Most people want to know how we’re able to afford to just hit the road for a year.  They may not come right out and ask, but they want to know, and it’s a legitimate question.  This is not something that most people our age can typically afford (I'm in my mid 30s and my husband's in his early 40s).  The answer is really threefold.  First, we have very little debt and some money saved to help finance part of the trip.  Second, we’ll have my pension.  Lastly, we’ll have to find a way to earn some money on the road to cover the shortages. 

We’ve made a detailed budget (which we’ll share in a later post) so that we know exactly what we’ll need.  Now all we need to do is make sure we get the income and expenses to balance.  Sticking to the budget will be very important.

As I mentioned earlier, I recently retired medically after 15 years as an air traffic controller.  My pension provides our health insurance and some steady income.   Let me just say now, for those of you who are interested in aviation, are under the age of 32, and are searching for career options – consider air traffic control.  Yes, it can be stressful at times.  Yes, you might have a crazy schedule.  But, it pays well, has excellent benefits (you don’t work past the age of 56), is challenging and rewarding, and the FAA is hiring right now!  The best way to secure a job is to complete a degree at a CTI school.  For a listing of these schools go to faa.gov and click on jobs and then air traffic controllers. 

Although we are extremely blessed to have a pension, it will not be enough to cover all of our expenses on the road.  We have spent a lot of time researching and brainstorming ways to cover our shortage.  Medical transcription, trade shows, promotion work…all of these are possibilities.  So far we have not settled on anything, but we’ll find a way to get it done.  We have to.

In the meantime, if you have suggestions for how to earn a living on the road please share them on our forum .  We hope it will be a place where people who’ve been fulltiming for a while will share their insights and where those who are dreaming of fulltiming can get their questions answered. 

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