Live aboard finances

[ukmctc]

12k a year for 2 is easy, so yes.
be wary of talking to DWP as laws are changing, keep a uk address at all times for your mail and home address.

 

[GrahamM376]

I would strongly advise NOT to use family to manage proerty uunless they have experience of doing that. A good agency is worth the fees.

Having had flats & bedsits in the past, which for a period abroad I left in the hands of an agent, I have mixed feelings about this.

Some agents charge up to a quarters rent for letting and a monthly percentage of rent throughout. When the lease is due for renewal they persuade the tenants they have a more suitable property available so they can charge another letting fee. The other problem is maintenance. Whereas you or maybe a relative/friend would pop round and replace a light switch or tap washer, the agents just call out an electrician or plumber at silly prices - it's not their money they're spending!

The compromise is to let the agent let and collect rent but have someone you trust to carry out maintenance.

 

[AndrewB]

We lived on (the equivalent) of £12k per year for a while and it's doable, but spartan. OK for a year or so but if you are used to living on more, you won't like it. It's easier if you just stay in one area rather than travelling. If in the UK, I'd recommend a mudberth, if you have cheap shore transport as they tend to be out in the sticks. A deep water marina will chew money fast, but if its centrally located you won't need a car. Then there is choice of boat. Boat costs are closely related to size, so a lot depends on how big the boat is. Under 30' shallow draft is cramped but you can stay within budget. Above 35', deep draft, the temptation will be to neglect the boat maintenance as its the easiest way to save money. Eventually the boat will be no more than a floating hulk, worthless.

I've had a good experience with letting agents, not overly expensive and being fair but not pandering to tenants. It would pay you to ask around.

 

[keithgdg]

I know that feeling. "What have I forgotten to do or arrange". I seem to spend so much time on the boat itself that other matters get a look in when they can. As the boat list gets a bit shorter I am now getting into finance, health, and such other esoteric issues that only the experienced know. I am jealous of your income though as we have a mere 6k a year (gulp). No marinas for me I think!

 

[GHA]

Your income from your houses, after all expenses have been deducted is likely to be well below your tax allowances of £9,400 each of you are entitled to. So would not try and become non tax resident as it is probably not worth the effort, just fill in the self assessment forms, which as others have said, can be done online.

Pointless exercise going non resident anyway, as the income from the property arises in the UK they'll be taxed on it, resident or not.

 

[GrahamM376]

What ever you do, contrive to keep a UK address for the Banks etc. We didn't, lived out of the UK for nearly 20 years and had a lot of fun when we came back for few years with phone companies, utilities and banks.
Only the NHS and HMRC managed to cope, after a fashion.

Mostly because we were not in any database that they could access. Better a bad record than no record it seemed.

We experienced a typical problem today, with our UK car insurance. Wife had a minor bump in Tesco carpark 18 months ago, she and another car behind both decided to back out at the same time! Insurers queried why we weren't answering correspondence so she told them we are abroad roughly 9/12 and that they have our email address. Had a letter this morning advising that as policyholder not UK resident for at least 6/12, they decline to renew at renewal date this month. Nothing whatsoever to do with the accident, they only insure "residents"!!!!

 

[rolfbudd]

leaving the house in charge of 2 very good friends and also using one of them as a postal address for bank, doctor etc. We leave around the 24th Nov and know there will be something that i have forgotten but the time has come to set a date and go for it. We will hopefully make it on 12k, we are going to give it a dam good go. All we have to do now is find a boat

 

[syfuga]

leaving the house in charge of 2 very good friends and also using one of them as a postal address for bank, doctor etc. We leave around the 24th Nov and know there will be something that i have forgotten but the time has come to set a date and go for it. We will hopefully make it on 12k, we are going to give it a dam good go. All we have to do now is find a boat

I can't believe you said that.. leaving on the 24th November and not yet found your boat?

All sorts of questions here, some useful answers. If you can get on the Cruising Association web site there is a lot of carefully prepared and chewed over information - provided you are or know a friendly member.

Tax residency is now determined by statutory rules, depending on your circumstances and time spent in the UK or elsewhere in a given tax year. You may well become non-resident, whether you like it or not. An advantage, after sufficient passage of time, is that you may not be subject to CGT if you sell your houses. Registering with HMRC as a non-resident landlord enables agents to pay rent gross, otherwise they are obliged to collect tax for HMRC. Agree with others to use an agent, suitably checked out, rather than friends: our experience has been positive and they have access to resources for repairs etc. - we had a leaking pipe in the ceiling once.

