What a Boat Actually Costs in Retirement

Real 2026 prices, read at each company’s own price list. The same pontoon boat priced in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, a saltwater boat priced in Florida, and what it costs to just rent one instead.

My dad used to say the two happiest days in a man’s life are the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it.

It’s funny because a lot of people find out it’s true.

It’s not true for everybody, some people are on the water forty days a year. For them, the boat is the best money they spend all year. Some people are on the water four days a year and never add up what those four days cost them.

A trip is money you spend when you go. A boat is money you spend whether you go or not. The winter storage bill comes in a month you never left the dock. The insurance renews. And in Missouri, the county wants its tax on the boat before it will renew your registration.

None of that is a reason not to buy a boat. A boat is worth having. It’s an expense and a payment you plan for, the same as any other expense and payment. This page helps to determine what the true overall cost is.

We priced this in five states

This page prices a boat in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Florida. Those are the states we serve. (If you really like what we do and how we do it and live in another state, feel free to reach out to me and we’ll see if it makes sense for me to get licensed in your state to work with you.)

Four of those five work the same way. Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri are fresh water. For the most part, your boat sits on a trailer in your driveway or in a storage lot, you back it down the ramp when you want it, and somebody winterizes it in the fall. Some bigger lakes, like the Lake of the Ozarks does have slips, typically as part of owning a house or condo there.

Florida is the other one. In Florida the boat usually lives in the water in a boat slip and never comes home. Saltwater eats metal, so it brings bills that do not exist on a lake. I lived in Florida for a couple of years and from a Midwesterner I was shocked at what saltwater can eat through.

We priced both. The same pontoon boat in all four Midwest states, and a saltwater boat in Florida.

What does the boat cost to buy?

$19,795 to $48,995 for a new pontoon boat from Sun Tracker, and the trailer to pull it is not included in that price.

Sun Tracker boats are built by White River Marine Group in Springfield, Missouri, which is the Bass Pro family of companies. They put a national price on every model, right on their own website.

The number in the boat’s name is not how long the boat is. The PARTY BARGE 20 DLX is 21 feet 11 inches. The BASS BUGGY 16 XL is 18 feet 5 inches. The PARTY BARGE 16 DLX is also 18 feet 5 inches.^1,2,3

Why is this important to know? Because almost everything else you pay is priced by the foot. The boat slip is priced by the foot. The bottom paint is priced by the foot. The plastic wrap they shrink over your boat for winter is priced by the foot. And in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Florida, the registration fee jumps at 16 feet and jumps again at 26 feet. Kansas is the one state of the five that charges the same registration no matter how long your boat is.

The sticker price leaves out dealer prep and freight. Sun Tracker’s own disclaimer page says so, and to see that number you have to pick a dealer first.⁵ The maker will not print it.

That national price is a starting point, not the price. We looked up real dealer listings for the same 2027 PARTY BARGE 22 XP3 the day we priced it. One dealer in the whole country was selling it at the $48,995 national price. The rest ran from $57,700 up to $63,150.

What does it cost to just own the boat for a year?

About $6,700 a year in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. About $7,200 a year in Missouri. Everything else is on top of that amount.

Seven things go into that number. Five of them are bills you’ll actually receive. Two of them are not, and those two are the ones people typically don’t consider.

The five bills.

Winter storage is $1,449 for a four-stroke outboard if you drive the boat to the shop yourself.⁶

Insurance averages $301 a year in all four Midwest states.⁷

Towing coverage on the water is $130 a year, and adding coverage for the trailer and the truck is $15 more, so $145.⁸

Registration is $14 to $23 a year depending on your state. You actually pay it once every three years, so we divided it out.^9,16,18,21

And in Missouri only, the county charges a tax every year on what the boat is worth. About $493 on this boat. Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa do not charge it.^10,13

The two that aren’t bills.

The boat loses value. J.D. Power’s numbers on this exact pontoon show it losing about 21% of its price over five years, which is about $1,520 a year.⁴⁸ You don’t see that on an annual basis, you discover how much that was the day you sell.

The boat needs maintenance. Boat Trader, a company that sells boats, tells its own readers to plan on about 10% of the boat’s value a year. On a $32,995 boat that’s about $3,300 a year.⁵¹ That one is their estimate, not a published price, and we could not find a neutral source that publishes a maintenance figure. Some years you’ll spend less than that. The year the engine needs work, you’ll spend more.

The same boat costs someone in Missouri about $500 more every single year than it costs someone in Iowa. The difference rests on that one tax line.

The rest of this page uses those numbers. When we say what a day on the water costs, or how owning compares to renting, we’re using the full year, not just the bills.

