FOUND THIS and thought it might be an encourage to some.........So you are going to retire and your dream has been to tow a caravan aoround Oz for a year and see it all. Can you afford to do it now, with fuel to reach $2 per litre soon?
I put some figures into a spread sheet and came up with some alternatives. First of all, I based the original dream on paying $1 per litre. You have $350,000 in super and can also get the pension. Your
home is either sold or locked up and no funds coming from rental. This is an approx of what you could do, based on a budget of $3000 per month:
Invested Super: $350,000
Growth at 8% $28,000
Plus Pension, your budget is $36,000
Big one towing 13,000k plus 5,000k running around: 18,000k
At 20litres per 100 3,600 L
$1 per L $3,600
Caravan Parks average $25 per day $9,125
Food, Entertainment, Insurance etc $23,275
TOTAL $36,000
That was your dream. Now fuel is $2 per L
Cost fuel $7,200
TOTAL IS NOW $39,600
So what can you do? How about installing some solar, bigger battery and a small generator and be independant of Caravan parks a bit more?
Caravan Parks 3 nights per week: $3,900
Cost to set up solar etc. $2,000
New Total is now: $36,375
To save even more money, since you will be retired and have the time, instead of rushing around
the block in 12 months, slow down and take two years and let your Super pay the fuel price:
YEAR ONE:
Drive half way around Oz
Invested Super: $350,000
Growth at 8% $28,000
Plus Pension, your budget is $36,000
Big one towing 7,000k plus 5,000k running around: 11,000k
At 20litres per 100 2,400 Litres
$2 per L $4,800
Caravan Parks average $25 per day $3,900
Food, Entertainment, Insurance etc $23,275
Set up for
bush camping $2,000
TOTAL $33,975
Year TWO with 3% inflation (solar paid year one): $32,934
You have saved $5,000 over the two years despite the rising fuel prices, plus you now have enough money to fly back from
Perth to
Sydney 3 times to see the Grandkids.
So you can still live your dream if you just want to make a few changes.....and who knows...you may even love
bush camping more than you think................ From caravaners
forum.