Okay Brainstormers.. If you had.....

[chickflick]

If you had $100K cash and nothing else besides your SUV what choices would you make as far as living arrangements for the rest of your life?

If I sell my home, this would pretty much be the deal. I would like to live in a travel trailer, stopping for lengths of time at various places (several months) to travel some, meet people, etc.

This doesn't however seen like a 'forever' option with gas prices, camp site charges, etc. Maybe get a small acreage to call 'home' and retreat to on occassion? Any of you already doing this?

Small/downsizing is the key word. And I HATE property taxes. What do you guys think I might be able to do?

[countrygrrrl]

That's about what I have. Except all of it is in property now. But not for long, as we're selling the place which is tying up most of my money. :yeeha:

in any case, this is what i did. i bought the place i'm in now for cash, flatout - $25K. Made some improvements, then plunked everything down in the other place. Which was supposed to bring me income, but it was with a relative. So needless to say, no income.

However, the value of that property has gone up about $30K since i plunked that money into it. And we're hoping to sell it by winter.

And with the return of financial liquidity to my life, here is what I'm planning to do.

Most of it will be stuffed away into a free, interest bearing account (ING). Some will be stuffed into IRAs (I have two). Some will go into my extremely volatile stock holdings .

And a huge pile of it will go into this place. In particular, right off the bat: a new barn, a shelter/root cellar, new fencing, work on the trailer (which is a nice trailer, but still a trailer) to turn it into a permanent dwelling, and a giant sleeping porch out back.

Then a separate fund will be set up for making at least one major improvement a year. My plan is to never leave this place, but to do as much work as possible before building codes get here.

In short, I suggest: plunk the money into property, esp. one property you plan to stay in for the rest of your life.

[fordy]

.................OK ladies here http://rv.net/ is the absolute BEST website on , for, or about ALL things concerning RVing in all it's many possible choices.
.................cf, the first limiting factor that you have is the Towing capacity of your SUV. I'm assuming here it's a gasser so you are going to be limited to towing a travel trailer that doesn't Exceed the Maximum ability of your SUV. Of course, you can trade UP and buy a good used Diesel Truck and then you can Increase the SIZE of your trailer as well as moving UP to a 5th wheel. This is the Ultimate course that I am going to pursue as soon as I can sell my little Ranchito of 5 acres. You can Work and Camp\RV full time simultaneously and get to see our beautiful country .
.................The three BEST states to be a "Resident OF" ...are.. South Dakota , Florida , and.......Texas. Sales tax on an RV in SD are 3% vs 6.25% in texas. I don't know what it would be in Fl. It is absolutely so simple to register your truck and Trailer ..or..Motor Home in SD. They have a guy in SD who takes care of ALL the Arrangements for you for a modest fee and they handle all your mail etc. To get a SD drivers license you simply turn in your Tex. license and they issue You A SD license. You have to become a resident of SD first, then you come back here , or in any state that you find the best deal on a Trailer and you then register it in SD. The state laws are very Friendly in this respect in SD. All this info is covered very well on the RV net website.....fordy....

[Mrs_stuart]

There are a lot of options that you could have...and freedom. There are several places that you could travel to and host and have lodging with full hooksup for free. Usually the minimum time is about 30 days that you have to "volunteer". there are lots of work campers out there and a lot of sites on the web. A lot of full timers know where to camp for free or cheaply to save money. A lot of state parks, national parks, and even national forest parks offer a free list of what and when they need "host" and what requiremenst of the host and what they have to offer the hosts.

We have some great books...Don Wright's FREE Campgronds (eastern Edition) and the second one is the western edition. These include all free campgrounds and campgrounds $12 and under. You might want to check out these books if you are going to Travel much.

We almost sold our house last year and were gonna travel around with the camper...and winter in Florida or texas with the mom or mom-in-law.

We have decided to wait for a while because the kids want to stay in 4-H and have show animals and the such. But we still want to do it...

Belinda

Originally Posted by chickflick

If you had $100K cash and nothing else besides your SUV what choices would you make as far as living arrangements for the rest of your life?

If I sell my home, this would pretty much be the deal. I would like to live in a travel trailer, stopping for lengths of time at various places (several months) to travel some, meet people, etc.

