Anyone have regrets about having gone full-time?

westernrvparkowner wrote:
We half timed, used the Motorhome all winter. Giving it up for a couple of reasons. First, even our 44 footer grows very, very small after a few months.

This one of my biggest worries with full timing. With two people, we each have to have our own space available and I'm not sure how well could keep down the clutter.

We went fulltime as our son was graduating college...helped him get set up in a "starter" mobile home (which he has since sold and now owns a single family home)...we helped him thru college and he also got many grants and only ended up with $6k in student loans. He now makes six figures and doesn't need our financial assistance.

Like Barbara said, help your kids now then enjoy what's left of your life...if you prepare them in advance they don't need or want an inheritance, and actually encourage you to enjoy your golden years...think we made the best investment in preparing our child, and now we can relax and enjoy our chosen lifestyle!!

I don't think ANYone should ever have to apologize for going full time because they had children college bound or not. Not everyone in the world (in fact it is the majority now a days) could and/or can afford to finance a college eduction for their children. There are grants/loans up the wazoo and many many many kids have benefited from these being available to them to further their education on their own.

I get a kick out of people who point fingers at those retiring, purchasing an RV and choosing to travel. Claiming that they are bad parents and what a waste of money buying an RV, yada, yada, yada.

These are the same people who have purchased homes way larger than they need to impress loaned up the wazoo, new luxury cars every year in the driveway again to impress, used their homes as a piggy bank to borrow money for their toys they buy year after year after year. They pay and pay and end of dieing paying.

So just who IS really the one that is making bad investments? The one who 'dies' with the most toys in debt up to their eyeballs or the person who planned for retirement, has no mortgage, ample income and thoroughly enjoying their golden years debt free? :C

BarbaraOK wrote:

CKNSLS wrote:


With all due respect-This sounds like a statement of justification of spending your children's/grandchildren's inheritance.

Where is it written that one must provide an inheritance? We help out, when needed, but didn't expect one from my parents, rather hope they spend every dime living a long life.

Barb

EXACTLY! ! We love our son but don't owe him anything....we taught him to be self-reliant and make his own way in this world and not "expect" things handed to him. As such, he has created a wonderful life, has a great career, a wonderful wife and owns his home and has thanked us many times for teaching him how and not giving him everything...and his only 29...

Like someone else said...we did our job and now it's our time...if there is nothing left when we are done so be it!

MookieKat wrote:
Thank you! Some great and serious considerations to take into account.

Our situation is that we are really tired of the area in which we live. It is in Southern rural GA, in a tiny town of 400 people. We have to drive 30 miles to the nearest decent grocery store. 1 hour to better stores with more selections. We got stuck here after my mother passed away and left me the house...which is al paid for.

We have wanted to move away from here for years...possibly to CA, but not sure where in CA, so when we started thinking about traveling and RVing, it occurred to us that we could travel around until we found a place where we wanted to settle.

Is it necessary to go stick and brick at any point, even if we settle? Could you not just park the 5er in a mobile home park or buy a lot and park your rig there for the rest of your days?

That is exactly what we did...we sold everything and now own an RV lot with small coach house in the RGV...it is a 55+ community with all the amenities and it is "lock and leave". We pay a reasonable maintenance fee for cutting of grass and garden upkeep...it is there when we want it and we can rent it if we go elsewhere for the winter. This is where we will park when we are done and live out our days in comfort....don't need a stix and bricks. ..

rockhillmanor wrote:

Wow. Here's a news flash for you'all. College certainly doesn't guarantee you anything anymore. The majority of students do NOT get a job in the area they studied or even get a job period. They have so much debt when they graduate. Not to mention going to college to become a teacher? Teachers make below middle income wages. :( The money is and always has been is in the trades. With out the trades the world doesn't turn.

Don't know where "facts" come from? Looks to me like 60% or so are employed in their fields shortly after graduation. My son graduated as an engineer in May, and had to abandon his internship in March, since an employer couldn't wait the ten weeks until graduation to get him into a supervisory position. Great starting salary and a new 4WD F-150 after 90 days. As for so much debt, it averages $26K per grad, or less than they will waste on their first new car. Teaching in this area is currently tough to get into, but starting salaries are close to 50K and climb pretty quickly in the first few years. The trades however are a joke. Great career if you like being unemployed, and wonder how you are ever going to retire. Way too many in the field, and big employers have done a great job of destroying pay and conditions by hiring illegals and unqualified, low cost "helpers". I can't even count the number of fresh faced young kids I have seen in the last decade that started apprenticeships in the trades, only to find out that there is a whole lot of work for underpaid apprentice grade help, and no real chance of working 50% of the year once you "top out". Most end up in careers that are more reliable, and can actually support a family. Yes, before you tell me I haven't got a clue, I have worked the trades and done commercial and institution project management in the past. I saw the writing on the wall in the mid-2000s and left. Best move I ever made.
Obviously, regional differences can be stark, but I would be far more comfortable if one of my kids was 23 Y.0 with a teaching certificate, $26K in debt and a future, rather than being the same age and just starting an apprenticeship with the carpenter's local.

