Long-Term Travel - Managing Finances

dawn

My husband and I are on the verge of retirement.  We would like to travel in our T@b for 6 months or longer.  How do you manage your finances for such a long time away from home?  Any suggestions?

Nomad

Finances is kind of general. Anything specific?
I find finances (credit cards, online banking) easier than mail which needs to be forwarded to an ever changing location.

Verna

Pay all bills on-line. The past two winters I have forwarded my mail to my sister, who sends me .pdf files of my tax statements and the one bill I get monthly (they refuse to do on-line billing!).  Next winter I will hold my mail and have it forwarded to me when I'm staying at one place for a few days. 

PXLated has a mail service take care of his.

jkjenn

Online bill pay or auto pay work well. The postal service will hold your mail for 30 days. Most mail services are based on an annual subscription so if you can forward or have someone collect your mail that can save you money. Mail services can scan and upload your mail, however. If you are freshly retired and dealing with a lot of forms and paperwork, a mail service might be worth it. I am having my mail help
d for 30 days at a time and a friend will collect it for me every 30 days. You can do all of the USPS stuff on line, too.

Nomad

Since I'm full time, I didn't want to inconvenience friends/relatives with my mail so I have a forwarding service. It can be set up in many different ways but since I do most things online, I have it set where I call then and see what's there. If anything important I have them forward it to general delivery wherever I am and trash the junk.

Mouseketab

99% of my stuff is auto pay to one credit card (I earn points), then I go online and pay the credit card each month. My bank has online banking for the few bills I can't do that. Go online and pay those through my bank. They even do a paper check for companies that don't have electronic service. Most credit cards will send your bill to you through email.