How Van Life Could be Your Ticket to Financial Freedom
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Imagine saving and investing 70% or more of your income every month. Imagine total monthly expenses under $500 person, yet living in complete abundance and freedom to travel to the most beautiful places in the country.
Imagine the cumulative impact on your financial health if you had even just one year without a rent or mortgage payment. How could that be possible?
I have lived this reality for the past 4 years; debt-free, rent-free, and building a robust path toward early retirement. Yes, I am a millennial without any children, but I know people from all walks of life (even those with kids!) who do this as well. This has always been my dream, so I was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen.
“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” -Jim Rohn
If it’s not for you, no worries, go check out another article! And no, I’m not a trust fund kid, nor a broke hobo tramp (haha, well at least not any more…)
There’s Lots of Ways to “Van Life”
I never thought about van life as a ticket to anything more than being a broke traveling hippie. In fact, that was initially my goal.
I dropped out of college at 17 to get in a 1974 baby blue Dodge van with shag carpet, leather ceiling, and 5 or 10 rowdy hitchhiking traveler punks. None of us had ever heard of “van life” or “bus life”, though wecertainly glorified the older hippies who had rainbow-painted school buses and more than 1 square foot of space per person.
Didn’t matter though. I rambled back and forth around the country many times over with nothing more than the boots on my feet and pack on my back.
That van broke down and our group happened upon another junkyard van, and then another, hitchhiking or hopping trains in between. Believe me, we had the time of our lives. And we were incomprehensibly dirty and broke. It was humbling and exhilarating and gloriously irresponsible.
I’d never considered “converting” a van as anything more than taking out the seats, throwing a mattress in the back, and giving up everything except a few ragged clothes and maybe a camp stove.
I lived like that for many years, sleeping mostly under the stars and dumpster diving my food and playing music on the corner for money. It was a wild, audacious, outrageous youth; and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
But trust me, there’s a million ways to “live in a van down by the river”. And some are more luxurious than others…
Investing in the Van/Tiny House
Fast forward 7 years and my younger self probably would’ve simultaneously mocked and envied the luxuries of my present-day “van life”. I live full-time in a 100% off-grid short bus turned tiny cabin that I built with a partner.
I learned everything online as we went and had no previous construction experience. People all over the world are doing this, so why not you?
Cost of Conversion
The bus itself (a 2008 Chevy Duramax diesel with 100,000 miles) cost about $15k and we renovated it with about $10k (including a 600W off grid solar system, purified water system, composting toilet, full kitchen, refrigerator, queen bed, couch, dog area, storage, and closet). I’ve made upgrades over the years, but overall live a very comfortable and extremely happy life.
I know “van lifers” who have converted vans or buses for as little as $10k total or as much as $80k. With the blank canvas of gutted vehicle, basically anything is possible. You can decide how luxurious or simple you want to make it.
The whole build took 1 full year. I paid off the bus while living in an apartment and working full time as a farm manager on an organic farm, working on the conversion in the evenings and on weekends. Needless to say, if we could do it on that budget, almost anyone could make this happen if they wanted to.
Making Van Life a Lifestyle, Not a Vacation
Rather than looking at “van life” as a short-term road trip, I invested in long-term systems to make the van our home and office. I keep my expenses extremely low by:
- Cooking all of our meals from scratch and rarely eating out
- Carefully budgeting our grocery bills (yet still eating high-quality organic food from local farms and co-ops)
- Staying in places for longer periods of time (less fuel)
- Never paying for campgrounds or pay-to-park areas
- Setting clear work hours and routines
- Foregoing frivolous spending like clothes, shoes, or un-needed electronics
- Avoiding monthly payments, except for gym membership and phones (I pay all of our insurance in bulk at the beginning of the year for a discount, and only keep two subscriptions- Spotify and Planet Fitness)
There honestly are very few sacrifices; I have running water, heat, fans, refrigeration, electricity, and all the modern comforts (minus the rent bill!) Yes, I have to find places to park (which I always do for free) and oftentimes I stick around areas for longer than any vacationer would.
I truly have no complaints and plan to do this for at least another 5 years as I continue to invest in my future financial freedom. I recommend taking similar steps if you hope to avoid paying rent for the next few years and stacking up your assets.
