There is a particular kind of arithmetic that happens as retirement gets closer.
You begin looking around the house differently.
The lawn that once took an hour to mow seems to have gotten larger. The roof is no longer simply a roof; it is something that will eventually need replacing. Property taxes arrive right on schedule. There is insurance, utilities, repairs, and a list of little things around the house that somehow never seems to get shorter.
Then you look out at the RV sitting in the driveway.
And a thought crosses your mind.
What if we just lived in that?
For some retirees, that question becomes the beginning of an entirely different life. For others, a few months of traveling is enough to remind them how much they appreciate having a permanent home waiting for them.
Neither answer is wrong.
But there is one question that usually comes before all the others:
Would retiring in an RV actually be cheaper?
The answer is yes.
And no.
Welcome to retirement planning.
The House Doesn’t Travel, But It Still Costs Money
One of the attractions of RV retirement is obvious. Sell the house, eliminate the mortgage if there is one, leave property taxes and some household expenses behind, and suddenly there may be considerably more room in the retirement budget.
At least that is how it looks on paper.
An RV changes the expenses. It doesn’t eliminate them.
Instead of property taxes, there are campground fees. Instead of the family car’s gasoline bill, there may be diesel fuel for a truck pulling thousands of pounds down the highway. Tires cost money. So do brakes, wheel bearings, batteries, roof maintenance, insurance and all those little repairs that seem to know exactly when you are several hundred miles from home.
And an RV depreciates.
That doesn’t mean RV retirement cannot save money. It certainly can. It means the savings depend less on the RV itself and more on how you use it.
A couple moving every three or four days and staying primarily at destination campgrounds may spend considerably more than someone who settles into a campground for several weeks or a month.
Slow travel can change the equation considerably.
Stay longer and the monthly campground rate may be lower than paying nightly. You burn less fuel. There are fewer travel days and fewer miles accumulating on the truck and RV.
There is another benefit that doesn’t appear on the spreadsheet.
You actually have time to see where you are.
That sounds a lot like our kind of shortcut.
How Much Money Do You Need to Retire in an RV?
This may be the most important question and the one least likely to have a useful one-size-fits-all answer.
Someone will always tell you that you can RV full-time for a particular amount each month.
Perhaps they can.
That doesn’t mean you can—or that you would want to.
Retirement income may come from Social Security, pensions, retirement accounts, investments or some combination of them. Against that income are the expenses you already have plus the expenses created by RV travel.
The important part is being truthful about how you want to live.
Are you comfortable spending a month at a modest campground, or do you prefer resorts with pools, clubhouses and large paved sites?
Do you expect to cook most meals at the RV, or is trying local restaurants part of the journey?
Will you travel 150 miles between stops or 500?
Do you plan to visit national parks and small towns, or spend winters in popular destinations where seasonal campground rates may be much higher?
None of those choices is right or wrong. They simply cost different amounts of money.
Then there is the expense that doesn’t fit neatly into the monthly budget:
Something broke.
Anyone who has owned an RV long enough understands that category.
A retirement plan that accounts for campground fees and fuel but leaves nothing for a major RV or tow-vehicle repair isn’t really finished. An emergency fund matters when your home has wheels because sometimes the home and the vehicle pulling it can both surprise you.
That is why the better question may not be, How much money does someone need to retire in an RV?
It may be:
How much will it cost us to RV the way we want to live?
That is a question worth answering before putting a For Sale sign in the front yard.
Don’t Let Retirement Day Be Your First Real Camping Trip
If RV retirement is somewhere in your plans, I believe there is a tremendous advantage to buying the RV before you retire.
A year would help.
Two years might be even better.
There are things about RVing that a dealership walk-through simply cannot teach you.
The floorplan that looked enormous on the showroom floor may feel considerably different after two rainy days inside. That beautiful kitchen may have almost no useful counter space. The shower may be smaller than you thought. Storage that appeared plentiful disappears surprisingly quickly once you begin loading everything you believed you needed.
Then there is the camping itself.
Backing into a site.
Hooking up water, sewer and electricity.
Learning your electrical system.
Understanding holding tanks.
Managing propane.
Setting up and breaking camp.
