Living in a van/campervan

Sounds awesome moist.

I'll probably do something similar once the kids are a bit older - drag them out of school for a bit and cruise around the country.

From a lenders perspective - if you're generating income purely from locum work then they might want to see a year or two of tax returns (the inconsistent income may be treated similar to self employment). I'm not 100% sure though - I haven't had a client in this situation before.

With lenders - they have a "minimum" living expense they'd assign to say a single adult. If you declare a lower expense - they'll just go off their minimum anyway. Does that make sense? So even though you're living on hardly anything - they might still assign a basic living expense of say $1800 per month.

I know it's important to plan ahead - but you also have to live. I'd go grab that van and hit the road!

Cheers

Jamie

 

I have recommended quite a few times (when asked) for people to get into nursing, more specifically mental health nursing. The myth that some believe that nurses dont get paid well is not true. I know 3rd year nurses earning 170kplus (working long hours though, actually just have to be at work physically more so than hard work imo) and take all that money to invest in property . They do heaps of night shifts (can mostly rest) and overtimes too. Its like a business. Can earn as much or as little as you like. IMO some areas of nursing are an amazing cashflow foundation to then invest in property. Also job security is second to none which banks love and is also a risk mitigation factor when building wealth. Similar to medicine but the responsibility in medicine and level of work, time to graduate and fees makes nursing the winner hands down, from the perspective of using it only as cashflow to invest, hence your 'real' profession would be investor, not nurse/doctor. I did exactly this for quite a few years and it allowed me to build my portfolio really quick.

 

It all sounds terribly glamourous and romantic...for about 3 months...unless you go the full-on you-beaut bells and whistles monster bus converted to the RV for a couple of hundred thousand bucks...you will need the little tow-along -behind vehicle so you can zip around and leave the RV as a base....saw loads of this scenario when we lived in the USA...a little Hyundai Getz or something similar on a trailer attached to the back of the RV..

Yer basic campervan trailer or Mum and Dad caravan will do yer head in soon enough.

Getting loans as a locum will be harder - you would have to be a contractor, or a company of some sort? Different lending hoops for those structures.

But; give it a go - get out of yer comfort zone and go for it.

 

Winnebago Warrior. Go for it. YOLO.

 

Have a google but look for private agencies rather than government health. The pay is much better. Through the gov you'll just get casual rates plus couple $hundred on top, plus accom. But I'm not 100% sure for optom
Advocacy - Optometry Australia

 

An EN wouldn't earn that sort of money but an RN certainly could. I would encourage anyone thinking of a career change to study nursing, can't believe more blokes don't do it. You can certainly earn good money in. Mental health nursing and do lots of shifts, you would struggle to do double shifts etc in general nursing, the work is so hard you can barely manage one shift let alone two. I am aware of a certain person earning tens of thousands of dollars, going from shift to shift, not very ethical and not within guidelines.
Moist, go for it, perhaps a scooter or electric bike on board? Have a look at teardrop caravans, compact and lightweight.

 

We took the kids around Aus in a van a year ago, it was the best thing ever. Do it!
Just don't try and squeeze it into 3 months. 3 years will be better

 

TAWKers? Did you do it in 3 months? The Big lap?

 

Do to have a van/4wd Rolf? Depending where you look a mid size van still be massive these days! But I agree best for versatility and comfort. You can always unhook and go out on the beach or bush with a tent

 

Yup Port Hedland up and over back to Perth. We missed Victoria though as we ran out of time and had to cut through to SA from Newcastle.

 

@Jess Peletier fav spot /area?
WA best beaches in Oz!

 

@bob shovel i see Nathan is standing by your car in admiration

 

Thanks very much everyone. much appreciated!

Just on the topic of financing again. I am currently in business as the owner of a practice so I am self employed as such. Is it that much of a change then changing to locuming? Both are self employed positions.....

Also would anyone know if I could just continue to locum as my current trust entity that operates my current practice? to make financials more consistent?

Cheers

 

I have a van, and a few others prior, been away for about 2 months at a time, in our current van, it is no drama, it has all you need, the ones I had prior would be a headache for more than a few days.

I do not think one would have any drama apart from the money side of things and trying to work.

You wont get to stay in say one place for a long time, free camp sites are often 24 hr or 48 hr, so you need to move and you need to go to van parks in between to stay longer and be comfortable.

If your going to inland regional areas, you could just rent a house in each area for your desired time, it would be cheaper, no council is going to allow you to live in a van just parked on the street, you will get fined in many spots.

So yeah, I would say do it if you want to see the country, trying to hold a job would be hard, and that will eat money, most people on the road have a fixed address (a home to come too) for mail, insurances, rego etc etc

PS I think all those people on youtube are also breaking the law in the US, they often give tips on how to not be obvious.

 

Wow! I had no idea...

 

lol in all honestly neigher did i..i knew it was good from what close friends told me but had no idea just how good....until i was in it..made contacts.. learnt how it all works..Its crazy. From a purely cashflow perspective, you can spend 2 years getting the degree (including summer school so 3 semesters a year), and after 12 months of working you can earn a crazy amount of money if you are willing to be at work long hours. But i dont know anyone who earns 150k plus a year on a 40 hour week anyway.The key is to choose the right speciality to work in, becasue some of them are no fun..and will kill you physically..but other areas are amazing.

 

I've never seen a nurse rest! They are generally run off their feet for their shifts, day or night. I do agree that they can basically earn a motza as there is no shortage of work on offer.

 

"The key is to know which area to work in" I agree with you, some areas will kill you physically. But not all. Trust me on that one

edit: Sorry not trying to hijack the thread.

 

Yep - WA had the best beaches for sure. We loved far north QLD. It's paradise up there. The drive from Townsville to Port Douglas is so beautiful you need to be careful you don't get distracted and drive off the road.

Mission Beach was one of our favorite stops, and the council caravan park was so cheap! (And a bit nasty, but mostly cheap! )