Delete now! On your terms!
You can withdraw now! If you’re like a lot of my friends who struggle, you’re going to ask how?
Like ‘when I have a mortgage or rent to pay’… ‘when the cost of living is so high, the electric bill, the fees, the gas, the bills… the bills… the bills … I’ll be working until I die!’ I hear that all the time from women I know who are past retirement age…some even in their 70s. They are stressed beyond belief and their health is suffering, they look exhausted and they should when they are just working to survive and pay their bills.
So is there another way? Yes, because I am living it… and even in my 40’s I have always taken mini-retirements of several months to a year without working and have lived very well… Travel, entertainment, restaurants and all without stress!
Most people work their whole lives until retirement age and hope they have enough saved, a retirement and their health to enjoy it… If the current economy and all its pitfalls don’t catch up with them first. My life may not be for you… but you can adapt it, modify it and live life your way!
So how do I avoid all the pitfalls of a lot of women, especially the ones I meet alone, and this goes for couples as well? How do I live on my terms?
Seventeen years of yachting and my love of the ocean have made it easier for me. A yacht is your home; has everything you need on board to sail to any coastal or offshore anchorage. When you sail, you live a simple life, enjoy nature and travel at its best. Sailing allowed me to have many mini-retreats sailing the waters off Auckland and the Bay of Islands, Lord Howe Island and the East Coast of Australia to and around the Whitsunday Islands.
And it’s easy to retire when the lifestyle is so cheap, the wind is free and you sail as much as possible because that’s what you love. You don’t use a lot of fuel, you don’t need a lot of expensive clothes and there are very few bills; the insurances were my majors and that was my choice. There is much more about the cost of cruises that you can read on my website.
But living on a yacht and sailing isn’t for everyone… not for some of the ladies I mentioned earlier. So what is another option?
Another way to retire now and beat the economy is…what I’m doing right now! Living on a houseboat! For me, I am still on the water, I can still explore different bays and I can still live very cheaply. The difference is that a houseboat is just that a house on the water has a lot more amenities, more space for both living and entertaining on deck. Unfortunately, other destinations far from protected waters are out of the question.
Like other boats, they come in all sizes and prices, and ownership gives you one less bill you wouldn’t have otherwise. A fraction of the cost of a land dwelling. Whether on a yacht, any other type of boat, even a houseboat, you can choose to live anchored in a beautiful bay or live in a marina.
At anchor it’s free, a very small amount of fuel for the boats engines, dirty engine and generator to run all your comforts… TV, computer, phone recharge, iron, fridge, whatever on the boat of your thing. And in some cases, from a yacht with fenders… to a houseboat. Anchored, he has a beachside house with the biggest pool he never has to clean and lives at a fraction of the cost of living on land. So you can withdraw now!
At a marina there is a cost for mooring, about a third of the cost of living on land where I am in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Electricity and water are included, there are excellent facilities on land, shops, restaurants, entertainment and everything you can imagine. I look across my deck right now and see all the different yachts, powerboats and houseboats that have live boats on board; it is a wonderful friendly community. So if you really don’t like boating, you can live in a marina on a houseboat for a very low price and retire now.
I’m still not convinced that there are all the other alternatives to explore, like RVs and home care. I am looking forward to a cruise vacation in the near future, I have some other luxuries, entertainment and going to restaurants, I am not working just to survive. By adjusting my lifestyle, I will live life on my terms and so can you!