Where does the boat live?

On a trailer in the Midwest. In a boat slip in Florida, at $16 to $20 a foot a month.

Vero Beach Municipal Marina in Florida publishes what it charges. A slip rented by the year is $16.00 a foot a month. Rented month to month it’s $18.00. Keeping the boat out of the water on their lot is $20.00.²⁶

They charge you for the length of your boat tip to tip, or the length of the slip, whichever one is bigger. At $16 a foot a month, a 24-foot boat is $384 a month. That’s $4,608 a year for the boat to sit in the water. We did that multiplication. The $16 is theirs.

In Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa the lake marinas publish the small price and hide the big one. Indian Point Marina on Table Rock Lake in Branson will tell you right on the page that a slip is $30 a night or $150 a week. For a slip rented by the year, that same page says “Contact Us For More Information.”²⁷

City-owned marinas publish their rates because they’re government and they have to. Privately owned lake marinas don’t. We could not find one in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa that publishes a yearly slip rate.

If you want a slip at your lake, that’s a phone call. Make sure you understand all the costs before you buy a boat, not after.

What does winter cost?

$1,449 if you drive the boat to them yourself. $2,599 if they come get it.

Winter is the bill that shows up in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa and never shows up in Florida. Somebody has to get the water out of your engine before it freezes and cracks.

Sportsman’s Outfitter & Marine in Belton, Missouri, just south of Kansas City, publishes a full winter price list.⁶ Most shops won’t.

Having them go get the boat instead of driving it over yourself costs $1,150 more on a four-stroke outboard. We did that subtraction. Both prices are printed on their page.⁶

And if your lake isn’t on their list, it’s another $425 on top of that. The lakes in their pickup price are Blue Springs, Jacomo, Lakewood, Longview, Prairie Lee, Lotawana, Raintree, Tapawingo and Creekmore. Loch Lloyd, Quivira, Weatherby, Waukomis and Winnebago cost more.⁶

You can also buy the pieces one at a time. Winterizing a four-stroke outboard over 75 horsepower by itself is $479.00, and that price includes the oil, the filter and the gear lube. Shrink wrap is $26.00 a foot. Having them drive out and winterize the boat while it’s still in its slip is $399.00 or $595.00, depending on the lake.⁶

Their fine print: the price does not include cleaning the boat, and they want it paid up front. And the shrink wrap is not built to survive highway speeds, which is their way of saying don’t tow it home wrapped.⁶

What does the insurance cost?

$301 a year in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. $657 a year in Florida.

Progressive publishes what its own boat policies average, sorted into low, medium and high cost states. All four Midwest states land in the low group. Florida lands in the high group.⁷

Their page puts the full range from $267 in Minnesota to $839 in Florida. Boat insurance is generally cheaper if you live in a state with no coastline.⁷

Same person, same boat. Move from Kansas to Florida and the insurance roughly doubles.

What happens when the engine quits out on the water?

$130 a year in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. $215 a year in Florida, because the cheaper plan can’t be bought there.

BoatUS sells three levels, and the names matter.⁸

The Freshwater plan has a footnote saying it is not available in Florida or Hawaii.⁸ A Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa boat owner pays $130 and can add trailer coverage for $15 more. A Florida boat owner can’t buy the freshwater plan at all, and pays $215.

What does your state charge every year?

$14 to $23 a year for registration in the Midwest. And in Missouri, a county tax on the boat that can run several hundred dollars more.

There are two separate charges here and people mix them up. Registration is the state fee that puts numbers on the side of your boat. The other one is a tax on what the boat is worth. Four of our five states charge only the first one. Missouri charges both.

Registration is a three-year charge in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. You pay it once and it covers three years, so to compare it fairly we divided each one by three.

The tax on what the boat is worth is a Missouri-only thing among our five states. Missouri looks at your boat every January 1 and taxes you on what it’s worth. The state will not renew your boat registration until you show a paid tax receipt from your county.¹⁰

If you live in Missouri, you already know this, because it works the same way as the license plates on your car. If you’re thinking about moving to Missouri from Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa, you may never have paid a tax like this in your life.

Missouri law says personal property gets taxed on 33 and one third percent of what it’s worth.^11,12 Missouri does not split the year with you, so if you own the boat on January 1 you owe the whole year.¹²

Your own number will be different, and it can be a lot different. Camden County alone has fire districts running from $0.4550 up to $0.7853 for every $100, and school districts running from $2.7500 up to $3.5300.¹³ Look up your own address before you budget it. The rates also change every year.

