MisFIRE?

[Going Sailing]

So we had a shakedown sail in Haida Gwai and Alaska for four months this summer. Came back to reality and filled out the paperwork to give my car back to Volkswagen and ordered new sails for the boat. Then I had a discussion with my boss / business partner about next summer...

The plan is to pull the plug, retire and sail south next August. We'll likely spend a few seasons in Mexico and figure out whether we want to go backwards through the Panama Canal or turn right for the Marquesas. We have no timeline for return. Basically sail until it's not fun anymore.

Our presumption has been that we would need to quit our jobs and of necessity make a clean break eliminating our land based expenses (automobiles, phones, insurance, housing, storing furniture etc.) We can afford to retire on our boat or on land but we can't afford to keep an empty house and a sailboat in the tropics.

Anyway the boss proposed to keep me engaged part time while working down the coast and would be happy to keep me fully engaged during hurricane season(s). Basically another year or two of part time work before major ocean crossings take us to far away places.

Pros: We don't have to touch our savings for a few years. Solves our "what shall we do in the northern hemisphere summer?" challenge neatly.

Cons: It's not really early retirement working a day or two a week + summer months. We would need to manage seasonal rentals of our place or find seasonal accommodation or leave our home unoccupied.

Very fortunate to have these decisions to make. One more year? The important thing is to leave the dock. The rest is details.

 

[erkevin]

I am a really good cook and my wife will never notice my absence! Well, except for that whole empty plate, empty refrigerator thing. Oh well, where do I meet the boat? I work for cheap.

 

[Going Sailing]

Ah good. We have a cook. The starboard hull is yours. We leave Vancouver Aug 1st.

Now we need somebody else who wants to rent a three bedroom townhouse near Whistler for the winter months...

 

[SheitlQueen]

Do you enjoy your work? Do you like your boss and get along well with him?
If so, I see no problem with delaying things for a year, and it seems like he is
willing to work with your schedule. Only issue might be your house, but you could
hire a management company to handle it while you are not there.
On the other hand, if you really want to head off to your sailing adventure, and that
takes priority over anything else.....go for it!

 

[Bigdawg]

Now we need somebody else who wants to rent a three bedroom townhouse near Whistler for the winter months...

WOW! Good luck with that. You will NEVER find someone to rent your 3 br townhouse near Whistler in the winter. Wish I had your problems.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I am a really good cook and my wife will never notice my absence! Well, except for that whole empty plate, empty refrigerator thing. Oh well, where do I meet the boat? I work for cheap.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

So we had a shakedown.....

Glad your shakedown went well, In my world a shakedown usually ends very badly,

 

[Going Sailing]

I do enjoy my work and like my boss. We aren't leaving to escape anything. There is just a richer life "out there" for us. Nothing will be delayed. We are going sailing next summer. I just imagined cutting the ties a little more definitively. Working a little could still be attractive

 

[CaptTom]

You are very fortunate. I think it's good for the employee and employer to taper off one's involvement slowly. And if it helps fund the sailing kitty, so much the better.

 

[Red Badger]

See, that's what's wrong with this forum. Too many fist world problems. Just piling on that those are great problems to resolve.

Happy high seas!

 

[fancy free]

What about going ahead and selling your house and buying an RV to live in while you’re ashore —*you could use it when you come back ashore for on-land trips and visiting family, and it would be easy to resell when you’re ready (as long as you don’t buy new). If you’re ready to live in a sailboat, living in an RV will be no problem.

 

[Going Sailing]

What about going ahead and selling your house and buying an RV to live in while you’re ashore —*you could use it when you come back ashore for on-land trips and visiting family, and it would be easy to resell when you’re ready (as long as you don’t buy new). If you’re ready to live in a sailboat, living in an RV will be no problem.

We did actually sell our single family home in preparation a while back. We bought a townhouse which is in a great area to allow us flexible for seasonal or long term rental. And it is where we would like to live if we return to shore.

We are a little paranoid about completely exiting the real estate market around here for fear of never getting back in. The house we sold for $740k is now worth $1.1M. The townhouse we bought for $420K is now worth $650k.

I do like the RV idea though.

 

[wsmurdoch]

We were a little different. My wife stopped working in 2003 at 52, and I retired in 2004 at 53. We bought a 1988 Pacific Seacraft 34 sailboat in the fall of 2004. We still have our house in Kingsport, TN, but we spend a fair amount of time on the boat. The first two years we took the boat from its marina in NC to the Chesapeake Bay, the third year we messed around on the NC and SC coasts, and the last ten years we have spent five or six months each year traveling to and from the Bahamas. It has worked out well for us. Keeping the house means we have a place to come back to, a place to store stuff, a place to live near our friends, and a place for our children and grandchildren to visit. The boat gives us a lot of time together and a welcome escape from responsibilities.

There is a link to my wife's sailing blog in my profile. Just click on my name and look in "About Me".

 

[Going Sailing]

We were a little different. My wife stopped working in 2003 at 52, and I retired in 2004 at 53. We bought a 1988 Pacific Seacraft 34 sailboat in the fall of 2004. We still have our house in Kingsport, TN, but we spend a fair amount of time on the boat. The first two years we took the boat from its marina in NC to the Chesapeake Bay, the third year we messed around on the NC and SC coasts, and the last ten years we have spent five or six months each year traveling to and from the Bahamas. It has worked out well for us. Keeping the house means we have a place to come back to, a place to store stuff, a place to live near our friends, and a place for our children and grandchildren to visit. The boat gives us a lot of time together and a welcome escape from responsibilities.

There is a link to my wife's sailing blog in my profile. Just click on my name and look in "About Me".

Nice. The Pacific Seacraft 34 was my dream boat! I think there are a lot of good ways to do this.

 

[wsmurdoch]

You will have a blast. We have. Our story is in an earlier post on this site.
http://www.early-retirement.org/for...-32-good-or-bad-idea-63542-3.html#post1245761

Like you, I also worked a little as a limited service employee (contractor) with my past employer, Eastman Chemical Company, but after three rounds decided that it was not for me and opted out. Find your own way, keep an eye on the expenses, and you will be fine. Have fun and help other people. That is what life is for.

Good luck.

 

[Mdlerth]

Have fun and help other people. That is what life is for.

+1

This is wisdom. I want to carve it into a sign to hang at the dock.