Income Streams
Nowadays, I’ve built multiple streams of income (both online and in real life). Not all “van lifers” are digital nomads, though the internet part of the equation makes life a whole lot easier.
Location-Independent Income
I was initially an organi farmers, so we took those skills on the road and created a company called Ramblin Farmers, where we offer freelance farm management and consulting services to small-scale organic farms around the country. This is unheard of in the world of agriculture, but has worked out tremendously well for us.
Our other income streams include freelance writing, two e-commerce brands, affiliate marketing on our blog, selling handmade products, and occasional seasonal jobs. Other location-independent van life income ideas include:
- Your existing career, online and remote
- Affiliate marketing
- Online courses
- Ski resorts/seasonal jobs
- Tax preparation
- Life coaching
- Freelance writing
- Freelance design work
- Computer coding
- Social media marketing
- Consulting in your area of expertise
- Mobile mechanic
- and sooooo many more!
Taking Your Skills Remote
It goes to show that you can take basically any skill or career you have and morph it into a full-time remote living. Millions of people did this in 2020, except they were stuck at home still paying rent or a mortgage.
When these super high expenses are out of the picture, life gets a whole lot easier. You just have to get creative and think outside the box (that is, your home or apartment).
It is also worth noting that some people live “van life” while staying in their current town. We have done this for different stints in cities like Denver and Austin, when I worked as a dog groomer and my husband worked as a produce manager in a natural foods co-op. We parked off nearby streets and went to work every day like (mostly) “normal” people.
Rather than traveling full-time, you can stay in your tiny-home-on-wheels (parking in front of friends’ homes, driveways, Cracker Barrel, camping spots, iOverlander spots, etc.) and go to work every day. Except, all that money goes into your pocket rather than to a landlord or mortgage.
Investing
I read the other day that the average American spends 30–50% of their income on rent! We put 30–50% of our income into investments every month. Rather than watching our hard-earned money fall into a landlord’s pocket, we are setting up our money to work for us.
This includes a combination of dividend stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrency, and REITs (real estate investment trusts). Some of these have yielded 8–12% or even 40-50% returns (in the case of crypto). No day-trading here; we invest for the long-term to set ourselves up in the next 5–10 years.
I am no investment professional, so take this all with a grain of salt. I’ve simply put in the time getting financial education for myself and setting my sights high for the future. I am learning so much thanks to folks like Robert Kiyosaki, Jeff Wang, Andy Tanner, Tom Thrivix, Isaiah McCall, Mark Guberti, and any other experts I can glean a grain of information from via books, courses, and Medium.
Side Hustles
While we currently work full-time managing an organic farm in the northeast, I’ve used my free time to grow my writing and ecommerce side hustles. Medium is loaded with articles about profitable side hustles, and pretty much all of them work for van life.
You can start an Etsy shop, drop shipping, freelancing, an e-commerce brand, social media marketing, affiliate blogging, writing e-books, making YouTube videos or online courses… the possibilities are endless! Side hustles are truly lucrative income sources, especially when you have all the extra time to commit to them (thanks to the freedoms of van life).
High Yield Savings
Whatever we don’t invest or spend, we put into a high-yield savings account as a buffer to inflation and unexpected economic events. Axos online bank offers a 0.61% APY savings account with no penalties for withdrawals.
Because of consumer debt and expenses, most Americans live on the brink of bankruptcy if they were to lose their job tomorrow. I think van life offers a really accessible alternative to that reality. We always keep enough liquid cash to cover 5–6 months of expenses (again, expenses are kept extremely low).
The stress of making rent every month simply vanishes. Moreover, we have the time to do what we love and pursue cashflow streams that really bring us fulfillment. Maybe it will be a blink in time of youthful joy… or maybe it will be our way out of the rat race.
Own Your (Tiny) Home, Own Your Life
Sometimes it blows my mind that we’ve owned our own home since ages 22 and 28. To some, it’s an audacious yellow school bus (we’ll finally get around to painting it soon), but to us, it’s our vessel to freedom.
I don’t have all the answers, but I have the inner serenity, lack of stress, and abundance of time and freedom that I need to create a robust financial future for myself and our little family (my husband and 3 dogs, to be exact).
