The 7 Weirdest Things About Full-Time RV Life

To most people, the idea of living full time in an RV seems crazy. People who out of the blue choose to give up their homes to pull up stakes and hit the road with the purpose of living and traveling in their rigs full time are clearly “out of the box” thinkers ready to take risks. Although it might not be for everybody, it’s a lifestyle full of adventure as well as the challenges of a constantly changing scene.

Here is a list of some of the biggest adjustments you’ll need to make and the things about living on the road that would continue to be weird to you:

1.) Waking up each day and needing to remember where you are!

If you are living somewhere for a week or less – especially if it’s a one-night stopover somewhere – it’s would certainly be a confusing moment stepping out of the door in the morning and re-adjusting to an entirely new environment, particularly if you arrived late the previous day. A lot of your mornings would start on a surprise note you could wake up and discover you are living next to a lake.

2.)  You are not on a perpetual vacation – you are just living as locals on a temporary basis.

Most times it feels far different from a vacation, where you would have a hotel room, eat meals at restaurants and not work, but with full time living you’ll spend most of your days at home cooking and doing some domestic tasks before going out to see local sights.

3.) You’ll never know where anything is in an area unless you stay a while!

You’ll have to always research or ask someone where things are, unless you drive past them and still remember their locations. Anytime you pull into a new place, you would have to quickly memorize everything you see: grocery stores, gas stations, post offices, Red Boxes for movie rentals and so on.

4.) You’ll always have new neighbors.

One advantage to this is you’ll not have to deal with bad neighbors for more than a few days  but it’s also hard to see new friends come and go quickly. You’ll meet some amazing friends –each has an interesting story to tell, and you’ll only get to be in their company for far little time.

5.) Moving is no longer so stressful or expensive.

Moving is one time-consuming and costly process that most people don’t want to do – but not anymore when you are on a rig. Most of the barriers you used to have are gone now. If you get to a new area and don’t like it you’ll just move on. If you get somewhere and love it, you can stay as long as you want to.

6.) Even though you’re surrounded by the great outdoors, you’ll still have to force yourselves to go outdoors at times.

It’s sometimes difficult to get over the “office mentality” of keeping yourselves inside all day, thanks to many years spent working in offices. Working outside can be hard, It’s nearly impossible to see your screen, it’s windy, and there are insects and distractions all around.

7.) Being afraid to stay in your home during a bad storm.

Your real “sticks and bricks” house could be invincible against the great outdoors, after seeing a storm up close you would probably consider heading for higher ground. At a campsite you could literally see a large tree limb fall with a huge crash that might crush an RV. You could also be close to bodies of water in heavy rain that might flood and sweep you away.

Top 3 RV Tips for Beach Camping

There are a number of impressive waterfront overnight locations that only campers and RV users can appreciate. From Anastasia State Park in Florida to Kalaloch Beach in Washington, these beachfront are established for RV-goers to get pleasure from nature and sights in style. Beachfront RV parks and campgrounds are a particular type of destination that consists of more strategy compared to your run-of-the-mill campgrounds. Listed here are the top 3 RV tips for beach camping to help guarantee the success of your entire family trip.

1.  Select the Timing of Your Trip Carefully

It is usually a smart idea to book campsites well ahead of time and to show up in good time to your site. It might as well be a smart idea to schedule trips to well-known beach locales before or after peak summer season if at all possible. Besides finding better deals you’ll get prime beach camping locations, you are also likely to have more privacy and space to yourself all through your camp-out. If you must RV during the summer time on account of school or work, turn up on a Thursday or travel in the course of the week. Things will likely be less hectic and you can get pleasure from some quiet before the weekend warriors roll into the campground.

2.  Vet for the Best Views

What you don’t want is to arrive at your campsite and discover that all of the prime real estate is not available and getting trapped with a camping area that doesn’t have the view you hoped for could make you unhappy. If you can get a campsite that offers views from all sites, or reserve a particular spot, this can help.

Even when you have a place reserved, make an effort to show up early. Late arrivals might imply taking a less-than-ideal camping spot in the event that the RV Park is filled up and your spot is given away. Moving into a campground that is close to the beach just isn’t similar to getting up on the water ready for your vacation.

