We are two college educated guys in our early forties that
have decided to take a break from the corporate world and enjoy life on our own
terms while traveling and living in an expedition vehicle. Just how long this adventure lasts remains to
be seen. We’ve sold our condo, our car, our
boat and most of our furniture. What we
haven’t sold, we’ve either given away as gifts to family and friends or donated
to charity. The process of downsizing
from an 1800 square foot condo to a 573 square foot temporary apartment to a
100 square foot vehicle was scary at first, then liberating. The few possessions we take with us are
either to help us enjoy the activities we love in the outdoors (skiing, hiking,
mountain biking, stand up paddle boarding, snow shoeing, rock climbing, camping
and in general exploring) or to help us stay connected when we want (computer,
cell phones, satellite TV, wi-fi hot spot, etc.). The vehicle we’ve purchased, an Earthroamer
XV-LT, is designed for off road exploration and is capable of staying off-grid
for a few weeks at a time. We don’t have
a set agenda, and what’s even better is that we don’t need one. We’ll start in mid-February 2014 by spending
several weeks skiing in Colorado, then move on from there. We expect our travels to be focused on the US
primarily in 2014 and to include the summer in Alaska and that 2015 will likely
find us heading from North America to South America. We also don’t have a set time frame. We’ll explore at our own pace for a few years
and see how it goes. If we enjoy the
lifestyle and can stay on a reasonable budget, then we’ll continue.
We do need to give some credit to friends that have inspired
us to take this leap. We’ve been
following their blogs for years while working to prepare for our own journey. So thank you to Scott and Heather (Heather and Scott's Adventures) and Joanne and Dave (The Adventures of Tropical Breeze).
We’ve enjoyed following your adventures and now look forward to our own.
The following are a list of Frequently Asked Questions and
our answers:
Question: So, are you
retiring?
Answer: We prefer to
call it a long term sabbatical. The
general plan is to commit to at least 2-3 years of full-time exploration. If we like the lifestyle, can enjoy living
together in cramped quarters and can stay on budget, then we’ll continue indefinitely.
Question: Did you win
the lottery? How can you afford not to
work?
Answer: No, we didn’t
win the lottery and are not independently wealthy, but we have been pretty good
savers throughout our careers. When you
consider the lifestyle, the expenses are small compared to living in the
working world with house payments, utilities, dry cleaning, commuting and all
the other expenses that that lifestyle requires. Another significant factor is that we don’t
have children. Our primary expenses are
food and healthcare and our total current budget is less than what we used to
pay for our mortgage alone.
Question: Won’t you
run out of money at some point?
Answer: Anything is
possible, but if you look at the stock and financial market performance over
the long term, it’s unlikely if we stay on budget. There are several books written about the full-time
RV lifestyle and one of the basic principles we are applying is that if you can
spend at a rate less than your investment grows, you can afford not to
work. For the sake of example, let’s say
you have $100,000 saved and invested in a way that earns you 3% per year. If you can manage your spending to less than $3,000
(3% of $100,000) per year, you can afford not to work. At the end of the first year, you will have
spent the $3,000 that the investment grew, leaving you with the original
$100,000 in principle which will earn another 3% next year. Obviously, this is a simplified example and
our actual model is a bit more complicated and takes into account, inflation,
aging, pension payments, social security (or lack thereof) and a variety of
economic market conditions, but you get the general idea.
Question: Won’t you
get bored?
Answer: Maybe, but we
doubt it. We both love spending time in
the outdoors and are taking some of our toys with us like skis, snow shoes,
mountain bikes, stand-up paddle boards, rock climbing equipment, and hiking
gear. We’ll have an opportunity to spend
weeks at a time in the same place exploring every trail, when in the past,
we’ve had to pick and choose only the few our limited vacation time would
allow. We won’t be pressed to cram as
much activity as possible in as quickly as possible since we won’t be on a
schedule. This will allow us to explore,
relax, read and pursue other hobbies (like learning Spanish or the violin) at
our own pace. For sure, there will be a
huge adjustment in going from the pace of working 40 to 60 hour weeks where
there is a never ending pile of work to do, to not having to do anything on any
particular day. If after a few years, we
find that we can’t adjust to the slower pace or get bored, we can always
re-enter the working world, but with a new option to start fresh and anywhere
we want.
Question: So where
are you going?
Answer: We have a
vague plan at this point. We’ve been so
engaged in other aspects of preparing for our adventure like selling our loft,
selling our boat, finding the right vehicle, setting up residency, evaluating
insurance options and downsizing that we haven’t put together a detailed plan
for where we’ll go and what we’ll do when we get there. Our vague plan consists of spending the first
couple months skiing and snow shoeing in Colorado followed by a couple months
of mountain biking, rock climbing and canyoneering in Utah. After that it becomes even more vague with
the summer in Alaska, Fall in New England and South America sometime in
2015. Lots of things can change between
now and then and that’s why we have a blog for you to follow.
