Hi Mark, thank you for the welcome.

Our choice in trailers reflects the lack of confidence in what we'll be doing. Super C motorhomes like Jayco's Seneca really make my monkey dance but I balk at the buy in price, at least for now. We used our previous 5er in small county campgrounds because it was a 25 footer and we enjoyed that. So while we prefer to start with something not so large as to preclude smaller sites, we don't think we can live that small. The 303 seems like a good compromise and should get 32' into most places of interest to us. Once we better understand our campground preferences, we can decide what truly is best for us. We want to buy used so trading trailers or changing to a Super C won't be such a big depreciation hit - at least not numerically.

So far as the truck, we are somewhat adventurous and like occasional off road excursions and we don't see us ever hauling 40'. For those reasons we're thinking SRW.

Health care, who knows what happens next year after the election? Guess we'll see!

You touched on the first topic for which I will seek advice - finance. About half of our money is invested in Vanguard and most of the rest will transfer there after retirement, but I'm already disappointed that they charge $5 monthly to add electronic payment - sort of ticks me off. Currently plan to move from our local credit union to a large national bank chain and link to the investment accounts for money transfer. Many branch offices and ATM's seems right to me. But we would like to hear about what works for others here. Some things, like changing banks, etc., don't have to wait until next year for implementation. We want as many components of this lifestyle change in place as far in advance as possible so come April we can focus on selling the house and getting out of town by the end of summer.

Dan,

I'm with Bank of America and have been for a long time. But we are not fulltime RVing yet. I hardly ever go by a branch office. Can even do check book balancing online, if that's important. Joined USAA because of veteran status and as a second option. Been thinking about some insurance changes so USAA might help, or not.

I like Vanguard because the fees are low. I also have a Fidelity account for playing around.  Also using Waddell and Reed which is a managed account but the fees are high.  In retirement, I may move things around. Our target is 7% earnings with a withdrawal rate of 4%, at least for the first few years of retirement. My gut feeling is overall, in retirement, Vanguard is a good bet.

The Reflections model 303 was the one we looked at also.  Was comparing to the Keystone Cougar and Laredo.  One thing you give up is the drop frame so basement is not as large compared to the larger class trailer. But gaining the benefit of less gross weight. In that class there are a lot of units to compare against, especially in the 30' plus range.

We are thinking alike. Wife and I are not going all-in, in terms of breaking the bank on whatever rig we go with. Too much riding on it if we don't end up liking the life style. However, we don't want to set ourselves up for not enjoying it because of buying a rig with less comfort than our minimum standards. That's why I've also not given up looking at the mid-profile 5th wheels like the Reflection and others. We would have to be careful because the price on some of the lower profile stuff is getting closer to the larger full profile stuff.

 

Welcome aboard Dan and Ruth!  You'll find answers to all your questions here.  There are so many very knowledgeable folks here...it's amazing.  We made the decision and began our search for our RV in earnest just about  a year ago, and since have  learned so much  from everyone here.  We eventually narrowed our RV search criteria down to a 2005-2008 DP, either Newmar or Tiffin in the 40 ft class.  Even though there are tons of RV's out there on the market, the search  can get pretty frustrating.  I can't count how many "possibles" we got excited about only to  pass them by for various reasons.  Just when we thought we'd be searching forever, we recently got lucky enough to discover our " Mary Poppins" (Practically Perfect in Every Way)   in San Antonio -   she's a 2007 Allegro Bus, in wonderful condition,  and we're very excited to hit the road  around the end of this year.  We'll spend the next eight months or so  doing test runs, getting our solar installed, tying up all the  loose ends etc., and take off  for the desert shortly after the holidays. We hope to run into you out here one of these days!   Once again, welcome, have fun and safe travels!!!

Hi Jim & Deb, nice meeting you.

You are way ahead of us in preparation, I have RV envy. LOL. I like the solar idea. The guy I work has owned Class A's all his live and currently drives a Tiffin, he swears by them. Going by that, I think you made an excellent choice.

Best of luck in your adventure and yes, I hope we do cross paths in the forum and on the road next year!