Just a quick Question.....

[Matt71]

Great if you're lost in the desert, not so much if you are spelunking.
At the $25 a month level it might be worth it for my wife or I to switch out one of our phones for one. The only reason we need two phones is in case we get split up and the unlimited text feature would mitigate that. On top of the safety factor, it would also be nice for our friends and family to be able to keep track of where we are, for piece of mind and general stalkeriness.

The $300 buy-in plus $300 a year is still more than the $480 a year we'd save on the 2nd phone though, so it's a tossup. We do plan on doing a lot of hiking and we're not in the best of shape, so there are risks, but we're also not doing anything really dangerous like climbing or camping in the backcountry (though my wife might claim otherwise - she had her eyes closed most of the time driving the bear tooth highway).

 

[Seraphim]

Great if you're lost in the desert, not so much if you are spelunking.
At the $25 a month level it might be worth it for my wife or I to switch out one of our phones for one. The only reason we need two phones is in case we get split up and the unlimited text feature would mitigate that. On top of the safety factor, it would also be nice for our friends and family to be able to keep track of where we are, for piece of mind and general stalkeriness.

The $300 buy-in plus $300 a year is still more than the $480 a year we'd save on the 2nd phone though, so it's a tossup. We do plan on doing a lot of hiking and we're not in the best of shape, so there are risks, but we're also not doing anything really dangerous like climbing or camping in the backcountry (though my wife might claim otherwise - she had her eyes closed most of the time driving the bear tooth highway).

I found the same REI link gsfish posted.  It's a good explanation. A beacon has no subscription fee but starts an S&R.  Been thinking about something similar myself.  Anyway, something to consider budgeting for. We're out of cell service quite a bit of the time. And I know I saw one for a $99 yearly subscription fee. Just can't find it...

 

[Seraphim]

Yea - it might have been the iInReach but their cheapest package appears to $144 a year.

 

[Seraphim]

The iInReach has a no contract month by month service for $14.95, if you don't need it the whole year.

 

[Matt71]

The device itself cost $300 though.
Wish they had a discount when you sign a contract like cell phone companies do

 

[akrvbob]

I've heard a lot of bad things about DeLorme, the company who makes/owns Spot and inReach. Enough that I don't think I'd go with them. A good PLB Personal Locator Beacon will bring in S&R and after the purchase it's free.

They are also much better hardware than the DeLorme stuff. MUCH more likely to connect to the Satellite in bad circumstances. If you're betting your life, they are a much safer bet.
Bob

 

[mockturtle]

My sister has a Delorme inReach and is happy with it. It cost $400 and about $13/month. They use it when backpacking and climbing.

What did people do when camping before satellites and cell towers? ;-)

 

[Seraphim]

Bob

I read somewhere usin a PLB and bringing in S&R can be costly - you can be responsible since for their costs. Is your life worth it? Yes. But just mentioning it...

 

[Almost There]

Bob

I read somewhere usin a PLB and bringing in S&R can be costly - you can be responsible since for their costs. Is your life worth it? Yes.  But just mentioning it...

That depends on the jurisdiction. Some states are trying to or have just past legislation that would allow them to sue the accident victim for the cost of the search and rescue where they have evidence that the person(s) deliberately and flagrantly put themselves in harms way. An example would be going into the mountains immediately before a major storm without being properly equipped for the trip and unprepared for the conditions.

The other cause for being sued is doing things that are obviously ludicrous, like calling for S&R from the Grand Canyon because you ran out of water 3 hours into a day hike...and yes, people have called for a rescue for totally stupid reasons...not all lightbulbs are bright yaknow!

 

[offroad]

$2000 a month for a couple is $24000 a year. If you are single you might get away with half that at $12000 a year. Be careful to get catastrophic medical, as half of everyone over 60 gets cancer, and a full treatment will destroy most budgets in a year.

To start off you need at least $10,000 to buy a van or other live aboard set up. If you do it cheaper you might end up having to replace the engine or transmission early and spend that money anyway.

 

[offroad]

Matts estimates from earlier are really good. You can live cheaper but it will be harder to do that.