Kansas readers, this one is brand new. Kansas taxed the value of your boat every year through the 2025 tax year. Starting January 1, 2026, all boats are exempt from that tax in Kansas. It’s written into the state statute, and the Kansas Department of Revenue says the same thing in its own 2026 property manual.^14,15 Anything you read about Kansas boat taxes that was written before the middle of last year has it wrong.

Nebraska readers, one thing trips people up here. You register the boat at the county treasurer’s counter, which is the same counter where you pay the tax on your car.¹⁹ What you’re paying there is the Game and Parks registration fee, not a tax on what the boat is worth. A boat used in a business, a charter or a rental would be a different answer.¹⁷

Iowa readers, there is nothing to look up. Iowa stopped taxing personal property in 1995. Your registration is the whole state bill.^20,21

And what you pay the day you buy it. Missouri charges 4.225% state sales tax plus your local rate, and the local rate is the one where you live, not where you bought the boat.¹⁰ The outboard motor is titled and taxed separately from the boat itself. You get 60 days to title it, and after that there’s a $10 penalty that maxes out at $30.¹⁰

What does a boat lose in value?

About 23% of its price over five years. About 35% over ten.

We used J.D. Power, which is what banks and insurance companies use, because it gives you the original sticker price and today’s value on the exact same boat. Asking prices on the internet can’t do that.

Those numbers are within J.D. Power’s own published ranges, which are 10% to 20% after one year, 20% to 30% after five, and 30% to 40% after ten. Their page also says fishing boats and pontoons tend to lose value faster than fancier boats do.⁵⁰

On a $32,995 pontoon, 23% over five years is about $7,600, or about $1,520 a year. That’s the number in the yearly cost table above.

Two important tidbits before you shop for a used one.

The price of a new one went up. J.D. Power has the 2021 PARTY BARGE 20 DLX sticker at $21,395. The 2027 version of that same boat is $32,995.^1,48 That’s about 54% in six years. Compare a used 2021 against today’s new price and the used boat looks like it lost 40%. Compare it against what it actually cost new and it lost about 21%.

And every asking price we saw sat above book value. Used 2021 PARTY BARGE 20 DLX boats were listed from $18,999 to $34,900. J.D. Power’s average value for that exact boat is $16,460.⁴⁸ Keep in mind, what somebody asks for is not necessarily what a boat sells for.

What about the gas?

We’re not going to try and tell you what a tank of gas will cost, because we don’t know.

Gas prices move every day, and sometimes more than once in a day. You usually pay extra to fill up on the water instead of on land, and how much extra changes from lake to lake, similar to the way gas prices change from town to town, or even from station to station.

What we can give you is how fast the engine drinks it. Mercury ran the test and published the results. Multiply by whatever you paid the last time you filled up.

Running the engine wide open burns four times the gas of cruising along at 14.5 miles an hour.²⁴

A day out on the water averages 4.4 hours.²⁵ At a cruising speed that’s somewhere around 25 to 30 gallons for the day. Ten days out is 250 to 300 gallons. Multiply by what you pay at the dock and you have a good idea of what your annual gas cost would be for the year.

How much does a boat actually get used?

29 days a year for the average motorized boat. And fewer than half of them went out even once.

This is the number that could change your decision on a boat, and it’s the only one we found that doesn’t come from somebody selling boats. It comes from the Coast Guard. They mailed a survey to more than a quarter million American households and published what came back.²⁵

Counting every motorized boat somebody owns, including the ones that never left the driveway, the average is 29 days a year. A day out lasts an average of 4.4 hours.²⁵

Only 45.3% of motorized boats in this country were taken out on the water even one single time during the year they measured. In that same survey, 93.1% of all boats people owned were in working condition.²⁵

Doesn’t that mean those are running boats, sitting still?

Two things you should know about that survey. It covers the year 2018, so it’s eight years old now, and the newer one has not published anything yet. And they didn’t get enough responses to break out pontoon boats on their own, so a pontoon is counted inside “motorized.”²⁵

We looked for a second way to check it and found one. Boat Trader lists engine hours on used boats. Sun Tracker Party Barges from 2021, five seasons old, showed 220, 200, 127, 106, 66, 58, 56 and 20 hours. The middle of that group works out to roughly 17 hours a year. The nine- to eleven-year-old ones worked out to roughly 20 hours a year.

Those are boats listed for sale, not a survey, and a boat somebody is selling probably got used less than average. But they land nowhere near the 100 hours a year you’ll see repeated all over the internet. We could not find one engine maker, one boat inspector or one boating association that publishes that 100-hour number.

What is a day on the water costing you?

