Some time mid September 2022, a month after we launched our sailboat UJUD whilst nestling into our “new life” routine within the safety of a Marina – we receive an email from a CNBC reporter – Miss Chiew Tong. In her email to us, she asks if we would be interested in sharing our story with her on CNBC.

We have had our story covered several times over the years, each writer we speak to has their own unique style in retrieving the information they require to write their story. We didn’t want to waste Miss Chiew Tong’s time so before our interview started, we asked her what angle of our life’s story did she want to focus on aside from Van Life and Boat Life. Her answer was finance.

We’re not rich and the magic number of how much it takes to live this lifestyle is always a question reporters ask. For us, there is no magic number, it boils down to starting wherever you’re at if you have a dream to travel in a van or a boat. When we began 5 years ago, the initial “task” was to sell EVERYTHING we owned and although we did mean it, in reality, we couldn’t achieve it. The market was slow and selling everything takes time especially because we didn’t want to sell in desperation.

We had a dream to own a campervan, we couldn’t find any for sale in Malaysia at the time (tons now) so we built our own on a super tiny budget. We bought the cheapest most reliable van we could find and just started. Our humble answer to anyone asking the burning question of “what is the exact number to have in savings in order to embark on a dream like yours?”

There is no magic number, just try and start now wherever you are, with whatever you got just be sure to clear all your debt before you start.”

We don’t find ourselves special nor are we financial gurus so what sort of experience do we have worth sharing with CNBC?

If you missed the article or perhaps are a little curious about it here is the link : https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/28/from-van-life-to-boat-life-the-one-tip-to-fund-full-time-travel.html