There were times that we wished we were somewhere else, We had to beach our boat on Majorca in 2001 in a big storm. But we took the insurance money and bought another boat.. The only real regret was that we waited so long to do it- I was 44 when we left. Sometimes when we went aboard bigger boats we were a bit jealous, but these were usually people of 68-70yrs who waited till retirement to go. But realistically they were only going to have a few years before health problems forced them to quit. BB

Now BB that does sound like a life I would like to lead. do you have any regrets and was there any difficult times you had to get through.

Me and the wife were thinking of starting a business up and building it up for the next few years and then sell it hopefully for a healthy profit.

As promised, here is what I did, it is neccessarily an abbreviated account.

My wife and I sold our property in which we had about 60% of the value as our equity. We bought a small yacht for around 15% of our capital. We sold both cars and everything else saleable. we invested all our capital in fixed rate bonds that paid gross monthly interest. We traveled down to the mediterranean via the French canals (We had little experience of yachting or boat handling but we learned quickly) We were surprised to find so many people from all over the world living aboard boats ranging from luxury power boats to narrow boats and even some east bloc citizens in boats that look like tractors .Some stay semi permanently in the canals of europe and some venture much further. We cruised extensively in the Med for 17 yrs. In terms of finance our only commitments were yacht insurance and voluntary NI contributions to retain our state pension rights and NHS rights (we were officially UK residents on holiday) and therefore kept UK bank accounts & gross interest. Living expenses were kept to a minimum by not stopping in Marinas but tying up to river/canal bank and anchoring when at sea. The one thing which made our present position viable was Mrs Thatchers kind offer to sell council houses. We bought my parent's CH about 5yrs into our journey, in which they lived rent free in for life. We have now inherited it and started to draw state pension and frozen pension from the old days. We live mostly in the house and still keep the boat for holidays. All this was without benefits of any kind (except council house purchase) Many friends of ours still live on their boats and day to day living costs are around £40 pw for a couple. Fuel etc on top of course. It has actually become cheaper (relatively) to visit family these days with the advent of sleazyjet etc. I realise that when we left (1986) interest rates were sky high (12%+) but this is counteracted by the equity people can now take from property.When we holiday on our boat we meet many people just starting out, they are not rich, just sick of the treadmill. It CAN be done BB

When you make you millions and have no need to work, working should still be something to consider!

I dont have millions,! I dont need to work! I dont need to worry about money! Wish you were in my shoes? I think not!!!

Everyone I know works, who entertains me during the day? No one!!! nothing to look forward to!

Shopping is boring!

Chatting to mums who have their brood attatched to them and screaming........

House work? Got a cleaner! Mmmm!

Cooking? Gets boring after a while........ exept holidays!

So I bought some dogs! For now, this gives me something to wake up to and enjoy.....

I have been out the "working" game for so long now I dont think I could conform to the strict times that a job has. I now could not tolerate someone telling me what to do!

Dog eat dog world? where?

I own my own property, but do still have a mortgage on it. I am married but I have no children.

Do you own property, have you got family responsibilities? If you can answer yes to the first and no to the second I'll tell you what I did in 1986 and have not needed to work since. I'm not sure that it would work in the present financial climate, but this life is not a rehearsal. BB

I wish I was rich and never had to work again. You only get one shot at life (As far as we know) so why would I want to wok all of it.

Any ideas how I can get rich with no money to start with so I can retire from work once and for all.