Young Full Timers....Advice, please. - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Woodchip · RV-Dreams Community Member

Young Full Timers....Advice, please.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Subscribe to (Workamper News), google it, there are plenty of jobs. G

contra · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Woodchip ~

You've certainly found a great resource. There are several members that are not-of-retirement-age. We are one of them - we're in our mid-40s. Although we're not on the road yet, we've done quite a bit of research because being self-sufficient is probably our number one concern. There are all types of jobs available through workamper, but the majority are not high paying. But also keep in mind that this lifestyle is quite a bit cheaper. We anticipate working a mixture of jobs...some traditional, professional type jobs to provide the bulk of our income and then workamper to supplement. Although we'd love to get completely away from the traditional jobs, we just aren't sure we'll be able to make enough through workamper alone. But everything is a trade-off and we're going with the attitude that even if we have to spend half the year working "real" jobs, that still gives us 6-months to do what we want. That sure beats the 4 weeks of vacation we get right now! We've subscribed to Workamper for awhile and have been monitoring the types of jobs available. It certainly seems like there are plenty of opportunities. And I strongly believe that as long as we're flexible and willing to do most anything, have a good attitude and a strong work ethic, we won't have problems finding jobs. Of course only time will tell!

As far as health insurance, personally, I would never go without it. I know there are plenty who are willing to take that risk, but all it takes is one illness or accident for everything to change. We know that this will be one of our major expenses, but being reasonably young and healthy, we'll be able to get fairly decent rates. For me, the cost is well worth the peace of mind.

Best of luck as you begin your journey. You'll find lots of helpful folks on the forum and there's a lot of great information on past threads. Welcome!

princess tonya · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hey Woodchip!!! :)

My hubby and I will be full-timers in about two weeks. We've sold our house and will close on it Nov. 3. We are both 26 years old. He's in the USAF, so we won't be traveling too much except when we go back to IN and NC for visits. And when we get our next set of orders we will just hook the house up and go. :)

We would love to travel more, but my husband needs to be in the AF. Our daughter is autistic and the health insurance we get we could not afford if we had to pay for it ourselves. Her therapy is very expensive and so are her specialist doctors. So he's staying in until he retires.

Good luck in whatever you decide. This life isn't just for the older set. :)

Speedhitch · RV-Dreams Family Member

I wish I could have started fulltiming earlier in life but with the kids and the rat race...well you know. I will tell you this if your young and have no debt to speak of this is the way to go. No high taxes and you can always find a workamping job. They are out there...all you have to do is search them out. Might not be the best job in town but the benefits of being on the road and having time to see the sites out weigh the job. Good luck in whatever you decide to do. Keep in touch here and maybe you can help some one out down the road with the decision you make.

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Although not RV specific, here's a good website with some additional resources and information about living while travelling: http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/profile.htm

I read about a lot of folks who have taken Dave Ramsey's courses and have found ways to fund their life choices. Here's the website: http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/

Because you need to make money while you fulltime, from what I have read over the past 5 years in fulltimer blogs, it seems your adventure will be like starting a new business. The more time you put into the business, the more you will get back out of it. As you can read here at RV-Dreams, Howard and Linda put a lot into their business. They are in the startup phase and after several years of doing this are just beginning to see some return on their efforts.

Howard & Linda work hard and smart and I'm sure they will continue to be successful at this type of lifestyle as the years go by.

It's going to be a tough road ahead, so make sure you have all of your ducks lined up and ready. You've already made a good decision by soliciting help from the folks on this forum. Continue your research, do a good job of preparing and you'll be ready to make the jump in two years.

Howard · Host

Welcome!

We were 42 when we started with a similar background to yours. We've been workamping about six months each year.

With your age, health, and skill set, you shouldn't have any problem finding jobs out there. There are lots in several different arenas. It just takes a little digging and perserverance to find what you want.

With that said, it is a bit tough making it on the road with just workamping jobs. But you will have the option of making more money at more traditional jobs in just a few months a year if you wish. Your supplemental income from the house rental will surely help and it may just allow you to get by on workamping.

As for health insurance, we have "catastrophic" individual coverage. We have a national plan with a $10,000 deductible that pays 100% (no co-pay after the deductible). It also pays for periodic physicals and preventative appointments.

Our plan has a Health Savings Account feature. Check out our Health Savings Account webpage for details on how that works.

Congrats on your decision and the entire RV-Dreams Family is here to help. smile

jdkblue · RV-Dreams Family Member

Wow two years is a long wait. We became fulltime RVers in June of this year and it's crazy for us to think how our lives have changed since then. We are unfortunately still stuck with our empty house we listed back in August 2008, that's the last of our material possessions that we need to get rid of. In June 2009 we took it off the market then in mid September 2009 we put it back on the market (with a realtor this time before it was listed with a bank) with a lot of improvements and still no movement. We are growing ever more weary about the situation every day.

I'm 30yrs old and work as a Mechanical CAD Designer and my husband is 29 and ever since he was 18 he has worked as a welder/fabricator however he's thought about taking online classes but he's unsure of what he wants to do next and can't afford it right now. He recently traded his motorcycle for a welder, tanks and supplies so he really wants to do a small handyman service and advertise on our cargo trailer. For now he takes care of camp and our two dogs. We share one motorcycle as our only transportation.

