If one runs out of money, do you sell your home and go caravanning, yes or no.

Your input will be greatly appeared

Kevin, welcome to the friendly and advice forum.

I trust that you will have time to read this long experience and my apologies to other members.

Your question is difficult to answer, because I do not know your financial status.

In our situation our "Permie camping" was a diificult decision and that was our dream on normal retirement, which we decided on early retirement.

I became very sick, diagnosed with "PUC" (Primary Undified Cancer"),5- years ago, which Dr's said: Nothing to worry about:, but on top of that due to a horrible insident last year November, I became totally death.

Our aim was not to stay longer as 3- months at a resort. We wanted to travel our country, but due to medical situations and fuel prices, we decided by staying permenant at our base, close to PTA for hospitals.

I bought a comfortable tent for us and we camp once a year for 2-weeks out of season, midweeks at several resorts.

Because of my sickness and an extra insident, we decided to sell our property and we living at low cost and enjoy ourselves.

When we were property owners, we used to do everything ourselves: 

- My wife worked: 8am - 4pm and run the house.

- Myself: 9am - 4pm and maintain etc..

At the end, we will not go back to our "Used To Be Living Style".

My advice is: Contact a Broker.

Should you wish to speak to a Very, Very Good Broker, which is Alan Grey,Momentum etc.., you are welcome to request the contact @ my number and my wife's:

- Mine: 0seven650three26nine3 (My wife will answer, because of my hearing)

- My wife's: 0eight370eight50seven6.

The photo is our holiday tent once a year for 2-weeks.

kevin96 wrote:

If one runs out of money, do you sell your home and go caravanning, yes or no.

Your input will be greatly appeared

Daars baie mense wat kamp omdat hulle mòèt weens swaar finansiele omstandighede 

Relaxed Camper wrote:

Daars baie mense wat kamp omdat hulle mòèt weens swaar finansiele omstandighede 

My grond belasting, water, krag, sekuriteit ens..... was Erg Baie Meer teenoor wat ons nou betaal.

Ons lewe klein met karavaan as slaapkamer en buite soos ons gekuier het by die huis in die "Courtyard en Patio".

Dit het ook "Baie Donker" in ons area geword soos huise verkoop word.

Once you sell your house, you will never be able to afford one again.  While you are still healthy, camping permanently seems like a solution to your financial woes and an adventure.  But remember that one gets older and your health deteriorates. And what happens to the remaining partner when one of you die, that is if you are attached. Consider how the remaining one will handle this in a caravan.  If you do not have another choice, you have to do what you have to do, but I would say do your utmost to rather keep your house. Consider even taking in boarders if this is practical.  This should bring in a few thou a  month.  Or perhaps rent out your house,  go camping and save like mad and if,  or rather when the pawpaw strikes the fan, you can move back into your house. 

Yeah everyone’s situation is different and thus you will have many different views on the possibilities. You have to think very carefully and practically taking your needs and requirements into consideration. 

Good luck with your decision, hope it works out well for you. 

As Fred and Brian mentioned: Think carefully.

Make sure that enough funds are available for the one's you will leave behind, should something happen as well as for yourself.

Put a pen to paper and do some calculations before you make your final decision.

At the moment this might look at Sunshine and Roses, but think into your family's future and yourselves.

If your property is paid up or if the bond is low, are you able to rent it out and earn an income while you camp on the cheap and get back on your feet like that.

At all costs I believe you need to keep your property which will appreciate over time and will be your capital base to use as funds in the last years of your retirement.

Good luck with your decisions going forward and I wish you success.

Kevin, you will have to sell your property for a substantial sum to maintain a reasonable standard of living from investments. The investments need to show growth above inflation after your monthly withdrawals, otherwise you will soon be broke again. This is where the first problem is as today's markets are volatile and investing in high risk portfolios late in life might backfire.

I agree with those that advise you to rent out your property. It is possible to live comfortably from the rental income and maybe still save as well. Find a caravan park that has low monthly tariffs and look out for odd jobs that you have skills for to boost your income.

All the best.

Stirring the pot? Decide for yourself.

I am not an expert or pretend to be knowledgeable when it comes to money matters.

However, I have spent my working life in a financial environment. During that time, I have learned a few valuable lessons.

The most important one is that one should not venture into a financial decision if one does not fully, but absolutely fully understand the implications and unintended outcomes of such a decision. This is where many decision-makers subsequently discover their mistakes because they thought they knew when they never even thought about unintended consequences. 

