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Old 07-08-2018, 07:47 PM   #1
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Full Timing....

Okay, this may or may not be the right location for this but I really would like to know....

The wife and I have been watching lots of YouTube videos about full time RV living. It seems that the common thread is "Do it Now, don't wait".... and " We wish we had done it sooner". That sounds great, lots of fun, and makes sense to travel while you're able... but.....

How do they do it? My wife and I are both retired, have paid medical, decent retirement income, and are healthy. How do these 30, 40, 50 year old couples live on the road? I understand that some are using their computer skills as mobile website/IT people, but that can't be for all of them. And work camping isn't that sort of income that lets you purchase a $200,000 rig and travel with kids, dogs, and no cares. How do they do it?

How do they pay for medical bills? How do they keep food on the table? What about insurance, RV payments, Fuel, maintenance and the invariable road repairs? Even if you only drive a few miles a day, you still have all these expenses and campgrounds, tolls, and so on.

So, while it's easy to say DO IT NOW... how do they do it, or expect you to do it when you don't have a job or income? I'm not trying to discourage anyone, but I really do get a little tired of the videos saying, DO IT NOW....

How DO they do it?????
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Old 07-08-2018, 08:03 PM   #2
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We dreamed of going fulltime for about 40 years. Then we just did it!
Debt free at 56. At 62 we took our SS and pension and retired. We already owned the RV.
Sold the house and invested the $, still have the IRAs.
So, we hit the road to follow the Rainbow and good weather and to let the Journey be our Destination!
Best wishes
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Old 07-08-2018, 08:11 PM   #3
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We too were debt free and took early retirement at 55 for me and 50 for my wife.
Never have looked back for a second.
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Old 07-08-2018, 08:24 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apopj View Post
Okay, this may or may not be the right location for this but I really would like to know....

The wife and I have been watching lots of YouTube videos about full time RV living. It seems that the common thread is "Do it Now, don't wait".... and " We wish we had done it sooner". That sounds great, lots of fun, and makes sense to travel while you're able... but.....

How do they do it? My wife and I are both retired, have paid medical, decent retirement income, and are healthy. How do these 30, 40, 50 year old couples live on the road? I understand that some are using their computer skills as mobile website/IT people, but that can't be for all of them. And work camping isn't that sort of income that lets you purchase a $200,000 rig and travel with kids, dogs, and no cares. How do they do it?

How do they pay for medical bills? How do they keep food on the table? What about insurance, RV payments, Fuel, maintenance and the invariable road repairs? Even if you only drive a few miles a day, you still have all these expenses and campgrounds, tolls, and so on.

So, while it's easy to say DO IT NOW... how do they do it, or expect you to do it when you don't have a job or income? I'm not trying to discourage anyone, but I really do get a little tired of the videos saying, DO IT NOW....

How DO they do it?????
For this question I have no answer, other than I have seen home schooling,and they seem to do without a lot of the "bling toys", possibly have some sort of income(s) that arn't apparent..


For Us , we are selling out the sticks & bricks next spring when the DW retires and will travel for 5 to 10 years, picking up temp jobs if needed (I still hold my CDL)
When the time comes to "hang it up", will buy a small cottage somewhere that has moderate year around weather, close to medical services (and good fishing ) and call it good..


Remember each day you delay retirement is just less day that you have left to enjoy being retired...
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Old 07-09-2018, 01:28 AM   #5
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A lot of it is learning the full time subculture, where it is and how it works. Free parking and temp jobs are valuable and available if you know where to look.
A lot of it is managing expectations. You don’t have to drive a $200K motorhome. You don’t have to stay in high end resorts.
A lot of it is figuring out just what it is you want. Lots of folks start out saying ‘I want to stay warm, and I want to see all the beautiful National Parks.’ So they plan a trip to Yellowstone, or Yosemite in the summer, and spend 8 days in crawling traffic with 50,000 other folks doing exactly the same thing. Some folk just drop anchor for a few weeks in some small town in Arkansas or Idaho; shop in the local grocery, find the diner where local tradesmen go for breakfast, talk to the folks and get to know the town.
The object in either case is to see this great country and get a sense of who and what we are. You can decide the best method for you. In any event, you don’t necessarily need a mega budget to pull it off.
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Old 07-09-2018, 06:28 AM   #6
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Good answers....

Hi guys and gals,

Thanks for all the info. But, what I was asking was not about those of us getting a retirement, SSI, or Medicare. What I was wondering was about all of these young couples with their Vlogs on YouTube that are 30,40,50 years old that are driving 35 foot RV's or towing huge fifth wheels with diesel trucks, driving around the country saying "Wish we had done this years ago". As I posted, Diane and I are both retired and receive pensions (unfortunately, since we are not retired POLITICIANS, and since they wrote the laws, we cannot collect the 50 quarters worth of SSI we are entitled to) and our medical is totally paid for.

How do you make enough money (normal people without DOT.COM companies to rely on) to pay the bills. You are NEVER debt free, you have food, insurance, healthcare, RV loans (maybe), maintenance costs, camp costs (even if you dry camp a lot) fuel, entertainment, and so on. SO, disregarding those retirees, how do you do it?

