I’ll soon be retired from the Military. I’ve been dreaming about this day coming for a long time. Now that it’s getting closer I’m trying to figure out what to do with myself and I was hoping to hear some of your thoughts. When I was doing my early pension calculations they were a little high and now that I think I have it all figured out it should be at least $2K after taxes (It may be a bit more but this is what I’m going to plan with).
I’m currently living on a $2K budget (This way it won’t hurt as much when my full pay goes away):
House Taxes-----------------$333
House Insurance-------------$70
Car Insurance----------------$53
Food (And all toiletries)-----$300
Phone-------------------------$75
Electric------------------------$75
Heating Gas------------------$60
Water-------------------------$40
Trash--------------------------$15
Net/Cable--------------------$114
Gas----------------------------$60
Travel Fund------------------$100
Emergency Fund-------------$150
Total--------------------------$1445
Left over from ($2K)---------$555
Assets:
House (Paid off)-------------------------------$170-180K
TSP----------------------------------------------$50K
Roth IRA-----------------------------------------$30K
Emergency Fund--------------------------------$10K
2012 Car (Paid off) (65K Od/34 MPG’s)-------$10K
I have plans in the spring to sell my house. After it’s sold I will take a sabbatical to travel and see friends and Family. Here’s where I need your help. I don’t have a Wife or Kids. My Family lives on the East Coast (But don’t plan on going back to the East Coast) and I have a Sister that lives in Austin and friends in Arizona. I don’t really have just one place calling me so here are some plans I came up with.
Plan#1: Buy a small house (For a home base). Pay cash from the proceeds from the sale of the current house. I would look for something around $130K or below and invest the other $40ish. I’m thinking about Galveston or Freeport TX. Texas is good for me because they don’t tax my retirement pay. I considered Austin too but I think it will be too expensive. If I go the house route then I will rent for a couple of months first to be sure I like the area. This option should bring down my house taxes and free up a little more money to travel but it will be on a budget. This option has my total investments at $120K
Plan#2: Sell house, sell car, then buy a truck and RV (probably a 20-25ft toy hauler). I’ll keep the cost for both under $35K. This leaves $135K to invest for a total of $215K. I think I would be able to full time RV with a budget of $2K. This option would be better if I had a travel buddy. I think I would try to get Friends/Family to come join me at times. I can also park it at my Dad’s place for a few months with no charge. I would do this until I find a place that I can call home.
Plan#3: Sell house and use all proceeds to invest total investment at $250K. Then slow travel the US. I would use my car w/ bike rack for two (Road/Mountain). Stay with friends and Family for a week or two and move on. I would also try new Cities by renting lower end vacation homes a month at a time.
Plan#4: Facepunch myself because I don’t have enough assets yet and go get a J.O.B.
Plan#5: Enter your own option!
More on why I’m thinking about Galveston/Freeport area:
Pro’s: Like the water, fishing, boating, diving, hot climate, tax free for vets, low COL, very central for splitting time between the West/East Coast, I might try to make some side money doing dive master or fishing work.
Con’s: Hurricanes, Humidity, Sharks, wonder if some of the Houston crime would spill over to that area,
Other places I consider: Tucson, Flagstaff, Tempe, Colorado, WV (around the New River), Salt Lake City, and Savanah GA.
Please add suggestions if you think it would be a fit for me.