This doesn't however seen like a 'forever' option with gas prices, camp site charges, etc. Maybe get a small acreage to call 'home' and retreat to on occassion? Any of you already doing this?

Small/downsizing is the key word. And I HATE property taxes. What do you guys think I might be able to do?

[Chas in Me]

Originally Posted by chickflick

If you had $100K cash and nothing else besides your SUV what choices would you make as far as living arrangements for the rest of your life?

If I sell my home, this would pretty much be the deal. I would like to live in a travel trailer, stopping for lengths of time at various places (several months) to travel some, meet people, etc.

This doesn't however seen like a 'forever' option with gas prices, camp site charges, etc. Maybe get a small acreage to call 'home' and retreat to on occassion? Any of you already doing this?

Small/downsizing is the key word. And I HATE property taxes. What do you guys think I might be able to do?

[FONT=Arial]

Keep in mind that your camper and SUV are going to wear out, your insurance will need renewal and you will need an address for you license and registration.

With homeland security in place, no address means suspuscion.
JMHO
Charles

[comfortablynumb]

what year is the suv and how many miles are on it?

[katydidagain]

Follow the law of thirds. 1 for your future--land/homesite when you get tired of the road. 1 for the thrill of adventure--we all need to kick up our heels! And 1 for what you can't predict but will probably need.

katy

How many will be traveling with you? Type of SUV you currently have? Miles/condition of SUV? Your medical condition? Your age? (approximate if you wish )

Me I'd buy the next size up camper than I think I'd need and set up $25K in secured investments. $12-25K in a liquid account for onroad investments. The balance buy my camper and travel till I got tired of it. That's me. I've slept in tents (sucks) Pop-up campers (better) 5th wheel campers (better +) and Airstream 37' 1996 model (best yet)

Tell us more so we can help more.!

[countrygrrrl]

Originally Posted by katydidonce

Follow the law of thirds. 1 for your future--land/homesite when you get tired of the road. 1 for the thrill of adventure--we all need to kick up our heels! And 1 for what you can't predict but will probably need.

katy

I think this is perfect advice.

Bear in mind, cf, there will come a time when you're tired of traveling.

Well, maybe not. But you should plunk down some money on a place, just in case. Likely, its value won't decrease, but will increase. And should you discover the only thing you ever want to do is drive around hither and yon for an eternity, you can always sell the place ... for more than you paid.

[BrushBuster]

well i put 70k into a townhouse that pays me 1200 a month. when ever i decide, i can sell for the same 70k and all those months will be basically gimmees

and a hundred grand with no income will be gone in very quick order.

[boxwoods]

If you have no income, that $100,000 will be gone in no time. medical insurance?

sounds like a vacation, then you will have to start over. IMO

[oz in SC]

There are certain campers more suitable to full time use-look closely at the various forums dealing with RV'ing.

My parents did this back in 1985-sold our house in Australia,went on a little 'vacation',arrived in the UK and bought an RV.

Ended up travelling around Europe for a while and ended up following the sun south.

Sold the RV,bought a sailboat and sailed that(after quite a lot of work and a few tragedies) to the Caribean....And that is where it all ended.

I personally would like a 'homebase' of some sort-just a nice piece of land with power/etc to stay at to recharge your batteries...

As to money,my parents did it on a LOT less money than $100K.

We looked at a fifth wheel that would to us have been fine for full time RV'ing.
It was about $8000.A truck suitable to tow it would be about $15,000 for a used diesel truck.

Now of course you might not need something this big.

[Windy in Kansas]

A month or so ago I read a magazine article about "immediate annunities".

You plunk do money for the annunity, and it immediately starts paying a monthly income just like a retirement check would arrive.

Since only part of the check is interest and another part is your initial investment being returned, not all of the amount is taxable.

You choose and specify whether you want the amount for a set number of years, a lifetime, or a lifetime plus the remaineder being paid to heirs. Also if you want a spouse covered.

If you have a good chunk of money it looks like a pretty good deal to me. I would probably use more than one company so that if one fails you would still get funds.

[CraftyDiva]

Windy,

Thanks for the heads up. Did a search and found http://www.immediateannuities.com/ , did the calculations and for a monthly income of $1500 for life I'd need a $245,000 investment. Now to start on getting that investment. :haha:

[Don Armstrong]

What do you want to do for the end of your life (say 70 onwards). My ideal would be to live on a small acreage (say two acres plus woodlot) on the border of a medium village, with available and affordable medical facilities. Poultry, goats, enough space to grow small amounts of cereals, beans and peas. Collect a few square yards a day with a scythe, plus orchard and vegetable garden.

