It's all about the money - pt. 1

"Every man needs to find a peak, a mountain top or a remote island of his own choosing that he reaches under his own power alone in his own good time." - Alain Gerbault,In Quest of the Sun

It's all about the money.

That is where this whole thing stands right now. Within a few months time, I could attain the remaining skills I need to be able to cruise around the world successfully. I could quit my job right now, look to the sea and have my dream become a reality. But one thing stands in they way: the money to do it. Or more specifically, my lack of said money.

To give you a little background, I am 26 and finished grad school three and a half years ago. My undergrad degree is in Finance and then I got my MBA shortly after. Even though my trade is business and finance, I was not immune to silly mistakes a young person without responsibilities can make. I came out of college with a good chunk of debt that includes student loans and credit cards. The student loans are actually not much of a problem.They are very low considering what I could have paid for grad school, and the interest is locked at a low rate. My monthly payment on the student loan is manageable no matter my income. The credit card debt, however, was definitely bad debt.

Fortunately, I was able to obtain a great job right out of school and I have been there ever since. The salary was good enough for me to pay off all of my credit card debt within a year and a half. But since I focused on paying those cards off, I neglected to save much cash. Not having cash set aside for emergencies became a problem in the past couple of years and I had to put a few more large expenses on the cards. I have a little bit more debt now to pay off, but it is manageable as long as I can remain employed. If I continue at the rate I am paying it off, I should be completely out of bad debt in just a few months.

After that, I will be piling up the cash to save for this adventure. I have some cash savings now and I will be adding all of the money I put into debt each month on top of that. I also have money set aside in a 401(k) which would be able to fund a huge hunk of the adventure (boat included), but I have decided not to touch this and to always have a nest egg for the future. I do, however, have a small amount of physical assets that have resale value. I plan on selling almost everything I own for the trip. After all, I wont need most of it and will be better off without it.

I do not own a house so that concludes my list of assets. Most people use the sale of a home to fund a trip like this, but I don't own one so it is all up to savings. The discipline needed to save the amount I need (both of which I will talk about later) is difficult, but if I keep the dream alive in my head the task becomes easier.

I am going to be writing a series of posts pertaining to the costs of the trip, how I am saving pay for it, and all things I have learned along the way trying to do this. I hope to have a lot of time to write this week due to the Christmas vacation. And I will also get to sail this weekend!