New? Are you full timing on Social Security?

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by kirkman

Guys and Gals this thread is going great I'm learning a lot.
Thanks! ����


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Gals? ..... Gals????

[john madill]

When I go camping I usually go to Michigan state forest campgrounds. No electric, no showers, etc, just outhouses.

But they are usually on a small lake, not crowded, and cost maybe $15 a night.

State parks with utilities are generally $25 a night. Either one is fun for a week's vacation but I sure wouldn't want to do that full time.

My wife and I have spent a few months in Florida the last two winters, staying in a park model home in a park that also has a small number of rv sites.

There are also several all-rv parks in the area. The parks have heated pools, community centers with lots of activities, etc.

For a short time stay rates are generally in the neighborhood of $40 a night.

Monthly rates are in the neighborhood of $800. Three months may go for perhaps $2,000 and they will give you a full 6 months for perhaps $2,200.

If my math is correct that works out to about $12 a night, electric included.

If you wanted the whole year it would probably only add a few hundred dollars more total.

I just did a quick search of rv parks in central Florida to come up with those numbers.

Central florida may be less expensive that the coasts. We've spent our time in Sebring and really enjoyed it.

Just 90 minutes to either coast, or to the Orlando parks or the Everglades.

I'm not a beach person. every time I sun bathe on the beach an environmentalist shows up and tries to roll me into the water.

For someone with a paid for trailer $12 bucks a night should be doable on an SS income.

[RogerDat]

Simply put is your fixed home cost less than or greater than your full time RV cost? Are you going to eliminate that home cost or add to it with your full timing?


If you will be maintaining a home with taxes & insurance possibly a mortgage that would make costs for travel and campground all additional costs. Would make the rental agent sound like a very good idea unless you had enough disposable income to afford to full time and own a home. And pay for lawn and other maintenance while on the road.


Food should be about the same either way, possibly less for groceries since camping one may tend to cook simpler meals... offset by possibly a few (or many) more restaurant meals.


That is sort of what makes it all a guess until you start writing down a budget with actual dollar amounts. I do know that mortgage and even rent in many areas is a whole lot more than $15 a night that many say they budget for lodging in the camper.


Me personally I would like to travel a bit in retirement but both wife and myself have hobbies that require space and social activities (her more than me) that would make extended time away a poor trade off. Going to have to have a place for the work benches and her dance practice so not going to get out of having a residence, at least in our case.


I would start by sitting down and listing all known can't be avoided expenses which may or may not include a permanent home. Then work out from there. With a fudge factor of at least 15 or 20 percent.

[Glenn Baglo]

Don't forget inflation, or senility.

[kirkman]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Gals? ..... Gals????

Autocorrect on my phone bob!


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[A Storgard]

Who says full timing has to be forever???? When we are tired of travelling (???) and the nomad lifestyle, we will go back to retirement plan A; rent an apartment and settle in Manitoba. That may be in 2 years maybe in 10-15 years; but we plan to make the most of it while we can, just because we can.

[reeves99]

Originally Posted by A Storgard

Who says full timing has to be forever???? When we are tired of travelling (???) and the nomad lifestyle, we will go back to retirement plan A; rent an apartment and settle in Manitoba. That may be in 2 years maybe in 10-15 years; but we plan to make the most of it while we can, just because we can.

Yes! I totally agree with your spirit and philosophy


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[honda03842]

We're Escapees and know a lot of retired from fulltiming people. They are all enamoured with our series of little trailers, all wishing they had a small rig and could still be out there. The flame never dies in full timers.

Most of them had large, expensive rigs. At some time those rigs need replacement, usually around 10-15 years of daily use, they're looking at, these days, possibly a $100,000 expenditure. Often the cost ends the thought of continuing on along with the effort and energy required by a big rig.

There's little exposure to small rigs, little understanding of the possibility.

Lastly in life, and often, though not always, on this website, I detect "it can't be done". Most of the time in life if you have the will, if you prepare, if you really want it, it can be done.

Very often those they say it can't be done are those that haven't done it.

[Scamper Jim]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Don't forget inflation, or senility.

On the other hand, here’s a real money saver. You can deduct for funeral costs if you expire in Florida; your neighbors in the RV park can just have the gators take care of the carcass. If it happens in Arizona, they can just set you out next to a cactus and the coyotes will pick the carcass clean in no time. OR, if you time it right and expire at Burning Man, you may be able to get a free cremation.

