money for a circumnavigation over 5 years?

[riversandbar]

I have just spent the afternoon reading many many different blogs about people doing circumnavigations lasting 4-5 years..... and something really puzzled me.

How do you either save up THAT much money or how do you pay for the trip as you go?

I read a few of them where they had young kids... how in the heck did they afford it?

[kd3pc]

frugal...not eating out..drive old cars or bicycle...doing without what our society calls normal....save everything else ...it can be done

I hear people every day, bragging about "cutting back", yet they still eat two or three meals out every day, have cut back to one smartphone for each family member, $600 for heat this month, drive a new car, have all the technology toys, etc, etc.

For us a take out chinese lunch is a big splurge once a month. It is all about priorities and the willingness to make hard choices. We have not bought clothes in over a year. I fix our 12 and 15 year old vehicles. We make one trip to town each week.

You can't have it all, and you have to make the sacrifices needed...really simple when you get right down to it

[centaursailor]

Just finished a book were an American couple bought a brand new boat in Tiwan, had it delivered to Rotterdam, seemed to spend thousands more every couple of weeks.
Can,t figure it out. The book, Sailing There by Patrica Vallinga, is a good read and well worth the price but still.
Certainly the earlier cruisers seemed more cash strapped and lived less high on the hog. Seems we are generaly heading back to simpler times, damn them .ankers.
Safe cruising

[sailingdog]

Some of them also worked along the way and helped supplement their income by writing articles, doing sailboat deliveries, etc.

Originally Posted by riversandbar

I have just spent the afternoon reading many many different blogs about people doing circumnavigations lasting 4-5 years..... and something really puzzled me.

How do you either save up THAT much money or how do you pay for the trip as you go?

I read a few of them where they had young kids... how in the heck did they afford it?

[CapnBilll]

One thing I have found is very important for anything you will want to do in life, is eliminate ALL debt. With debt you will go nowhere. The first thing I did is eliminate all credit cards, and shopping. The next don't buy new cars, save up and buy a good used car that has fully depreciated. Buy the chepest house you can std to live in. Save your income to pay off in <10 years. Now buy cheap boat, ...cash. Sell house and live on boat. put all income into cruising kitty. Then take a leave of absence and go cruising.

There done; see you in 15 years On the ocean. I'm almost done, about 2 years left. good luck.

P.S. If you already have savings you might be able to do it quicker.

[riversandbar]

Hummm... just thought of this... wasn't everyone saying they could basically live off of about $1600 a month cruising??

Well, maybe I could ask for a layoff, collect unemployment and just live off the Government for a year... heck and with them extending it, I could even make it 2 years. Wow... I wonder if they would send my unemployment check to the BVI's? LOL

[N0NJY]

Originally Posted by riversandbar

Hummm... just thought of this... wasn't everyone saying they could basically live off of about $1600 a month cruising??

Well, maybe I could ask for a layoff, collect unemployment and just live off the Government for a year... heck and with them extending it, I could even make it 2 years. Wow... I wonder if they would send my unemployment check to the BVI's? LOL

There's a thought. /chuckles

I've been saving money for a lot of years - IRAs and mutual funds, things like that. Been buying a house for 21 years. Did that to keep a roof over the heads of the wife and children.

Kids are all moved out, on their own. We have three vehicles I've bought over the years. They are are our last cars.

The house is being prepped for selling - or at least going on the market this spring I hope. (I'm doing the prep work myself, with one exception, a bathroom that needs some major rework... but, that's in the budget).

50% of my pay check goes into savings and 100% of my wife's is going into savings right now.

A year ago I paid off and stopped using any credit cards (we use only a debit card now).

We still eat out perhaps once a week - but that's ok. It is in the budget.

I still have internet access, cell phone and a home phone. Home phone is going away shortly.

Then there's all that STUFF in the house. Clothing, furniture, extra pots, pans and crap that we've not used in years. I've given my kids one month to trek to the house, find stuff that belongs to them and remove it. If they don't it goes to Good Will, the dump or I sell it.

I have guns to sell, vehicles, tools I won't need on a boat.

When it's all said and done we will have been saving money for thirty years as we could, and the last five in earnest. Our home is a major investment in time and money and it will be worth something when I sell it.

That money becomes my cruising kitty - and I'll easily get five or six (seven if we're very careful and frugal) before my actual retirement pay kicks in - which will easily keep us on the cruising circuit (including a complete rebuild and/or boat replacement at a later time).

That's how it is done.

We are around a year out from our time to "quit" our jobs.

I've been at it since 2008 in earnest.

[treilley]

NONJY, we just went through the same process. We are living on the boat locally for a couple of years to get her the way we want and add to our crusing kitty.

Getting rid of the house stuff was the hardest part. It was easy to let go bu some of the stuff we just had to give away. Sold one of the cars which saves a lot and we both walk to work. We are free of debt and are presently saving about $50k per year some of which goes back into the boat for some upgrades.

I took 3 months off from work to renovate the house. Listed it $20k above what the broker recommended and we had an offer inside of 6 weeks. The key is staging. Following the offer we had 3 weekend long yard sales. We still filled up a construction dumpster though.

It is funny to see some of the younger folks who are starting out LA. They look at us and think we are rich. They just don't realise that we have worked many years to get to where we are. No easy or quick way to build equity.

Sure, you can go out and sail from port to port eating ramen noodles and picking up odd jobs but we want to explore and enjoy our time cruising living at a decent standard. We will definitely pick up some odd jobs if we like a place and decide to stay an extended period but no stress. We will quit before that becomes a problem.

Looks like you and I have related careers. I am presently an IT Director.

[MikeinLA]

First, Tim, I love your boat!!

As far as money goes, CapnBill hit it on the head about eliminating all debt. Basically, if you have to borrow to get it, you can't afford it (obviously) and should wait until you can to get it. The second thing I would advise is that you live well below your means which will allow you to save more. Living on a boat will help to limit your spending on "stuff" because there's simply no room for much stuff on a boat. Good Luck,

Mike

[J36ZT]

I was in the USAF for 25 years. When I was approaching my 20th year, I began to think what I'd do AFTER the Air Force. My first thoughts were about getting a job to maintain my standard of living. Then it hit me, instead of increasing my income I could eliminate almost all of my expenses.

I bought an old race boat that was in good condition and prepared for retirement. I carefully calculated my budget. Each thing, especially tools, I bought I made sure they were what I needed for the boat.

When I retired, I moved on the boat. My plan was to prep the boat for an extended cruise (rest of my life) and I calculated it would take 6-months to a year.

Anyway, two weeks after I retired I tore my meniscus. In addition, replacing the interrior woodwork has been much more complicated than I expected. And, I keep finding things that I'd like accomplished before I go cruising.

Thus, after three years I'm finally ready to leave...well, almost. Interrior is done, hull is drying getting ready for bottom painting, and I have a list of things I need to buy. If all works out, I'll be leaving in the early summer.

So, my cruising kitty comes from my military retirement. By the way, I haven't had any kind of a loan in almost 20 years. I learned long ago to buy what you can with cash and live within your means. Make out a budget that includes saving some each month (ie pay your retirement first). Now at 46, I don't have to work as long as I'm careful and smart with money.

Skipper,
J/36 "Zero Tolerance"