Money in the bank????

[Engle]

Just curious.... If you don't want to answer just ignore this post.

How much did you guys have socked away in the bank when you pulled out?

I think that I would like to travel full time but I don't want to find out after it is too late, that I cant afford it.

We have an 06 Allegro Bay.

I will have no bills except maintenance, taxes, insurance etc. on our regular home. I think that we would keep our home for a while to see if we really like it.

We will each be 61 and I would continue my job on a part time basis while traveling(engineering).

Low 6 figures, High 6 figures, 7 figures????

Thanks folks!

[itgeekgal]

In our case we found that we spend less traveling and living on the road than we did when we owned a stick & brick. There's only so much space in the coach so we don't buy as much stuff now, diesel and RV park costs offset what we used to pay for mortgage, taxes, gardener, water, sewer, association fees...

[Triker56]

It will be more on what your monthly income is when you pull out.
Unless that is none.

If none then you need to have plenty in the bank.
Myself I can save some every year of my monthly income(SSA & Company pension).
Haven't needed to touch any that was in savings. Other then the IRS forced the 70 1/2 age withdraw of my 401K. That is moved to a MM account then later to a CD.

[Bumps]

Agreed. We are not set to go FT until next year, but is our expectation that it will be less expensive than our S&B lifestyle <and> that our bank accounts will remain fully invested. Crossing our fingers, of course. \ken

[Ed-Sommers]

The old saying that we tend to spend whatever we have applies here whether the income is 1000 a month, or 5000 a month.

Personally, I find that my combined income from retired military, and social security, is more than enough, and my savings builds up to uncomfortable amounts fairly frequently. I abhor the thought of passing on with money in the bank, but I see no way around it. However, I CAN limit the amount by setting a high limit to savings.

Ed

[jamvir]

The amount of money we need to live on, or a couple next to us, or you are all different. Only YOU can answer this question. And the way to do that is to work up an estimate of what your expenditures will be (sometimes called a budget). If you can't so this for yourself, I strongly recommend you enlist a friend or pay someone to help you do this.

It's really quite simple, though. Start with what it will cost for food (this varies considerably as we mostly eat in while others mostly dine out); camping fees; how many miles you plan on driving divided by your MPG multiplied by a gallon of fuel; clothing; insurance; maintenance (have to guess on this as you don't know what breakdowns you will have; cost for propane; fun money; license plate tabs; then add in the expenses for your stix and brix. Add your income (subtract any taxes on income), including interest, dividends, etc. The difference is what you will need to draw from your investments. If you don't want to touch your principal you will have to live off the capital gains, interest, dividends, etc.

We've been doing this for the last 4 years, and we KNOW we can retire this year and have the income needed to full-time and see this beautiful country (and escape the winters in Minnesnowta).

Good luck

Jim

Jim

[Mr_D]

Right now we have over 100K in our checking accounts and almost 500k in annuities, plus our income will be just shy of 100k a year when we retire. And my wife is worried about having enough money to retire on!
However, if her health doesn't improve we may never get to go fulltime like I've dreamed of since I first started RV'ing in 1957.

[jerryhawkins]

A lot of us are doing it on a lot less and having a great time seeing the USA before the politicians ruin this great country.

[HDrider]

We made sure to have enough money in the bank so if we wanted to get off the road we could build or buy another modest house.

[Libero]

Great feeling to have the S&B paid for and being debt free. It is such a wonderfull posiition to be in. I know a lot of people sell thier S&B to go full time because it might be a financial necessity or they just do not want the hassle of home ownership issues. So live whatever dream you have, and if you can afford it then go for it is my advice. However with sufficient cash flow one can have both if they want to. We have never even considered full time without owning our S&B. We can go out for months but knowing we have a secure home base suits us best.

As some poster noted, it is not so much the cash in the bank as monthly income or draw that meets or exceeds current and future expenses, plus convertable assets you can quickly liquidate in an emergency or for any large purchase. The monthly income requirement is a varriable factor and it obviously depends on your planned retirement lifestyle. I carry around $70K in a checking account, but we have good revenue generating dividend paying stocks, military pension, other indexed government pensions and some convertable investments that can be liquidated if we need an influx of cash, such as purchasing a new RV or a new car etc. Right now the interest paid from bank accounts is so low that IMHO it does not pay to keep more immediate cash on hand with a low interest yield than what you think the immediate demand will be.

We have not had a mortage our S&B place since 1992 but I have a line of credit on the S&B (that I have not used) for $200k on a >$700K valued property I can tap into for immediate money and I can quickly liquidate some stocks to pay back the LOC or to get more cash as required. The LOC is at prime +1 if I need it. My dividend paying stocks are giving a much better ROI than any financial institution will pay in interest, plus a significant tax break can be realized with dividend tax credits on Canadian Stock in Canada. I also hold a second mortgage on another property that generates good revenue, but that is not really convertable other than at expiry times. When that becomes due next year I am going to convert it to dividend paying stock.

Right now overall, we have no debt and generally spend less than $8k per mo so we still invest what we do not spend. (dividends are paid quarterly so cash flow fluctuates from month to month.)

So again it is monthly sustainable income, plus an emergency nestegg that really is what one needs to live the desired lifestyle. Some people live closer to the financial edge and who knows, one is a long time dead and leaving this world with only a dollar in your pocket is fine unfortunately most of us do not know when we should get down to that dollar point.

Hope my comments help.

[Rick Long]

Unintentional full timer.. I live on Social Security Disability only. My motorhome is paid for and I have a Thousand Trails membership. I pay no rent, only a yearly maintenance fee of about $575. Insurance is about $500 a year, Verizon Hot Spot (4g internet) and phone is $110 a month, Dish Pay-as-you-go (120 chanels) is 44.95 a month. I eat very well and have lots left over every month.

[tuffr2]

As my financial planner says 'it depends'.

Depends on how much you spend and what you want to do. There are prople that do it on $2000 / month. That being the case my DW and I plan to do it on $4000 / mo.

What is a pension? We have none, but do have 401K's that we plan to use until SS kicks in.

[UAV]

As the last post states: What is a pension? That is funny! And as a small business owner I will have no pension from a company as well. Every dime I have will be from me, to me except for, maybe, a little SS. But I am not counting on that at all.

It would be nice to hear more of how inexpensively, yet effectively and still having a nice quality of life, one could go full time. Lots of posts so far seem to have plenty of income...

Me, not FT yet but have a fully remodeled 1999 Gulfstream Scenic Cruiser that I am picking up next week that will be paid for in cash. Have calculated I could go FT pretty comfortably on $2k a month.

Just my humble opinion.

Enjoying all those who have posted!

[RickO]

To address your question directly, when we sold the stick house and hit the road full time in 2009, we made sure we had sufficient assets to be able to pull the plug and buy another stick house whenever we wanted. I never would have taken the leap of faith if I didn't have a well thought out exit strategy.

All retirement income is from investments I accumulated during my working life. No pension.

Good luck.

Rick