Cruising to a future

[Bateauxdriver]

Hi I am 45 and I've been married to my wife for 23 years this week. We both work and are looking forward to retirement on a sailboat part of our time.
We have just under $1,000,000 saved in our combined company 401K's, cash balance retirement plans, cash, savings accounts and Roth IRA's. Our annual contributions to retirement accounts plus our employer contributions are about $45,000 each year and we make about $150,000 combined. We own with no mortgage about $400,000 worth of deep water gulf access real estate in south Louisiana. Our primary home is worth about $250,000 and our next door rental is worth about $150,000. Our boys may live at home even after they get jobs. We may rent the other for about $1,000 per month.

We have a 5 year goal of retirement. We have two boys in college and expect them to graduate in about 2 to 3 years with about $40,000 left in Education IRA's. We have zero debt!



I plan to spend about $150,000 to $200,000 on a catamaran to sail from our home to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.
With our home in a great location near the Mississippi River there are wonderful opportunities for good paying jobs at nearby plants and refineries. It would be very easy to sell our property if needed. We however would more likely keep it possibly renting both properties eventually for a combined total of over $2,000 in income per month. We could dock our catamaran in front and live aboard when not cruising.

So our totals are.
$1,000,000 total retirement accounts and cash accounts.
$400,000 in total paid no mortgage real estate
$40,000 in education IRA's

5 year goal to retirement at age 50 (maybe some part time work occasionally)

I think we are gonna make it!

[Live And Learn]

Sounds lovely ! Do you know what your current annual expenses are and what your projected expenses would be in retirement ?

[Bateauxdriver]

Once I have divested all the crap that I've accumulated over a lifetime I plan to live on $100 a day. My expenses hopefully will be dropping like a rock when my kids are on their own. I watched my parents retire at 52 once they were kid free. They had less a lot less savings than I do and have had a great retirement. I plan on subtracting # percent of my assets per year basically. If I earn 10 percent then I either indulge that year or let it reinvest. If I'm loosing too much money I'll look for work and live really cheap in bad years.

[Live And Learn]

$100 / day barely covers what I have for budgerted for healthcare (HI plus OOP) plus food. Do you have guaranteed healthcare from a prior employer / govt ? Cam you itemize the $37k / year into categories and compare that against what you are currently spending today ?

I am not trying to discourage you - just want to see if you have all bases covered.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bateauxdriver If I'm loosing too much money I'll look for work and live really cheap in bad years.

The "work later if necessary" might be okay for some circumstances, but it would be worth some careful consideration before making it part of the big plan. Factors:
1) How easily could I get good-paying work after a long break? In my particular case, the answer is "not very easily".
2) If my investments had a few bad years in the market, there's a good chance that the economy as a whole is not doing too well. That's a tough time to find work--competing against lots of other folks-- especially if my personal network and skills are out of date.

Anyway, it sounds like you are thinking about many of the important factors.

[Bateauxdriver]

Instead of Health insurance according to Obama Care website is $1700 for the Bronze Plan and $4600 for the Silver plan annually for two people assuming income of $40,000.

$13 per day healthcare (Silver) $5 (Bronze)
$15 per day home insurance, taxes and repair
$15 per day auto expenses (fuel and insurance)
$20 per day food (I spent less than that today for 3 meals)
$10 per day utilities and internet

Still Leaves some Christmas Money.

[wsmurdoch]

I too worked in a chemical plant, Eastman in Kingsport. When I retired in 2004, I bought a sailboat, and after a few years of messing around in the Chesapeake Bay and the Carolina coasts, my wife and I have gone to the Bahamas for the winter and spring. I've hiked the AT in 100-200 mile sections from GA to NH and hope to get to ME before long.

Click on my name. My wife's sailing blog is there.

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Sounds wonderful!

We lived aboard a sailboat for a year while cruising the Bahamas.

Plan for boat maintenance and upgrades of about 10% of the purchase price per year. So 15-20k for one in your price range. If you are handy, you can reduce that a bit but not a lot.

(For instance, boat insurance may run 2-3k per year.)

Good luck and try to make it over to the FL Keys or Bahamas at some point. The cruising is easy and beautiful.

[readytofire]

Sounds like fun. You should head over here if you are so inclined: Cruisers & Sailing Forums

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by readytofire Sounds like fun. You should head over here if you are so inclined: Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Yes, I've spent a lot of time on that forum, esp when researching the boats we were looking at.

Regarding catamarans, the livability of them are really amazing. As close to living in a condo as a sailing craft can get. We enjoyed being invited aboard a few on our trip.

For our next cruise (when our youngest heads to college in 7 years), we are leaning toward an Island Packet SP Cruiser or a Shannon 38HPS, both of which are approx 40' modern motorsailors. We really came to appreciate our boat's 75 hp turbo diesel when trying to make an anchorage with inclement weather or darkness drawing near.

[sailor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnIntentionalRoad We really came to appreciate our boat's 75 hp turbo diesel when trying to make an anchorage with inclement weather or darkness drawing near.

Your comment surprised me - as a sailor I think small marine diesels = normally aspirated. I must be dating myself
For a racing boat it might make sense to have a turbocharger to save on weight, but why complicate matters for not so obvious benefits?
So I poked Google a little and except for slightly better fuel economy (1%-10% improvement) and a little less NOx emitted I don't see a good reason for "turbo" in a trawler/cruiser/sailboat type.

[Midpack]

Sounds wonderful. I could live on a sailboat, but the Admiral (DW) not so much though she loves sailing. I met a couple after they retired and sailed a Westsail 42 all over the world for 8 years before his wife decided she wanted a house on land. They sold the boat and bought a house in FL. And one of the guys from our local YC is sailing solo around the world right now...we're all watching him online.

[Trawler]

Your Plan sounds very familair. The motto Go Live the Dream!!!


My DW and I casted the lines off for retirement about the same age you are plannig. Took off on a two month cruise to the North Channel on our sailboat this summer to find out wether we wanted to sell everything and do some serious livaboard cruising. After 63 days living aboard we both enjoyed the trip however found we are both are not full time livaboard candidates. So we will continue to spend a month or two on the boat each summer. We sail on Lake Erie in Ohio. Going to try Florida this winter. May decide to sell central Ohio house buy florida house live on boat in summer to escape summer heat. Still Living our Dream.

May the Seas be with you!!!

[seraphim]

"Hi I am 45 and I've been married to my wife for 23 years this week."

Sounds like it's been a tough week ... go have a beer. Buy your wife one, too. Maybe next week won't seem so long lol.

Financially, you are similar to us, but rather than potential rental income, we have pensions of about $3900 - after taxes and health insurance. We have no debt and can manage on that. We withdraw slightly to pay for our travels, though ours is a land yacht *grin*

My concern in your situation is the upkeep cost of your real estate - maintenance, insurance, taxes, etc. and won't the purchase of the cat significantly reduce your holdings, or require payments to increase your COL? And are your income figures net or gross?

And how would you handle long term medical care, if necessary? Can easily cut down a $1M portfolio. I'm just a bit concerned, but I'm sure I haven't all the information.

What about the possible need to assist the kids after college?

Love the goal, though. Always wanted a trimaran cruiser, though it would have to be trailerable. Haven't completely convinced DW yet, though *grin*

Good luck with your plans.