quote:

analysis

Could always save the money by not using insurance, invest it and live simple--and free.

quote:

Could always save the money by not using insurance, invest it and live simple--and free.

this is where a lot of folks get into trouble, I think.

Yes, you can take the risk upon yourself rather than let insurance manage it. That does not really change its costs, though.

There just ain't no way to "live simple - and free" - Simple, maybe. Free, I wish.

Food isn't free. Housing isn't free. Maintenance isn't free. Someone has to pay for it.

It may well be that you will not get sick after age 65, that you won't have any arthritis or whatever that needs medicine so you can continue to function, that you won't suffer any accidents, ... I do not think planning on these circumstances being the case is wise.

What I found interesting about the Business Week article is that it put a number on this risk and that it appears that the number has a history. It provides a caveat and a caution about the real and expected needs, one that should not be ignored if you want to plan effectively.

Certainly, since it is an average, you might be able to function at less or you may find that more is in your style. But to pretend you can function without it is not good planning.

Given that probably 90% of the population can't even dream of putting that much aside for retirement, I'm skeptical of that figure.

Even if that's a number for 20 years, you are talking nearly $1000 a month in medical expenses, on top of Medicare. The link doesn't take you to any detailed breakdown of expenses. Perhaps they are including nursing home expenses in their average figure. That would certainly drive it up.

If that's what people really needed, poor retirees would be dying left and right for lack of medical care.

The Business Week article actually started life at the Fidelity Investments site. Here's their calculator--see for yourself what your numbers are. I told the calculator that we had no health coverage--untrue, since I'm retired military--and it estimated our total lifetime medical costs at $622,403!!!

We retired early and are fulltiming, although the last 2 seasons we've pretty much stayed put. What I never realized before is how fortunate us Canadians are for our health insurance. we really had no idea how expensive it is for you folks! thank God for Canada for our insurance and the good ole US of A for our traveling pleasure! *G*

I've been a full timer since '96 at the age of 55.I had a chance to take a buyout where I
worked.The first few years I lived on $1500per
month.The first year or two were hard on me.I had to figure out health ins.,Places where I wanted to go,other bills i had to pay.As time went things got better,paid off or did'nt need.
Now,adays I get my SS,medicare and I live from
day to day and I'm enjoying life again.
To make a long story short.I could'nt live on
$1000 per month.I still like going out and haveing a good time.I can 2step with the best of them.

quote:

Old Hippie

quote:

How Fast Can U Run With This 357Magnum Looking Down at You-Go Ahead Make My Day

I find you to be just a little confused as to your Identity, sir? No-one I knew in-the-Day had any use for Gun Power.

Lew

Could I live on $1,000 per month....absolutely...quite happily. Can I do it with my significant other....impossible. He and I had a huge fight and it ended in me moving out for a couple of months. I was totally amazed at how little it took for me to live! I went out and partied, ate out, and didn't scrimp at all and it took about $600 a month for me to live. I was able to put over $1000 a month in the bank! When I'm not on my own it takes at least $3000 per month and often more to make ends meet. So it just depends on what type of person you are.

On the subject of insurance.

I'm 36 and here is a brief medical history. Asthma, 2 heart attacks, 3 strokes, coronary artery disease, poly-cystic kidneys, cholesterol(322 last year), blood pressure 200/110, diabetic, severe arthritis in my hips and hands, severe allergies and a suppressed immune system.

I'm quite a mess aren't I?!! 4 years ago I had a doctor tell me that I wouldn't live another 5 years. For years I went to doctors and paid outrageous insurance premiums and deductibles. I never really got any better and I had lots of side effects from the medications....including 3 strokes. I've been through some agonizingly painful tests and procedures too. One of the best days of my life was the day that a friend recommended me to a competent naturopathy doctor. Within 2 months she got rid of my arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lowered immune system. I haven't had my cholesterol checked so I'm not sure on that one but I'm betting it is a lot better(I've spent thousands on statin drugs and my numbers never improved). The arthritis in my hips is totally gone! I even do yoga now. I feel soooo much better and my health is so much improved that last month I dropped my health insurance. I will never go to another one of those pill pushers again! Did ya'll know that doctors get kickbacks from prescribing you pills? I'll dance down off of my soapbox now