We lived on around 20K p.a. - see our web site (below). This included overwintering in marinas, mostly anchoring out in season, repairs and renewals, some travel costs. Little eating out etc. - you are not on holiday. Big bills do come around to bite you when you least expect them.

Note that you need to be aware of increasing tendency of Latin countries to get you into their residency/taxation system if you spend too long in any one place.

You need to try to retain a UK address, electoral roll if you can, as posted above. Not your property/tenants' address.

Best of luck

 

[chinita]

I have one in Portugal he can buy.

Fully equipped for the Algarve. He can be living the life three hours after leaving UK.

 

[mocruising]

12 k pa for two people not possible me thinks, if you want a comfortable life, even if you did not visit a marina for a whole year. To live comfortably and spend the winters (6 months) in a marina with power and water all up costs with transport, insurances, lifting, essential maintenance, occasional trips and occasional eating out, repairs you will need minimum 20 k, 25-30k gives a very comfortable lifestyle with two or three flights a year thrown in to visit the kids and get away from the boat in deepest winter.

 

[NornaBiron]

12 k pa for two people not possible me thinks, if you want a comfortable life, even if you did not visit a marina for a whole year. To live comfortably and spend the winters (6 months) in a marina with power and water all up costs with transport, insurances, lifting, essential maintenance, occasional trips and occasional eating out, repairs you will need minimum 20 k, 25-30k gives a very comfortable lifestyle with two or three flights a year thrown in to visit the kids and get away from the boat in deepest winter.

It is possible, we do it on less. The key is to make a budget and then, broadly speaking, stick to it. Be prepared to anchor out all year, eat out infrequently, take local buses for trips, sail when the wind blows and don't tie yourself to fixed time plans. Having to be at x place by y time can cause a massive hole in your budget if you have to motor for a day to get there. Learn to do all maintenance and repairs yourself.

We all have our own idea of comfortable living. You must decide what you want and what you are prepared to do without in order to live this life. We have a very full and enjoyable life on less than 12k.

 

[GrahamM376]

12 k pa for two people not possible me thinks, if you want a comfortable life, even if you did not visit a marina for a whole year. To live comfortably and spend the winters (6 months) in a marina with power and water all up costs with transport, insurances, lifting, essential maintenance, occasional trips and occasional eating out, repairs you will need minimum 20 k, 25-30k gives a very comfortable lifestyle with two or three flights a year thrown in to visit the kids and get away from the boat in deepest winter.

Sailing, as opposed to moboat, £12k can be enough if, like us, you don't spend much time in marinas summer or winter. That's also allowing for a couple of flights home and eating out sometimes with the locals, not marina or tourist bars.

 

[charles_reed]

Sailing, as opposed to moboat, £12k can be enough if, like us, you don't spend much time in marinas summer or winter. That's also allowing for a couple of flights home and eating out sometimes with the locals, not marina or tourist bars.

The big unknown, which will destroy a £12K budget, is any boat breakage. I'd say one can live on £12K/year for two (I find it easy to spend at the rate of half that, when on the boat), but when it comes to repairs combined with overwinter marina costs the budget gets irretrievably broken.

 

[GrahamM376]

The big unknown, which will destroy a £12K budget, is any boat breakage. I'd say one can live on £12K/year for two (I find it easy to spend at the rate of half that, when on the boat), but when it comes to repairs combined with overwinter marina costs the budget gets irretrievably broken.

As you say, the big unknown but, unexpected breakages happen to cars as well - do people budget for, say, a new gearbox or engine? Maintenance costs vary from person to person, often governed by the condition/age of the boat and, costs of parts and chandlery can be much higher on the continent. Many of us are self sufficient as far as maintenance is concerned, just paying for parts whereas a minority even pay to have their oil changed and the boat valeted. We have a swing mooring with no annual rent so £5,000 (or more) p.a. cheaper than being marina based and, we mainly anchor when out and about and just haul out for a month or so in January to antifoul in the winter sun

Day to day living costs also vary from country to country, food and eating out for instance being far cheaper in Portugal & Spain than the UK or France and 2 bottles of local wine can be had for the price of a glass in a UK pub! Clothing costs are far less than when working, shorts and tee shirts being the order of the day. Main savings can be had by staying away from marinas and eating where the locals go, not the tourist bars/restaurants.

