[bob-m]

Stormer,

The answer really depends on what you expect when you go back (IF you go back). My wife & I lived a rather "fat" life style before we made the commitment. New cars every 3-4 years, ski vacations, sailing E/O weekend, a 4000sf house, ate out 3-4 nights a week. It has been close to 20 years (4 planning, 1.5 living aboard & working, 12 cruising, 2 ashore of medical reasons). Once we rid ourselves of our material "things", we never missed them. Now that we have been back for 2 years, things like a big house, tv''s in every room, new cars, etc. seem almost decadent. In our 20s, 30s & early 40s be HAD to acheive and accumulate stuff. It proved how sucessful we were and we enjoyed it. Cruising has truely changed us. The only way I can think to say it is: we are simple people now and live a simple life style.

To be specific about finances, we had 2 rental houses that now net us $1500 mo. My wife receives $1100 a month in retirement. The money we received from the sale of my business was substantial. We earmarked $1000 per month towards cruising(We have never touched the principal or the additional interest). When we left, everything was paid for (boat, rental property, one car) and we had a little over $50,000 in the cruising account.

The last few years aboard, we probably spent $2000 - $2500 per month (excluding any refit expenses). We usually were able to save about $10,000 each year which usually went into the boat. We know lots of folks who spend closer to $2000 per month, INCLUDING boat upkeep, but they are in smaller/older boats or in some cases stop periodically and work.

There are a million different situations, but in general I thnk I would be correct in saying that folks don''t go back to their old life styles. Living afloat tends to slow you down and causes you to look at the world and life differently. Isn''t that why you want to go??? However, if you think that you will want to "pick-up where you left off", it will probably be difficult to do so without substantial reserves.

Regards
Bob-M