Tag: RV Driving

April 2020 Financial Update

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com6 Comments

Another month in the books and one month closer to full time RV life. In our last blog we talked about how we are sticking to the plan and not wavering despite the uncertainty in the world.

After taking a step back and reevaluating the situation and seeing the big picture it’s clear nothing for us has really changed through all of this. Sure the markets dropped and our savings is a little lighter, but that’s what markets do. If it wasn’t coronavirus now it would have been something else later. We have already been down this road before.

Speaking of those markets, how about that rebound? (Rant Alert 🚨) As an avid viewer of financial channels and stock market news one of the things that always annoys me are the wishy washy pundits. Now, I’m no expert. I don’t get paid to be one nor do I get paid to give my opinion, but these people do. And what I have seen are people who’s opinions change with the wind. It begs the question, are they all afraid to be wrong and risk a credibility hit rather than actually give an opinion right or wrong, good or bad? Or are they playing the game and talking moves up or down on TV while doing the exact opposite with their portfolios? Continue reading “April 2020 Financial Update” →

Unwavering Determination

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com4 Comments

In many ways it feels like life has been put on hold. We haven’t had a weekend RV getaway for over a month now. We haven’t seen any friends or family for weeks. Our son is home all day every day and his life has been turned upside down. These are difficult and strange times for everyone.

I often wonder how others are managing their lives through this crisis. Are people just sitting back and waiting to the government give them the all clear? Are they using this time and experience to review, fix or shore up their their financial strategy if they were lacking in some areas or overexposed in others? Or the worst thought, have people given up and think they will just figure it out later?

Having been through recessions and uncertain times before our strategy, for what it’s worth, is unwavering determination. For us this is a time to reassess, reevaluate, regroup and forge ahead. History teaches us that this will pass. How we come out of this crisis and what we learn from it is up to each of us. There is no better time than now to look at the big picture and make adjustments. It’s even a good idea to look farther into the future and prepare for tough decisions that might need to be made. Doing this could benefit you later and you might even discover that although you are reeling at the upheaval of your normal everyday life you are actually in better shape than you feel. So what have we been doing? Continue reading “Unwavering Determination” →

March 2020 Financial Update

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com2 Comments

Deep breath………………Ok here we go.

Let’s just get the obvious out of the way. March was a disaster for the markets, the country and the world. People are losing their jobs, their savings, their friends and their family members. It has been a pretty dire situation for the last month as we all try to cope with this reality. Bottom line, it sucks!

One thing I love about our country is that we tend to pull together during big events and do what’s best for the greater good. I think MMM hit the nail on the head with his write up about the situation. You can read it here. For the most part people are doing what needs to be done to get us past this horrific moment in history and back on track as a society. This is encouraging to see and we will be successful. Continue reading “March 2020 Financial Update” →

February 2020 Financial Update

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com3 Comments

Oh where to begin on this one? In our January update we talked about the end of the month impact on the financial markets from the Coronavirus. At that time we had some panic selling that turned the markets negative for the month and wiped out some nice gains. I was tempted to buy into the market, but ultimately decided to hold off which turned out to be a good decision.

Then came February and the panic took full hold with massive irrational moves to the downside. For me, it was time to move once we passed the 10% correction threshold. I half jokingly tweeted on Friday the 28th as the market closed that I thought we were near the bottom. Continue reading “February 2020 Financial Update” →

Full-Time RV Finances

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com3 Comments

In our last blog I discussed that we are moving forward with going full time in our RV later this year. As you will recall we didn’t expect to have to make plans so far in advance, but it became quickly apparent after a visit to one of the resorts that we were actually almost too late. Since then we put down deposits for November and December to reserve a space.

While this is a current unexpected expense, it is refundable if we don’t meet our timeframe goal and need to cancel. It also gives us some much needed flexibility by booking two months instead of one. Additionally if we do meet our November 1st goal, the deposits go toward the space and the out of pocket cost will be lower at that time. So there really is no risk of losing any money by making this move and it gives us peace of mind. Continue reading “Full-Time RV Finances” →

2019 Year In Review

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com6 Comments

2019 was a year of change and planning for our future.

After stumbling onto the F.I.R.E. movement and realizing we didn’t need to work into our 60’s, or even mid 50’s as we had always planned, we started taking our finances more serious. We cut back quite a bit on our spending and increased our savings rate nicely. We have never been able to accomplish a 50% plus savings rate because we have always had a sizable lifestyle and also took on the equivalent of a second mortgage with our RV. However, we did manage to move the needle in the right direction after cutting some costs and scaling back on frivolous spending.

On the downside, sort of, when I decided to move on from my job and start our business our savings rate went down to almost nothing for the last quarter of the year. Hopefully this is just a small set back as the business grows and contributes more to our finances. Continue reading “2019 Year In Review” →

Happy Thanksgiving!

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.comLeave a comment

We would like to take a moment to wish all of our readers a happy Thanksgiving.

We appreciate your support and taking time to follow our journey.

Joe

This and That……

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com1 Comment

It has been a few weeks now since our RV was damaged in a incident at a truck stop. You can read up on that here if you missed it. This has been a major bummer for us as we have had to cancel two trips now and have been stuck at home on weekends. The good news is that we finally got word this week that the repairs are completed and our RV is ready to be picked up.

The worry however, as with any vehicle, is that there will be additional issues that need to be worked out or that some things will not work the same as they did prior to the accident. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it. Also, our insurance waived our deductible so we are not out of pocket for any money. In the end, we got the best results out of a bad situation and we are grateful for that. Continue reading “This and That……” →

College Road Trip 2020

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com5 Comments

This past Summer we enjoyed a wonderful family adventure. We visited Yellowstone National Park and a whole host of other states and campgrounds. It was our assumption that this trip would be the last time our son would join us in the RV as he would be heading off to college next Fall. Well, it looks like we will be doing a little family road trip next year after all.

Now that our son has accepted admission to a big east coast U we started discussing the logistics of getting him and his stuff across the country. Our first thought was for us to fly there and ship all of the necessary items to him. This was going to be very expensive as flying is not cheap and neither is shipping. Our son is also a student athlete so we are not just talking about shipping some clothes and some bedroom items. We need to bring his gear also, which is a big and heavy bag. Continue reading “College Road Trip 2020” →

Milestone Reached And A Huge Bummer

Published on by RV-on-FIRE.com4 Comments

Today I was expecting to write about how exciting it was to finally see our portfolio cross the seven figure mark, at least for now. But on Friday, as we were in line to fuel our RV for a weekend getaway, our joy and excitement took a pause when a trucker backed up into our coach and caused some significant damage.

Now, I know the natural reaction from people will be that it was an accident and accidents happen. Or that it’s just some damage that can be repaired and it’s more important that we are ok. And I agree with these sentiments. They are true and correct. However, the feeling we have goes beyond a vehicle repair because this is not just a vehicle to us, it’s our home. And when you are sitting in your home and see a truck coming and then hear and see your home being destroyed before your eyes the feeling cuts a little deeper than a car accident. It was a very upsetting moment for us. Continue reading “Milestone Reached And A Huge Bummer” →