What would it take to retire and sail off into the sunset...

[RonE58]

Just curious how fellow sailors would respond if they were given a similar offer. My company has come up with an incentive package to reduce the ranks of there non-management employees.
With just two weeks to make a decision, you can accept the retirement package one of two ways, a lump sum, or a traditional monthly payment. In my case 30 years and having the magic age of at least 50, would bring you a lump sum of 525,000, plus a 115,000 basically distributed over the first 4 years. The other more traditional option is roughly 2700 a month and that 115,000 incentive over four years.
Now forgetting for a moment, my high mortgage, my kids(adults) college loan payments, and the fact that my wife can't retire for another ten years, dosn't it sound like it would be nice to cash in and sail away into the sunset....

[Neil Gordon]

I had a friend who was offered early retirement with a rather large lump sum, plus retraining money. He went from a professional job to taking a course in bicycle repair and became a bike tech.

His whole idea was that he could afford to retire if he could earn enough doing "whatever" as long as he'd be making the amount of Social Security he'd get when he hit a "real" retirement age. Fixing bikes was enough to get him there and something he really liked doing.

[The Patriot]

... Just curious how fellow sailors would respond ... dosn't it sound like it would be nice to cash in and sail away into the sunset ...

This is a complicated subject these days even for people with tons of money.

One of the first things to consider is where you live. For example if you live anywhere on the US East Coast, "sailing off into the sunset" is a very difficult technical accomplishment. In fact it may be impossible. You will either crash into the dock at the west end of your marina, or run aground along some sandy coast. Either way you'll probably need costly repairs to the boat, and that will cut into the old nest egg. Some of the above comments will not apply if you have an amphibious vehicle.

Until a month or so ago it was possible to "sail off into the sunset" from the West Coast of Florida. Unfortunately the activities of Big Oil and some of their fully-owned subsidiaries in DC and Crawford, Texas, have curtailed a lot of this activity. Most of this sailing destination is now closed and will remain closed for what is called "the future" as far as marine life is concerned. According to the Federal Register "sailing off into the sunset" from western Florida is now under the control of the Department of Homeland Security and is regulated using armed USCG vessels. Be careful with this. It may be safer to just head for Cuba and suffer the consequences.

US West Coast sailors are luckier when it comes to "sailing off into the sunset." The only problems they encounter (besides racial profiling by the INS and Tea Party vigilante groups) are earthquakes and the accompanying tsunamis. I haven't personally experienced one of these but I'd guess that a set of sturdy drop boards and some good oilies are a good investment if you're thinking about this.

Happily these problems do not exist in many other parts of the world. If you live on the west coast of Ireland or in the Hebrides, you're good to go. Just don't forget to release all the docklines. The same is true for a lot of Portugal and western Spain. Western Africa is another possibility if you don't mind your typical bloody revolution every 3 weeks, genocide once or twice a decade, and bad drinking water. Do not (I repeat: DO NOT) enforce "close pack" on your crew. This leaves a bad impression with local authorities.

Right now we are not recommending Thailand, and in fact I'm not even sure they have a western coastline. I hear there are some bargain slips in Greece though.

I don't want to give the impression that things are terrible everywhere, but you must admit that life used to be a lot simpler.

[Kilgore]

In the words of Steve Miller, 'Whoa-o, take the money and run'!

A wad of cash in the hand beats two in the bush.

[Kilgore]

But then there is this:
http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/retirement-cost/

[Duncan]

Just curious how fellow sailors would respond...

There's obviously a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle (tax treatment, "baseline" normal retirement payout, sailing plans, personal financial situation, etc.).

Here's a scenario that would suit me just fine (58, bachelor, simple lifestyle):

1) Accept the offer, and get a job at the chandlery, boatyard, or some other sailing-related business. Live on the income from that, without touching the retirement money. Use the contacts/employee discount to reduce boat expenses.
2)Treat the $115 as 'boat money'. Use the Year One and Year Two installments to buy the retirement boat. Use the Year Three installment for maintenance and upgrades, and Year Four for the first year's cruising kitty.
3) Work on the boat in the winter and sail it in the summer, then after four years, go sailing for a year.
4) Let the rest of the retirement money build up via investments.

So, you end up in nice shape five years out, and then "officially retire" onto the boat? I could go for that one.

[Carl Thunberg]

Now forgetting for a moment, my high mortgage, my kids(adults) college loan payments, ....

Exactly how do you do that, 'cuz I'd really like to know . . .?

[Steve Laume]

Now forgetting for a moment, my high mortgage, my kids(adults) college loan payments, ....

Exactly how do you do that, 'cuz I'd really like to know . . .?

Easy ones. Sell the house and let the adult children pay back their own loans with the money they are now making because of the education they received.

The marriage situation might be a bit more of a problem.

I would be gone from the job in half a heart beat. There is always a way to make things work.

On the other hand I do want to live out my days at the home I have created over the past 20 years or more. Some extended sailing trips would be great as long as there was a home to come home to.

I suppose a lot of people dream about sailing away. Most of us could probably do it if we were committed to the idea. That commitment would include spousal approval of the plan or the willingness to put the venture before the marriage which would not help the emotional or financial situation.