So-called permies who are staying at camping rates costing less than a middle-class monthly municipal account may think they are doing a retirement investment by buying a camping outfit to minimise their cost of living. Consider the unintended consequences of what lies ahead when terrible weather and ablution facilities aggravate health conditions, not to mention one of the partners needing special medical care or even passing away.

This type of lifestyle may be cool for youngsters, but once one is way past the seventies, I am afraid priorities change rapidly. Caravan parks are businesses, not benevolent institutions. During high season there are no specials, and the word permies do not imply a camping site is secured indefinitely. 

The worst part of my observation is that people in their late seventies and beyond do not just suddenly fall over and pass away. It is usually a dragged-out process of deteriorating. Not suited to camping environment facilities.

As the banking advert of way back when used to say, it makes one think, doesn't it?

kevin96 wrote:

If one runs out of money, do you sell your home and go caravanning, yes or no.

Your input will be greatly appeared

Ek is ook geen finansiele boffin nie, maar dis moeilik om raad te gee as mens te min weet. Dis seker goeie raad om huis te verhuur en dan goedkoper te gaan kamp, maar ons weet nie of daar reeds n karavaan beskikbaar is om dit te kan doen nie. Is daar n sleep voertuig om dit te kan doen? Indien nie, kan dit beplanning heeltemaal verander

Verhuur jou huis uit en gebruik van daai huurgeld om te kamp stertke met besluit

It is true what Kanneman says about making use of a financial adviser should you decide to sell the house. Choosing the right one can be a challenge. Do your homework so that you can ask the important questions relating to your circumstances. Personally I do not make use of advisers that work for banks and insurance firms. They tend to promote products coupled to the firm they work for, which might not be in your best interest.

I tend to agree with HM. Financial advisors make a living from your investments. None give you advice which is the best for you with nothing in it for them.

On the other side of the coin, they can most probably do far better for you with your money than what you can on your own. So, even if they take 2%, the overall outcome is better than what you would do on your own.

As you get older you will need more and more support. This can be from family (if you are lucky) or a retirement institution. The latter costs you!

Live every day as if it is your last.

Our broker take 0,175% of gross growing/month.

Starting with our investments at Alan Grey through our broker was quite tight with a 0,5% taking off input.

We actually learnt an exspensive lesson when started, but you must think of your broker's expensives, driving up and down for your needs and more advice.

Start with a small amount and once you registered, add more input without a large amount of takings from your broker as a "newbie".

- Never put your cash in one basket.

- Always shop around.

- Never place a large amount in an investment where cash is immediately available, this will cause a quick downfall.

Put pen to paper and do calculations how much you will require immediately: i.e: Day to day spend, emergencies such as sickness, vehicle repairs etc....

Alan Grey offer very good investments with a good growth:

- Basket No1 is fixed.

- Basket No 2 is where cash is available within 5-days and you can request how much you need.

- As mentioned, never invest at one broker or investment company.

Spread your hard earning money around for the best interest.

- Never listen to "Fly By Night" brokers, always go where you know you are safe, such as: Alan Grey, Momentum, ABSA, FNB, Nedbank etc..

Our investments are evenally spread as per abovementioned.

Gerden wrote:

Our broker take 0,175% of gross growing/month.

Starting with our investments at Alan Grey through our broker was quite tight with a 0,5% taking off input.

We actually learnt an exspensive lesson when started, but you must think of your broker's expensives, driving up and down for your needs and more advice.

Start with a small amount and once you registered, add more input without a large amount of takings from your broker as a "newbie".

- Never put your cash in one basket.

- Always shop around.

- Never place a large amount in an investment where cash is immediately available, this will cause a quick downfall.

Put pen to paper and do calculations how much you will require immediately: i.e: Day to day spend, emergencies such as sickness, vehicle repairs etc....

Alan Grey offer very good investments with a good growth:

- Basket No1 is fixed.

- Basket No 2 is where cash is available within 5-days and you can request how much you need.

- As mentioned, never invest at one broker or investment company.

Spread your hard earning money around for the best interest.

- Never listen to "Fly By Night" brokers, always go where you know you are safe, such as: Alan Grey, Momentum, ABSA, FNB, Nedbank etc..

Our investments are evenally spread as per abovementioned.

- If your knowledge is up to date with computers, start your own data base:-

- Our's is on Exell and Acces, which I have done our own spreadsheets with graphs for each investment company/month to identify where is more growth or weakness.

