yes we are .well I am and there is no offence meant to anyone ok
my hubby is still working so we cant get away very often in our van (plus waiting for our newy ),but we see a lot of retired people going off in their vans for weeks or months on end ,the people who are in the caravan club we belong to do it as well(we do envy you all)

so if you are retired and on a pension can I ask how can you afford it ,we have to save like billyho before we can plan a trip

we must be doing something wrong somewhere ,though guess we are still paying our home off so maybe thats it
just curious
rainy

hi we are going in a month just clear your debts rent your house out to your kids (cheap rent of coarse ) and go for it , , when i retire and people ask me are you going to traveling around australia ill say no i did that when i was 40 mate !!! hope it works for you , i know some people are not in this position to enjoy it but you only get to walk the earth once so enjoy it while you are here !! cheers bt50,,

( aspire to inspire before you expire )

I only have a PT job to top up the pension, we save a few 100 then head off, we actually spend less when out there, than when we're at home.
Frank

a good idea bt50, but our kids are grown up with their own homes ,so we would have to leave our home empty ,which is ok as I wouldnt want strangers living in it ,

thanks Frank ,thats what we do even though john is working before we go anywhere I make sure everything that has to be paid is up to date

so apart from renting our place out maybe we are on the right track after all

though we dont aspire to going around the block ,but we are sort of thinking of going to west aussie maybe next year

G'day Rainy.
Most of the retired G.N.'s you're talking about have an income..either pension, investment returns, super or both. Also, in most cases, their homes are paid off whereas if you guys are still in the workforce and wanted to take a long time off without pay and still have heavy overheads,like mortgage payments, you'd find it more difficult.
There are excellent threads on the forum which debate the actual costs of tripping..suggest you have a good look there.
Jock

thanks jock , I had looked at some posts and I guess some would rent their homes out which we wouldnt be prepared to do plus we wouldnt sell it to go on a long trip , I do like caravanning but not enough to live in the van all the time , but we are all different and what suits me wouldnt suit others
guess I am still a homebody and like to come home to my garden

Rainy,

We set off on a 2 year trip back a bit but headed home after being away around 6 months.

We like our home gear around us too much.

Three weeks in the van is about our limit these days, usually less.

As you say we are all different.

Take it easy.

SD

Hi Rainy,
We are travelling pensioners,we are on the basic pension with no extras .
While we're at home we wait for payday then we go for a day out here or there,so,i got to thinking IF im sitting at home waiting why cant i do it out there and explore [little bits] untill next pay.

We saved for 30+ years to buy our van and have since upgraded twice more by saving etc so we literally own the van.The car im paying off cause our 4wd broke down,but its only $2000 so its sort of easy.

We ONLY stop in freecamps cause our pension LITERALLY wont allow CP's + Food + petrol.

So you can either sit at home or sit in a freecamp out there [costs the same],meeting new ppl daily.

Even a few days would suit you better if you like being home too.

A trip up the center is a easy 2/3 week trip.

Please consider.

But,YES,tell centerlink what youre doing first so theres no nasty comeback.

Cheers Rod

That is probably part of it - once the debts are gone, there is obviously more disposable income to be channelled elsewhere.

Whether it be a large repayment or a small repayment it directly impacts on what is left over after accounting for it.

Most people's lives become financially a little easier once the major debt of their home has gone.

Being in financial planning, I am amazed the amount of people who don't have a budget and don't have any idea where there money goes.

Case in point, I saw clients recently who are in their early 50s - no children - and on excellent incomes (him $100K and her $60K) who still owe $400,000 which was almost 80% of what their home is worth.

Their NETT income is $10,000 a month and they pay the minimum on their mortgage $2,800 a month.

They can't account for where the rest goes! $7,000 a month?

We've now established a budget for them, arranged for salary packaging (which will reduce the tax payable of him by $18,000 a year), increased their repayments by $1,500 a fortnight and it still leaves them $5,000 a month to live on.

Rather than 30 years to pay their loan off, it is likely to take less than 10 years - so well BEFORE they retire.

One of the best suggestions I can give to anyone is know accurately where your income goes.


Cheers.



Mike

hi rredbeak that sounds like an excellent idea ,so thankyou ,much appreciated

yes mike I agree with you re a budget ,I do know where the money goes , no I dont work but hubby does
I probably didnt word my post properly in parts , we slog as much as we can onto the house loan(principal)

golly if we were getting that type moola you mention and had $7000 left I reckon most of that would be going on the home loan for sure , surely no one likes owing money ,we only moved back to town last year so at the moment it does hit us in the pocket but will get better
yep you do need a budget and we are good savers