Advice

[hall4all59]

My wife and I are fed up with the rat race in Calif (I'm 60 and she's 50 ) her job especially has damaged her mentally over the last
3 years but she wants to hold on for that extra 5% pay bump next year but I tell her
we can survive we have a couple of small IRAs and her $1600 pension and we own a 5th wheel so I believe we have all the ingredients to escape. We want to buy small
home in Arizona in the next year but I want to wait and go adventure now. I'm very thankful for Finding Bobs you tube channel as he's been an inspiration to
us ,when we get down we go back and watch Without Bound and his 'How to live rent free series". I don't know why I'm posting this, I think I'm frustrated
not sure which way to go buy home now or wait 2 years and then buy home, I want my wife and I to be free. Please any advice?

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome hall4all to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you. highdesertranger

 

[Sepudo]

FWIW, I make my money from my rental properties so I can offer this advice,

If you are not already in escrow and about to close on a house wait a few years, you mentioned 2 however it may be in your best interest to wait a little longer.

If you follow the yield curve (and history) you'll notice all indicators are leading to a depression. IMO it will be worse than not only 2008 but 1998.

Regarding your wife...if she wants to get out of her job, I don't really see what the delay is...especially if there is mental damage caused. The best thing I did was leave my high paying, cushy gov't job...the only regret is not having left sooner.

good luck with your IRA's and congrats on escaping the rats!

 

[mpruet]

Bob recently posted a video titled "Don't crash and burn" which is full of warnings about moving into the nomadic life. I'd suggest that you check it out.

One of the key things is to make sure that your finances can support a nomadic life.  Some of your finances will drop, but others can increase.  Another key point is to make sure that you are not moving to a nomadic life to escape from yourself.  If your issues are internal, they will follow you wherever you go.

You also might want to check out some of the minimalist youTube videos and/or podcasts.  Also check out some of the videos/podcasts by Timber Hawkeye.  He is a Buddhist, and I'm not proposing conversion to Buddhism, but the internal introspection and minimalist approach to life can be very valuable to nomads.

The RTR is coming up soon and it might be worth it to attend to get a feel if this is a lifestyle for you or not.

 

[WanderingRose]

Only you and your wife can decide what is best for you, my only advice is to think this thru thoroughly and don’t do anything quickly.

My husband and I retired at 58, with 25 years in state jobs. We could have gotten larger pensions if we’d worked longer, but we never regretted for a moment getting the hell out of there.

If your debts are paid off, you can live on less than you think.

Good luck.

 

[bullfrog]

The biggest expense is health insurance and how good you are at managing money. You also need to consider social security. If you end up short there are lots of low paying seasonal jobs but I wouldn't enjoy doing many of them if I was dependent on them to survive and didn't have the option of moving on to another if it turned out bad due to a lack of funds. A lot would depend also on how well prepared you are to start this life, start up can be an expensive lesson as well as forming habits that let you buget for a new style of living. We sold our house while the market was good a couple years before we were ready to leave our jobs and just lived in our RV. Turned out to be a good thing as the housing market two years later would have probably prevented us from selling.

 

[Seminole Wind]

The RTR is coming up soon and it might be worth it to attend to get a feel if this is a lifestyle for you or not.

be careful how you interpret the above comment. i will concur that going to the RTR would be a good idea. but the RTR is not a "way of life" it is a huge gathering of like minded yet different folks for just a couple weeks. people living fulltime in a minimalist car in the city while working tech jobs, or a person retired doing the "snowbird thing" but in a diy van conversion because their "retirement" wasnt enough to cover a motorhome/fithwheel. some are escaping the rat race and are able to "retire and travel" not because they have a bottomless bank account, but because they are willing to live a frugal life "outside the box"

come to the RTR with the mind set of seeing what is possible, meet and talk with people that are doing it "different" there will be a mind boggling array of diversity there. then you can think about many possibilities and see if there is something that works for you.

i suppose if you really wanted to "live the RTR" year round, you could jump from festival to festival. there are all sorts of festivals and gathering going on all over the country. not all are based on the same similar mind set, but if it is the "festival" that you like, then following them could be a way of life

 

[maki2]

There are very few safe bets but there are many variations of sensible decisions. It makes sense for you to do it now, it makes sense to your wife to wait. Why not sit down with a financial advisor and get some of it put down in black and white as to how the financials work for both variations? A lot of credit unions offer that service for free to their members.

 

[RoamerRV428]

you want freedom, you have a nice 5th wheel waiting for ya and since you own that 5th, you know what to expect with it......oh man go for it.

You won't regret it and if ya do, if the nomadic adventure and freedom is done after 1 yr, 2 yrs or whatever, go buy a home.

You aren't really locked into anything. It is hard to imagine a life where you can do what ya want, when ya want, you got financials in order but it is hard to take that leap out of the norm. Take the leap you will love it. And as mentioned, if ya don't, you can do other things just as easy as when ya jumped into your living on the road.


best of luck

 

[ckelly78z]

You both have to be on board with this life change, and be willing to take on the additional strain of learning how to accomplish all the needed task associated with boondocking/living simply. You ultimately have to make both of you happy, and content with any decision made, otherwise, misery will ensue.

Take a hard, long look at the finances of operating your 5th wheel with no job income stream, and if it is sustainable for long periods without working.

 

[hall4all59]

Thank you all for the great advice as it will give us a lot to ponder.