own element when running into the building on fire - comfortable with her skills, training and experience. I guess its similar to flying a wide body jet, or being a cardiac surgeon. You've gotta have an over abundance of confidence to do the job well. Which might just be enough to suppress any sense of stress.

It's interesting how the human body and mind can adjust itself to the point where normally-stressful situations become normalized.



Conditioning. Muscle memory.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by theDangerz

I don't know how many times we have to explain this to you Thomm... but the simple fact is that you're "observing" from the wrong side!

OF COURSE if the only people you ever get to talk to or observe are those who never left and those who returned because they didn't like it... than that's all you'll hear or think or have to report.

Those that sat home back in the day and watched the boats leave the harbor had a pretty easy time believing that the world was flat because they only talked to others who also thought the world was flat and didn't leave the shore...

Like I said, I lived on the Gulf Coast for many years and met cruisers every year either at the beach, anchored in Little Sabine, Ft McRee, Ft Walton, Destin, or I sailed by them and observed.

I also saw those motoring the ICW on my weekly runs.

I had lots of free time as I had the contract running on it's own so I would visit all the marinas in an around Pensacola and talk to the cruisers.

Along with those active cruisers I knew others that didn't stay at it more than 6 months or so.

These are the reasons I don't need to be in a hurry to retire. I observed their lifestyle which is a very slow one.

I was blessed to have had the opportunity to live where some chose to cruise that most don't get when they are trying to make the decision to retire and go cruising.

I'm not sure why you are having trouble understanding this point. This experience I had allowed me to see that lifestyle up close and personnel without actually retiring.

These are the reasons that will allow me to retire a bit early and be fine with it. I'm thinking at age 69 or so I'll be just about ready for a slower lifestyle than the one I've been living most all these years.

I can still picture the cruisers huddled in their cockpits in Little Sabine in the early am while we were at pre-race Skippers meetings back in the day. At days end, many were still there some in the same spot.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Li...!4d-87.1503931

[thomm225]

I also remember a cruiser I spoke to maybe in 1991 or so at Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River near the Tombigbee.

It was like 34 degrees and I had been fishing all morning below the Dam. I took a lunch break and decided to go checkout the sailboats on the lake side.

On the way down to the boats, there was this lady probably mid 60's on a wooden sailboat with the mast down. She was reading a paperback outside in the 34 degree weather. I asked her what was up and she said they were headed to the Gulf from Chicago. I thought that was pretty neat at the time. Her husband was below asleep see said.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/P...88.2312378,12z

https://www.google.com/maps/place/To...!4d-88.0471946

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Like I said, I lived on the Gulf Coast for many years and met cruisers every year either at the beach, anchored in Little Sabine, Ft McRee, Ft Walton, Destin, or I sailed by them and observed.

I also saw those motoring the ICW on my weekly runs.

I had lots of free time as I had the contract running on it's own so I would visit all the marinas in an around Pensacola and talk to the cruisers.

Along with those active cruisers I knew others that didn't stay at it more than 6 months or so.

These are the reasons I don't need to be in a hurry to retire. I observed their lifestyle which is a very slow one.

I was blessed to have had the opportunity to live where some chose to cruise that most don't get when they are trying to make the decision to retire and go cruising.

I'm not sure why you are having trouble understanding this point. This experience I had allowed me to see that lifestyle up close and personnel without actually retiring.

These are the reasons that will allow me to retire a bit early and be fine with it. I'm thinking at age 69 or so I'll be just about ready for a slower lifestyle than the one I've been living most all these years.

I can still picture the cruisers huddled in their cockpits in Little Sabine in the early am while we were at pre-race Skippers meetings back in the day. At days end, many were still there some in the same spot.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Li...!4d-87.1503931

I’m retired and it’s all running on its own , that gives me plenty of time to observe those still welded to the rat race , still acquiring debt to buy “ stuff” still frantic about some job project that isn’t going right

I’m sure you don’t see my point but I get to see these lifestyles up close and they are frantic and frenetic

This is the experience that tells me my decision to go at 55 was an excellent one.