I wish we could have done it sooner, but there was no way (medical alone for a family of two is around $800 a month) we could. But now, LOOK OUT, time for us to enjoy.

Houseless not homeless,

Dr. and Mrs. J Popa
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Old 07-09-2018, 06:47 AM   #7
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Full Timing....

Being debt free allows us to live well, travel nearly constantly, and pay the few small bills that come in. No W&@K required.
Following the Rainbow is a fulltime J*B.
And National Parks are great, when the madding crowds are small. But the stuff that makes the Journey worthwhile are the places most humans have never seen! My Wrangler likes to stay dirty, and takes us to treasures that Disney can’t do justice to in plastic!
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Old 07-09-2018, 07:13 AM   #8
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Wants and needs
I'm retired 55 wife is 50 I worked all my life saved a bit bought houses sold and rented I always lived within my means my friends all had new trucks boats all food big houses, I never did .
Now I own my own home built my own motor home dept free
We can full time in the winter with we will but we will book dock no fancy rv parks just keep life simple
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Old 07-09-2018, 03:13 PM   #9
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Wants and needs
I'm retired 55 wife is 50 I worked all my life saved a bit bought houses sold and rented I always lived within my means my friends all had new trucks boats all food big houses, I never did .
Now I own my own home built my own motor home dept free
We can full time in the winter with we will but we will book dock no fancy rv parks just keep life simple
^^^^^ This is how they do it. From early on they were savers and minimalists rather than spenders and needing every gadget out there. Yes, there really are folks like this. People that don't mind living in a small older house or own a used vehicle which they drive for years. They have the small day-to-day expenses in a house that they would have in a RV and most likely, less expense RVing.
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Old 07-09-2018, 04:30 PM   #10
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I have had the same thoughts as you brought up, just how do those 30, 40 and maybe even 50 year olds do it. The Just Do It phrase can get some of us older folks into trouble as we don't get too many more "Do Overs" in our 60's

"Yes" we may be able to sell everything and live a fun Nomadic RV Lifestyle but if we havent made a solid financial plan for how we get back into a home for our 70's, 80's or 90's we may have a real problem as we age out, have a medica problem or one of the couple passes away.

I read that a 66 year old couple today has a 50% chance of one of the two individuals living to be 92 years old. That can deplete a pretty healthy savings account. I made a video on youtube addressing some of these concerns that I wish folks in their 50 and 60 might ought to view before they Just Do It.

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Old 07-09-2018, 04:40 PM   #11
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Full Timing....

Our exit plan: rent condo, sell RV.
We will fulltime until we cannot or change our minds. There are no threats to us!
Let’s not forget that fulltiming requires much less cash flow than the lifestyle we left behind. And renting a condo will provide even more cash flow.
We’ll be just fine!
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Old 07-09-2018, 05:12 PM   #12
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I agree that most of us will be just fine, but my concern is some of us paint a pretty rosy picture that might influnance someone in their late 50s to jump on the fulltime rv lifestyle by selling everything, drawing SS AT 62 and living on a tight budget then a few years later one of the individuals passes away leaving the survivor on an even tighter budget.

The RV has depreciated and the survivor may still have 30 years to live on $15,000 annual SS and a few thousand dollars in savings. All because someone said "Do It Now", when in reality, they quit their job at what is probably their peak earning years and another 5 years of work might have made all the differance.

For those that planned appropriately, I totally agree this a great lifestyle and the sooner the better to start it, just make sure you have an Exit Strategy that works for the survivor when that time comes.

I hope I haven't drifted too far from OP origional question, apoligies if so.
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Old 07-09-2018, 05:41 PM   #13
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Adults in their 30s, 40s, and other pre-retirement ages have many more options for earning income than baby boomers had during our working years. Some clever use of the Web (from creating content to selling stuff all while leveraging ad sales potential) can provide enough of an income to full-time in an RV. Younger adults are very savvy when it comes to marketing and entrepreneurship -- and of course there's the possibility they're reaping the benefits of some smart investments.



Finally, California real estate sales have dropped all kinds of cash into many hands -- we see it all over the West as we travel. Housing prices have been so high there that when someone sells a property they could afford a nice Class A and living costs for at least a year in it. (I know someone who bought a 1000 square foot house in Berkeley for $300,000 about a dozen years ago. A similar property today goes for twice that. Crazy!



I don't have any answers for the OP, but I do have theories, and they're all wrapped around the general one that people today can make money in all kinds of new ways.
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Old 07-09-2018, 05:43 PM   #14
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Full Timing....

Wise, they must be.
A good business model, they must have.
I know folks that make it happen in the 30/40/50 age groups. But they work, and that, very hard.
Those without a solid plan will drop out quickly.
I built a business plan, that became a retirement plan. And it works!
I won’t discourage any one on fulltiming. But, rather, wish them good luck; it takes a bit of that too!
After it all, camping is based on adapting to situations, improvising solutions, and never tiring of that.
“Just do it! But plan careful”
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