Our future ER budget (and Hi!)

[dvalley]

We demand updates! After a full year of retirement under your belt, how have the plans materialized along with how far off are you from your anticipated budget. Do you have a home base or nomads for now?

 

[Scout]

We demand updates! After a full year of retirement under your belt, how have the plans materialized along with how far off are you from your anticipated budget. Do you have a home base or nomads for now?

Agreed! And maybe a pic of your RV?

 

[2017ish]

Agreed! And maybe a pic of [-]your[/-] Fermion's RV?

Did you see this thread? If not, feast your eyes! http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/finally-finished-our-homebuilt-rv-77596.html

 

[Fermion]

Hey! Kind of forgot about this thread but yes we are still nomads. We spent the past year traveling all across the USA, 11,000 miles+ total. Sailed in a lot of waters (at least 15 states, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico).

We are back in Washington and are in the process of buying a few (near 30) acres of mountain land just for recreation and privacy. It is very very cheap in eastern Washington plus this is timber land (with timber rights). Taxes are around $29 a year if you don't build anything on it. Liability insurance is a worry but I think I can swing something with Progressive and their full time RV + umbrella policy (normally you could get coverage based off your home owner's policy but we don't own or rent any home!).

The reason for the land is we want to do a semi survival winter stint and need a place we can spread out our pods without having to move them about. Most or all parks are closed for the winter. If we make it to next spring I will post about it. We are right off a paved county road though so it isn't EXACTLY life below zero. Still, they do get snow measured in feet.

Snowmobiles will be back on the menu

Here is our RV, needs a wash now.

 

[dvalley]

Awesome, thanks for the update! Will we be seeing you on the next Sirvivorman episode? Sounds like a fun adventure! I'm very similar to you in our thinking and interests, it's crazy!

If you get around to it would love to see some updates on the financial front too, like spending, budgets, etc.

 

[Scout]

Excellent!! Nice to see you're doing just what you set out to do. I see why it took you a bit of extra time to get that RV ready.
As dvalley mentioned we'd love to hear how you've managed the challenges (if any) on the financial front.

 

[Fermion]

So far there really have not been many financial challenges. ACA has worked out well. I did our taxes for 2016 this past March and used a Roth conversion to peg our MAGI exactly at $23,000 which was the estimate I gave the WA health plan for our income. Of course ACA is changing most likely.

We spent about $400 a month in diesel and about $750 a month on campgrounds, hotels, parks. That was average. Boondocking on BLM land out west we went for two weeks and spent just $30 plus about $200 in groceries before we settled in.

So you add things up and it is a pretty dang cheap lifestyle yet you get to see a lot of new places and travel. Our burn rate is around $35,000 per year but could be a lot lower than that if we slowed down the travel a bit. Still, it is a very sustainable WR.

 

[imoldernu]

Congratulation on living out the American Dream.
Let us know when you publish your journal, so we can vicariously enjoy your adverntures along with you.

 

[dvalley]

Very helpful and inspiring to see you're enjoying life (probably moreso than most people with 2x plus networth) and only spending $35k doing it. I've been day dreaming about the same exact thing for years but honestly it's been hard to get the 'one that must be obeyed' excited about the camping life. I only want to do it for a year or so and after that just want to settle down on a piece of land with a big workshop/garage on it. I'm a tinkerer/builder/fixer at heart.

 

[NW-Bound]

...We are back in Washington and are in the process of buying a few (near 30) acres of mountain land just for recreation and privacy. It is very very cheap in eastern Washington plus this is timber land (with timber rights). Taxes are around $29 a year if you don't build anything on it...

You can drop a septic tank, and spread out some solar panels. Then, the only thing left is to find a water source.

 

[kimcdougc]

Excellent thread. We are currently packing up to do a trip in our RV (nothing like yours) to do 6 to 8 week trip in the warmer climate. I look forward to seeing more of your adventures.