retired and free, now traveling in a truck camper

[AlexK]

I don't post here often but I do lurk from time to time. Back in 2008 I came across the ERE blog and it inspired me to get off the consumer treadmill and save for FI. Well it worked and this month I quit my job for good. My wife quit too (although she wants to go back to work eventually) and we are now traveling The US West coast in a truck camper. We still have a house as we don't want to do this permanently, just until we tire of it.

We are at about $1m in assets and I'm 41 so by ERE standards not that extreme or early but still pretty far from the norm.

The feeling of absolute freedom upon leaving the job the last day is incredible. Jacob I owe you big time for planting the seed.

[almostthere]

Congratulations and welcome to the club! Please keep us posted on the adventure.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Congratulations! That's awesome. Want to share how you did it?

[thrifty++]

Great news! I am so looking forward to this. Yes please do share how you got there.

[susswein]

Let me know when you come through salt lake. I can offer a place to crash.

[AlexK]

How I did it is nothing special. I just cut living expenses, mainly with cheap housing, and saved the rest. My engineer salary has ranged from $60k to $90k so probably on the low side of average. Lived on $15k/yr. I bought 3 rental properties and have some stock in retirement accounts too. It is a little disconcerting to have no paycheck coming in right now since I have been used to always saving, but so far I'm fine and the checking account is higher now than when I left the job thanks to the latest rent check that was deposited by my tenant. ACA insurance is utter crap but I hope to get subsidy next year.

I'm actually not too keen on rentals at the moment. I am considering selling some or all of them and buying index funds instead. My area has appreciated quite a bit over the past few years and I think it's not a good yield any more here. For example a house I own is worth $250k and rents for $1225/mo. Sounds like a dud but it appreciated 25% last year! Since I would never buy such a low yielding asset, logic says I should probably sell it.

Susswein, thanks for the offer, we might take you up on that. I consider it a privilege to meet anyone from this forum.

My wife and I have a blog but it is more of a travelogue than financial. I won't spell it out here but it's on my profile.

[SimpleLife]

Any chance you would post pics of your camper? Congrats by the way. One thing you did not mention is how much the mortgage is on your rental above, and how much of it goes to principal, also, the depreciation benefit. I too have a couple of rentals, and if I bought at current prices, they would be losses. However, I make very high returns on my rentals with little money by buying right, or having bought right. I wouldn't discount keeping them, let's take a look at the numbers.

[cmonkey]

I'm 41 so by ERE standards not that extreme or early but still pretty far from the norm.

Congrats! I think 41 is probably closer to the norm on these forums, so you definitely fall into this crowd. Most folks I see on here that are retired are between 35 & 40. Folks younger than 35 are generally in the accumulation phase (myself included). Given your expense level and your net worth it sounds like you worked a bit longer than was required.

[AlexK]

Any chance you would post pics of your camper? Congrats by the way. One thing you did not mention is how much the mortgage is on your rental above, and how much of it goes to principal, also, the depreciation benefit.

There is lots about the camper on the blog www.firedthejob.com.

All of the properties are paid off, no mortgages. I don't consider the depreciation a benefit because once the property is sold the sum of all the prior depreciation is considered income in that year, triggering a high tax rate (possibly higher than when the depreciation was taken, yielding more tax than if no depreciation was ever taken).

[AlexK]

I'm 41 so by ERE standards not that extreme or early but still pretty far from the norm.

Given your expense level and your net worth it sounds like you worked a bit longer than was required.

You're right. It's a simple plan to save and pull the ripcord when assets equal 25X expenses, but harder to execute in practice. I don't know what my expenses will be in retirement, possibly more since I will be out doing stuff instead of trapped in a cubicle all day. My mother in law is broke and moved in with us a few months ago, I might be paying for her retirement as well as mine (don't know if she will get her act together or not) so there is that uncertainty as well. But mainly I just wanted a nice cushion against the unknown.

[TopHatFox]

How exciting! You both likely worked incredibly hard to get to where you are now! Hope your travels are meaningful and joyful.

[thepagangoddess]

I'm interested in buying a camper, but I still haven't decided how much I want to be in a 'tin can' while traveling. My set-up is pretty, but it can take half an hour, or more, to set up.
I'm not sure if you've posted it, but how much did you spend on truck/camper? Any pics of the inside?
As soon as I can figure out how to post a pic, I'll post what I use while traveling...
Cat., aka thepagangoddess

[AlexK]

I'm interested in buying a camper, but I still haven't decided how much I want to be in a 'tin can' while traveling. My set-up is pretty, but it can take half an hour, or more, to set up.
I'm not sure if you've posted it, but how much did you spend on truck/camper? Any pics of the inside?
As soon as I can figure out how to post a pic, I'll post what I use while traveling...
Cat., aka thepagangoddess

There are advantages to tent camping for sure. I did it for years and love the fact that I can go in a car, or a truck and bring toys (motorcycle, kayak, etc). The thing I like about a small camper is you can make a meal or take a nap anywhere without any setup or attracting any attention. Also you don't need to be as picky about a camp spot, you can even camp right in a parking lot or street. The truck was $7500 and camper $1300. A truck could be bought for much less but I wanted a diesel for the better mpg and 4x4 for more options when exploring.

We are still open to trying something else, but the truck camper has been great for finding free camp spots. When we had a Casita trailer I was always hesitant to turn onto some random dirt road for fear of a dead end and no turn around. With the truck camper we have never had a hard time finding a free spot to sleep and never once been disturbed. But due to the small size and weight there is no shower or toilet so that is an issue sometimes. There is no perfect RV.

If you buy right then if you don't like it you can resell and possibly at a profit. We have made $500 each on the last two trailers we have owned. The trick to that is don't be too picky about what you want, just look for something that is almost what you want and priced below its market value, perhaps because it's winter time or the seller is strapped for cash.

There is one pic of the inside of ours here: http://firedthejob.com/index.php/about-us/