Retirement planning - how much does it cost!
- Thread starter canstead
- Start date
El Borracho
Barkeeper’s Friend
Cruisers only fly back to the home country because of insurance coverage for major or long-term procedures. Top quality care is readily available, and low cost, in Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines. DAN is a remarkably good deal anywhere.
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
slug zitski
Super Anarchist
In regions like the Med , that have few natural harbours , it’s difficult to avoid marinas
budget at least 50 percent of your time in marinas
Winter weather in the Med is harsh
maintenance ? Difficult to predict …west Med prices are high, east med prices are low
general operating costs in the Med are similar to what you would pay in the US
SASSAFRASS
Super Anarchist
10% of purchase price or value per year is a safe number for maintenance. Some years less some more. Figure about 1-2k per month you will be in a marina for moorage and "other" expenses. Active cruising drops many in town costs but raises maintenance costs. Inland travel and airfare are big question marks now.
The scale is fairly huge and very much dependant on your lifestyle and the boat you choose.
Whatever your financial planner has down for your realistic at home living expenses per month based on years past, probably tack on the boat maintenance and you will be close.
The scale is fairly huge and very much dependant on your lifestyle and the boat you choose.
Whatever your financial planner has down for your realistic at home living expenses per month based on years past, probably tack on the boat maintenance and you will be close.
slug zitski
Super Anarchist
Maintenance and repairs are hard to estimate ,an equipment failure could put you in a marina for two weeks while you waite for the replacement part to be air freighted in and cleared thru customs
upgrades are hard to estimate
a new set of fitted Bed sheets ? Yikes !
a new dodger skin ? Yikes !
a new masthead wind wand ? Yikes !
boats a full of these ….yikes ! Items
when cruising around provisions are more expensive than what you would pay at the supermarket back home
you must also plan on how to get money on the boat
exchange rates and transfers eat cash fast
upgrades are hard to estimate
a new set of fitted Bed sheets ? Yikes !
a new dodger skin ? Yikes !
a new masthead wind wand ? Yikes !
boats a full of these ….yikes ! Items
when cruising around provisions are more expensive than what you would pay at the supermarket back home
you must also plan on how to get money on the boat
exchange rates and transfers eat cash fast
Huggy Bear Brown
Anarchist
- 691
- 104
We've been cruising full time in the Caribbean Windward Islands for three years on a 2008 Jeanneau 45DS. We typically go out to local restaurants around twice a week and always take the local dollar buses for transport. We're always at anchor, but spend 4 to 6 weeks in a Grenada marina this time of year due to the heat and keep my wife happy with A/C. We also go on the hard in the Sept/Oct timeframe to visit friends and family in the States. Here is how our budget breaks down:
- Groceries, restaurants, entertainment, beer, rum - $440/week We ATM withdraw at the start of the week and only use cash.
- We have a miscellaneous budget of $800/month which covers laundry services, mail service, or anything else that pops up which is not food/drink related.
- Boat insurance is $6000/yr or just over 3% of value.
- Boat maintenance is $14,000/yr.
- Communication budget is $100/month for two local phones. Each phone has a 5gig/week data plan. Skype and WhatsApp are great.
- Fuel for diesel, outboard, propane is $120/month which has been more than enough. We typically run our generator 1/2 hour per day.
- 6 weeks in the marina with A/C was $1500 - electricity cost more than the slip. The marina allows you to do a lot of your maintenance chores in a/c.
- Haul out and two months storage is around $3000 on the high end. https://spiceislandmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/simsco-rates-2019.pdf
- We have international health insurance through IMG which includes evacuation. Be aware of evac plans as they typically will only get you to the closest facility that can handle your needs, not your home country. This plan is $2000/year for my wife and I.
- We also have US health insurance.
Hope that helps and have fun with your adventure.
Huggy
slug zitski
Super Anarchist
Yup
Weather… many times the weather turns miserable for a few weeks
hot, thunderstorms ….or overcrowded anchorages
marinas are a fact of life
when cruising in the med skip US health insurance and only pay for Euro health insurance
half price
Also speak to your accountant about income tax…
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
All of this is making me realize I’ll need to sell my house, and my child, perhaps my wife, and chop down and sell the valuable trees on my lot for firewood to afford any of this.
I’m ok with that. (Will check on the other stuff.)
I’m ok with that. (Will check on the other stuff.)
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TwoLegged
Super Anarchist
- 5,894
- 2,261
Jud, if you are happy for example, to live without insurance that allows you to be airlifted out of Europe when you need medical treatment*
, then you can live a lot more cheaply than some of the posts above suggest. Similarly if you avoid the areas where you have to stay in marinas, and if you do your own cooking and don't demand 24/7 net.access. Then you might not actually need to sell your spouse.Then again, your choice of a rugged very DIYable offshore boat suggest that your sailing plans are not based on preening yourself in a marina at Cannes or Capri.
