@151949 wrote:
Staying as we did at a campground in the summers, we met a lot of people who live full time in a camper due to having made some bad financial decisions along the way - mostly we have heard the worst decision they made was to take their SS and retire at age 62. They found out they simply could not live on the 25% less monthly income. Then they tried to make up the difference investing in risky high yield stocks.Another big mistake! 2008 came along and many lost most of or all of their savings. Imagine having to live on nothing but your SS and only getting 3/4 of that! So , in order to survive they had to sell their only asset - their house - and move into a camper. Some were only temporarily living in a camper while they wait to get into subsidized houseing. The state or county gives you a 1 bedroom apt. for only 20% of your income, but the wait list is long.The apartments aren't really very nice but way better than living in a camper all winter.
Most of the retired people we meet in campgrounds seem to be doing well. They own A Class and Fifth wheel Rv's that are worth much more than 100k.
At our permanent camoground in PA, the retirees own expensive campers and expensive boats and those limo sized golf carts. They also have new fancy trucks with tow packages or new cars they tow behind.
This past week, we were in a campground in Cape May, NJ. Since it is off season, the place was full of senior citizens. Two days ago, a monster size A class was parked beside us. I looked up the price of a new rig, just like theirs, just to be nosy. The price was $239,000.
Almost the whole camp was full of those expensive RV's. I don't know what those people did for a living or if they were full timers or not, but I know that they weren't hurting for money.
It is almost intimidating for us to be parked with our small 18 year old camper right next to theirs. We do have a newer bigger second RV parked permanently in PA, but prefer to tow the smaller, older one. I am sure the rest of the seniors feel sorry for us poor folks when they see our camper.
Also, @151949,I was wondering how the seniors in your PA campground lived there in their camper during the winter months. Everyone knows that you cannot live in a camper in the wintertime in PA....and the parks are all closed, usually around October 15. They have to close before the frost sets in because the water pipes freeze in the campground You have to winterize your camper too or your water lines, and water heater and toilet will freeze and burst.
I remember you saying that the campground you stayed in closed for the winter season...if so, where did those seniors go with their camper? Did they also drive to Florida or somewhere else that was warmer?
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