I have focused a lot of the past few months on building e*Commerce sites, automated businesses, the metaverse, and working from home. Sometimes I forget what all these things are genuinely about—freedom of location.
Indeed, if you can create enough passive income for yourself and your family to live comfortably, you can live anywhere. I recently wrote an article about living overseas on passive income. Today, I want to look at something a little closer to home.
Land of the free. America offers us the freedom to choose where we want to live. Once we obtain financial independence, we can create our dream lifestyle. What is your dream?
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If you are reading this article, I assume you want to be free of the city. My wife and I are lucky enough to own two properties with acreage. They are both in the county and somewhat removed from neighbors.
This land gives us further opportunities to become RV’ers or Homesteaders—or both. Both have pros and cons, and I will attempt to cover as much today as possible. However, I will need to write one or two more articles to dig deeper into this critical comparison.
The ground rules. We are going into our retirement at age 50. We secured $6,000/mo in passive income. We finished paying off our homestead or RV before retirement.
However, we are looking to earn between $1,000 to $2,000 from various businesses or side hustles. These can keep us busy on our adventures and create revenue to reinvest into our portfolio.
What is a homestead? A homestead can be anything from an apartment building to a multi-acre farm. Homesteading is an ideal choice, not necessarily a place. Homesteaders believe in sustainable living and reducing their carbon footprint.
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“The Homesteading Encyclopedia,” says that homesteaders recycle clothes, learn to sew, grow plants, raise animals, produce energy, etc. They vary between plot sizes, but the ideals are the same.
Homesteaders are also community-driven folks. They know that they may have a rough time at some point and need assistance. They give from their hearts and work as a team to build barns and other structures.
What is RVing? I wrote an article titled “The Business of RV Life” because it is so popular. A recreational vehicle or RV can be small or enormous. The general concept is to buy an RV and travel the world at your leisure.
When you combine RVs and dividends, you can have almost total freedom. RV’ers also are community-focused and work together to create safe, comfortable living spaces.
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Lifestyle comparison. Today, let’s compare living 100% on the grid. Living on-grid or “in the city” is how most Americans live daily. This means that we connect to city power, city water, and plumbing.
1) Shelter. First, let’s look at where we can locate ourselves. For homesteaders, we can live on a 3-5 acre plot of land on the city’s outskirts. RV’ers can find an RV Park near the same area, or we can buy a one-acre plot of land in the town. We can install hook-ups for city water, electricity, and septic.
2) Cost. The cost of a homestead with a brick & mortar home will likely be more than an RV. For the homestead, you are basically buying a home with land. RV’ers can spend anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 for a nice-sized vehicle.
RV’ers have the option to get a fifth-wheel vehicle that doesn’t have its own motor. You need a truck to move around; however, that means you don’t need to tow a car.
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The prices of RVs can skyrocket if you are looking into more luxury. Thankfully, our goal is to return to earth, not create a mansion on wheels.
3) Resale value. The value of your homestead will appreciate (increase), while the value of your RV will depreciate (decrease). As business people, these are things we need to consider when purchasing major assets.
4) Neighbors & Community. Chances are, you will be physically closer to your neighbors in an RV park than on a homestead. However, the homestead community may be tighter because they share food, clothes, and energy. RV life is closer to suburban living than homesteading.
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Major differences. There are two significant differences between RV’ers and Homesteaders with on-grid living: mobility versus supplementals.
1) Supplementals. Homesteading on the city grid offers us the best of both worlds. We can supplement our power, water, produce, and meat. I call these supplementals.
Because we are stationary on our homestead, we can invest in major projects on our property. We can create renewable energy from wind, solar, or geothermal. We can also tap a well or collect rainwater.
Our 3-5 acres allow us to have chicken for eggs or meat. Perhaps we can even have a goat for milk or meat, also. Since we are close to the city, we still have access to Walmart and various markets.
We can sell excess produce or eggs to make extra cash for our dividend portfolio. Living on-grid gives us the security of having “big brother” looking over us while still using sustainable living techniques.
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Mobility. RVs, give us the exact opposite. Our most incredible resource is being able to move on a whim. Yes, we are paying to stay at various locations, but we aren’t paying property taxes on our land.
The military has tons of low-cost RV parks across the country if you are retired. Many people dream of living the RV life, traveling the world while living on dividends.
You can earn extra income by blogging (and vlogging) about your RV lifestyle. These RV lifestyle scenarios will play out more than ever moving into the future.
With the Metaverse coming online and people obtaining employment in the metaverse, more travelers than ever will take to the road in RVs.
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Now, do you want to spend your entire life on the road? Probably not. Therefore, you can buy a small home in a small town (like Alabama or Mississippi) and use that as your home base. Your options are limitless as an RV’er.
Which lifestyle is best for you? These alternative lifestyles are similar in that you live “lightweight” lifestyles and do not accumulate lots of stuff. You are free of materialism and consumerism.
However, they have different mindsets. Homesteaders prepare their land and home for long-term living. Each year they add new equipment and build better resources.
RV’ers are all about traveling and staying lightweight. Seeing new things and meeting new people draws them to the RV lifestyle.
So the question is if you want to build a long-term community, or do you want to travel and make new friends every few months? Do you want to improve your homestead every year or see new places every year?
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Conclusion. It generally comes down to a personality trait. Some people are introverts and other extroverts. These may drive them to different outcomes. However, there is one thing we can work on today.
We may not know how we will feel as we retire, but we can build our investment portfolios today. Nothing stops us from creating a homestead with an RV as our main shelter. We can do as we like.
But, retirement planning for the average person starts today. Chances are we don’t have a massive windfall of money coming from our parents, so we must save and invest now.
Is living a sustainable lifestyle something you’d prefer? Do you like farming? Or do you prefer to travel around the USA? Something to think about as you build your income portfolios.
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