No fuss, no muss and it saves the cost of air freight to ship your sorry bones back to plant you in the ground!

Hey, you don’t have to thank me, I’m just trying to help make the numbers work for you

[Glenn Baglo]

Glass half full.

[kirkman]

Originally Posted by Scamper Jim

On the other hand, here’s a real money saver. You can deduct for funeral costs if you expire in Florida; your neighbors in the RV park can just have the gators take care of the carcass. If it happens in Arizona, they can just set you out next to a cactus and the coyotes will pick the carcass clean in no time. OR, if you time it right and expire at Burning Man, you may be able to get a free cremation.

No fuss, no muss and it saves the cost of air freight to ship your sorry bones back to plant you in the ground!

Hey, you don’t have to thank me, I’m just trying to help make the numbers work for you

Now you're thinking! LOL


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[BarbinBC]

Originally Posted by A Storgard

As I indicated before, we will soon be full timers if all goes according to plan. We have already needed to revise our itinerary as a result of the Cdn dollar value. I have noticed that most people posting are from the U.S.A., Are there any Canadian full timers that can give insight into lower cost parks/and perks we could take advantage of in Canada?
I enjoy reading everyone's posts. keep it up ��

Just returned from 3 months on the road in B.C., Yukon & Northwest Territories. I have a Good Sam membership but found that even with that there were less expensive options, and often there were no Good Sam Parks in the places we were traveling.

In B.C. there is free camping at the B.C. Recreation Sites which are listed on the BC government website. The odd popular site with a camp host charges $15/night. We stayed in as many Rec. Sites as possible although it took some planning as some are quite a ways off the main road via old Forest Service/Logging roads. Others quite close. They often have access that is really only feasible for small rigs - single lane road and small sites. A picnic table and outhouse are what you get for amenities. All were on either a lake or river and more often than not were empty or maybe one other camper. Maximum 14 day stay. Of all of them there was only one that we were unable to access as the sites were too 'lumpy' for the clearances on my Trillium Outback.

In the Yukon there were lots of Territorial Campgrounds that charged $15/night which included free firewood but no other services. Many of the campgrounds in NWT were operated by the local native band. One even had showers and flush toilets for $10/night. It was operated with a generator that automatically turned off at 9:00 pm at night and re-started at 7:00 am so planning your visits was beneficial.

We did come across many boondocking sites we could have used but they didn't always turn up when we needed one. We used the Backroad Map Books as our bible for finding out where the roads were going. There will be one published for the Yukon in 2016. If you access these map books just make sure you purchase the latest edition. We met folks attempting to navigate with older editions and things had changed, eg. road closures, extensions, surface changes.

We camped in Provincial Parks in B.C. where most of them have no services but will have a standpipe for access to running water although not always potable.

We decided not to take the Porta-Pottie and that actually made life easier. We had no problems finding facilities here and there.

We also used lots of solar lamps even though I've changed all the trailer lights to LED. Also have a 120W portable solar panel that basically kept the 12V fridge running. Only once after 3 days of cloud did we have to find a campsite with power to charge up the batteries.

Just go and try it out. After the initial break-in period you'll get into a routine so it becomes much more enjoyable.

[debandsue]

Being desert divas the NWT do not sound like our cup of tea. But how totally great for you. And we are in complete agrement that you get into a routine that is enjoyable.

There are more than 3 flavors of ice cream and more than 3 ways to enjoy/fulltime in our delightful eggs (including with limited resources).

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[BarbinBC]

But the Arctic is a desert! Dry, sunny and there is sand in places. Maybe not as hot though, although I found Inuvik too hot in July!

Safe journeys, wherever you go, ice cream or not...

[Bill Nolen]

US States that collect taxes on SS?

I just read this article, and thought it was on topic.

Which States Tax Social Security? - DailyFinance

Bill

[Bob Miller]

You have to be able to read between the lines when comparing tax loads for those living on retirement incomes.


For example, an article from Kiplinger's appeared today with the following statement about the 15 least friendly states to retire:
#7 California
State Income Tax: 1% (on income up to $7,749/individual, $15,498/joint) to 13.3% (on income above $1,000,000/individual, $1,039,374/joint)...


They left out that the state income tax was on "Taxable Income". After allowed deductions my state income tax load for 2014 was "ZERO" on a total income of about $40,000.


