minimum in bank? $200k or $2M

[offroad]

so what do people think the minimum required is to have in the bank for a single person to live the RV life for the rest of your days. assuming you own some kind of RV and the means to drive it, and all your toys to live well. &nbsp;<br><br>thinking $200,000 which can give anywhere between 5% to 10% interest of $10,000 to $20,000 per year. &nbsp; very risky but suppose it could be done. you would have some hard years where you need to work, if you are getting only 5% interest.<br><br>others say you need $2,000,000 because if you get sick with alshiemer disease you really will need full time care for a few years.&nbsp;

 

[cyndi]

200 grand? More? In my dreams! I'd like to have 5 to 8 grand in the bank to cover an emergency. And the presence of mind to take myself out of the game before I burden my family or am forced to spend my last days in a facility.

 

[offroad]

not counting social security in the discussion. mostly because we have many who want to live the RV life that think they can just get a job somewhere else. you can get a&nbsp;job and a cheap shared apartment for $500 monthly, plus $500 food and expenses.&nbsp;<br><br>if you want to full time, having $200,000 in a retirement account ensures you can live off it.&nbsp;

 

[Zil]

During retirement, the recommended draw from savings is only 4% per year. $200,000 = $8000 per year. $150 per week. This assumes you have the funds invested in something more than a bank savings account.

 

[Mouldy]

I'd like to have 5 to 8 grand in the bank to cover an emergency. And the presence of mind to take myself out of the game before I burden my family...

<br><br>I'm with Cyndi on this one. I'll never see that much money. Being young and living this lifestyle isn't particularly conducive to making that much. I spend about 500 a month without student loans (worthless piece of paper) and truck payment (almost finished!). I think I live quite well on that. I travel, eat well, and see friends. Not much more a man can ask for!<br><br>That being said, I think it would all depend on what your trying to accomplish when full timing. If you want to stay at casino rv parks, state parks and the like, you had better have a bunch of dough saved up making good interest. If your going to boondock, not so much. <br><br>Depends on the person.

 

[Stargazer]

Five percent??? Where? Best I can find is 3.5, with any kind of safety of principal. Please share where you're getting that rate!

 

[offroad]

Am getting 15% in a mutual fund on stock market.

 

[offroad]

Safety is overrated. Right now. Most mutual find managers are watching closely and will drop the stock if it starts to smell of floundering.

It's funny. When the bust came for the last big stock market loss, the market was acting all crazy for about six months. Everyone just let the money stay in mutual funds. Even when loosing. Now no one wants to put money into the stock market when it is doing outstanding.

Will likely eat my words in 24 hours. Ha ha.

 

[Stargazer]

Ah! In my younger days...yes. Now I'm less aggressive, retired and don't want to have to earn it back. Don't have that much time to wait out the market. And when you're taking out the dividends or gains, any drop in principle will affect your income, perhaps drastically.

I was an investment broker back in 1987. I well remember those days. everything was "on sale"!

 

[lampliter]

I've rarely ever had over 1k in anything over the last 40 years.

 

[Seraphim]

Offroad

I think you're being far too optimistic, and you're not including inflation into the formula. If you figure a withdrawel strategy starting with 3% and adjusting that amount annually to cover inflation, you'll have an income of $6000 a year that should last about 25 years, give or take, depending on the market and inflation. Figure a historical average of about 7% per year, for stock only funds. Bonds have had their decade of glory and are tanking - and their NAV decrease will start to fall more rapidly once the QEs cease. I follow the fund indexes daily and I see none pulling in 15% , much less consistently . Year to date returns are currently high, but they'll fall off by August - sooner if the administration doesn't get it's fiscal act together. You can't use short term returns to gauge future profits - remember volatility. High return funds have high volatility, and when the index is down is a poor time to sell shares. Youre locking in a loss.

When the market is doing outstanding is NOT the time to be investing new money. It's the time to sell to lock in in gains. You buy when the indexes are down. And the market is currently doing well, but not outstanding. Stocks are a bit over valued; again, not the time to buy. Market managers maybe able to pick and choose stocks for the fund, withing the style restraints of the fund, but they can't get out of stocks completely: the NAV falls, it falls. That's when the savvy investor buys...

In 2008 people had to ride through the drop. Problem was, companies were streamlining by reducing the labor force, so many people HAD to access their portfolios because they had no income. That's what made that particular drop so devastating to many

 

[Seraphim]

Stargazer

It will all be on sale, again, one day lol. Give it a few more years or ten. The nature of the beast.

 

[offroad]

Lock in your loss? How about I lock in my minimal loss, then buy on the way up from bottom. Think there is too much over thinking about letting the money stay, and not to lock in a loss. But what do I know.

 

[Seraphim]

If you can time the market that well, all's good. Few market timers are consistently successful, to beat the index. An index is an average: for the few who market time and beat the index, there are a lot more people who mistime and lose money. The market is a long term investment. If you're planning on using that money to live off of, now, the volatility includes risks.

Constant buying and selling also increases costs. Costs destroy returns. Often times costs are hidden.