Driving in wind.
Planning fuel stops with an RV behind you.
Figuring out how far you genuinely enjoy traveling in one day.
You learn these things by doing them.
Buying before retirement also gives you time to discover something even more important:
Do we actually enjoy living this way?
There is quite a difference between enjoying a two-week vacation in an RV and living in one for several months.
Better to discover the answer while the house still has your name on the mailbox.
There Is More to Retirement Than Saving Money
One of the more interesting possibilities of RV retirement has very little to do with retirement finances.
It has to do with what you do with your time.
Retirement can give us something we spent decades wishing we had more of.
Time.
For many retirees, volunteering while traveling becomes part of the journey. Parks, campgrounds, museums, wildlife organizations, churches, community organizations and other groups may have opportunities for RV travelers willing to lend a hand. Some positions may include a campsite or reduced camping costs in exchange for a certain number of volunteer hours.
That can certainly help stretch the travel budget.
But I would hate to reduce volunteering to free camping.
You may arrive thinking you are exchanging a few hours of your time for a campsite and leave remembering the people you met.
There is something appealing about that.
Retirement doesn’t have to mean withdrawing from the world. An RV can provide an opportunity to see more of it while still finding ways to contribute along the way.
The campsite may simply be a bonus.
Around the Campfire
After the chairs are pulled close and the fire settles down, these are probably the questions I would expect someone considering RV retirement to ask.
Is retiring in an RV cheaper than owning a home?
It can be. Retirees who travel slowly, take advantage of monthly or seasonal campground rates and keep fuel and other travel expenses under control may find RV living less expensive than maintaining a traditional home.
But don’t assume RV living is automatically inexpensive. Campground rates, fuel, insurance, maintenance and repairs can consume a surprising amount of money. Your travel habits will have as much influence on the budget as the RV you purchase.
How much money do you need to retire in an RV?
There isn’t a magic number.
Start with the retirement income you know you will have, then build a realistic budget around the way you intend to travel. Include campground fees, fuel, food, insurance, maintenance, communications, entertainment and an emergency fund for the repairs you cannot predict.
If the numbers only work when absolutely nothing goes wrong, the numbers probably don’t work yet.
Should you buy an RV before retirement?
I believe so.
Buying a year or two before retirement gives you time to learn the RV, gain experience and discover which features actually matter to you. It also allows you to spread some of the initial expenses over time rather than buying an RV, outfitting it and beginning full-time travel all at once.
Most importantly, it gives you a chance to make certain the RV lifestyle you have imagined is one you genuinely enjoy.
Can retirees volunteer while traveling in an RV?
Absolutely.
Volunteer opportunities can allow retirees to serve parks, organizations and communities while traveling. Some positions may also provide a free or discounted campsite, which can reduce camping expenses.
Look beyond the campsite, though. The opportunity to meet people, learn something new and leave a place a little better than you found it may become one of the more rewarding parts of the journey.
Final Thoughts
Retirement is sometimes described as though there is a finish line.
Work for decades. Save your money. Pay off the house. Retire.
Done.
I don’t see it that way.
Retirement is another part of the journey, and an RV can certainly be part of it.
For some people, selling the house and traveling full-time will provide freedom they have dreamed about for years. Others will discover that keeping a home base and traveling several months at a time gives them the best of both worlds. Still others may spend one season on the road and decide they would rather camp occasionally.
All three can be successful retirements.
The important thing is not to build your retirement around somebody else’s RV story.
Run your own numbers. Camp before you commit. Learn what it costs to travel at your pace. Give yourself enough financial breathing room for the unexpected. And perhaps most importantly, talk honestly with the person sitting in the passenger seat.
Because owning an RV and dreaming about traveling are the easy parts.
Building a life together inside a few hundred square feet is where you discover whether the dream fits.
An RV may save you money in retirement.
But if retirement on the road gives you more time together, introduces you to people you never would have met and carries you to places you might otherwise have driven past, the greatest return may have very little to do with money.
After all, we’re not trying to get there first.
We’re trying to enjoy getting there.
Until our next journey together,
The Cooper Shortcut Camping Journey Trio 😊 PlusOne
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