Money

We frequently get asked how two people our age are able to afford to quit our careers, move aboard a boat and go cruising now.  (I think they are referring to us as young'ish compared to some other cruisers, at least that is what I am choosing to believe so don't crush that illusion.)  There are many ways to make this happen.  Today we will focus on one alternative to leading a "normal life".

We don't have any children.  We made this conscious choice prior to getting married.  I don't want to discuss all the social, political, world, mental, blah, blah, blah reasons whys here.  Instead I want to discuss what the financial outcome of this decision can mean.  When I answer the above questions by stating "First of all, we don't have kids."  generally the person asking will say....."Ah, well there you go."  But let's look a little closer at the actual numbers.  Christopher Doering lays the ground work with the numbers in an article that appeared in USA Today  on August 18, 2014, interesting stuff so be sure to check it out.
Then Matt Krantz wrote an article about the potential TRUE cost of raising a kid.  He focused not on the actual costs but instead of what that amount of money could be if instead it was invested.  Read the full article here USA Today.  He uses $245,340 as the 18 year average cost of raising a child - food, shelter, expenses.  Yes, it could cost more or less but let's just go with this average for the purpose of this discussion.  Below are three scenarios he presents of what could happen if you invested that money instead of having a kid.
10.4% rate of return $245,340 would be $1.45 million in 18 years.
7.2% rate of return $245,340 would be $857,580 in 18 years.

"But Sabrina, who has $245,340 to invest at one time?" Good questions so Matt breaks it down by year
10.4% rate of return $245,340 with 1/18 invested each year ($13,630) would be $646,810 after 18 years.
Yes, these are generalities with a lot of averages and assumptions but it gives us a starting point for looking at what a different path might mean financially.

"I love my children.  They are priceless and I wouldn't trade them for any amount of money!" said by any one of a million plus parents out there.    "Good, great, wonderful" says me.  Our community and world needs good parents and families.  Yay to you!  I do not want this blog posting to turn into the tired fight of parents vs childless.  I am just putting some numbers to what an "alternative" child free life can mean financially.  That is all.

Rear View Mirror - Freedom

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I have been reading some new sailing blogs recently.  These are blogs of cruisers that have just castoff or are about to castoff.  All of these blogs talk about Freedom in one form or fashion.

"I'm free.  I resigned from work today."  OR "I'm free, as today was my last day of work."  OR "We're free from dirt dwelling because we moved aboard today."  And of course "We're free!  We left the dock today."

All this freedom talk got me to thinking more about our specific cruising plan and freedom.  While we are not there yet in terms of the steps above, we have accomplished one very important freedom and perhaps one of the most important freedoms for us.  At the end of 2011, we became completely DEBT FREE.  This is a pretty big freedom and one that basically opens the flood gates to whole new possibilities and freedoms.

How specifically did we do it?  Hard work, good jobs, saving, investing, living well below our means, and no kids.  Raises were put towards our long range plans vs upgrades to a new house, or granite this and stainless that, or new cars, or designer this and that or more... stuff.  We still took vacations, went to concerts, ate out and such but always with a careful eye toward our long range plans.  Our drive to become debt free became our secret status symbol if you will.  Polite society tells us we shouldn't talk about money or brag.  However,  we think this is something worth sharing.  Maybe others will think about following suit.  This doesn't mean you have to cast off to go cruising.  To each their own.      

So, yeah...."We're FREE."