What if Scenario....

[SebastianB]

Say a person was debt free, owns his boat, Could easily liquidate his assets and along with the severance from his job have between 100-200K at his disposal. this person also has skills in boat maintenance and repair, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, as well as the more modern industry stuff like Incident investigation, Root Cause Analysis, Lean Sigma (UGH I just threw up in my mouth)etc. Is in good health, has already had the "American Dream" by middle age (house 3 cars, etc etc) is not worried about a safe retirement and old age. This person just wants to live on his boat in warm weather (FL Keys, Bahamas,USVI and enjoy the rest of his life working when it was necessary and sailing alot. Any thoughts, suggestions for a person like that. (And none of this "What will you do when you are old?", etc etc ) Are any of you doing it?

[boatman61]

Not got all those skills.. nor the assets.. and currently slightly in debt..
but.. been moving around the N Atlantic and Med on my boats since the early 90's.. based in Portugal for the last 7yrs.
Considering moving down to Tangiers for this winter.. bored with the W coast winters.

[travellerw]

Hhhmm you just described me... Except, with 3 kids... Our boats bought and we move aboard permanently in February.

Life's for Living... Get out there!

[motion30]

Basically that is my situation only I am on a powerboat. But have been tied to the docK this last year and finding it hard to break away. I will say if you have a partner it makes things much nicer but possibly a little more expensive

[barnakiel]

Cast the lines and sail to where you think you will be happy (-ier). You sound happy anyways. Why change it? Still. If you can arrange so that a Plan B is there to fall back on, even better.

Wherever you go, there you are. Chase the rabbit while you can. I would (again).

Cheers,
b.

[Sandero]

I found I was not stimulated enough living in paradise. There is lots to see if one travels the world... and many people have.... I personally needed to be doing something else and retained the boat for local coastal cruising and "zen" of boating.

I'd take the cash and go for 4 years and then see what you feel like.

[SebastianB]

Well, depending on what happens in the next few months job wise (layoffs coming) it should start happening. The liquidation of assets may take a little longer. Land (65 acres) should sell within the year from what I see happening around my area. House is rented but will probably look to doing a lease purchase with the current renters if everything works out or sell it outright possibly. If everything works out will be int he Keys by next year. From what friends there tell me, work isn't as difficult to find there as many make it out to be and to be honest, I should have plenty of "breathing room" financially. I fore see working labor/craft jobs as I need to stay afloat. One guy I talked to said he was desperate for people that would actually show up for work and not be drunk/hungover/ etc. LOL! My wife is a former teacher but has many other work skills from other jobs so I think she will also have an easy time if she decides to look for work. We will give the keys a try and then who knows??? I just know that I don't ever see myself back int he "Rat Race" I see guys I work with losing their mind with worry right now due to the possibility of impending layoffs but when I talk to them I find that A. They bought in to the hype...They got good paying jobs, bought expensive cars, expensive houses, lots of toys, etc and are in debt, need 6 figures just to get over every year. and B. This type work (oil and gas production) is all they have ever done and all they know. It is sad that the chase for "stuff" is the accepted definiton of happiness and success.....Well they can have it! As for me, I will take to the sea!

[travellerw]

Well said. Very few ever have the realization that the "American Dream" is hollow and empty. Its simply the quest to move objects from the store shelves to the landfill, with borrowed money.

One piece of advice. Don't underestimate the effort of liquidating. Unless you want to just give it away. We have been in the process for 8 months and still have a couple of months to go. Its unbelievable how much work it actually is.

Enjoy the Keys..

[SebastianB]

well, for all the small stuff and vehicles I have let my wife handle thus far! LOL! She is a born sales person. Except for some tools and such stored at my parents and a small storage unit she has just about sold all our belongings that isn't "nailed down"! LOL! Yes it can be trying but now we are down to the point that anything else is going to Goodwill or garbage. The land we have on the market so far is with a realtor.

[wellin]

Well for me its about a feeling of freedom the boat gives me. I might never be able to retire. But i can act like it next weekend. No need to wait till im too old to enjoy it.

Sent from my SCH-I415 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by travellerw

Well said. Very few ever have the realization that the "American Dream" is hollow and empty. Its simply the quest to move objects from the store shelves to the landfill, with borrowed money.

One piece of advice. Don't underestimate the effort of liquidating. Unless you want to just give it away. We have been in the process for 8 months and still have a couple of months to go. Its unbelievable how much work it actually is.

Enjoy the Keys..

I will second that one. If you have to divest yourself of a lot of stuff it is never too soon to get started. We have also been at it for months. At first we tried selling as much as we could, but before long we were making more and more trips to the dump and the Goodwill. We will still concentrate on trying to sell the larger or higher value items, like the antique furniture, lawn tractors, utility trailers and such, but the small stuff is hardly worth the time and effort it takes. But even giving it away takes some effort, believe it or not.

*** Oops, apparently our posts crossed. It looks like you have that part covered.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by travellerw

the quest to move objects from the store shelves to the landfill, with borrowed money.

Quotable!