Elsewhere Kiplinger's mention that California residents pay the highest income taxes, in this article they modified that to say:


"That's significant, because wealthier residents of the Golden State pay the highest state income taxes in the U.S." (Do we think that they really care?)

And about property taxes:
In California property taxes are based on 1% of sales price + no more than a 2% increase per year and, in the case of a few new subdivisions, a "Mello-Roos" added tax, usually to pay for the cost of bringing a subdivision up to local incorporation standards, while still keeping a lower selling price. (i.e., pay now or pay later)


While the example they gave for property taxes: "The median property tax on the state's median home value of $373,100 is $3,015", is less than 1% (due to prop 13) my home of the past 14 years has a slightly higher value, but has an annual tax bill of a little under $2000. Now, if one moved to CA today and bought that "median" house, the property taxes would reset to $3,731.


Several years ago we looked at the possibility of moving to a "retirement friendly" state and found that the actual spread in tax load, when comparing apples to apples, wasn't worth the locations in which you had to live.... Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada, Florida, etc. vs. California, not on a bet.


Bottom line: If you are wanting to select a state to live in or declare as your home state, look beyond the flash of "Top & Bottom 10" lists and do all the math yourself first to see how it applies to you.

[Bill Nolen]

There are no doubt several ways to "full-time on Social Security".

One is to live in a RV in a fixed location, such as a RV Campground/Resort. Or perhaps one of your children's backyard!

Another is to travel the highways and byways of American, Canada, and/or Mexico without a fixed physical home location.

To maximize SS funds, it would seem that a person, who was actually traveling full time, would want to establish resident in a State that didn't tax SS, or have a state income tax.

There are several ways to do this that are detailed in the back sections of RV Travel Magazines.

Bill

[Bob Miller]

Again, taxing SS or having a state income tax does not mean that a retiree will ever have to pay any of those taxes. After dedications, SS income often falls well below the taxable income threshold.


For those with high SS benefits, and/or other income streams, the story can be different, but with just average SS, it's usually not enough of an issue.


In plain talk, "You can't be given a wedgie if you are going Commando". LOL

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

You have to be able to read between the lines when comparing tax loads for those living on retirement incomes.


For example, an article from Kiplinger's appeared today with the following statement about the 15 least friendly states to retire:
#7 California
State Income Tax: 1% (on income up to $7,749/individual, $15,498/joint) to 13.3% (on income above $1,000,000/individual, $1,039,374/joint)...


They left out that the state income tax was on "Taxable Income". After allowed deductions my state income tax load for 2014 was "ZERO" on a total income of about $40,000.


Elsewhere Kiplinger's mention that California residents pay the highest income taxes, in this article they modified that to say:


"That's significant, because wealthier residents of the Golden State pay the highest state income taxes in the U.S." (Do we think that they really care?)

And about property taxes:
In California property taxes are based on 1% of sales price + no more than a 2% increase per year and, in the case of a few new subdivisions, a "Mello-Roos" added tax, usually to pay for the cost of bringing a subdivision up to local incorporation standards, while still keeping a lower selling price. (i.e., pay now or pay later)


While the example they gave for property taxes: "The median property tax on the state's median home value of $373,100 is $3,015", is less than 1% (due to prop 13) my home of the past 14 years has a slightly higher value, but has an annual tax bill of a little under $2000. Now, if one moved to CA today and bought that "median" house, the property taxes would reset to $3,731.


Several years ago we looked at the possibility of moving to a "retirement friendly" state and found that the actual spread in tax load, when comparing apples to apples, wasn't worth the locations in which you had to live.... Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada, Florida, etc. vs. California, not on a bet.


Bottom line: If you are wanting to select a state to live in or declare as your home state, look beyond the flash of "Top & Bottom 10" lists and do all the math yourself first to see how it applies to you.

Completely agree - you have to consider your exact circumstances. I'm a resident of NY, a high tax state, however I'm retired from teaching at a NY state college. They do not tax either my retirement or Social Security income; I even get a reduction in my property tax as a Viet Nam vet as well as NY's STAR program, a school tax reduction based in age.

[steve dunham]

We have 5 children and 11 grandchildren who all live within 5 miles of our home .Moving
somewhere to save a couple of bucks in taxes seems like a poor bargain to me.
Family trumps money anyday in my book.