Retirement - is just round the corner - what would you do?

[Mick and Maggie]

Myself and Mag's are at the point of retiring from a life in Higher Education in the very near future. We have been giving some serious thought to buying a live-a-board Narrow boat and touring the UK for a good few years. However, the proposed changes in the make-up of British Waterways and its funding plus speculation surrounding its property portfolio. - Including the talk and speculation of BW becoming a charitable trust. Uncertainty surrounding what seems to be a bleak future of the canals infrastructure is making us review our situation.

 

 

So, if you were in our situation, on the outside looking in. In view of what is taking place now, would you be prepared to invest 60-70K on a narrow boat?

 

Thoughts please.

 

Mick & Maggie.

Edited December 22, 2009 by Mick and Maggie

[Naughty Cal]

I would buy a cheaper (but still sound) boat and go for it.

[valrene9600]

To many "what ifs" in life just do it, you`r a long time dead so make the most of your life.

[steelaway]

Myself and Mag's are at the point of retiring from a life in Higher Education in the very near future. We have been giving some serious thought to buying a live-a-board Narrow boat and touring the UK for a good few years. However, the proposed changes in the make-up of British Waterways and its funding plus speculation surrounding its property portfolio. - Including the talk and speculation of BW becoming a charitable trust. Uncertainty surrounding what seems to be a bleak future of the canals infrastructure is making us review our situation.

 

 

So, if you were in our situation, on the outside looking in. In view of what is taking place now, would you be prepared to invest 60-70K on a narrow boat?

 

Thoughts please.

 

Mick & Maggie.

 

 

Hi

 

I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket, if you can afford it.

Could you not down size your home and spend the profit on a summer cruising boat, then see how you feel about living on a narrowboat.

I do have some friends that did sell up completly.

Their attitude was that eventually when they felt they were to old for the locks they would sell the boat and get an council OAP flat.

It worked out fine for them, but I think they were very brave.

You still have a good 10 years before the whole system collapses - maybe?

 

Alex

[Robbo]

So, if you were in our situation, on the outside looking in. In view of what is taking place now, would you be prepared to invest 60-70K on a narrow boat?

 

You only live once so I would go for it. If you can afford it I would still keep some property that I would rent out, also don't just stick to the UK, Europe has a good canal system as well. As always if you've never hired a canal boat, do so - the longer the better. There are some long term boats to hire out there so this may be a good way too see if it's for you.

 

As for the state of the canals and there future, who knows, but I can't see it been drastically different from now.

[Jo_]

I retired last year from HE. OH still working. We've gone for a "(57) foot in the water" approach. Hired for years; loved it. Decided we probably aren't live aboards (visiting family numbers etc.). We've bought our first boat as a four-year old brilliant boat for spring/summer cruising, and get to learn about nbs properly - engine, lectricks, everything. And then see in a year or so - change the nb, spend more time on it ..... Keeping a house certainly because - even if we did do a few years CC'ing - we believe that our fitness (or lack of) will be a factor!

Edited December 22, 2009 by Jo_

[kiki]

Sit back and think, wow how lucky am I, there's Kiki and her much beloved, just dreaming of doing what you can - living on our boat for the past 3 years and never get to go anywhere because we both work. LIfe is short, grab it with both hands and go -

[WJM]

The canals are not about to dry-up or be filled-in anytime soon. The changes ahead are no more threatening than any already survived in the past. Keep your house, rent it out to pay for the narrowboat. Then when you have had enough of boating you have lost nothing.

 

 

=====================================

 

"would you be prepared to invest 60-70K on a narrow boat?"

 

A narrowboat is not an investment. It is a depreciating asset, making it an expense, not an investment!

Edited December 22, 2009 by WJM

[Woollymishka]

Go for it but maybe hire and see if it is what you want? Some folks buy - cruise and then go OMG - this is not for me!

We don't think the system will dry up or be a lot different from what it is now - and it might be better - you never know.

We hired and did some voluntary work on community boats and then made the leap - great decision.

Don't get rid of the house though - always there if need be.

Enjoy life - you have probably worked hard for years so why not time for you?

[Keeping Up]

Go for it. Get a second-hand boat, keep the house or downsize.

 

When I retired, early and unexpectedly, Pingu & I just set off on the boat 2 days later without any idea where we were going. Nobody heard from us again for 3 months, and it was the best bl**dy 3 months of my life.

 

Now we spend winter in the house and summer on the boat, and it's just perfect.

[Derek R.]