Good for you, TxGypsy. If we would just all realize that we are part of the animal kingdom and that it is natural for us to eat fruits and vegetables, preferably raw; and that even as a "carnivore" we would have to eat the meat raw in order for our bodies to use the animal protein properly, there would be very little degenerative disease in this country. Instead people prefer to eat boxed dead food and run to doctors for the pill-fixes. Then they complain about the high cost of healthcare (well really disease care).

quote:

Originally posted by Ilse:
Good for you, TxGypsy. If we would just all realize that we are part of the animal kingdom and that it is natural for us to eat fruits and vegetables, preferably raw; and that even as a "carnivore" we would have to eat the meat raw in order for our bodies to use the animal protein properly, there would be very little degenerative disease in this country. Instead people prefer to eat boxed dead food and run to doctors for the pill-fixes. Then they complain about the high cost of healthcare (well really disease care)

We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
–Richard Dawkins..

Wow!

Roy

ok here the deal wake and smell the heart attack room I did 7 years ago and gusse what the great state of texas when mr b was gov. let let my ins sell out cancel and now no ins dont even say risk look at the preiums, and yes me and my darling boondock year around on just 1000,but now if some of you lucky ones that was born in the right phase of the moon, and are well off well thank your lucky stars because i worked all of my life. And when me and darling was married i worked for phone company 38 dollars take home.

quote:

Originally posted by sallygoodin:
I am not RV ing yet fulltime yet but it could happen in the future. Personally I had figured I could get by on $500 a month if had to be. If I have no motorhome payment, and move around little and boondock that would sure keep expenses minimum. When I saw some on the board say it costs them a min of $2,000 a month I was going like What??

I had planned on selling my arts n crafts and living on $500 a month. Right I wouldnt be eating steak or doing any fun things but could flea market and make money and that would have been fun. or sell on ebay. Of course that takes internet but if you have a verizon cell phone it could be done with that on your free time and not cost.Internet would be slow but whats the hurry?

As far as health insurance a big share of Americans do not have any. I have lived without insurance before.

It is kind of sad that medicaid and food stamps require a permanent address. dont know if someone had that kind of help if they could still get it I mean you would have a permanent home.....your motorhome. if it were me I would stay in a camp for a while and say that was permanent and go from there. SSI and Health n Welfare are going to have to take full time RV rs into consideration. I think you can have your SS put on automatic depsoit. Perhaps someone could use family members address as a permanent address and just let that be their permanent address if they have to have one. Its not lying really. It would be your permanent address and your motorhome you off and on one.

There are people working full time at a regular job in this great economy of ours and clearing little more $500 a month thanks to low wages and right to work states etc. Anyway, obviously they have to live on it. They probably have room mates etc but if your cousin pays cash for his motorhome heck I dont see why you couldnt live on that much. What say $30-40 a week for food? A little for propane and gas, motorhome insurance and registration wouldnt be that much. so what is that? $200 a month? That leaves $300 a month for what? Smokes, a beer now and then, a visit to a park etc. Those first flea market table fees? Save a little each month for RV repair.

If I was him I would though try to have a small nest egg stashed away for emergencies before he heads out to do this

It sounds like a fun challenge to me.
$1,000 a month? If my motorhome was paid for I could easily live on that and live quite well!

For me to make $500 -1,000 on ebay would be relatively simple and could easily live on that for one person. Of course I would either have to do cell phone internet or get the other thing they use . There is always flea markets etc to make a few dollars and they are fun. Does your cousin do any art, crafts? or just have a knack for finding good bargains he could re sell?

I think it is very very possible. Best way to look at it as a fun adventure!

P.S. I just edited my English on this in case there are any English professors on this forum. lol I was a staight A student in English I just forget to care sometimes lol

I was glad to see your post. I see so many here and on other boards that are either made of money or have substantial incomes. I personally do not fit into either group and I know this is all relative.

My wife and I are about to go full time RVing for a much different reason than I see many on this board. We are selling our house and most of our possessions and downsizing from a a stick built home to a used RV. Our RV will be our HOME, period. There will not be an option to stop full timing although traveling is a different thing altogether.

We will probably do a bit of traveling for the first 6 months to see old family and friends and then from there we plan on only moving the RV a few times a year.