You can probably buy that for nothing much now, and hold onto it. You may be able to buy a larger area with the aim of ultimately sub-dividing and selling off what would be too much for you later to form your superannuation policy. You can always travel on the cheap, provided you're not tied down by commitments to milking animals or animals that need feeding, so you could travel now, watching for availability of the sort of thing I described above in a place you like. If you have an in-demand skill (NURSING, teaching, mechanic or builder or public servant) you can settle in a lot of places and commute, doing maybe part-time or casual work to finance a life which is already fed and housed on your small block. The ideal for many people could be the sort of place I live now - a small country town with GREAT schools and a small hospital, about equidistant from three larger centres with much more opportunity for employment.

[Gina]

Life by nature is uncertain. If it were me, I'd buy about 15 acres (10 acre woodlot and 5 for working). I'd invest in building a home that is as efficient and non-reliant on the grid as possible. I'd be setting up outbuildings for goats, chickens, possibly pigs. A small orchard, veggie and herb gardens, several sources of water, a stocked pond, etc. I'd want to set up everything to be paid in full and as self-sufficient as possible. My system would have a back-up and my back-up would have a back-up. That way, IF something bad does happen (political, economic or natural disaster), me and my family will be able to survive it.

If you want to travel, you can hire someone to care for your homestead for the winter when there are only minimal chores to attend to. Or you can take a bit of time to travel around and look for an area that you could spend the rest of your days. When you find that perfect place, you can then search for the perfect land and set it all up. Even though $100K seems like a lot of money, it WILL go faster than you can imagine.

Gina

[BCR]

I agree with Katy and countrygrrl. Though, in fact, I wouldn't buy a travel trailer at all. I would consider heading into an interesting job temporarily. Say, working on a cruise ship (I'm an LMT) and travel travel travel. Or working at a national park or resort for a while.

I used to dream of a travel trailer. Here's what I came up with after much research and a little experience.

1. Can't garden in a traditional way if you are travelling around. Fresh veggies, etc. won't be your own.

2. The cost of running and mileage of those machines and maintenance (have you priced tires alone?) is just too great an expense to me.

3. You can barely have a dog/cat when traveling. What would you do for a chicken fix?

4. It is costly to park anywhere in the same place for any length of time. If you want to do that, why not rent a cheap apartment till you decide where to settle?

If I had $100K, I'd consider the following:

1. Put some untouchable cash into my puny retirement fund.

2. Find a small piece of property (no more than 1 acre if I was on my own). Here I would build a very efficient sustainable small house of my dreams. I would end owing nothing and maybe with some $ left over.

3. If I had no college education or other training (I have both) I'd consider investing in my education/skills. Even with my training, I would be tempted to take a few thousand for some classes.


You can travel affordably without investing in the expense of a travel trailer. You can even find some small work/ housing exchanges. Maybe even being a caretaker as you see the country. When you buy a travel trailer it immediately starts depreciating in value. Sounds like an expensive hobby for me.

[snoozy]

Move to a cheap country, because $100K is not going to last.

[OUVickie]

There seems to be a new trend around us in regards to people that travel alot. I've noticed several acreages with metal buildings that look like houses but what they've done is split it into a huge garage for their Travel Trailer and vehicle and the other half is made into living quarters. Some have even put front porches or decks on them so that when their home it gives them a place to hang out and entertain friends and family.
This seems to give them a homebase to come back to that's out in the country but not as big a responsibility as a farm. I'm told when they decide not to travel anymore they can have enough room to garden or even container garden and enjoy the peace and quiet and still have room to have chickens or a few animals if they want. Metal buildings have come a long way and if I had it to do over again I think that's what I'd do, some of these homes are adorable and you can work out the floor plan you want and finish it out to your liking. It sure makes the taxes and insurance cheap here in OK - if it's on a permanent foundation the taxes are very cheap and the metal building isn't a fire hazard so the insurance is really affordable.

[Shygal]

I agree, 100k isnt much these days, and wont last too long. Invest it in property.