Yes, go for it, but check out all fittings and systems for their fitness for purpose. Avoid complex systems like the plague, and seek the best insulation possible. Many other prerequisites will be down to personal choice. There are many pitfalls, but none that cannot be avoided with research and enquiry. Living with less you get more out of life. Keep it simple

 

With regard to the political scenario surrounding BW, worse has happened in the past, and if one considers the huge advances made to the system since 1952 or thereabouts, the cut will still be here long after we've all popped our clogs.

 

With regard to the possibility of renting property - don't get friends or relatives in - they never pay!

 

Derek

[magpie patrick]

Now we spend winter in the house and summer on the boat, and it's just perfect.

 

I think that's what we'd do (although 20 years to go yet) but the house might be in Madeira...

[koukouvagia]

So, if you were in our situation, on the outside looking in. In view of what is taking place now, would you be prepared to invest 60-70K on a narrow boat?

 

Thoughts please.

 

Mick & Maggie.

 

Welcome to the Forum.

If, as I suspect, you are planning to spend your retirement lump sum(s) on a narrow boat, I'd say go for it. However, be prepared to lose some money when old age and decrepitude catch up with you and you have to sell the boat.

But weigh against that all the pleasure and fun you'll have had and consider that these days you could just as easily lose your money if you were to invest it in something sensible. Just don't tell your financial advisor what you intend to do .

 

Don't forget the running costs. They are considerable and will go up far faster than your pensions.

[Scooby]

Well i am 36 and wife is 31, we have rented our 4 bedroom 2 year old house out, selling my business and wife packing in work around end of june so we can go off in out 70k 58ft narrowboat, we had it nearly 2 months and love it, roll on the better months, all i can say is you could be dead tommorrow, you wont look back i am telling you...or you could leave your money in the bank for mr taxman to tax you again on it when you die and pass it on to your children,,,

[bottle]

Did it four months ago, though paid around twice your figure for the boat, had it built.

 

Have sold everything else, all we now have, own in the world, is enclosed in a 60' X 7' metal box that floats.

 

If you have time and are really bored have a look at our blog and some of those listed there, mostly live aboards.

 

You do not say if you have any experience of boating or boat life.

 

Any money you put into the boat is a loss, it is definitely not an investment except in the joy of living the life.

 

A boat costs as much as, if not more than, a house to run.

 

Would I do it again, ask again in another twenty years, if I am still around.

[Keeping Up]

Well i am 36 and wife is 31, we have rented our 4 bedroom 2 year old house out, selling my business and wife ...

I hope you get a good price for them

[deletedaccount]

Buy a cheaper boat and downsize the house / rent it out. There's loads of nice 'nearly new' boats on the market and you'll save 20k at least.

[cotswoldsman]

As you do not mention anything on your post about selling the house I presume that you will be buying the boat with savings.

I did this and rent my house out. The intention was just to spend 2 years on the canals I have just completed my 3rd year and love the life. Don't worry to much about the negative stuff you read about BW etc the canals will be here for a long time yet.

[nb Innisfree]

Narrowboat living is expensive for what it is (£5k pa) but still cheaper than a house, true you never get back what you spend but if you don't spend on it you will get less back. Do you recoup what you spend on a house? some maybe but it's still a black money hole.

[Guest]

Watching this thread with interest as Jan and I had (have) the same concerns about the future of the waterways, this I think being the main concern of the OP.

 

Our first boat choice is not in doubt however

 

- used in the same price bracket as the OP's that best meets our needs. We've seen a good few that tick all the boxes.

 

Lets just hope there is somewhere to cruise when our time comes......

[casper ghost]

I retired at 31.. i'm hanging on as long as possible before I'll have to un-retire and return to work, managed 6 years so far... I'd certainly pack it all in and get a boat..

[Albion]

Myself and Mag's are at the point of retiring from a life in Higher Education in the very near future. We have been giving some serious thought to buying a live-a-board Narrow boat and touring the UK for a good few years. However, the proposed changes in the make-up of British Waterways and its funding plus speculation surrounding its property portfolio. - Including the talk and speculation of BW becoming a charitable trust. Uncertainty surrounding what seems to be a bleak future of the canals infrastructure is making us review our situation.

 

 

So, if you were in our situation, on the outside looking in. In view of what is taking place now, would you be prepared to invest 60-70K on a narrow boat?

 

Thoughts please.

 

Mick & Maggie.

 

I don't think the canals are going to deteriorate tomorrow and fall in to disrepair BUT I do think that they might well revert, eventually, to what we had nearly 30 years ago when I first started boating. In those days the money wasn't available to maintain/restore all the canals that still existed (for example the K&A, the Southern Stratford were both restored and brought back into use during my lifetime) and it was the enthusiasm of volunteers through their local canal society that enabled those two to be restored.

