Motorhome, Mexico and beyond...

[dand76]

Greetings E-R Enthusiasts,
I've made a few posts but haven't officially announced my membership in this club of a wide variety, interesting and knowledgeable people. It has been great reading everyone’s stories, information and advice.

Age is currently 57, DW 56, living in SE Washington. DS is married and off doing his own thing. Planning to retire when I hit 59.5 and the IRA $$ are accessible. Shooting for a net worth of $800k and will have a small pension around $14k/year starting at age 60 (transfers to DW after I croak). We plan to take SS somewhere between 66 and 70 dependent upon how much we’ve drawn down the portfolio. Asset allocation is currently 60/40 stock/bond but will probably lower as we age. Only debt is the house mortgage @ $156k. Hoping to net $100k when it is sold.

Current retirement plan:
Downsize and sell the house.
First few years (until we decide to do something else) – we’ll purchase a motor home large enough for us to live in a few months of the year and slowly explore the country. Spend a month here and there taking in what each area has to offer. The remaining months of the year (when it gets cold up north) will be spent in Mexico or Belize (or beyond if we get braver) living a frugal lifestyle resembling 80% local, 20% tourist.

This plan has a dual purpose – 1st, it is something we’re really looking forward to experiencing and, 2nd, it takes our monthly budget down to the 3-$3.5k/month range (or less). This will help conserve our investments while we make our way to SS age.

At some point (before we get too old) DW wants to get one of those around the world (multi-destination) airline tickets and visit a few places. Greece, Italy, Machu Picchu and other boring places like that. I’ll tag along, of course, just to keep her out of trouble.

After (or If) we get bored with the motor home thing we’ll find a place to settle down that doesn’t have wheels. Location will be determined at a later date. I’m figuring expenses at this point will be in the $45 – 50k/year range (in today’s dollars).

Some suggest that a million + portfolio is necessary but I’m calling $800k + pension + SS as close enough. FireCalc and Fidelity calculators are more optimistic than my spreadsheets and they all say we’re good to go.

Although, DW has recently been hinting at jumping ship in 2016 instead of 2017 so I’ll have to see how that works out in the spreadsheets. I’ve been working in IT since 1980 and started burning out a couple years ago so I’m ready to go at any time if I can get the numbers to work.

It’s great to have a place like this to get outside opinions and suggestions (and confidence boosts) to help us make the plunge into freedom.
Thanks to all,
DanD76

[MBAustin]

Welcome, Dan!

Sounds like you both are planners and are on pretty close to the same page, which is very good news. As you have probably read, tracking spending and saving as much as possible the last few years of w*rking are strongly recommended.

There are also a number of threads about living in other countries - try some different searches (you may need to go several pages into the search results to find useful stuff).

Planning for ER is exciting, and doing it is even better!

[FUEGO]

Sounds like a plan! Are you taking the motorhome to Mexico and/or Belize or flying down for the winter?

[prose3589]

We have similar plans. I don't have a magic number but if I did it would be close to yours. My SO and I are keeping our dream home but want to spend several months on the road in the new fifth-wheel! Love your wife's travel plans too!


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[dand76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Sounds like a plan! Are you taking the motorhome to Mexico and/or Belize or flying down for the winter?

Initially we'd be flying. Maybe find a place to store the motorhome in Texas or Arizona and fly from there. After we're motorhome pros and more comfortable traveling outside the country (and learn some Spanish) we may be brave enough to take the motorhome across the border. We're pretty cautious about not getting in over our heads.

[Fermion]

Go for it! We are doing a very similar thing, except we built our motorhome ourselves. I am not sure about Mexico though...probably fine and I am just nervous.

What style motorhome did you have in mind? Class A, Class B, Class C, Super C, EarthRoamer ($$$)

[dand76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion Go for it! We are doing a very similar thing, except we built our motorhome ourselves. I am not sure about Mexico though...probably fine and I am just nervous. What style motorhome did you have in mind? Class A, Class B, Class C, Super C, EarthRoamer ($$$)

What a fun project, building a custom motorhome. The motorhome we like is the Winnebago/Itasca model 32H which is a class A. Our price range will be a used model in the 2008 - 2010 range.

[ER1970]

Sounds so much fun! Go for it. Life is too short.
Make sure you budget for a good international health plan, or at least one that covers both the US and Central America. When we thought about wintering in Southeast Asia I checked AXA and some other large HC companies equivalent of Cigna, Aetna, tec. Relatively cheap (MUCH more reasonably priced with better coverage than the HC in the US), if excluding coverage in the US. But including the US the premium goes up drastically. I remember Cigna also has international HC plan, so you may want to check it out.

[iac1003]

Lots of people do it. There's a Facebook group called On the Road in Mexico which is not just about RV'ing per se but there's a lot of RV'ers on it and it might of some help. A lot of other info about Mexico too.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dand76 Initially we'd be flying. Maybe find a place to store the motorhome in Texas or Arizona and fly from there. After we're motorhome pros and more comfortable traveling outside the country (and learn some Spanish) we may be brave enough to take the motorhome across the border. We're pretty cautious about not getting in over our heads.

Sounds like a plan. I wouldn't want to drive my own car across Mexico, let alone an RV. Maybe work your way up to that point some day.

We're doing 7 weeks in Mexico this summer and spending 2 weeks in each of 3 cities as part of that: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico City, and Oaxaca. Not necessarily scoping out more permanent places to live, but also keeping our minds open.

[iac1003]

Will be spending only 2 weeks in MX this summer. Trying to figure out if we can tolerate the heat and humidity at the coast during the summer or if we need 2 places, 1 in the States.

Driving is supposed to be OK on the toll roads but rule of thumb is only drive during daylight (there are no highway lights and supposedly they don't use headlights much there!) and there are lots of potholes, and big ones, on the roads. We are not driving and don't plan to have a car there if we relocate there.

There are a bunch of 'NoTels' where you can pull your vehicle in and lock the garage door and go into your room. There is also a blog by a family who travel through MX in their RV with their kids "Los O'Gradys in Mexico" and it might be helpful in part to both of you.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[dand76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iac1003 Will be spending only 2 weeks in MX this summer. Trying to figure out if we can tolerate the heat and humidity at the coast during the summer or if we need 2 places, 1 in the States.

iac1003, enjoy your trip south. More seasoned travelers would have better advice but from our very limited experience with summer travel - we had no problems with heat/humidity on the Caribbean side (Puerto Rico, Ambergris Caye, Belize). Trip to the Pacific coast (near Puerto Vallarta) was too hot and humid for us. Really appreciated the swimming pool on that trip. Can't make any good judgments based on just a couple of trips. Just sharing what we've seen so far. Apparently you can move away from the coastal area and head up into the mountains to escape the humidity. We haven't tried that yet.

Thanks for all the comments. Can't wait to move from the planning phase to the 'doing' phase.

[kcowan]

We spend 6 months in PV and every year, Ron and Vickie haul their 5th wheeler through on the way to Puerto Escondido. There are lots of places to see along the way and the interior is very dry (humidity) all year long. Guadalajara is hottest in May (95) with 13% humidity.

They live up by us in Vancouver (Abbotsford). You will find Mexico much prettier than the southern deserts in the US (e.g. Yuma). Just keep moving at the border towns.

[FUEGO]

Yucatan peninsula looks to be pretty hot and humid in the summer time. We're limiting our time there and spending more time in the central highlands.