HERE'S WHAT RETIREMENT ON A BOAT OR RV LOOKS LIKE IN AMERICA

Many Americans drop anchor in retirement, settling down near the beach or their adult children. Others leave their old latitudes behind and set sail on the highways or high seas.

Nomadic life appeals to those who have the time and cash to make RVs or boats into mobile retirement homes. After years juggling careers and raising families, these aging Kerouacs and Magellans yearn for the freedom to explore new places while still young and healthy enough to make the trip.

“I knew this opportunity would be something I’d look back on and regret not seizing,” said Harry Weidman, who lives on a 40-foot sailboat in the Caribbean with his partner, Ann Stockton.

Retiring on the road or ocean isn’t always smooth sailing. 

Couples said close quarters can test relationships. Boats and RVs also need ample doses of love and attention, since flat tires and engine problems are part of the experience. Nurturing friendships can be hard, although satellite internet helps.

Retirees who give up their permanent homes might save money. But many keep their houses, which means the cost of maintaining a boat or RV can weigh on their budgets. Of the 11.2 million RV-owning households, roughly half are those over age 55, according to the RV Industry Association.

Seven retirees who live all or part of the year in their RVs and boats told us about traveling to destinations from Alaska to the Caribbean. With incomes from $30,000 to $125,000 and savings that range from $180,000 to $2 million, they show that a peripatetic life can be affordable, unpredictable and always memorable.

Ann Stockton and Harry Weidman gambled $220,000 on their retirement.

Stockton, 60, sold her Florida condo in 2020 and Weidman, 63, liquidated part of an IRA to buy Whisper, a 40-foot catamaran, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Neither knew how to sail.

The boat was Weidman’s idea. While deep-sea fishing one day, the former Somers Point, N.J., resident noticed he felt “most calm and serene when the shoreline drifted into the distance.”

Before retiring, the former IT manager spent hours watching YouTube videos from world-traveling sailors. A friend gave the couple free sailing lessons. Initially nervous to use the sails, they often relied on Whisper’s two engines, said Stockton.

Whisper has three small bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living area, a galley—and no air conditioning. Stockton and Weidman open the hatches and hope for a breeze.

Constant maintenance is a fact of life. “Something is always breaking,” said Weidman, who is adept at repairs. The couple’s monthly chores include polishing the boat’s metal to prevent rust.

They have had some nerve-racking moments. For example, during their first overnight trip, Weidman worried that rough seas would damage the boat or that Stockton would abandon ship at the next port.

Friendships can be hard to maintain. “Often, when you say goodbye to other boaters, it’s goodbye forever,” said Stockton.

On a typical day, they wake up around 6 a.m. Weidman listens to the weather forecast on the boat’s radio. Stockton washes clothes in a bucket of rainwater. She teaches online fitness classes and meets virtually with personal-training clients.

While at port, the couple snorkel or go ashore to hike or shop for food. Favorite islands include Bequia in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for hiking and Martinique for its French cuisine.

Together, they earn about $6,800 a month, including $3,300 in monthly pension income and $2,000 from Social Security for Weidman. Stockton earns about $1,500 from personal training, website maintenance and bookkeeping.

They spend about $6,000 a month, paying around $540 for boat insurance and roughly $600 for groceries. Satellite internet and cellular-phone service cost $300; diesel, $100. Repairs average about $1,500 a month.

Too young to qualify for Medicare, they pay out-of-pocket for medical care, which they have found to be significantly less expensive in the Caribbean than in the U.S. Aside from the $100,000 Weidman withdrew from an IRA in 2020 to help buy Whisper, they have yet to touch their $730,000 in savings.

They would like to explore the coast of South American, or the Mediterranean.

“After this experience, buying a place in the U.S. doesn’t appeal to me,” said Weidman. Stockton’s vote? “Maybe an RV.”

Jenell Jones sold her Texas home about five years ago. She enjoyed gardening at home, but felt tied down. 

“I wanted to get off the couch and have an adventure,” said the retired deputy sheriff, 63.

She had thought for years about buying an RV. Her office window at work faced an RV dealership and she watched people hit the road. A divorcée with an adult daughter, she initially had doubts about solo RV travel, but reminded herself that 25 years in law enforcement more than equipped her for the challenge.

Good health, savings and low expenses have helped make her wanderlust possible. Jones gets a roughly $7,000 monthly pension and has about $180,000 in savings. She spends close to $2,500 a month, almost half of which goes toward fuel for her 36-foot Tiffin Open Road RV and the Nissan compact car she tows behind it.

So passionate is Jones about the RV life that she runs Wandering Individuals Network, an RV club with about 300 solo travelers. She spends about 10 hours a week organizing club trips and events and interacting with its members, a gig that pays about $24,000 a year.

She has traveled with club members to Canada, Arizona and California, staying for weeks at a time and visiting local attractions. She visits her daughter in Florida for the holidays.