 

In those days we had canals designated as Cruiseways and Remainder Waterways. The cruiseways had the maintenance money spent on them and the only maintenance money that was spent on the remainder waterways was if there was a safety issue, a likely breach that could threaten housing for example. You cruised the RWs at your own risk, there was no support from BW staff and you had to deal with broken paddle gear, stiff/blocked gates, weed and lack of depth or complete lack of water totally by yourself. Some intrepid boaters cruised with Tirfor winches to enable them to drag gates open where necessary to allow passage, for example.

 

We now have a situation where BW are being starved of cash year on year compared to their requirements to just maintain the status quo. When they have major breaches for example then the money tends to come out of the maintenance budget to the detriment of other scheduled maintenance. It seems likely therefore that if this financial support doesn't improve soon, and I don't believe that it will in the next few years, that BW will be forced to ration the money and support only those canals that they feel are essential. So, major canals or sole routes somewhere are likely to be maintained at the expense of those where the routes are duplicated as a starter. Just how quickly and badly this slow strangulation of financial support will affect the state of the canals is difficult to judge as it very much depends on how fast events overtake each canal and, thus, the amount of money that is judged necessary to support the canal in question. It will be tempting for BW, in the present Elf and Safety nanny state, to close off completely any waterways that become remaindered so that no boater's safety can be threatened. In the early days they just told you that you boated the remainders at your own risk.

Roger

[Mick and Maggie]

Hello and thanks to all who took the time to share their thoughts.....

 

The feedback has been helpful and we have decided some things but we are still open minded about others. We are continuing to research the options available. We have bought each other a few "canal" books for christmas which have highlighted issues we had not considered. But the general consensus is still a positive one.

 

To answer a few questions.

 

We have had narrow boat holidays in the past and enjoyed the experience. This has been a driver to look at going afloat for a change of lifestyle. We are both in good health and quite active. Our respective pensions will allow us some comfort for the foreseeable future.

 

We will downsize the house at some point in the future to something like a comfortable flat. NB ownership is not conditional to selling the home. We had not considered renting out our home so this is another avenue of additional revenue to think about.

 

We are both life-long-bikers and so we do tend to do off the wall things. For instance motorcycle touring in India and Turkey last year. We have between us 5 bikes in the garage to play with. With engines ranging in size from 1300cc down to a 250cc. We are looking at a couple of “Mad Ass” bikes as a boat transportable biker option.

 

A narrow boat is not an investment. It is a depreciating asset, making it an expense, not an investment!

 

Bad choice of words by me.... for investment read " a mixture of retirement lumps, other investments and savings." So we can manage this without the pot becoming empty despite the best efforts of the bank and Fred The Shred.

 

Another couple of questions

 

What do live-aboard people do with regards to snail mail correspondence and healthcare when away from home?

 

Happy New Year to all.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Mick and Maggie

[Laurie Booth]

Go for it. Get a second-hand boat, keep the house or downsize.

 

When I retired, early and unexpectedly, Pingu & I just set off on the boat 2 days later without any idea where we were going. Nobody heard from us again for 3 months, and it was the best bl**dy 3 months of my life.

 

Now we spend winter in the house and summer on the boat, and it's just perfect.

This is what Alison & myself hope to do.

[sueb]

Hello and thanks to all who took the time to share their thoughts.....

 

The feedback has been helpful and we have decided some things but we are still open minded about others. We are continuing to research the options available. We have bought each other a few "canal" books for christmas which have highlighted issues we had not considered. But the general consensus is still a positive one.

 

To answer a few questions.

 

We have had narrow boat holidays in the past and enjoyed the experience. This has been a driver to look at going afloat for a change of lifestyle. We are both in good health and quite active. Our respective pensions will allow us some comfort for the foreseeable future.

 

We will downsize the house at some point in the future to something like a comfortable flat. NB ownership is not conditional to selling the home. We had not considered renting out our home so this is another avenue of additional revenue to think about.

 

We are both life-long-bikers and so we do tend to do off the wall things. For instance motorcycle touring in India and Turkey last year. We have between us 5 bikes in the garage to play with. With engines ranging in size from 1300cc down to a 250cc. We are looking at a couple of “Mad Ass” bikes as a boat transportable biker option.

 

 

 

Bad choice of words by me.... for investment read " a mixture of retirement lumps, other investments and savings." So we can manage this without the pot becoming empty despite the best efforts of the bank and Fred The Shred.

 

Another couple of questions

 

What do live-aboard people do with regards to snail mail correspondence and healthcare when away from home?

 

Happy New Year to all.

 

If you are keeping a land base you have no problems. You register with a doctor at your address and see any doctor as a visitor. Either go back home to pick up post or use the lodger to send it on. Poste restante still exists in larger places.

Sue

Sue