 

[offroad]

Matts estimates from earlier are really good. You can live cheaper but it will be harder to do that.

Reading a book about $20 a day van living. If you want a simple rule. Guess you can make that happen.

 

[MikeRuth]

Reading a book about $20 a day van living. If you want a simple rule. Guess you can make that happen.

What do you think of Jason's book>? After reading the reviews I passed. 

Mike R

 

[Seraphim]

$2000 a month for a couple is $24000 a year.   If you are single you might get away with half that at $12000 a year. Be careful to get catastrophic medical, as half of everyone over 60 gets cancer, and a full treatment will destroy most budgets in a year.  

To start off you need at least $10,000 to buy a van or other live aboard set up.  If you do it cheaper you might end up having to replace the engine or transmission early and spend that money anyway.

Just an opinion, but I doubt expenses fora single person would automatically halve - gas would be the same, vehicle insurance, food would decrease, campsite costs would remain the same, heating costs would remain the same....

Just, a thought.

 

[offroad]

What do you think of Jason's book>? After reading the reviews I passed. 

Mike R

It was okay and worth it to me. Actually has some specific guide information about stealth van living. Which I like to understand. Plus the printed book can be shared for a person to read a chapter, as refresh. ---- the kindle version exists for those who want to get the book.

 

[IGBT]

I don't know what our expenses will be yet but I have a ballpark figure in my head for a married couple.

Recurring annual expenses:

Vehicle registration (19,500 pound truck + 2 motorcycles):  $300
Vehicle insurance: $1500
Park passes: $200
Dental/Vision: $1000

Monthly expenses:

Food (basic) $400
Food (eating out) $200
Hotel/Motel/Campground $300
Gas (diesel for truck, 92 octane for motorcycles) $400
Healthcare (silver plan subsidized premium) $150
Cell phone/interweb $100?
Vehicle maintenance $200
Hobbies/misc $500

Total monthly: $2250

So total annual expenses would be about $2250x12 + $3000 = $30,000

That could be met with about $750,000 if you invest fairly aggressively in the stock market (4% SWR)

$1,000,000 would be a bit safer.

 

[IGBT]

I should follow up my previous post with a caveat.

You may not need $750,000 to generate a $30,000 income for a married couple.

Say you and your spouse are age 50 and have put in 15 to 20 years at a job qualifying you for SS.

You could expect about $1200 each at a minimum at age 62.  That is $2400 a month, $28,800 a year.

Now consider that you then only need $30,000 a year for 12 years (age 50 to age 62).

 

[Matt71]

Ah, I forgot about vehicle registration. Need to add that to our budget.
IGBT,
Where do you plan to travel? An annual park pass for California is $195 on its own. Most other states are either $30 or $70. Then National park pass is separate and that's $80.

 

[offroad]

IGBT -- interesting number crunching. Laughing positively and with no malice at that 4% per year. Let's instead take a typical hard working smart career person who owns a house outright at $250k. Sell that house and you loose 10% immediately. So you have $225 in the bank.

Learn about how to use stock-bond-fund markets well; and have a gambling trust in your pirate logic (good or bad luck - no one lives forever) and you should be making 10% a year. Some with good markets and stupid risk are making 30%. But let's stick to 10% and say you make $25k per year on the $250k.

That and SS income, and maybe part time job, and maybe getting good at other cheap living skills. You might be okay.

 

[IGBT]

Matt:  We plan to travel all over.   I probably need to bump up the park pass price a bit as we do have the two motorcycles in addition to our truck.   Here in WA you have to buy a pass for each motorcycle and a pass for the truck.

Maybe as much as $600 a year for passes...ouch.

Offroad:  While it is true you can make 10% a year in the stock market on average (I think historically the S&P has returned close to that on average), you would be a bit foolish to have 100% of your money in stocks.   Figure you want maybe 70% in stocks if you are aggressive and the remaining 30% in short duration bonds or CD ladder (my preference during this time of stupid low interest rates on long term bonds).  This means your return will actually be 0.7 x 10% + 0.3 x 1% = 7.3%.   Figure inflation is 3% and you have a real return of 4.3%