Jones advises RV rookies to be patient, problem-solving and flexible. She has managed flat tires at busy intersections, gotten sent down dirt roads by a GPS on the fritz and once dodged a moose.

RVers should have good contacts in multiple states, she said. Finding a doctor on relatively short notice when you are a new patient isn’t always easy, Jones said.

Jones sees no end to her travels anytime soon. She has been on RV trips and hiked with people in their mid-70s who are in better shape than she is, she said.

“I’m just getting started,” Jones said.

Peggy and John Middleton, 68 and 70, are carrying on a family tradition of exploring the U.S. with a travel trailer for months at a time.

Peggy’s parents owned several RVs in the 1970s and ’80s, spending their summers on the roads of the U.S. and Canada. About 20 years ago, they offered Peggy their 1968 Airstream Globetrotter. 

“We took one big trip through Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in 2004 and then it gathered dust in the backyard for many years,” John said.

About six years ago the Springfield, Mo., retired nurses began restoring the Airstream in their spare time, spending about $20,000 to make it functional again, Peggy said.

A short-term relocation to Denver in 2021 allowed for camping trips around the West while fine-tuning their RV skills.

John retired last year and the couple knew it was time for their dream trip—a three-month, 14,000-mile journey through Canada and Alaska. They hit the road this May.

Taking turns at the wheel, the Middletons relied on maps when GPS didn’t work and tapped online RV groups for tips on where to visit. Their only planned reservation was over the July Fourth week in Alaska’s Denali National Park. Otherwise, the trip, which cost about $15,000 in fuel, campgrounds, groceries and sightseeing excursions, was largely unscheduled. 

“That’s the beauty of being retired and traveling around in an RV. If you find a place you like, you can just stay a few more days,” said Peggy. 

The Middletons faced tough decisions when they learned Peggy’s sister died about two months into the trip, and days later heard their barn back in Missouri had caught fire. 

Their first instinct was to rush home. But the couple realized there was nothing urgent to return to, especially since the memorial for Peggy’s sister would be held several months later. They stayed on the road.

The Middletons attend virtual church services and Peggy logs on to her weekly Bible study group when cellphone service is available. This, along with calls and social-media messages with their three daughters, helps them stay connected to what matters most, they said.

Years of retirement planning have allowed the Middletons to travel with their RV when they wish, they said. They have about $2 million in retirement savings, half of which is managed by John and the rest by an investment firm. About 95% of their savings is in stocks.

Their home is paid off and they pay monthly credit-card bills in full. About half of their $10,000 monthly spending goes to expenses related to their 40-acre property, which they have no plans to sell. They receive about $4,500 a month in total from Social Security.

Next summer, the Middletons hope to tour Western Europe in a rented RV and spend time with their daughter and son-in-law who live in Munich.

The couple said they are determined to have many more adventures, come what may.

“To paraphrase Neil Young, we’d rather burn out than rust,” said Peggy.

Norma and Mike Schulfer were longtime weekend and vacation sailors. So when Mike retired in 2015, the couple began dividing their time between their home in Illinois and their sailboat in the Caribbean.

After Thanksgiving, the Schulfers fly to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they keep their 35-foot boat, Minor Indulgence (“Mi” is for Mike and “nor” for Norma).

They sail in and around the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico from December to late May, often visiting remote spots, said Norma, 73, who retired from full-time teaching in 2007. “It’s like a floating RV.”

To Mike, 75, the boat is a labor of love. “The saying goes: Buy a boat and spend the rest of your life fixing it in exotic locales,” said Mike, who worked for years training and racing horses in the Chicago area.

The couple have owned boats since the 1980s, when their three children were small.

With an eye on retirement, they got Minor Indulgence in 2006 for $139,000. Until 2015, they chartered the boat to vacationers to repay most of the loan they used to buy it.

The boat sleeps six and has a shower with hot water that works when the engine is running.

On board, Norma reads and cooks. Mike, a certified scuba diver, often uses those skills to clean the bottom of the boat.

The couple’s annual income is close to $125,000, a combination of Norma’s pension, Mike’s Social Security check, and mandatory distributions from their IRAs. They have about $500,000 in retirement accounts, and their home in New Lenox, Ill., is worth about $360,000. The Schulfers are scheduled to pay off their 2.75% mortgage, which costs $900 a month, in five years.

They pay nearly $8,000 in yearly property taxes, and home and car insurance total $2,600. The annual cost to insure the boat, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017, is $2,000. Maintenance, fuel and a spot at a marina run about $13,000 a year.

Medicare covers them in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Food in the U.S. Virgin Islands can be costly, said the couple, who recall paying $12.99 for a dozen eggs and $14.99 for a 12-pack of beer not long ago.

The couple, who have also chartered sailboats on vacations in Greece, Croatia and Tahiti, plan to keep exploring.

“I’m not ready to swallow the anchor yet,” said Mike.

Write to Anne Tergesen at [email protected] and Veronica Dagher at [email protected]

2023-10-21T09:42:55Z dg43tfdfdgfd