A good free primer for others reading our banter, who may confused by the market lol:

http://www.investorsolutions.com/uploads/documents/Investment_Strategies_21st.pdf

 

[offroad]

Seraphim - I have no costs for buying selling in my 401k savings, as that is the noload fund I am in.&nbsp; Am not trying to time the market for maximum yield, but rather timing it for prevention of catistrophic loss.&nbsp; Doing this&nbsp;is already working, and has worked well.&nbsp; My point&nbsp;in this discusion is to encourage people to consider putting their funds back into mutual funds, and just to watch for any catistrophic losses that are being projected early.&nbsp; &nbsp;<BR><BR>continueing discussion - looked at other web site that mentioned living expenses of $35,000 to $40,000 per year, to live full time in an RV.&nbsp; This means that from all retirement sources my grand yearly income must be around $40,000.&nbsp; So would need $800,000 in a bank acount earning 5% interest to make this all work, which is a pretty scary amount to create.<BR><BR>My pension might be $15,000 plus a retirement&nbsp;401k at&nbsp;60 is $20,000 (means I would need $400,000 in the bank). This all assumes I wait until I am 60 to retire.&nbsp; Which I find rediculous.&nbsp; The only other way to retire early is to start doing radical surgery on my expenses, and radical investments.&nbsp; <BR><BR>Read on another forum how they are buying&nbsp;rental property houses (full houses) in texas at $60,000.&nbsp; Fixing them with $20,000, and renting them out at $1500 monthly.&nbsp; (profitable at $10000 profit per year, assuming all risks).&nbsp;&nbsp; Better than a bank account with $80,000 in it; but still risky if the renter fails to pay, and it takes a year to evict them.&nbsp; Wonder if I could put a stealth RV on a rental house, and live there, while renting out the main house.&nbsp; have to own, fix up, and rent out four house to make enough rental income.&nbsp; Which does not seem impossible.<BR><BR><BR>making enough to live in an RV full time is very competative no matter what.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<BR>&nbsp;

 

[owl]

&nbsp; You have to decide what standard of living you need. Thousands of folks are fulltiming in an RV on way less than you are talking about. There are as many ways of fulltiming as there are people. Having a high&nbsp;expectation of whats required to retire and fulltime may prevent that from ever happening.

 

[rvwandering]

Wise advice from owl. I could be wrong but it seems that you are analyzing everything too much instead of starting down the path to fulltiming. Making any big change in life is scary especially when it's out of the norm or something that you have never done. If you're not ready to quit working just yet how about buying some inexpensive camping equipment so that you can get out there and see for yourself. It'll give you an idea of your expenses and what type of campground or RV park is right for you. <br><br>Tony and I bought and sold rental property for about 15 years. It's hard work. To be profitable you must be willing and able to do repairs and maintenance yourself. I think that having someone else manage property while you're traveling would eat up most of the profit. Another idea might be finding a house that needs a few repairs and cosmetic help, fixing everything inexpensively to make it more attractive to buyers, then selling and moving on to another property.

 

[offroad]

<P>Okay a few months later and re-looking at everything.&nbsp; Am significantly richer from 401K gains, but watching it and not counting my chickens until they are hatched (until retirement in six or seven years).&nbsp; <BR><BR>More reading says to beware if you have a&nbsp;million dollars in the bank, as it could not be enough if you retire at 60, unless you are 70 then it likely is enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;Extra medical expensives for living assistance, and nursing home could cost $250,000 per person until you pass.<BR><BR>The more I read I more I see how easy it is to be completely confused by what you need to have.&nbsp; The blog that Mr. Bob writes (Cheap RV Living)&nbsp;mentioned some doing well on $10,000 a year, while others can just do extremely well on $25,000.&nbsp; The conventional retirement folks need $45,000 per year to retire on.&nbsp; <BR><BR>Am just going&nbsp;to make a blanket proposal (take shots at it please - I will comment back):<BR><BR>1)&nbsp; have $15,000 in the bank for emergency medical CO PAYMENT only.&nbsp; Its good for other things but that is the primary purpose.&nbsp; Make sure you work to put it back.&nbsp; this is the heart attack, cancer money.&nbsp; You will need it.<BR>2)&nbsp; Buy high $10,000 deductable medical insurance, until OBAMA CARE kicks in next year, and if you make below $30,000 per year you get to get medicare.&nbsp; Which will not be enough, but it might be for most issues.&nbsp; You still might need supplimental insurance for other issues.&nbsp; This will cost $250 per month, or less.<BR>3)&nbsp; Have a combination of Social Security, and retirement pension, and 401k interest of not less than $30,000 per year when you retire.&nbsp; For me that happens in six or seven years (federal employee minimum retirement age).<BR>4)&nbsp; have no debts.&nbsp; own your VAN-RV, Conventional RV, Car-RV, or trailer-RV.&nbsp; have $10,000 in the bank to replace it at a moment notice.&nbsp; <BR><BR>yes&nbsp;you can live on less, but first medical, or transportation emergency and you are back living with relatives, and back working again.&nbsp; &nbsp;<BR><BR>You might not be able to do a lot of this.&nbsp; And I am lucky of a sort.&nbsp; Am a widower, kids are grown and working and living on their own (and they have no or minimal debts).&nbsp; Am in good health at the moment.&nbsp;&nbsp;My job will&nbsp;last six more years.&nbsp; Not likely to get remarried.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</P>

 

[Scott_1776]

Off-road, you should cash out now and go, Times a wasting. Nice plan, problem as I see it is the six years part.

 

[IGBT]

We plan on trying to get by with about 1.2 million...which sounds like a huge amount to some, but a 3% withdrawal rate on that amount is $36,000 a year before any taxes.&nbsp; You won't be spending a lot of $50 nights at a resort rv park on that type of budget.<br><br>I do have some encouragement from the cheaper blogs, like RvSue, but I am not sure we can get by on $4 in gas like she does some months.&nbsp; I will probably push for us to stay on blm land as much as possible to keep our costs reasonable.&nbsp; We also may pick up some odd job here or there...preferably high paying short term engineering contract work while we are still marketable.