Don’t Wait Too Long to Live the Life You’re Saving For

I met a man, who I’ll call "Marco," who had spent the last four years living out of a camper perched atop an old F-250. He does own a home, no mortgage, but it sits largely unused. He has significant assets from the sale of his business. Since retiring, he has spent nearly all his time traveling the US, Canada, and South America. He is 63 years old.

In the winters, he skis four days a week (Monday-Thursday), then spends his weekends restocking his camper’s fridge, doing laundry, and traveling to the next ski resort. 

In spring and fall, he tours the US and Canada, visiting national parks and other points of interest. Then, in summers, he heads to South America and does more or less the same thing down there. 

This lifestyle, he says, is rather cheap. Far cheaper than he imagined for his retirement. He stays in ski lodge parking lots overnight in the winter, and spends a lot of time in dispersed camping areas, which are usually free. 

His biggest expenses are food, gas, site fees, and health insurance. Eventually, he plans to relocate to South America, where his money goes further and he can enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle. In part, that means an easier time hiring assistants to help out around the house as he gets older. The timing of this transition depends on his health. As he approaches the point where he can no longer ski 4 days a week, or where 300+ days a year on the road start to take a heavier toll on him, he’ll return to a more traditional lifestyle. 

I asked him if he had any advice about life, or business, or finances. He said, “don’t wait. I waited too long, and now there’s just not enough time to do everything.” Marco is in great shape, especially for a 63 year old, but even so, he notices that he’s not quite as energetic or quick to recover as he used to be. 

My takeaways from Marco are three-fold. One, that his lifestyle looks like a lot of fun, and I’d really enjoy sharing that experience with some friends and a partner. Two, if you’re willing to be creative (and at times, a little uncomfortable), your goals might be a lot closer than you think. And thirdly, no one lives forever. We’re all slowly losing some of our physical and mental capacity to do the things we most want to do. “Someday” might mean never, if you aren’t careful. I think this is why Marco is spending so much time on the road currently, because he can see that spectre looming ahead. 

The lessons for retirees are fairly obvious, I think. But how does this translate for younger people? While rich in energy and health (at least relative to where we’ll be later), being young also means your income and assets haven’t had as much time to grow. And having kids, while rich and valuable in many other ways, comes at the cost of a lot of time, energy, and money. Travel with kids can be particularly expensive.

And so the questions I find myself asking are:

• What experiences and opportunities are best suited to my current stage of life, and am I missing anything big now that I won’t be able to do later? 

• What assumptions do I have about my future income and expenses that might later prove inaccurate or irrelevant?

• How might I incorporate some experiences of traveling and exploring the outdoors while raising a family?

• What am I spending my time on today that might be more productively or more enjoyably spent?

• What is a healthy amount of safety to build into my own financial plan, and what might prove excessive?