Escape Plan

FULLTIMEWANABE wrote:
Admittedly I am conscious that too much analysis leads to paralysis, but also if you fail to plan you plan to fail.

First and foremost, know yourself and how you tick! For example we know we are not the type that would enjoy FT Rving by just following the weather for weather's sake and setting up in one place for months on end. Yes we will try boon docking in Quartzite and other areas of AZ but we know we couldn't just sit on a piece of land to just save money for months on end, whether the sun is shining or not. We have made our decision because we want to see and embrace so much that this wonderful continent has to offer us. So we will be the type that moves around a lot in the first year or two during which time we hope to find those little diamonds in the rough that we would like to return to and stay longer in the future.

Heck it took me over 15 years to psychologically get my head around to disposing of ALL our RE assets, which we've started offloading already to be FTing within the next 2 years, and are truly now at peace with that decision. It came into being finally when we realized our exit plan and how it can work with the "what ifs", with lets face it always raise their ugly heads when planning such a huge change in one's lives.

We are conscious because of "how WE tick", that we will need a larger budget in our first two years, and hopefully less or allowing for inflation no increase moving into the next handful of years after that. For sure until we actually get out there and seeing where the dollars actually go based on how we roll, it's all hypothetical. However, having that roadmap plan and referring back to it often at the front end should help us sleep better at night than going on a wing and a prayer only.

Another example for us, and not necessarily applies to most folks who have guaranteed pensions/income: We are also conscious of having our investments still tied somewhat to the stock market to generate hopefully half decent returns for our retirement, that we don't want to be caught in a 5 year stagnant or worse still down market, and have to sell to live ('87, Dotcom, 2008 comes to mind). Consequently we know we have to put at least 5 years income away in a different resource with lower returns regrettably, that we can keep topping up but not be forced to sell good stocks in a downtrend market should it occur in our retirement years, which likely it will.

There's tons of considerations, regarding a budget and how you structure it, and there is most definitely no one size fits all, but for sure other folks budgets and a feel for how they roll over recent years have enabled us to finally formulate a plan we have confidence in to commit moving forwards as we have already started doing so.

FWIW: I agree with BarbOK that if you are only planning on a year, you will totally be vacation mind orientated, whereas 3 years plus commitment (which isn't forever), will give you time to iron out the bugs and get accustomed to a different way of living and adapting to experience the wonderful side of RVing which is why we all consider taking to the road this way in the first place. We are intending a minimum 3 year commitment and to reassess at that juncture to go to Year 5 or otherwise Who really knows until we are out there walking the talk so to speak?

When we first emigrated to Canada from the UK many years ago, it took us a good 18 months plus to finally feel that "we belonged" - you just can't help comparing everything to what you know from your previous upbringings and lives lived. Now over two decades later, without a shadow of a doubt it was absolutely the best thing we could ever have done for our children's futures, and we've felt that way since Year 2 here.