We have found many RVs in the 30k range that suit us just fine.......are they the cats meow?......no, but are they suitable for alternative living arrangements? ABSOLUTELY!

We know of a few couples who have sold everything they own and purchased even older RVs
and had very little left in savings who have been doing just fine for several years. Typically they will workamp and just save the fuel money to go to the next job.....we think this is a suitable situation for us. Is it a full time vacation.......? Not at all. Is it a much cheaper alternative than owning and upkeeping a sticks and bricks......I think so. If there are no jobs in your area......move...no big deal. You can make money to keep going somewhere if your willing to work.

SO, although I would not reccomend having NO budget.......I think it can be done as long as you have a couple hundred dollars to get you to the next paycheck. You just have to adjust your lifestyle and learn how to survive rather than vacation.........big difference.

I know that I personally will be fine after living for 16 months in a HUM VEE ( want to talk about a small RV?) with two other guys in the middle of a sand box on the other side of the world. We had no budget and we somehowe managed to survive.
AS for some mentioning coming off the road for financial reasons, I wonder why anyone would do that? It's going to cost you something to buy a house to live in isn't it? Well if your going to pay a mortgage or have the cash to do this, how is it saving you ANYTHING? Most houses I see don't have solar power, generators etc so you become a lot more dependent upon the SYSTEM. I would rather have the security of my self contained RV that even if I have to boondock forever I will survive rather than not have the money one month for a light bill or a gas bill or a mortgage payment and find myself without power, gas or a place to live.........that's just me. Maybe some of these people being foreclosed on today would have been in much better shape if they had purchased an RV to begin with.

FYI we have a friend who purchased a 80s RV , a friend of his who owns a bunch of land lets him park his rv there with power hookups and he can do anything he wants to on the land. He works 4 months out of the year at a grain factory and does ALOT of gardening........his RV has not moved in 4 years...he and his wife are doing great and they would not change a thing......they like being off the grid.......I don't blame them. So far his total investment in his RV is around 20k including 520watts of solar power......it can be done rather cheaply, just depends on HOW you do it.

quote:

Originally posted by jharrelson:
Hi CINDONA,

I wish it were still the same... but alas my food cost have gone up like everything else..

Since it was back in 2006 when I posted those figures, and the last post before yours was back in Aug of 2007, I am posting parts of the same original post with the new figures in RED for comparison..

Here is original post with 2008 figures.............................................

RV parks average about $25 this park is now $28 per night for full hookups and $275 $305 until this coming May when it will jump to $380 per month for extended stays.

Here is a rough breakdown of my own expenses.

Total monthly income = $1285.00 $1356
Social Sec. $1227.00 $1293
Veterans disability $58.00 $63

Monthly expenses =

Rent .. $285 $330 next winter in winter and $345 $380 for May through October in summer.
Utilities and cable television are extra.

Electricity .. $50.00 (+/-) raised to 13.5 cent per KWh which means an average monthly electric bill of $65

Cable Television $25.00 stayed the same... so far

Propane .. based on $2.55 $3.40 per gallon
Summertime ..$3.00 per month still about the same +-
Wintertime ..$75 to $100 per month $140 to $160

Truck fuel.. based on $3.00 gas = $3.22 and diesel = $3.60 per gallon
$5 to $20 $10 to $30 I don't drive as much now because of prices depends on how active I am that month

Truck insurance.. (2 of them)
$485.30 $385.60 for 6 months "Full coverage" dropped FULL coverage and now have BASIC insurance as Nevada law requires with CSE ins.company

Trailer insurance ..
$318.00 for full year complete "Home Owner's" policy with Foremost Ins. stayed the same
($318 divided by 12 months = $26.50 per month)

Food ..
$100.00 to $125.00 includes lots of steak and seafood items ... Had to cut back on some things like Petite Sirloin steak and fresh fish fillets to frozen fish and the cheapest price beef I can find ..
but by using a "Big ol' Hammer" and McCormick meat tenderizer, I make it tender enough to eat

The trick to eating cheaply but reasonably well is to make a list for the entire month and stick to it.
Do not buy anything that is not on your grocery list.

