"How Can You Do That?"

I was at the bank today, doing one of the myriad tasks that I need to get done before we leave next month, and the banker I was talking to about switching around a couple of accounts asked why I was doing this so I gave him a quick "we are planning to travel for the next year or so" which kind of brought everyone in the office to a stand still. His manager came over and sat down and started chatting and the ladies in the few desks that were near his seemed to be inordinately interested in our conversation.
Both of the bankers wanted to know how we could possibly do such a thing (btw, as they were asking if they could sign me up for a credit card because they saw in my account that I didn't have one of their bank credit cards...go figure).
So I gave them my quick recap of how we really could do such a thing, using their question about the credit card as a segue. I simply told them that we are able to do such a thing because:

• We don't use credit cards or carry debt.
• We drive one old, paid off car.
• We are selling our house so we won't have house payments to make.
• Our kids are grown so we don't need to worry about #1 supporting them or #2 all of the extra stuff that is involved when you travel with kids.
• I have (a currently very small) income from my online businesses.
• We have some, but not a lot, of savings.
• Hubby is retired with both a pension and social security (it is an adequate amount to live on in the US yet it some foreign countries such an income would allow us to live very, very well).
• We have minimal stuff and in fact, we are selling off almost everything we have.

That was probably way more information than they expected but they certainly paid attention. The bottom line, is that you can pretty much have anything you want--a nice house, a brand new car, travel, a closet full of designer bags, the latest and greatest tech stuff--it just depends on what your priorities are. It may be difficult to have all of those things at the same time due to financial constraints but if you want one of those things, it is entirely possible to dedicate your work and your income to having said item.