Anyone else nervous about quitting a perfectly good job (by society's standards)

[mnpaul]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Freetobe:"[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]guilt that I'm not working (my Dad retired at age 80 and I will never hear the end of it from him)"[/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I'm sure your Dad is proud of you(if he's not, he never will be) and quitting the rat race won't change that.  Just keep in touch with pictures and phone calls of how happy you're enjoying travelling and I bet he will be bragging to everyone he talks to about the wonderful places his son is seeing.[/font]

 

[Dgorila1]

If you happen to be a veteran there's alway VA healthcare.  It has drawbacks but there are no monthly premiums.  Depending on your income there may be copays.  You do not have to be retired military to get it.

Unless you have a medical disability from your service time or you're already in the VA system, you can't currently use it by just being a veteran. If you just did your time and got out and are considered the lowest priority by the VA, it's almost impossible to use the healthcare benefits because they are focused and overloaded on the millions of disabled vets in the system right now. Low income increases the chances of possibly getting approved but you gotta go through all the paperwork to get in and get approved.

 

[grimmal]

My wife and I left great jobs 11 years ago and have no regrets. We have had years where we made more traveling than when at home.  We have x amount of dollars we will not touch for any reason except absolute emergency.  We have no healthcare and honestly we do not worry about it at all. When we do have to see a doctor we just use urgent care. Each of us has had to go to an emergency room once and combined it was less than 2,000 dollars. Being out here doing this has been the best thing for us.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I walked away from a six figure job to travel. Also had full benefits, company car, cell phone and commissions. But just wasn't doing what I wanted to be doing at the time. Can always get another job but you can never buy more time. Made it to 48 of the 50 states after quitting, so it was a success in my book.

But, I think it's a different question with different answers for everyone. What worked for me may or may not work for others. My career is a niche with a huge shortage of qualified people to do it in my area and I can literally jump in and out of it at my leisure. I've also been self employed most my life and have my own retirement set up. I can add to it when i'm working and leave it as is when i'm not. You've invested a lot of time into your career, would leaving it now cost you a lot of your pension by not staying a few more years? Are you 100% sure RV/Van life is for you? Could you comfortably survive if you never worked again? All questions to consider and then weigh the pro's and con's of both sides of the argument.

You can always start this lifestyle while still working. Buy your preferred vehicle, outfit it the way you want, take some shorter trips on weekends or scheduled vacations, etc.

 

[rvpopeye]

ERLH is right !
And remember even if you win the rat race , you're still a rat............

 

[FreeToBe]

MNPaul - Yes, I have no doubt that my Dad will be excited about the places I go and will still feel proud.  But he goes on and on about other people that he knows that retired at an older age than I'm at.  However, if that's the worse he or anyone else can say, I'm doing pretty good.

grimmal - That is all very encouraging.  I'm relatively healthy (knock on wood), but because of family medical histories, I would be really nervous not to have health insurance.  However, the quotes I've been getting are reasonable (although probably will be my biggest expense until Medicare kicks in).

Every Road Leads Home - You ask a lot of qreat questions and good comments (I'll answer and comment on them here, just to force myself to give them more thought):

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Can always get another job but you can never buy more time.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]So, very, very true.  I've seen so many people at my job either die early or die within a year of retirement.  There's a pharase called "Polishing the cannonball", which is exactly what I'm doing at this point in time.  What good is having more money if I wait 10 more years and die a month after retirement from accumulated stress? [/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]You've invested a lot of time into your career, would leaving it now cost you a lot of your pension by not staying a few more years?[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I wouldn't lose anything that I've accumulated and I can leave the money in that account and it will get a really good interest rate.  However, there would be future pension money that I would be walking away from.  However, I have spreadsheets that I've run the numbers in many different ways and financially (if I'm careful), I should be fine.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Are you 100% sure RV/Van life is for you? [/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Yes, I've lived for weeks at a time in an RV and really liked it - I could see myself living in one for a longer period of time.  I would like to go as small as possible for maneuverability and not having to tow anything, but I'm not really sure how small I could go and feel comfortable.  I'm thinking a Ford Transit conversion or a Class B, but that might be too small (a bridge too far, so to speak).  Have to research more and give it more thought.[/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Could you comfortably survive if you never worked again?[/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Yes, if there are no major life issues and I'm reasonably careful with my money, I would never have to work again.[/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]You can always start this lifestyle while still working. Buy your preferred vehicle, outfit it the way you want, take some shorter trips on weekends or scheduled vacations, etc.[/font][/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I'm thinking along these lines.  I may keep working for a while, get a Ford Transit High Roof and rig it out and take shorter trips in it until I'm ready to go.[/font][/font][/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]rvpopeye - Exactly, I'll still be a rat as long as I stay.  Funny that you should mention this, becasue I recently reread "Who Moved My Cheese", which basically is about surviving in a rat's maze.  You might find new cheese, but you're still a rat.[/font][/font]

