You know the dream: Live your best life and get paid to do it!
It sounds fantastical and then you hear about someone who is doing just that. They are getting paid to sail around the world and enjoy every moment of their life. Why do they get to do it while you are stuck at the office?
The truth is, money while sailing is a simple equation:
Money Earned - Money Spent = Money to Cruise
This may seem over simplified, but it really is that simple. When you have your desk job, you have lots of money earned; for this example $100,000 earned.
So far, you have $100,000 but yet you can’t seem to afford to stop working and go cruising. This is because of the other part of the equation.
You need to factor in your house payment, car payment, insurance payment, groceries, fuel costs, entertainment costs; it all adds up and probably will get very close to your “Money Earned” value which will leave you with $0 for “Money to Cruise”.
Living in society is very expensive, and you have been conditioned to spend as much as you make because that is what keeps the economy going. If everyone worked hard and saved all their money, there would be no one buying all the junk that makes business thrive! As a result, there would be no business and therefore nowhere to work. To keep this giant hamster wheel spinning, everyone needs to spend as much as they make, and maybe even a little more spending this month so that they will have to work harder and throw interest charges into the mix!
It’s a huge scheme designed to keep you in your place and prevent you from actually living the life you want to live.
While cruising, you will make significantly less money, but you will also spend significantly less money.
I used to work full time as a dentist and I was making well over $120,000 per year. It was awesome and at the end of the year, I had barely any money left over because it was all spent before I made it. I have now been cruising for 5 years full time and actually have money saved up in the bank! How can I be saving money when I make less than $20,000 per year while I couldn’t save when I was making $120,000? Simple, the “Money Spent” category go slashed.
When I went cruising, I got rid of my car which also got rid of my car payment and car insurance payment. I left the marina I lived in and now live at anchor which got rid of my slip payment. My entertainment costs went way down because instead of going out to an activity with friends, friends want to come over to the boat. When they come over, they all bring beer and other refreshments with them which means that I am the entertainment and therefore I don’t need to pay to be entertained anymore. I used to spend money on all sorts of things that I can’t even identify at this time because they were worthless money sucking unnecessary things that I do not miss at all.
Now, my expenses are food from the grocery store, meals at restaurants from time to time, and fuel for the generator. As parts on the boat breakdown, I fix them because I have the time. When they get past the point of fixing anymore, I replace them. Sometimes, it’s an expensive item like the generator that dies and costs a whopping $1,000, but the original one lasted and worked for 5 years. Most of those years were problem free, but over the past few years, the machine has become more and more problematic until it reaches the point where it no longer functions in a dependable manner and I decide to replace it.
Since I don’t spend money on other things, I have the cash on hand to buy such a replacement without sweating the expense.
The answer to “How can you afford to go cruising?” should really be a question of “How can you afford to stay at your job and not go cruising?”
By reducing your “Money Spent” category, your “Money Earned” category suddenly becomes so much more powerful and this gives you a lot of money to go cruising on.
The next question should be: How do you make money while cruising?
For that, you will have to check back tomorrow.