If the dream is to become a reality all it would take is the requisite amount of commitment.

I for one am not about to sail off into the sunset but always recommend retirement as soon as possible, Steve.

[Droofus]

A boat.

[mahalocd36]

For sure, many many people have sailed off with a lot less.

So it's really between you, your wife, your financial advisor. It's really a personal decision - as someone else said, just about anyone can if they really want to (but I'll add: and have the right family circumstances).

We might be able to do that in a few years (sail off into the sunrise, leaving from Maine ) - Will we? Don't know. Nor for how long. Though I can see an extended cruise maybe (i.e. a year). Don't know if I'd want to commit to it for longer than that, at first anyways.

I do agree with the take the money and run advice and, I'm not sure what you do now, but maybe you can find something else to do, that you'll really enjoy and make a little $ at, until your wife can retire.

[Vcoast]

While on a summer college job, I worked with a guy who had 12 kids. Another guy in the shop, nearly the same age, had no kids. The guy with the big brood one day wryly commented, "you see, if you wait till the right time to have kids, you'll never have any". That always stuck with me.

(Fast forward 30yrs.). There were a few summers a beautiful traditional looking sailboat tied up in our mooring field up here in New England. All I knew of the slightly older couple, they were from England, spent their winters in warmer climates, and had an acquaintance in our neck of the woods.

Many a morning I would drive by our mooring field on my way to the rock pile, (work), see their drying laundry hanging in the rigging, and my thoughts would drift to retired life on a sailboat. Asking myself the very same question, "What kind of bank account would I need to do that?"

One afternoon, swinging on the mooring, working on my boat, I heard the lilt of an English accent up on deck asking if I needed assistance. A short time later followed an invite to this beautiful sailboat I had admired.

Fortunately, for the sake of this story, I lack the proper upbringing, which teaches self restraint when the urge to inquire about one's financial situation arises.

Here was a couple living my dream, geez, I really wanted to know how far off I was in my work-a-day world. Was it pension, independent wealth, good investments, savings, ......? Let's face it, every sailor wants to know.....

Turns out, it was none of the above. This gentlemen, and his wife, left England about 3 years earlier with about 5000 pounds U.K. in the bank, about $10K U.S. give or take. They had built their own sailboat out of ferro cement. As he said, the hull is easy, but hardly anyone ever finishes them. This boat was about 38 to 40 ft. what a job they did. As I recall, he had worked as a carpenter. He told me everything they owned was in a few boxes in his wife's sisters' attic back home. Somewhere down around South America his wife said he spent the last of their savings renting a small plane to fly over some silly waterfall he had always wanted to see, "I could have smashed him that day", she chimed.

They were in their late 50's, maybe early 60's, and readily admitted, if either one of them had taken seriously ill, the trip would have ended. Looking around the cabin, I noticed an assorted of small oil paintings. As a hobby, he had always wanted to try his hand at painting, never having had the chance until this cruise. Some folks are just gifted. He liked to take a photograph of a port they were in, and paint the harbor as it may have looked over a hundred years ago, then sell it in a local gallery. Of course, he was quick to add, the dealer always takes more than a fair share. Otherwise, he'd pick up a small job here or there as needed.

Their game plan that summer was to drive across the US and, 'See the States'. They had just purchased or traded for a used Subaru which I had noticed parked in our lot. I'm sure, no insurance was involved.

Their words, "If we waited for the right time to do this we would have never done it, or ended up too old to do it when the right time came".

I guess wealth is not what's in your bank account, but what's in your dream account. I guess one way to look at it, if you only have $10K to start with, 4 or 5 years later it won't take long to replace the nest egg.....

[Cathy Monaghan]

I think the biggest obstacle to throwing off the lines and sailing off into the sunset is fear. We're afraid of, or don't trust, our own abilities. We're afraid to break our ties with land, to sell off nearly all of our belongings and to move aboard a small boat. We're afraid to say goodbye to friends and family, even though it's not really goodbye. We have alot of insecurities so we tend to just dream. But dreams don't and won't come true unless you take a step forward, and then another, towards that dream. Just do it.


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Paul D.]

I always considered this sort of the ultimate 'how to' on this topic. Though I cannot love the junk rig...

http://www.tillerbooks.com/Voyaging_On_ ... Income.php

Sorry, only 45 with small children and a non-profit occupation, could never help you with your situation, but dang it sounds nice either way!

Paul

[Chuck Conklin]

I was in your position in 1993, when our company wanted to down size. They "asked" everyone over 50 to consider early retirement with a nice package. I have never regretted jumping at it with both feet. We went out and bought a CD Intrepid 40 and have cruised the Caribbean for 15 years. We'd still be out but my health is failing.

It's a BIG move, but you have to be all in or forget it. You have to make up your mind to sell everything, bank the money and just go. We did and are still here to talk about all of the great times and people we met.

If you have any specific questions, I'd be glad to talk to you off line.

Chuck
S/V Mañana

[mshopenn]

Guts; that's all it takes.