- This however get updated every 1st day of each month.

If there is a minus movement, react immediately and keep watching it once a week.

If there is a positive movement keep watching it every 2nd week.

What follows is not advice. Legislation requires one to be licensed in order to give financial advice. It is merely the way a well-informed investor may view the value an advisor may or may not add to long-term investment outcomes. Please note - reference is made to well-informed investors. This line of thinking may not suit every other investor.

Also, there is a difference between so-called investment advisors and academically qualified financial planners.

Let us consider the issue of remuneration. 0.175 % per month may equal more than 2.1 % per annum because if it is taken monthly upfront. Let us say one has R 10 000 000 invested with a major institution with a track record of steady long-term growth, why use a broker? In the above example, one would be giving more than R 210 000 per year away for what? What more can the so-called advisor do than be a conduit to pass the investment information on to a client instead of the client receiving it directly from the institution? A broker or advisor is not a requirement to invest money, (stock exchange investments excluded), not even if a living annuity is involved. Imagine giving more than R 210 000 away every year for twenty years. That is retiring at 60 and living past 80.  That is more than R 4.2 million. Almost 50% of the capital amount one started out with.

It has been proven over and over, an investment left alone does far better than money being switched from fund to fund according to the flavour of the month/quarter/year.

Surely, if an advisor is going to get paid that much, one should get those data sheets referred to from him every month, instead of doing it yourself. Mind you, up-to-date fund fact sheets are available on the internet for all investment institutions that matter.

Incidentally, when a so-called broker (a broker is defined as a person earning commission) switches an investment from one provider to another, is there an incentive to do so provided by the receiving product provider?  

When we bought my wife's present car the salesman's enthusiasm was noticeably dampened when he learned that it was a cash sale. Obviously, his finance house kick-back was in jeopardy.

Makes one think, not so?

Kanneman wrote:

What follows is not advice. Legislation requires one to be licensed in order to give financial advice. It is merely the way a well-informed investor may view the value an advisor may or may not add to long-term investment outcomes. Please note - reference is made to well-informed investors. This line of thinking may not suit every other investor.

Also, there is a difference between so-called investment advisors and academically qualified financial planners.

Let us consider the issue of remuneration. 0.175 % per month may equal more than 2.1 % per annum because if it is taken monthly upfront. Let us say one has R 10 000 000 invested with a major institution with a track record of steady long-term growth, why use a broker? In the above example, one would be giving more than R 210 000 per year away for what? What more can the so-called advisor do than be a conduit to pass the investment information on to a client instead of the client receiving it directly from the institution? A broker or advisor is not a requirement to invest money, (stock exchange investments excluded), not even if a living annuity is involved. Imagine giving more than R 210 000 away every year for twenty years. That is retiring at 60 and living past 80.  That is more than R 4.2 million. Almost 50% of the capital amount one started out with.

It has been proven over and over, an investment left alone does far better than money being switched from fund to fund according to the flavour of the month/quarter/year.

Surely, if an advisor is going to get paid that much, one should get those data sheets referred to from him every month, instead of doing it yourself. Mind you, up-to-date fund fact sheets are available on the internet for all investment institutions that matter.

Incidentally, when a so-called broker (a broker is defined as a person earning commission) switches an investment from one provider to another, is there an incentive to do so provided by the receiving product provider?  

When we bought my wife's present car the salesman's enthusiasm was noticeably dampened when he learned that it was a cash sale. Obviously, his finance house kick-back was in jeopardy.

Makes one think, not so?

Very well put, So very true.

Do your own homework and compare, get info from friends / family In same position.  Ensure you know the difference between tax free investments and effective and nominal rates.  Absa is offering fixed deposit products for 5yrs at 12.93 % fixed intr on maturity, but simular product with Rsa Retail Bonds @ 11.25% brings you more in the pocket due to accrued intr. Any broker works for commission but bank consultants work for an salary and bonuses on achieving targets, and only promote the bank products, not necessarily in your best interest. 

If you decide to invest at ABSA and all your accounts linked, you do not pay monthly bank costs.

They call this then an Investment account.

I have 5x accounts, which are linked and I pay zero banking charges/month.

Remember that you must mention this to them otherwise you get treated as a non -investor and pay costs each month.

We have accounts and investments at 3 different banks - two of them we don't pay any fees at all, the third has a minimal fixed charge.