# Retirement home, r.v. or boat



## professor-moriarty (Sep 21, 2015)

Here is the question. If had to choose to make the purchase of whichever one I decide to live in/on would it be best to purchase it now and have it paid off before retiring or save the money until I retire and then make the purchase with cash from my savings and sale of my home. I feel like I would make a lot bigger purchase if I had a big bank roll then I would if I had to make payments I can afford now. 

I could try and convince myself that I would make the same purchase but you know how that goes when your looking and you keep seeing something a little bigger and better and it's only a few thousand more and get carried away and spend way more than i really needed. If I waited to purchase a home would it help on the capital gain taxes from the sell of my home If I was buying a house for less than 1/2 the price of the sold home..?. 

Since the stock market seems dead in the water now I could cut my 401k back to the company match level of 4%  and have an extra $400+ a month to put towards a  $60 to $80 K home in N.W. Ark near Greersferry lake. It would be close enough to where I live now to use on the weekends and vacation time and have ready for full time retirement and have no bills other then cost of living, taxes and such. 

If I get the R.V. or houseboat there will always be the cost of parking, slip rent and fuel. I wish I would of thought  this out 10 yrs ago when I was 40 but when your young(er) it seems like a long time before you need to plan this out... Kinda wordy for a first thread but there it is.


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## jujube (Sep 22, 2015)

Don't forget to factor in the depreciation on the RV or houseboat.  While, with the ups-and-downs of real estate these days you might lose value in a house, you are guaranteed to lose value in a RV or boat.  The minute you pull them off the lot, they are USED.   I would recommend waiting to buy the RV or boat until you plan to use them heavily.


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## professor-moriarty (Sep 22, 2015)

Good point. There is a 1990 42ft gibson houseboat for $ 35,000 on greersferry lake and the covered slip rent is about $ 4,500 a yr. Over 10 yrs thats $80+. and I would have a 25 yr old boat and still be paying slip rent. Pretty much the same deal with a rv.. For that kind of $ I could own a house and buy a runabout for the lake.


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## Lon (Sep 22, 2015)

Either one could be rented for a period of time and then you could decide which one to buy.


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## professor-moriarty (Sep 22, 2015)

I can't get this thing to edit or reply direct to  the other posters. All I get is the spinning icon. so this is the only way to edit my bad math. The boat would be 35 yrs old and I would be 62. That is not where I want to be at that stage of my life and way to late to take on a house note or spend another $70 grand of my savings on a house


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## Lethe200 (Sep 26, 2015)

It's up to you to decide whether you can afford the overhead/maintenance/taxes on a second home, if I'm reading your orig post correctly. 

Whatever you do, DON'T decrease your retirement savings. No one, I repeat no one, ever said "Gee, I saved too much money when I was working"!


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## Sunny (Sep 26, 2015)

Also, it's hard at this stage of your life to predict what you will want or need when the time comes. For instance, as you get older, stairs become less and less popular; at 50, that's usually not much of an issue. The market could have many ups and downs by the time you get there, and an early investment could prove to be a mistake.

The only reason I can think of for buying now is if you really, really want the house/boat/rv right now for weekends and vacations. It's too soon to plan for retirement, unless you're planning to retire next year.


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## Manatee (Oct 3, 2015)

With an RV you don't have to pump the bilges or scrape barnacles off the bottom.


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