I’m thinking 55 is an excellent time to get out of the rat race and the lunatic quest for more “ stuff”

I keep thinking back to those images of the “rats” in their open plan cubicles , passing paper ( or emails ) while wondering what overly expensive sandwich to buy along with ordering a coffee that takes 4 minutes to specify.

I’m still smiling

[wsmurdoch]

Originally Posted by Mook1e

So, right now our only question is, do we have enough for totally comfortable full-time cruising on the cat we want? We're prepared to compromise to a point, and I can work the full 5 more years (yuck) to ensure we finance our dream cat fitted out with a substantial cruising kitty (we're planning for $100K in reserve for the yacht)

You might take a look at the thread "Why Do Cruising Couples Quit" https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...140709-26.html. Like this thread it is long and circuitous (even without Thomm), but buried in it are real reasons the dream can fail... often disastrously. Although money many times gets the blame, it is seldom the root reason.

Two weeks ago I spent a few hours with Clorox and a pressure washer cleaning up a 23 ft sailboat, the last asset now for sale of a friend who started off on a very nice 38 ft boat with his long time female friend. Both had sold everything and could have easily and comfortably sailed into old age, but they didn't. The good times lasted a couple of years, the bad ones longer. In the end the relationship was gone and so was everything else.

Be careful.

[Jim Cate]

So, amongst all this doom and gloom, here's a different story:

In my pre cruising life I was a physicist working at the Lawrence Livermore Lab. I enjoyed my work, learned new things and skills along the way, had the pleasure and stimulation of working with VERY bright people and was adequately compensated for the times. I have no regrets about my career. Was it a "big career"? What the hell does that mean?

I took early retirement when it was offered to me at age 51 (lab under funded and over staffed) and left all that behind. I was an experienced sailor and cruiser with several ocean passages and a year's full time cruising behind me as well as the usual day sailing/racing/vacation cruising years. The South Pacific cruising dream was strong, so off we went. That was 31 years ago and I've never once regretted the decision to leave.

We're tapering off now, and between Covid and being over 80 our passage making may be behind us... time will tell, but we still live aboard, at anchor. The future is unclear, and we realize that at some point a move ashore is inevitable (barring death and other mitigating factors), but the cruising years have been so incredibly rewarding that when I read the ill informed opinions of those only speculating about the life I can but giggle.

This life isn't for everybody, that's for sure. But for those who make the commitment to follow that road, well, it is pretty rewarding. Each individual must weigh up those rewards against the personal costs incurred; the answer will be different for every case.

Jim

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

So, amongst all this doom and gloom, here's a different story:

In my pre cruising life I was a physicist working at the Lawrence Livermore Lab. I enjoyed my work, learned new things and skills along the way, had the pleasure and stimulation of working with VERY bright people and was adequately compensated for the times. I have no regrets about my career. Was it a "big career"? What the hell does that mean?

I took early retirement when it was offered to me at age 51 (lab under funded and over staffed) and left all that behind. I was an experienced sailor and cruiser with several ocean passages and a year's full time cruising behind me as well as the usual day sailing/racing/vacation cruising years. The South Pacific cruising dream was strong, so off we went. That was 31 years ago and I've never once regretted the decision to leave.

We're tapering off now, and between Covid and being over 80 our passage making may be behind us... time will tell, but we still live aboard, at anchor. The future is unclear, and we realize that at some point a move ashore is inevitable (barring death and other mitigating factors), but the cruising years have been so incredibly rewarding that when I read the ill informed opinions of those only speculating about the life I can but giggle.

This life isn't for everybody, that's for sure. But for those who make the commitment to follow that road, well, it is pretty rewarding. Each individual must weigh up those rewards against the personal costs incurred; the answer will be different for every case.

Jim

Jim and Anne

we will never match your close to 30 years at sea - we hauled in our lines and set sail 4 1/2 years ago - but I'm almost 70 so I doubt we'll be cruising when I'm 90.

Already we dread the day when we will swallow the anchor and have made plans to buy a trawler when our sails and the blue water get to be too much of a good thing.

Nothing, but nothing, beats going up in the cockpit at sunrise with a cup of coffee and pondering the world as everything around you wakes up...........

