Galt's Gulch - My Version (Part 2)

Galt's Gulch - My Version (Part 2)

In part 1 of this topic, I mentioned that there are 2 ways to withdraw from the economic/tax system. One way is for those of wealth and means to simply emigrate to another more economic/tax friendly nation. But for those of us that are not independently wealthy, we have to choose another option.

The second option takes a whole different approach and it is definitely not for everyone. This option includes the following:

1. Pay off all debt.
2. Reduce living expenses to the bare minimum.
3. Do not create any new debt.
4. Reduce your income to the minimum payroll tax level

In this scenario, Galt's Gulch is not a geographical location. It can be anywhere and everywhere around you. The important thing is to minimize the amount of money that you surrender to the government. For now, you may be able to shelter some of your assets in IRA's and 401K accounts, but it will be only a matter of time before your private retirement funds are raided so "everyone can have a 'fair shot' at retirement".

For nearly 30 years I have been struggling to get ahead, pushing my career ahead to increase my income. I have been fairly successful in that end. However, as my income increased, so has my spending and financial burden. At the point of (what I call) my awakening, my lifestyle was taking the vast majority of my "take home" pay. I really was not saving money. I am not alone in this dilemma.

My wife and I are at a point in our lives that it is possible to make a significant lifestyle change. The last of our children has married and is moving in with her husband (next month) as he is returning from Afghanistan. She and our grand kids will be located across the country from us. So now we face the prospect of spending our hard-earned vacations flying to Seattle a couple times a year.

So, we have analyzed our living expenses (mortgage, utilities, cable, car payments, etc.) and tried to come up with ways to reduce those expenses. We determined that our major anchor is our house and the related expenses. But what are we going to do? Go homeless? Of course not. We want to reduces expenses, not be paupers.

Our decision may seem just as drastic to some people, though. We have decided to sell all of our assets, property and anything not portable and purchase a motor home* (RV) with cash. We will then move into the RV as our permanent domicile. The plan is also to outfit the RV with solar panels, battery packs and a generator to handle all of our electrical needs. We will also tow our paid off automobile behind us for local traversing, grocery shopping, etc.

This setup will allow us to live completely self-sufficient (off the grid). There are many places to park an RV for free for extended periods of time and occasional stop off at campgrounds to empty tanks and fill water tanks as needed.

As it turns out, this is becoming a major trend for various reasons.

In the next posting, I will discuss the pros and cons of this approach.

Thanks for dropping by.

Take care,

Kit

* We ammended our plans a bit.  We purchased a travel trailer instead of a motor home which gave us more living space for less money.  We also financed a large enough truck to pull the RV.  We found out that we could not pull our vehicle due to its' configuration.  The generator and solar panels are still in the future.