* personally, if I ever need medical treatment, I'd pay good money to be not caught up in the absurd USAnian medical system. That's one of the few countries from which I would want a medevac
Elegua
Generalissimo
Well, having worked with all of those systems....Singapore is better than most G7, Malaysia is kind of meh outside of basic care. I wouldn't' trust PI with basic care and I worked with Quezon's Grandson. If had something serious, the US system is still the best if you have insurance or Medicare. We moved people to jobs in the US when they had a cancer diagnoses - of course on the company plan.
Not quite. Look into DANboater. It's a new policy more suited for cruising folks. Also have good reports about https://www.worldnomads.com/
That is very steep. Might want to shop around.
That's quite high to me. What are you doing for that sort of thing over 3 years.
Ouch.
I don't agree "Marinas are a fact of life". In most parts of the world you can avoid them. Just think "I'm poor" and follow the poor cruisers and see where they go.
South Africa is an exception because of the limited harbours and strong winds. We cruised RTW. In5.5 years of cruising our marina stays were about this:
Mexico 2 days Ensenda getting checked into the country; making up a fake registration certificate
Mexico 1 x 1 month (getting the boat ready for a Pacific crossing)
Mexico 1 x 2 months (getting ready to sell after RTW, socializing with friends etc. Spent too long here but it was last hurrah time)
Mexico 2 days in Puerto Escondito
French Polynesia, Tonga, Cook islands, Vanuatua - nope
Fiji - Mooring buoy in Savusavu, Fiji for 1 day when checking in to the country
Australia - 1 day in Bundaberg to check in to the Country
Australia - 2 days after a haulout somewhere in Queensland I forget where
Indonesia - nope
Malaysia - 3 days to check into country, restock on groceries after Indonesia, hit up a Starbucks etc.
Sri Lanka, Maldives, Chagos, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar - nope
S. Africa - nearly 4 months there, all in yacht clubs/marinas
St Helena, Ascencion I - nope
Suriname, Tobago, Grenda, Curacao - nope
Panama - nope though lots of people choose to go into Shelter Bay before canal
Costa Rica - maybe 1 night in Golfito (high risk of robbery)?
Mexico coast, heading north - about 1 week to celebrate Christmas and do a road trip inland. Puerto Madero near the Guat. border
So if I add it all up I get about 8 months. South Africa and the 2 months in a marina before selling really skewed those numbers.
Fah Kiew Tu
Curmudgeon, First Rank
You guys are kind of making my point for me. None of you mention the big remote & sprawling places like Indonesia or the smaller remote ones like the Solomons, PNG, Vanuatu, New Caledonia et al. Get sick or injured there, get flown out.
As for the Philippines, I dispute that one. My first wife is a consultant to their Ministry of Health, spends a fair bit of time over there auditing their systems and labs. Let's say she's not impressed. Are they better than the Indonesians? Sure. The equal of the better places in Malaysia? No. Let alone Singapore. But how many of you are going to be cruising Singapore? It's still a flight to get there. Malaysia or Thailand, yes, decent cruising there.
Of course I'm looking at this from an Aussie POV rather than a USA one so not biased by having to make a choice between bankruptcy and dying if I get ill.
As I said, budget for flights out to somewhere with a First World medical/hospital system. Hope you'll never need it.
FWIW my retirement expenses are well below my retirement income but I live fairly frugally (except for a really bad tool habit, but that makes money sometimes). I can easily live on $30K AUD a year. Full time cruising would decrease that amount but I can fix everything on my boat - destroying an engine or losing an expensive prop are the sort of things that can't be fixed and are unlikely but possible events.
FKT
Penang Malaysia. I visited a hospital there for a heart arrthymia condition that developed while in Indo. 95% of the patients were from China
The population is about 0.75M. They don't need that many hospitals for the local folks.
FKT has it right. Depending on where you are, getting out fast is the best option.
The population is about 0.75M. They don't need that many hospitals for the local folks.
FKT has it right. Depending on where you are, getting out fast is the best option.
SASSAFRASS
Super Anarchist
Z insurance has changed alot since you guys were out, probably lucky to even get a new policy in the Carribean now.
These threads tend to all follow a similar vain, people giving examples of what worked for them etc but at the end of the day most Zebras don't change their stripes. If your standard of living at home, pre-cruising, is a 8 you probably aren't going to be able to do a 4 on a boat.
These threads tend to all follow a similar vain, people giving examples of what worked for them etc but at the end of the day most Zebras don't change their stripes. If your standard of living at home, pre-cruising, is a 8 you probably aren't going to be able to do a 4 on a boat.