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I’m retired and it’s all running on its own , that gives me plenty of time to observe those still welded to the rat race , still acquiring debt to buy “ stuff” still frantic about some job project that isn’t going right

I’m sure you don’t see my point but I get to see these lifestyles up close and they are frantic and frenetic

This is the experience that tells me my decision to go at 55 was an excellent one.

I’m thinking 55 is an excellent time to get out of the rat race and the lunatic quest for more “ stuff”

I keep thinking back to those images of the “rats” in their open plan cubicles , passing paper ( or emails ) while wondering what overly expensive sandwich to buy along with ordering a coffee that takes 4 minutes to specify.

I’m still smiling

Sure I can understand retiring at age 55, but at that time, it just wasn't right for me.

I had spent so much time on boats from from 1995 until around 2005 that I switched to cycling (doing both in 2004 -2005) and did that like averaging 150 miles/week until around 2009.

In 2011, is when I bought my old cruising boat this Bristol 27 since I was back up here where I had always had a boat at least since I was a teenager.

This boat was different than all my others being very slow and it wouldn't point, but it could handle a lot and take me places in most any weather whereas none of my other boats could possibly have done that. And as a sailboat, my 5th, it has and engine! And instruments!

Also being up here, the Bay offers so much even more than the Gulf Coast for a cruiser that is still working. The bays are small in the area I lived in Florida. Here the bay is like 150 miles long and as wide as 30 miles and has lots of places to sail to and lots of good places to anchor.

As far as work, my boss is in San Diego and I am helping to train her. There's no cubical action I am involved in. I have free reign to run the contract as long as all systems stay operational, but we are busy these days with all the new cyber requirements and new management. (and certification requirements we all had to meet even the new guys and gals I hired)

As has been mentioned, each will have to decide when it's right for them but at the same time if you are still working, it's nice to be living about a mile from an excellent sailing area.

First video is headed home under power after a long (3-4 day) weekend on a pretty Sunday morning (after coffee and a hike through the woods)

The second video is headed home under reefed main only from the same place but no pre-sail hike and no motoring. This video was taken after things laid down a bit and the whistling through the rigging was at a lower level. It did get across in only 3 hours though against the tide which is a first! (and the boat held together except for the dodger frame and the bow lights)

The bay is a good spot to try out your cruising boat in many different conditions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpZhq35etcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nXfjcCuiPk

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

The South Pacific cruising dream was strong, so off we went. That was 31 years ago and I've never once regretted the decision to leave.

We're tapering off now, and between Covid and being over 80 our passage making may be behind us... time will tell, but we still live aboard, at anchor.

the cruising years have been so incredibly rewarding that when I read the ill informed opinions of those only speculating about the life I can but giggle.
Jim

Thank you for that refreshing and very pertinent addition (and good on you two!!!)

If only we could find a way for all those sitting round the harbor back home... those who are terrified to make the leap and stuck with no other option than to listen those who never left, or those who turned back around round because it wasn't right for them (or thomm) to hear those words from you.

I remember before we took the leap(s)... it truly did feel like doom and gloom. Everyone we met was quick to share but full of only negatives/warnings.
The tales of horror ran from boredom to beheadings to financial ruin, but somehow none of the people sharing these stories had actually experienced any of them first hand. Always hearsay from a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend, or maybe a best friends cousins uncles neighbors dogsitter.

Regardless, we decided early on that (at least when it came to those looking to talk us out of our dream rather than nudging us forward towards it)... that if it wasn't coming from the person who had actually lived that experience, we quickly gave it the time and respect it deserved - absolutely none!!

We sat with a wise old man from Mexico and watched the sunset over his little puebla as he described this unfortunate habit of our society trying to hold each other back as being like a "bucket of turtles".
https://www.thedangerz.com/blog/society-and-friends

I do hope our charts one day overlap. Would be an honor to share a tea or sundowner with you both!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by theDangerz

If only we could find a way for all those sitting round the harbor back home... those who are terrified to make the leap

You have a strange way of describing folks that aren't out cruising.

You do realize some cannot run away from their responsibilities and have to get things in order first right?

Then there are those of us that are already cruising locally and have sailed coastal waters along much of the US Coast and on inland lakes and rivers.

Besides that, retiring early to the slow life of cruising is a tough decision because you lose so much variety in life.