Ready to Leave?
Preparations for Leaving Las Vegas
The time finally came to leave the Big City. We dropped off the map for a couple of months while doing all those things that seem like work, ya know… buying and renovating a house, getting trusts set up, insurance, and registering vehicles, becoming a resident of S. Dakota.
Yes, lots to think about. The house went fine, just a couple of bobbles in getting it rented for the year. Paint, new countertops, cleaning and some simple repairs.
What full-timers need in order to leave:
Trusts and wills. Yes, you need these devices! I have been the executor of an estate where the person died intestate…THIS is not a word your heirs want to see or become acquainted with, trust me.
With us, getting a trust set up was fairly simple, but then we don’t have millions of dollars or hundreds of heirs. All of you who are benefitting from our deaths will be sorely disappointed, I’m afraid. You can all curse us later after you receive your pittances.
Let’s talk about the dreaded health insurance. We are both on COBRA coverage from work for 18 months and have been told by multiple sources that it will not cover us if we are travelling full time or move out of our state where we were working. This is a load of Hooey perpetrated by the insurance salespeople. After checking with our carriers, we have confirmed that they cannot dump us just for not residing in our employment state. We are fully covered under our COBRA wherever we travel, to the extent that COBRA covers. Can’t you return to your employment state if you need a regular visit (or join the 21st century and do a zoom meeting)? If you need emergent care, COBRA covers to the extent of your election. If you have recently retired and love your health care plan, see if the COBRA option works for you before you venture into the scary world of pay as you go insurance.
Vehicle insurance is another matter altogether. This organized criminal act, sanctioned by the government, is designed to separate you from your money in the event that you “might” be involved in a collision in the future. We all know that it is high no matter what but if you can move, the costs might be less. Ever wonder why you see so many RVs with South Dakota plates? Two reasons…Registration costs and Insurance (and no state income tax). After much research and frustration over costs, I decided to Domicile in South Dakota for these reasons. This is the simplest of tasks to complete; Just spend a night in South Dakota and provide some items to the DMV and treasurers office and within 24 hours you can be a resident with cheap driver’s license, registration and insurance from a local agent. I kept my premium insurance provider and saved a third of the cost over the “cut-rate” guys in Nevada. South Dakota also costs half the sales tax that Washington or Nevada charge when registering a vehicle and if you have already paid that tax in another state, they do not charge you again unless you paid less than their 4%. The only drawback to South Dakota is their limited ACA health plans and we have that covered for another year. The choice to change domicile states is a very individual one and should not be made lightly, do your research and compare the pros and cons before moving on with this step.
Mail service for the road. Pick a service you can rely on to accept, notify you of mail arrival and forward it reliably to wherever you will be able to pick it up on your travels. Whether you use a family member or a professional service, research and make all the necessary changes so that your mail doesn’t get left behind and become lost. Also join the 21st Century and get everything that you can transferred over to electronic records, so you don’t have to rely on snail mail.
Banks, Credit Unions, or Online only financial institutions. Choose your financial institutions carefully and make sure they can give you the best service while you are travelling. Ask questions and require proof of the financial institutions ability to keep you properly serviced while on the road. Can you access your money without exorbitant fees locally wherever you are? Can you make cash withdrawals when needed? Can you reach a representative in person or on the phone? Choose those credit cards wisely.
Kinda under this heading: Fuel expenses, yuck/arg/puke (seizures in California just from seeing the prices). Check the numerous discount methods of buying fuel. Almost every fuel seller from the truck stops to your local station offers a rewards card of some sort. Fred Meyer, Safeway, Albertsons, Kroger, Seven-Eleven all have points systems for buying goods that will get you certain amounts of discounts towards fuel purchases. Another good idea is the EFS/Roadpass at https://roadpass.com/ diesel fuel only purchase card. I held off getting one while we were still working. I finally broke down and got this card and it has saved us at least a dollar a gallon since starting it’s use in September. We even saved money in California! Do your own research on this card and determine if it is for you or not but I can tell you that this pessimist has seen the savings.
Friends and family should be appraised of where you are going, these people care about you and often don’t, won’t or can’t fathom what you are doing. We have a relative who insists that we have to return to our brick-and-mortar house as soon as we are done with this travelling because we need a place to live. We also discovered a relative or two who want to give this lifestyle a try.
Friends, I hope this is helpful and informative. Let’s get out there before we grow too old to enjoy it.
As always I hope this finds you all well and adventuring in your way.
BFD