 

[NornaBiron]

As you say, the big unknown but, unexpected breakages happen to cars as well - do people budget for, say, a new gearbox or engine? Maintenance costs vary from person to person, often governed by the condition/age of the boat and, costs of parts and chandlery can be much higher on the continent. Many of us are self sufficient as far as maintenance is concerned, just paying for parts whereas a minority even pay to have their oil changed and the boat valeted. We have a swing mooring with no annual rent so £5,000 (or more) p.a. cheaper than being marina based and, we mainly anchor when out and about and just haul out for a month or so in January to antifoul in the winter sun

Day to day living costs also vary from country to country, food and eating out for instance being far cheaper in Portugal & Spain than the UK or France and 2 bottles of local wine can be had for the price of a glass in a UK pub! Clothing costs are far less than when working, shorts and tee shirts being the order of the day. Main savings can be had by staying away from marinas and eating where the locals go, not the tourist bars/restaurants.

Absolutely agree.

We were talking about this topic this morning and wondering how we managed to leave knowing that we had a tiny income compared to what we were used to. I think we were possibly naive about the costs involved and I remember telling my husband that if we carried on going into marinas (after the second night in La Coruna, our first stop after Falmouth) we would be going back to the UK to work. From that moment on we anchored whenever possible and gradually got to the point where we never go to a marina and very rarely tie up to a quay.

We manage this life on a very small income by being self-sufficient, as far as is possible and treating it as an adventure. We've been living aboard full time, in Greece, for five and a half years now and our income has barely changed. We are still enjoying the life and are looking forward to exploring further afield.

 

[1bobt]

I don`t see the need to spend a lot of money ,for instance a big pork chop is around a euro. large chicken breast about 3 euro ,potatoes carrots broccoli cauliflower for two about 4-5 euro,which will last for 2-3 days .. So it average`s out at about 5-7 euro a day for food, with some eggs for breakfast, throw in a 1 1/2 litres of good wine at 3 euro .for the evenings. And its 10 euro max a day. Which is slightly boring, splash out with a extra 5 euro a day and its a big week at 100ish euro. plenty of free parking about ,so boat cost no more than another 100 pw. I would say 12,000 should be easy for two. KEEP OUT OF BARS and Marinas.

And don`t buy anything other than food in Greece as its double the price of UK ,or the quality's so bad the Congo rejected it first.

 

[theguerns]

We are Channel Islanders and have a house in one of the islands. For tax and banking, savings, investments and pension purposes keep your home address. We own our yacht a car and eat out twice a month. We live board full time spending the winter in Morlaix from October to April and then spend the summer cruising the Brittany coast staying in marinas usually for a week at a time as a week is cheaper than taking the daily rate for a week. With all our running costs insurance for the boat and car fuel for both food drink coffee's we spend £11kper year. I will also add that we have NO stress, Lots of GOOD friends and if we don't like the neighbors we leave.

 

[charles_reed]

As you say, the big unknown but, unexpected breakages happen to cars as well - do people budget for, say, a new gearbox or engine? Maintenance costs vary from person to person, often governed by the condition/age of the boat and, costs of parts and chandlery can be much higher on the continent. Many of us are self sufficient as far as maintenance is concerned, just paying for parts whereas a minority even pay to have their oil changed and the boat valeted. We have a swing mooring with no annual rent so £5,000 (or more) p.a. cheaper than being marina based and, we mainly anchor when out and about and just haul out for a month or so in January to antifoul in the winter sun

Day to day living costs also vary from country to country, food and eating out for instance being far cheaper in Portugal & Spain than the UK or France and 2 bottles of local wine can be had for the price of a glass in a UK pub! Clothing costs are far less than when working, shorts and tee shirts being the order of the day. Main savings can be had by staying away from marinas and eating where the locals go, not the tourist bars/restaurants.

First - to compare a boat with a car (which is a far less complex device) is probably naive. Mind you I've seen plenty of people just go into greater hock to buy a replacement car when their old one breaks.
I'd agree with many of your other comments - even France is considerably cheaper than the UK - I had an overwinter alongside berth (including power and water) for the equivalent of £25/month 12 years ago.