Retiring, full timing and (very) early planning

BarbaraOK wrote:
Really is no reason to downsize for 30 amps. Our coach runs just fine on 30 amps when necessary. In fact we invested in a 30 amp cord in addition to our 50 amp cord because we find so many places with just 30 amps. The only difference is that I have to be alert to what I already have going before running the washer/dryer, etc. Just takes a little practice, but really not much of a problem.

We've already tried 30amps a few times. In fact, just last Friday night we were just north of Knoxville, TN. We could only use 1 AC at a time and in the humid south, that isn't always pleasant. We even ordered our unit with PCS to monitor amps and allow us to use 30amps.

A 38' 5er with a tote on the back is quite long for many of the older campgrounds. A TC or Cls B will definitely be in our future.

Biggest problem at your age will be health insurance. You're still 'youngsters' but the body has this way of surprising you when you get around 60 and most times it isn't trivial, so make sure that you're covered.

Generally we find that people spend what ever they have to spend. If you are planning on less than $2500 a month then you are going to limit yourself. Not saying it can't be done, but it won't be as comfortable as it would be if you have more income from retirement plans/savings.

A lot of your expenses will be the same. So the first thing is to take a good look at what you spend your money on now, identify those things that will stay the same - like food, eating out, recreation, then look at the things that will change - mortgage goes away maybe replaced by RV Loan, utilities replaced by campground fees, more fuel, less on clothes (no more work clothes), and see what range your total is. Yes, a lot of people put their actual expenses on line, but we've put together some things to think about on our blog: Budget Considerations
Take a look and see what might apply to you. Obviously we all have things that are unique, so unless you are really into wine like we are, having a separate budget line for wine won't make sense for you.

Barb

I'm impressed by the OP who is still over 10 years from retirement, and planning now. We're just starting to put our plans in motion. Bought our first FW and an F-350 Diesel Dually to tow her.

I'm 58, and DH is 53 - and we're trying to figure out if we can do this sooner than later. We're completely debt-free, and have two S&B houses - one we live in and one we rent out. The intent is to sell one, and continue renting the other, when we go full-time.

When we're done, we'll move back into the current rental.

I'm sure most of you full-timers know what it costs you on a monthly basis to live the dream - care to share?

Really is no reason to downsize for 30 amps. Our coach runs just fine on 30 amps when necessary. In fact we invested in a 30 amp cord in addition to our 50 amp cord because we find so many places with just 30 amps. The only difference is that I have to be alert to what I already have going before running the washer/dryer, etc. Just takes a little practice, but really not much of a problem.

As to not using all of your liquid assets, I will agree. In order to pay all cash we would have had to use one of the 401k accounts and pay a much larger tax bite (like OUCH on top of our salaries at the time) or finance part and use current income at a much, much lower rate to pay off the loan. Our 401k has since done very well in the market recovery, so we are ahead of the game and if, for some reason, we need the cash, it is there.

Barb

hitchup wrote:
We're already mulling over the idea of downsizing to a smaller RV in a few years to make it easier to use 30amps and pull into smaller campground spaces.

Now, that's interesting. The tack that I've been planning on is to maintain a unit that's fairly comparable to a small 1BR apartment. One of the best investments I've ever made was buying the Splendide washer/dryer. I don't think I'd be willing to give it up.

I also drool every time I see a coach with a dishwasher. :D

I'm still kicking around the Class A v/s 5er notion. I do very much love my truck, but the idea of switching to a Class A and having a toad is becoming more appealing. I'd be interested in hearing feedback from those who have made the switch in one direction or the other and why.

In 1999, I started planning by buying a few Fulltimer's books. Mainly which state for taxes and what jobs could be done on the road to supplement income. My parents had been fulltiming in an Alpenlite 5er for a few years. We knew we would definitely want to do the same when we could afford to retire.

But fast forward 6 years and once we had no kids in school and I was traveling with DH for his job, we wised up and decided to buy the first 5er to fulltime in. Now it's 8 years later and we are trying to decide which year to switch to working part time, so we can travel more for pleasure instead of work.

We just paid off the F450, refinanced the RV to lower the payment and could feasibly fully retire in less than 2 years. But rather than limit our traveling fund, DH may try to keep working one project a year until he's 66 or even 70, IF he wanted to.

We're already mulling over the idea of downsizing to a smaller RV in a few years to make it easier to use 30amps and pull into smaller campground spaces.

2gypsies wrote:
Here's an excellent full-timers blog. Scan every inch of it. She's included many "how to" articles and it's an excellent resource for public campgrounds and boondocking spots. She's tops!

Wheelingit Blog

Also, the #1 thing you want to do right now is to get out of debt before entering your new lifestyle.

Thank you.

Everything (except for the house) will be paid off by then. The house is going concurrent with retirement.

I have, however, been toying with the scenarios for paying for my camper (likely class A of some flavor). While I will have enough to pay cash outright, I'm wondering if liquidating that much free cash is wise in the long run.

Here's an excellent full-timers blog. Scan every inch of it. She's included many "how to" articles and it's an excellent resource for public campgrounds and boondocking spots. She's tops!

Wheelingit Blog

Also, the #1 thing you want to do right now is to get out of debt before entering your new lifestyle.

I will second the idea of reading as many blogs of fulltimers as you can. We each fulltime differently and a wide variety of blogs will give you a flavor of what is possible.

We both had serious, life threatening, health issues so had decided to take early retirement years. That meant that we looked at each decision as to how it would effect our eventual retirement. Like the last house we bought - we knew that in 4-5 years we were going to sell, so anything we were going to do was done with an eye towards reselling. That also kept us from buying a lot of 'stuff' just because we had extra room in the house. Our daughter married, so we helped furnish their first place with things we didn't need.

We sold/gave away everything except for the art work - that is stored with my sister and daughter. Didn't store anything.

A lot of people will tell you no debt. And while we do pay for everything each month, we did take a loan out for part of the purchase of the MH because we had money tied up and didn't want to pay the tax on a lump sum distribution to pay for the coach. Instead, we've taken out at a lower tax rate over time to pay for the coach - - but that is something that you have to run spreadsheets on to determine what is better for you. Also, don't make the mistake of not having a sufficiently funded emergency account to cover unexpected repairs, etc. We put 10% of the purchase price of our MH in an account and add to it each month to cover maintenance, repairs, upgrades, new tires/batteries, new TVs, etc. Others will recommend an extended warranty (really a break down insurance), but if you go that way make sure you really understand what it will and won't cover.

Think about any health issues you have now and work on setting up a program to try and mitigate them as much as possible. Tell your primary health care provider that you want to try this lifestyle and will they work with you - if not, take the time to find a health care provider that will work with you so you can do this, not all of them will.

Begin telling family that this is what you want to do so that they can adjust to the fact that you will be living in an unconventional way - -sometimes family members have a great deal of difficulty with it. We were lucky in that my parents had done the same thing, but not all families handle it well.

Get a small RV for weekend trips/vacations and learn on it. If you can't adjust to that, then fulltiming might not be for you.

Barb

3 dog nights wrote:
my Dad told me when I was 25 to read everything I could about retirement planning. To listen to people who were trained in these things. Then realize that they can only plan their own retirement not yours. I figured out everything I needed to live on and to cover the bills, doubled it. Paid off all debt and am enjoying my 1st year "out of work" this Friday. Have had some surprises. Have had to cut back on a couple of projects, but enjoyed it. As they say at Nike...Just do it!

Congrats!