3.  Look into Tent Camping also

At times RV sites could be limiting with regards to waterfront-view locales. In case you have a much larger family or a caravan of people that you are going to be RVing with, you may well be able to spread out some once you settle in to the campsite. Get the very best of both worlds by splitting up and having more adventurous folks tent camp at a site close to the water and some can stay with the RV. This could possibly give every person in your group much more space and give those craving for the beach an opportunity to unwind.

Why South Dakota is the new Florida

Florida and Arizona without doubt have the most amazing weather, however with regards to quality of life; South Dakota tops the new list of Preferable States for Retirement according to Bank rate.com.

The state has quite a lot going for it: an inexpensive living, very low crime rate, lower tax burden, excellence health care among other things and those who live there feel good about their communities.

The rest of the leading five best states to retire are: North Dakota Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Arizona (16) and Florida (39) could not even make the top 10.

Even though the states that were rated highly might not be regarded as a haven for retirees, it is important that seniors consider more than sunshine when selecting a place for their golden years. Both North and south Dakotas made it into Bank rate’s top 10 for the second year in a row.

According to the Bank rate.com analysis The 5 states that ranked the lowest are Hawaii, Arkansas, Alaska, West Virginia and New York.

Obviously, no one makes a decision on where to retire based on a survey of some data points, like weather or taxes. On many occasions, the move is made to be close to family, however if you are thinking about places to relocate once you retire, you may perhaps compare how different states rate on a few factors.

Most Tax Friendly Places for Retirees

Smart Asset’s interactive map highlights the places in the country with tax policies that are most favorable to retirees. Smart Asset’s interactive map Zoom between states to see the most tax-friendly places in each area of the country. Smart Asset’s study aims to find the areas with the most tax-friendly policies for retirees. They look at how the tax policies of each city are going to affect a retiree with a $50,000 income.

 

 

A Quick Guide to Your Pension

How to retire at 55 – Eight top tips on early retirement

Retiring early requires commitment and dedication to save and not spend when you’re young and still working. Those planning to retire early have to save more from their shorter working lives. For instance, a person who retires at 65 may perhaps work for 44 years but be retired for 20 years; however a person who retires at 55 might work for 34 years and then be retired for 30 years.

Below are top seven tips on how to retire at 55.

 1. Claim your own share of the £35 billion the taxman gives pension savers.

Whenever you put money in a personal pension the     taxman chips in as well. When you put in £1,000, the taxman adds an additional £250. However if you pay the 40% or 45% tax rate, you will get a far better deal.

2.  Start a pension – the earlier the better

It seems obvious; nearly four in ten British adults tend not to have a pension, including 1.4 million that are within a decade of retiring. To determine approximately how much you ought to save on a monthly basis divide your age once you start saving by two and give back this sum as a portion of your earnings.

 3. If they offer you a pension at work, take it!

Businesses, particularly the big ones, generally offer workplace pensions. Oftentimes, they can as well pay money into your pension. UK companies have to offer a pension to their employees therefore you could lose out on ‘free money’ should you opt out.

 4. Check where your pension is invested

Do you always check out the worth of your home? – Even though you have no plan of selling?  It’s natural; your home is among one your biggest assets, the same as your pension. Do you have any idea where it’s invested? Disturbingly, close to half of Britons have no clue.

Ensure you know where your pension is invested as not all investments are the same and the difference can certainly impact your pension a great deal.

5. Make small, regular increases – they could go a long way

How much money could you get if you raise your contributions by just 5% annually? Take a look at projections to see how much more you could get by making little raises now.

6. Track down old pensions

Few people stick to the same employer for life – the average is 11 jobs in an entire life. And even lesser people keep an eye on all the pension schemes they have signed up with in the course of their career. Some estimates prove that the total of unclaimed pensions is within the scale of billions.

If you joined multiple pension but don’t have the details, it is possible to trace them for free with the Pension Tracing Service.

7. Approaching retirement? Ensure you know about the new options

Deciding on how to draw your pension is truly one of the most crucial financial decisions you need to make. You might have to depend on it for 20, 30 or even 40 years. Before you decide how to take your pension, it might pay to learn about the new rules and opportunities.

There is now a lot more flexibility over the way you draw your private pensions – it is possible to take lump sums, income or a combination. You could take your pension fund as cash in one go.