 

[davidson]

I retired from my own company by selling it at age 57.  I was saving and working until I hit the million dollar mark in savings and investments, but a combination of stress and maybe pesticides resulted in Hodgkins Disease (a form of blood cancer). That made the decision easy, well not so easy, but after a year of talking with others, I did radiation and was cured.  That was over 20 years ago.  It's been a great retirement, sometimes working at teaching jobs overseas after returning to grad school to get another MA degree in ESL.  My favorite part was seven years of full time RVing. Now at age 80, we  have a small apt as a base while we travel  on shorter trips. I've been working seasonally since age 75 in a variety of jobs.  So... don't sweat the money
thing as there are lots of part time jobs out there.  I travelled in countries with great healthcare (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, etc), until my wife and I reached 65 for Medicare.  Hopefully, with our new van that I am converting to a camper we can travel another ten years on a shorter trip basis.  Happy I retired at 57 and didn't wait until 65.  There's never enough money until there is.  Just do it!

 

[BigT]

BigT - do you really want to live in San Francisco anyway?  That would be a punishment to me.  Even if you want to go back to work you don't have to choose to live in such a high cost of living place.  

I don't live in San Francisco, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I love living here.  I've been here all my life.  
I hear people say it's really expensive, but having nothing to compare it to, I don't really notice it.  My rent is actually pretty low, by Bay Area standards.
I pay less than half of what a 1 bedroom apartment goes for now, because I got in when the rent was low and my city has rent control.  

You really can't beat the climate.  It's like Hawaii around here!     There's so much to do and all within an easy drive from the Bay.  

I'm sure there are other nice places to live, but this is where I make my living, and I make a pretty good living here.  
Anywhere else in the state or country, I wouldn't make 40% of what I can earn working here.  And if/when I move into a van and stop paying rent, my money is going to go even farther! 

I suppose I could choose to live in a cheaper part of the Bay Area and commute 2 hours to work, but given I drive all day for my pay, long commutes could actually be dangerous due to the fatigue they'd cause.  

Nope.  I'm stuck here. 

 

[FreeToBe]

Davidson - Thank you for the words of encouragement and your story;  that's really helped solidify things in my mind!  I think I sweat the money thing way too much, even after I run the numbers in my spreadsheets.  According to the spreadsheets, money won't be an issue (barring some god awful thing happening).  I just came back from looking at some apartments and I'm leaning towards apartment life for about 6 months after the house sells and spending that time getting ready to hit the road, with the goal of making it down to Florida, Texas, or Arizona in the winter (and possibly getting to the RTR in January).  With this plan, I won't feel as rushed and stressed to get everything ready and can downsize in stages instead of all at once (downsize from house to apartment and then to an RV).  Thanks again!

 

[Cammalu]

Big T, forgive me. Of course you are right. I guess I was just drawing on my own experiences living in both big cities and countryside as well.

You have a huge array of entertainment and things to do and I'm sure it's a lot more fun than my Friday night country entertainment of putting peanut butter gram crackers on the back porch at night to watch the possums chew like crazy...

 

[BigT]

That actually sound kind of fun.  Nothing wrong with country life and simple living.  
Sometimes (often) I yearn for it, but it ain't gonna happen until I'm retired and don't have to make a living.  

 

[gcal]

DH and I were VERY nervous about quitting our jobs and taking off early. That's why we did not do it, and we are glad we did not do it. We now have good social security and a pension and adequate IRA's. We are guaranteed medical insurance and we have no debt. Bob did what Bob did, in part because of personal problems and mental issues. He admits it freely. Why are you taking his advice if you are not facing the same issues? (This is wrong, malicious slander. Bob)

Stick it out until you can collect social security and are on medicare, you are completely out of debt, your rig is paid for, and you have a healthy nest egg. It is not all roses out here on the road. Without proper preparation, it can get very rough, especially as you age or if you become ill without adequate resources. We have met too many people who took off impetuously only to be trapped by lack of resources in a life that did not suit them. (Have you ever watched RVDebs' videos on Youtube)

 

[Queen]

We'll be done in just over four months, at ages 57 & 58. We're retiring on miniscule pensions (I'm already done) and may not be able to afford healthcare, but we're tired of only being together on the weekends and a couple of hours in the evening. It's a little scary, but not as scary as sitting here doing things we hate and waiting to die.

