Cruising for Parents back on task

Irwin32 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006

I can’t read all the posts on the original question as I am at a bar in Little Current, Ont and my internet access is limited to how many Upper Canadas I can consume.
At any rate, what I have not seen in regards to taking off early in life and later is the financial concerns and the unavoidable truth that old age awaits all of us who are lucky enough to get there.
If one chucks it all in their 20’s they will eventually reach the age where health concerns and money concerns will catch up. If one waits until they have a guarenteed pension and health insurance, at least there is something to fall back on in the years when we are too old and feeble to sail.
Pay now or pay later.
Just a thought.

SoOkay · #2 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006

I say pay later when you can. You may not have to worry about it at all. Hey it's a chance!

sailingdog · #3 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006

If you keep putting off going, then you may never go. However, worrying about what you are going to do when you are too old and feeble to sail, when it may never happen is a bit counter productive.

Surfesq · #4 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006

You never know what cards life will deal. I was lucky. I had the good fortune to see the world at a young age and the cruise as a young adult with my then wife and my daughter. If you have the opportunity and the will go...

Irwin32 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006

I cannot argue the logic. However, i do want to know what one does when old age hits.

chuck5499 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-15-2006

Irwin -- interesting question - it seems that i have done everything late in life. got married and had kids in my late 30s. i took up rock and big mountain climbing in my 40s when most guys quit. i tried sky diving (found it boring) in my late 50s. took up sailing in my late 50s and bought my first and only boat (40' Jeanneau) at 58. God has blessed me with a great attitude and even better body ( along with a couple of orthpedic surg.) that for a long time i took great care of. Now at 60 i was downsized and had planned to retire at 62 so i am selling my house using a bit of pension and saving and going sailing. My son (a exUSMC) was out with me after he got back from his 2nd iraq tour and said something like "you are going to move on aren't you" my response "yep" and his respones was "i'm going to have to drag you off and you're not going easily are you" my response "nope" and we both laughed.
it all depends on you - i am glad i did it the way i am - i know that somewhere along the way someone is going to pull me off when it comes time, yet i can now sail with some funds (not a lot) and see where it takes me and not worry a lot. On the other hand i would not want to wait much longer as age has a way to take some of the stregth out of it.
by the way my broker did his curising early in life and now runs a very successful boat brokerage and i will bet that after the children are gone he and his wife take off again - maybe if you do it right you can do both.
chuck and soulmates

Jim H · #7 (**permalink**) 07-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irwin32

\If one waits until they have a guarenteed pension and health insurance, at least there is something to fall back on in the years when we are too old and feeble to sail.
Pay now or pay later.

The "disaster" you're hinting at is definitely possible-- I've heard of retired parents who planned so poorly that they needed to live with their children. (Yet even that is an accepted avenue in some countries, and not always a bad thing for the grand kids. In the individual-centric US, though, it would be considered a radical problem.)

The funny thing is that the "guaranteed benefits" you talk about sound like they belong to a generation or two behind us. Or maybe to people living in a country other than the US. If that's the best option, then people who have cruised to other countries earlier in life may have a distinct advantage in terms of the options for their retirement planning.

My father received a pension, but I've never had a job that offered one, so I've never been promised that (only 401K plans that I manage myself). As for guaranteed health care, my parents had an ongoing plan from my father's employer that covered gaps in Medicare, but I've never heard of that being offered to retired people from where I work-- they are on their own to find supplemental coverage.

So, if I have all these new responsibilities to be accountable for, then my critical mind wonders if another country might be better to retire in. Why not, if everything is ala carte anyway. If everything that you referred to is subject to massive price swings because of uncontrolled inflation (even if just in health costs), then the future in the US is anyone's bet, even if you have your $500k to a million saved up.

It's hard not to think that the younger generations (the 20 somethings) won't be facing a much harder picture, in part because of the deferred costs of the "paying for everything" that is done now for previous generations. "More must be better" is a great premise, if one doesn't really pay for it. In that light, I don't think that your "pay now" point is taking place-- "paying your dues" in your 20s, 30s, and 40s may not lead to the security that it did for previous generations.

Your original question was about 20 somethings who sail off for 40 years and then return with no plan. There was a recent article in Cruising World called "The Peerless Ones" (I believe) about cruising 20 somethings, and all of them had relatively stable and ingenious ways to be out there. Normally, zero percent of them will be gone for so long that they won't have careers later, so your premise would seem to fit with a very tiny percentage of young cruisers. Those who do sail that long, like the Pardeys, are normally making a living off of it.

Jim H