How Much Money Does One Really Need?

I guess only each of us (sometimes with the conversation of a partner) can answer this for ourselves. But what got me thinking about this question was seeing the Power Ball figures on a gas station reader-board early last week for 680 Million dollars, which was updated a few hours later to 700 million, and now stands somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.3 billion dollars. My chances of winning are slim-to-none, more on the "none" side as we haven't bought a ticket. If you've bought one, your chances are more on the "slim" side (see the rule of probability). Now, I must say that Power Ball does have a bit of a soft spot in my wife's and my heart. This was one of the first words our son read himself. We were at a gas station and he asked, "What does P L A Y P O W E R B A L L spell? No wait, I want to figure it out?" A pause. "What does Play Power Ball mean?"

Before the figures jumped I was struck by the sheer amount of money. I started to play the "If I won game" (which was fairly save, as I wasn't planning on buying a ticket - still haven't). How much money would I need to be "financially independent" (what-ever that actually means)? Then what would I do with the rest? Give it away. But how and to whom? I'd keep working, because I like what I'm doing, so that wouldn't really change. It just seemed like more and more of a head-ache to me.

But seriously, how much money does one need to live abundantly? Actually, isn't living abundantly more an attitude than having any sort of money?

Maybe, I'm asking something like, "How much money does it cost to cruise?"

In the Sept/Oct issue of WoodenBoat Magazine, Bruce Halabisky writes about the completion of their 10 year circumnavigation on VIXEN (34' John Atkin designed gaff-cutter). The title gives away their philosophy: "A Sound Boat and Simple Living: Reflections on 10 years of voyaging in a traditional wooden boat." As Halabisky writes, "In today's world of cruising boats, VIXEN - a 34' plank-on-frame gaffer - is an anomaly (some might even say an absurdity!) but in explaining this element of our successful voyaging life I will go out on a limb and say that she was the ideal boat for the journey. First, it must be explained that although VIXEN was launched in 1952, she had a major rebuild during the 1990's; by the time I bought her in 2002 she could have been considered a new boat. ..." (63,64).
But what is intriguing is that Halabisky and his wife Tiffany talk about their budgets over the 10 year period. Because they have kept the boat simple, they have kept their overhead low. "Our simple life with low overhead allowed for lots of time to sail and explore.In fact, Tiffany and I have felt spoiled with free time ever since our departure from Victoria [Canada]. In 2009, for example, we spent one month in Thailand, one month in Malaysia, two months in Indonesia, a few weeks in Chagos archipelago, three months in Madagascar, and two months in South Africa - and that kind of diverse extended travel has been fairly typical year after year" (67). ... "And here is the amazing thing: When Tiffany added up our costs for 2009, as an example, our total expenses were just under $10,000. That's for the whole year, for the three of us, and includes all the boat expenses (Seffa Jane [their 2nd child] had not yet arrived). Of that $10,000, $2,000 when into maintaining VIXEN and the bulk of the remainder was spent on food" (71).

     During our voyage, our annual budget has consistently been between $10,000 and $12,000, with a couple of years costing close to $20,000. Usually, we can earn this by working about two months every year and occasionally as many as four or five months.
     It didn't feel like a pauper's budget while we were living on it, but by North American standards it most certainly was. In fact, most people don't believe our numbers. But consider for a moment a lifestyle with no monthly bills - no mortgage, no car payments (no car!), and in fact no debt at all. And don't forget having no phone, no Internet, and no TV bills, and one can begin to understand how the majority of every dollar we earn goes into maintaining VIXEN and buying food. (71-72).

Working along the way, with a sound but simple boat and adventuresome crew allowed them to sail around the word - to see and experience how people really live. They didn't need to win the Power Ball. In fact, if they had, I imagine their voyage would have been very different.

Below is the video shown and the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival this year, celebrating their return to the North American Pacific Northwest. Enjoy.

Again, living abundantly is a matter of choice, of vision, of perspective. Dare we look at the world around us with eyes expectant for God's grace to appear? Dare we believe that we are God's beloved?

Blessed be,

Joel



Vixen's Voyage from Nicole Halabisky on Vimeo.