Downsizing & going on a big RV road trip - anyone?

[movemamamove]

Anyone retired & gone on a long road trip or planning similar?

We're 6 years away from paying off the mortgage when we'll be 61/62 and although hadn't expected to retire until 65 at least, are increasingly thinking, sod it, let's have some fun sooner before we feel ready to put our feet up! We've been playing around with the sums and whilst our pension pots are pretty meagre, we are lucky enough to have significant house equity & sizeable future inheritance so have come up with a plan:

Pay off the mortgage and we'll have equity c.£800k. Original plan was sell & buy a 2 bed flats c.£350k in a nice development in nearby town with balance going into pension pot. Now we're thinking buy 2 x £350k flats and the 2nd property will give us an income of c.£1k pcm net. Put £50k into our pension and £50k to buy a decent 2nd hand RV/Winnebago 😎. We are planning an initial 6 months so we could let out our flat, but in our minds would like to do at least a 1 year. Eventually we would sell the RV and any proceeds go into the pension pot. We both hate the idea of complete retirement & financially could do with earning for a bit longer so anticipate either returning to our roles PT or just getting low-key local jobs for some interest & extra cash until we've had enough.

if anyone has actually done similar or planning to, and any obvious pitfalls to our plan we've not considered?

Who will manage your rental properties while you travel around? If you use an agent they will take a cut of rent so it may not make as much money as you’re hoping.

Can you deal with the stress if eg a tenant trashes the place/wont move out?

Have you done any campervan holidays? We liked the idea so rented a campervan and lasted one night before agreeing that actually we hated it 😂

We would want flats to be fully managed whilst we're away and the £1kpcm net comfortable includes management fees, landlord insurance etc. I guess stress of bad tenant is a risk anyone takes when becoming a landlord - we're generally not high stress people but in event event would expect the agent to handle everything.

Very good point about campervans - yes we have and do holiday in them and really enjoy being on the road and the freedom but also recognise the need for significantly more space/luxury for longer term & as we get older.

BTL isn't giving great returns now all the tax breaks have gone, and even with an agent there's still stuff to do. You'll get as good a return - and more liquidity - from investments.

Don't forget there's an annual limit to how much you can put into a pension, so you'd need to spread the money across ISA and a general investment account as well to start with and feed it across gradually.

And if you're on UK passports don't forget the new length-of-stay limits for the EU.

Where do you intend travelling to and where will you be stopping?

An RV (compared to a Moho or camper) is larger, more difficult to park and will be excluded from some sites.
Sites are not always cheap and even if you plan (dream) of wild camping you need to know where you can do this and how you will take on water, dispose of waste etc.

Although now retired (55 & 57) we have always loved trips away in our Moho but it has never been something we would want to do long-term, a 2-3 day break every week or so and then back home.😁

The EU thing is a pain.

There's quite a community of people who do this. The Schengen area (not just EU!) restrictions are a big impediment, unless you plan to go further afield (or have dual passports).

We have friends who are on their third/fourth motorhome having started with a large American-style RV and downsized since. They have a base in France having managed to settle before Brexit hit - which makes it a lot easier. Would recommend hiring and trying before you buy as changing vehicles gets expensive.

We also have friends who are on their fourth year driving South/Central America in a truck-based camper. There's a big overlanding community - who are into more adventurous travel. If you are interested in that a visit to the Adventure Overland Show in September could be in order.

Yes to your plan other than investing in a 2nd property. Get a good IFA and you'll get better returns for less stress.

I'm presuming you have elderly relatives if you are both expecting a future sizeable inheritance . Would you not want to be around to see them? 6 months is a long time to be away - or are you planning something like around the UK tour?

Thanks really helpful responses giving us plenty to think about. To answer a few things asked:

Yes I have elderly parents hence inheritance and actually hadn't factored that in . They are mid 80's but in ok health & very independent - we meet up about once a month and chat on the phone regularly. Ofcourse if they are still with us, needing care or we feel nearing end of life then absolutely, we will need to reassess altogether or consider shorter/more local trips.

Good shout about the rental income vs investment - we are meeting with an IFA soon so will add this to the list of things to discuss. Definitely don't want the hassle of being a landlord if there's better places for our money. And yes maxing out on our annual allowance makes sense.

We definitely need to consider the size/type of vehicle and it maybe that we stick with our usual camper in the Uk as I know it's trickier with bigger motorhomes here. We are hiring a mid size RV to travel around Spain for 2 weeks this summer as a first taste of Europe / large van / longer than a week!