We've never workamped mainly because if we did just that we couldn't afford to make our mortgage payment. At our age we wonder if people would take us seriously but for now we're keeping that on the back burner. Our main income comes from the contract jobs that I find for six months at a time. We are originally from NW Iowa but my first contract job took us to the Portland, OR area now we are in Northern, AL where I'm finishing up my second contract. Who knows were we'll be next. So far we're loving it but we really want our acreage back in Iowa to sell.

We buy our own health care coverage but don't have any accidental coverage.

Good luck!

-- Edited by jdkblue on Monday 19th of October 2009 10:26:29 AM

Woodchip · RV-Dreams Community Member

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to respond to my post. Your thoughts and words of encouragement mean more to us than you know!

Quite frankly....this site and a handful of others are really the only forum we have to discuss our dreams of full-timing. Our family and most of our friends do not understand our mission and think we're crazy for trying to do this.

Right now, we're 22 months from paying off our home. From the point the house is paid off, we plan to continue to save for our truck, our rig and at least one year of expenses in case we aren't able to find workamping jobs (but, as I am seeing from the responses...there are jobs out there!). Our tentative plan is to hit the road, early 2013. We have NO debt, the house will be paid for and we'll rent it out...and we plan to pay for the rig and the truck in-full.

We are building a website right now and have been documenting our journey to full-timing via video testimonials. The website is nice and will house our online journal, our photos and advice to other young folks on how we did this, etc. Quite honestly...I feel like the biggest hurdle at this point has been getting over the "conventional" mindset that we're supposed to be in careers, like it or not....strive for a bigger house....one day get that fancy car. We have found that in the past ten years of our marriage, our "possessions" have brought us very little joy and certainly have nothing to do with creating a successful marriage.

Howard & Linda...Your story reminds me so much of how my husband and I feel, it is uncanny. We too are steady and conservative types when it comes to decision-making. So, we certainly share that in common! But, when I read further into your website, I saw that we have other little similarities. Like you, I also picked up the Po Bronson book, in my quest to self-diagnose what is happening to us! And...when I saw that one of the first places you and Linda visited once you started your journey, Bradenton, Florida....I nearly fell over, right then and there! My husband and I are originally from Bradenton and it's not too often we hear of folks that know of that little town (albeit, the notoriety it gained from being one of Florida's "house-flip-captials, is a designation unbecoming). We too had our "epiphany" moment when traveling out west (Yosemite and Joshua Tree, California). After being in the presence of these incredible gifts from God, it has left us with little doubt that we were meant to sit behind a desk for the rest of our lives, giving only 80% to what we do, because we just can't get our minds off the fact that all we want to do is sit and be with the trees. We're still trying to grapple with the fact that there's nothing wrong with that.

All in all...we have been tremendously blessed, although we absolutely cannot claim that the road has been an easy one. My husband has been laid off THREE times in the past ten years. Enough was enough and we're not going to be the corporate world's "fool" any longer. We've never been handed a penny and aren't the types that will ever come into any family wealth. We've gotten this far, all on our own....just with a heck of a sense of determination and strong-will. We knew all the rules, but the rules did not know us.

Well, before I get too far into the soapbox...another huge "Thank You" to the thoughts and advice from everyone. Keep em' coming!

-Woodchip

Fulltimerver · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi Woodchip
You talk about workkamping to make an income. But you can also run almost any kind of Internet business on the road. Between satellite internet, and cellular internet, you can be on line anywhere. My wife runs a VA (virtual assistant) business on line. She does things like power points, spread sheets, web pages, word documents, and just about anything else computereze that you can think of. She never has to see her customers face to face, they just email work to her, she does it and emails it back.
Satellite internet you can get into for about $5000 for a fully automatic system that aligns itself, or about $1500 for a manual one that you have to set up each time. The monthly costs are about $75 which is pretty reasonable for always on internet.
You can also get internet by connecting your cell phone to your computer, that is if your cell provider allows tethering, other wise you need a stick that plugs into the usb port of your computer. Then just a bit of software and a data package from your provider, and you are on line. The usual cost is about $50 per month for most providers. This will give you about 3 to 5 gigabytes depending on your provider. This is usually plenty for most people unless you are into downloading movies and music. If you have a cell phone or a stick to which an external antenna can be connected, you can get even further into the backwoods and still have cellular internet.
I have gone into this quite deeply in my book "Full Time in an RV" that you can find at www.fulltimeinanrv.com
Other internet businesses that you can run on the road is drop shipping. What you do is pick a product that you would like to sell. Then you look on line to find a drop shipper who carries that product and will package and ship the product for you. You just have to make and maintain the website, and collect the money. You never have to handle product. Another spin on this is that Amazon will store, package, and ship product for you that you ship to them in bulk.
If you are artfully inclined, you can make pieces of art on the road, and sell them on places like www.etsey.com or www.artfullhome.com Apparently the average price for a homemade article on Artfull home goes for about $700 I have other sites mentioned in my book.
Jaimie of the RV Lifestyle Experts web page also has a book for sale that she has written called supporting your RV Lifestyle www.rvlifestyleexperts.com
I hope there is something in all this information that is of use to you.

-- Edited by Fulltimerver on Monday 19th of October 2009 08:23:54 PM

Colorado_Kid · RV-Dreams Family Member

I am 39 and am planning on full timing by working at different resorts and National Parks. By doing that I can get at least two months off a year and have time to visit family and maybe even go overseas.