Medical .. $8 per month co-pay for each prescription at the VA Hospital. same price for VA meds... BUT.. I now buy two of my VA meds from Wal-Mart's $4 list ... saves me $8 a month

Everything else from the VA is free, all operations, doctor visits, etc...

I also have Medicare .. I kept part "A" only, I don't need part "B" of the Medicare coverage.

This saves me over $500 per month for health insurance. I realize that some folks are not veterans and therefore don't have this medical coverage. So medical premiums must be figured into their budgets.

AT&T Home Phone ..$5.00 (senior rate) for unlimited local calls. no change, still $5 for senior "Life Line service"

I dropped long distance on land line phone and use land line strictly for computer and local calls.

Cellular phone ..
$39.99 = 450 min prime time plus 5000 min anytime plus no roaming and no long distance, plus "Roll Over" minutes are FANTASTIC...
(The reason I dropped land line long distance)

Dropped back to the AT&T $29.99 package which gives me 200 anytime minutes and 1000 weekend and nights minutes ... plus no long distance or roaming charges no matter where I am in continental USA...

The FREE long distance and FREE roaming is why I went with the $29.99 deal instead of the $19.99 deal which only gives 100 minutes and nothing else.

Cellular "Data" service with GC83 air card ...
$59.99 for UNLIMITED data , UNLIMITED time online and don't have to worry about looking for a "hot Spot" or having to pay roaming or long distance charges to be online.

I had to drop the data card service.. won't fit into my budget anymore. But I signed up for AT&T DSL service for $19.99 .. which saves me about $40 per month

Laundromat ..
including soap, bleach and dryer cloths ...$9.00
$11.00

Personal things ..toilet paper, razor, shaving cream, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, etc………………….. $3.00 $4

Haircut ..$8.00, just went up from $5 same

Cleaning supplies ..Dishsoap, scouring powder, etc: .. $1.00 same

Internet access..$9.95 JUNO.COM for full unrestricted access 24 hours per day. stayed same, but I pay it yearly, not monthly $119.40

Since I was "Grounded" because of 50% vision loss in 2007, and can no longer see well enough to safely maneuver the truck and 5th wheel, I live in a very nice RV park in Carson City.
As per my signature, you can see that my trucks and 5th wheel are over ten years old.. But they all are in excellent shape.. and paid for.

The trick is not to try and keep up with the Joneses.. live your own life on your own terms.

Just do what "YOU" want to do... and don't try to fly with the flock when summer comes around ..

Hope this helps

John

Maybe I can help you out with saving on the communications side. I don't know why you have both JUNO and an Aircard so you can drop Juno since you have the wifi.....also why a cell phone? Must your communication be THAT portable? If not get Skype. We have a SKype in phone service ( internet based) we pay 25 dollars every three months to have a Skype telephone number, anyone can call it with any phone, its just like a phone...I can't even find landline phones this cheap...for calling out all skype to skype is free, so get those who you talk to alot to download Skype, it's also free. For Skype to phone calls I can call cell phones in the UK from NC and the average charge is 3 cents a minute, some cell phone providers will charge up to 25 cents but we have not had that issue......I put 10 dollars a month on my skype out calls and I usually have a few dollars left on my account at the end of the month, Skype is the only phone sevice we use......so keep the aircard and get skype, dump the rest....that will save you a few bucks.

Also haircuts.....I have a remington shaver with all the attachements, typically I put on the number 1 side blade gaurd and just run it over my entire head....cost of the electric razor is roughly 20 bucks...no more haircut expense.
I just reduced your monthly expenses roughly a hundered a month......and thats just a start.

Another example would be 28 bucks a nite to stay in a park....change parks....there is a very nice park in Virginia beach that is only 10 bucks a night, stay there two weeks and boondock for two weeks...now you are down to 140 bucks a month for rent.

I am sure it can be all be done on a 500 bucks a month budget..I just hope that I will remain able bodied enough to at least work answering phones or something...roughly ten dollars an hour for entry level customer service reps across the nation. If you are not willing to answer phones to make money then you might as well kick the bucket now.

[QUOTE] There are options for RV sites that would provide them free, such as volunteer positions like we do a lot of. That would greatly extend the distance a budget will go.


Kirk, do you find it really easy to find the volunteering anywhere you want.
God Bless
Danny