 

[FreeToBe]

gcal - All good comments and questions.  As I mentioned (or maybe eluded to) in a previous post in this thread, I've hit the "number" where I probably will never have to work again (unless I just want to) and at this point in time I'm "polishing the cannon ball", especially now that the house has sold.  I'm not as nervous about the financial side of things as for those "intangible" issues of retirement like feeling valuable, not being bored (although with all the stuff outside of work that I do, can't imagine being bored), keeping a social network, etc.  However, I am concerned about the future of health insurance and do want to keep health insurance.

Why now?  Well, there are a lot of things that I haven't mentioned and don't want to discuss on a forum that's leading me to want to make some changes in my life.  Aside from that, I've seen several family (including my mother) and friends die at relatively early ages.  Who knows how much time we each have left?  What good is having more money if my time runs out in another year or two;  there are no guarantees in life.

As far as Bob's advice goes, I believe that the first time he was thrust into living in a box van.  However, seems that later he was in a house in a comfortable life and missed the life on the road and chose to hit the road again in an affordable manner.  Don't get me wrong - I do believe that I'll be looking for a little more comfort (at the expense of a little less freedom) than Bob, but it will still be more freedom that I have now.

I have considered 1) Just keep working for several more years (but why?) and 2) Retiring and buying another house in a less expensive area that I'm in now (but there is so much I haven't seen in this country and I'll probably get bored after awhile), or 3) Hit the road, see all I want to see in an affordable, maneuverable, comfortable vehicle.  I'm torn between these three options, but leaning toward the third one.

This thread has helped me tremendously and I appreciate all the input.

 

[FreeToBe]

Queen - Yes, I feel similar to you.  For me, I had a nice, big house, but spend all my time away from it, so didn't get to enjoy it at all, except for a few hours on the weekend (although I'm usually out most weekends).  When I did have time at home, there were always projects to work on.  For me personally, it would be really scary to go this route without health insurance of some kind.

 

[Queen]

We will buy state retiree insurance, but it is only in Illinois and is expensive, so living in FL or being on the road makes it less than ideal.  If ACA survives, we'll go that route until we're 65.

 

[bullfrog]

Health insurance has been the limiting factor for us even though we have been living in an RV for the last 13 years. It caused us to come off the road but into a wonderfully better job in a much more beautiful place than we were before, at a much lower cost of living as we were in a house. Living as we do is not always ideal but is a hundred times better than where we were. We save enough money living this way to travel a month or two each year but have not found anything we enjoy better than where we are, but we might. Nothing stays the same so you have little to lose by trying something new. If I would have known it was possible to live this good years ago I would have done it sooner!

 

[akrvbob]

DH and I were VERY nervous about quitting our jobs and taking off early. That's why we did not do it, and we are glad we did not do it. We now have good social security and a pension and adequate IRA's. We are guaranteed medical insurance and we have no debt. Bob did what Bob did, in part because of personal problems and mental issues. He admits it freely. Why are you taking his advice if you are not facing the same issues? 

Stick it out until you can collect social security and are on medicare, you are completely out of debt, your rig is paid for, and you have a healthy nest egg. It is not all roses out here on the road. Without proper preparation, it can get very rough, especially as you age or if you become ill without adequate resources. We have met too many people who took off impetuously only to be trapped by lack of resources in a life that did not suit them. (Have you ever watched RVDebs' videos on Youtube)

I disagree with nearly everything in this post. Everything about me is totally incorrect.

 

[FreeToBe]

Bullfrog - That's great to hear.  I have a feeling that there is a whole other life out there, if I would just choose to take it.

akrvbob - I see why the post would be upsetting - I thought the comments you referenced were inappropriate.  However, I think the vast majority of people that have read your blog post, watched your videos, or met you in person (which I haven't yet) understands where you are coming from and realize that you are just here to try and help people lead a better life.  I, for one, appreciate all that you've done, your website, and your videos (and hope to experience the RTR at some point in the near future).

 

[mayble]

Some people are heavily invested in their own choices, to the point of insulting and ridiculing those who make different choices.
Take it all with a grain of salt and do what you think best.  Very few choices in life are irreversible.