CKNSLS wrote:

You know I completely understand that. Real world-TODAY a college education is now the equivalent of a high school diploma. Right or wrong big business and society do not put much value in a high school education, thus the emphasis on College. And while memories are a great thing-they don't pay for college. Historically real estate has been a sound investment. Selling that investment and buying something on 4 wheels is not going to help your grandchildren. Keeping you S&B home then going Rving for extended time-nothing wrong with that. Fulltiming-you do JUST BECAUSE.

"Looking at the longer-term data, we also see quite a different picture. For the period 1890-2005, inflation-adjusted home prices rose just 103 percent, or less than 1 percent a year. One can only imagine how many fewer investors would have piled into the residential home market if they were aware of the historical evidence. As Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously remarked: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."


Quote from a recent article written by Robert Case, one of the most respected economist in the real estate arena. Another expert I read recently quoted a 4/10th % annual return based on a slightly shorter duration, 1910-2006, IIRC.

The whole concept of your home being an investment, or to quote our societal delusion, "your greatest investment" is a fraud. A Stick and bricks home should be viewed as a place to live, not some rock solid investment. There are many examples of places in this country where homes are selling for the same unadjusted dollar amounts that they brought 10-20 years ago. When you factor inflation in, these particular "investments" are a horrendous loss.

I am a builder. I just sold our 12 Y.O personal home for 71% of my replacement cost, or a bit over half the going rate to build a similar custom home in the region. In retrospect, give the expenses, lost opportunity costs, and negative rate of return, it would of been far cheaper to rent.

Far too many folks have little understanding of finance. Take the typical couple who convinces themselves that they are doing great since they paid $85K for a home in 1983 and now it's "worth" $400K. The same amount invested in a balance stock fund would leave you with a nest egg of nearly three times that at $1,127,000. Now encourage them to grab the files and figure out their expenses to maintain, repair, insure and pay property tax on "your greatest investment", and if they don't reach the conclusion that it was anything but, they really shouldn't be handling your own finances.

I certainly agree that buying an RV is far from an investment. I also think that home ownership is a vitally important part of our economy, and part of our social fabric. It would be better for the financial health of many of us if we managed to get the whole concept of what a single family home really is and isn't. It is many things, but historically it's never been an investment for the vast majority of homeowners in the US.

rockhillmanor wrote:
Leaving money or real estate is not "leaving a legacy" for a child/grandchild. My memories of my parents and in-laws revolve around the conversations and good times we had together...not what they left me!

Not to mention going to college to become a teacher? Teachers make below middle income wages.

Count me among those who provided without a college education, and I agree there is much positive to be said for working a trade.

That said, I have never known a teacher who did it for the money. Teaching comes from the heart. Hats off to ALL teachers!

We live in beach town that many people come to on their vacations, or to retire. We picked our home, location and community with a clear eye on sustaining us through retirement (if we ever get there !), and 'aging in place'. We love to travel in our RV and look forward to 'anytiming' as much as I think we will enjoy returning to the beach.

I'm 55, own my own business, and several properties including a way to big house.
We bought our first MH 5 years ago (has it really been that long, wow!) and our second is a keeper.

I am never happier than watching the world go by that big windshield, except perhaps watching the sunrise behind delicate arch, or set into the pacific from my good chair at an oregon campground...

I've wanted to full time since I first heard of the practice a few years ago.
When I first brought it up, DW said "ain't no way I could live in that little bus!" A couple years later it was "I'd still have to own a homebase somewhere" Today, when our 15 yo gives us some lip, it's "I'll put you in that motorhome and homeschool if you don't straighten up!"

Everything is for sale. Has been for a while, mostly for a big loss, don't care. When it's all gone, we are off. Deadline is June of 2016, when #3 graduates high school. But if everything sells before then, we leave early. #3 is a traveler, like me. He'll adapt, and he'll love it.