$213 to $259 a day in the Midwest if you go as often as your neighbors do. About $1,682 to $1,807 a day if you only go four times.

Take the yearly cost of owning the boat and divide it by the days you actually go out.

Four days on the water at $1,682 to $1,807 a day is the number my dad’s joke is really about. The man who goes four times isn’t buying boat rides. He’s buying a boat that sits.

What makes this analysis so impactful is that none of these numbers include the cost of gas for the boat, the expense of towing the boat to the lake, or food costs. Those items are omitted because they are difficult to estimate.

We’re not here to judge whether you should have a boat or not. We’re here to ensure that, if it’s something you want to do, you understand the true costs of owning and using a boat. Even if you never use it, simply owning a boat is a significant expense.

Is it cheaper to just rent one?

If you go about thirteen or fourteen days a year or fewer in the Midwest, yes. Past that, owning wins.

When you rent, the maintenance, the storage, the insurance and the lost value all belong to somebody else. That’s why we compare a rental day against the full yearly cost of owning.

Renting several days in a row costs less per day. Two days runs $829 to $1,229 depending on the boat. Five days runs $2,029 to $2,999.³⁹

You leave the dock with a full tank and you pay for the gas you burned when you bring it back. Life vests come with the boat. Anchors do not, and their page says so in capital letters. You’re allowed to bring your own.³⁹

The afternoon costs more than the morning on every boat they rent.⁴⁰ They also want a $500 security deposit, and their page never says who pays for the gas, so ask before you book it.

The gas is included in Destin. It’s listed as one of the things that comes with the boat.⁴¹ At Table Rock you pay for what you burn. Read what’s included before you compare two rental prices.

One thing we could not find. We looked for boat rental companies in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa that publish their prices, and we came up empty. The Missouri prices above are the closest published rates we have for a Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa reader. Call your own lake and ask for the all-day rate on a boat about the size of the one you’d buy.

How many days before owning beats renting?

Read the last two columns together, because the answer is not the same in every state.

In Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, owning wins for the average boat owner. The average person in those states is out 26 to 34 days, and the tie happens at 13 or 14 days. Owning is the cheaper way to do it.

In Florida, it goes the other way. A boat kept in salt water has to be used about 44 days a year before it beats renting, and the average Florida boat owner is out 36. For the average Florida owner, renting is cheaper. That’s the published rental rate against the published cost of keeping the boat.

And if you’re the person who goes out four times a year, renting wins in every one of the five states, by a wide margin.

What does a boat club cost?

$150 to $375 a month in dues at the national chains, and neither of the two biggest ones will tell you what it costs to join.

A boat club is somebody else’s boat. You pay a fee to join, you pay every month after that, and you reserve a boat when you want one. They handle the maintenance, the storage, the insurance, the cleaning and the winterizing.

Carefree Boat Club publishes its monthly dues on its own site. $150 to $375, depending on the plan.⁴⁵ They talk about the one-time fee to join at length on the same page and never say what it is.

Freedom Boat Club publishes no dollar figure anywhere we could find. They have an article on their own website titled “How Much Does a Freedom Boat Club Membership Cost?” It explains that there are two charges, a fee to join and a monthly fee, and it never names either one.⁴⁶

You’ll see $3,000 to $8,000 quoted for Freedom’s join fee in search results. Every one we traced went back to a website that guesses at prices, not to Freedom. We’re not going to print a number we couldn’t confirm.

The independent clubs do publish, in full.

Their page says the join fee is one time only, and that the monthly dues are collected all twelve months of the year.⁴²

The dues run twelve months. Their season runs May 1 to the middle of October. A full member pays $3,600 a year for about five and a half months of access. That’s our math.

Their page says there are no usage fees ever, and that the only thing you pay on the water is the gas you use. Insurance and on-the-water training are included.⁴³

Bridge Marina Boating Club on Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey publishes a range instead of a price list. About $1,800 to $5,000 a year for weekday-only plans, and $2,400 to $6,000 a year for anytime plans, plus a one-time $1,499 charge that covers your first-year training and orientation.⁴⁴

Everybody says gas is extra. One club says how much. 321 Boat Club in Melbourne, Florida answers the question “Is gas included?” with “No. The average burn rate is about $15 per hour on most of our boats.”⁴⁷ That’s the only dollar figure on club gas we found on any club’s own website.

If you damage a club boat, you generally pay the insurance deductible.^44,45 And Freedom’s site mentions that a lot of members tip the dock staff.⁴⁶

We could not find a boat club in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa that publishes a price list at all. Madison, Wisconsin is the closest one that does.

A club against owning. A full membership in Madison is $5,000 to join and $3,600 a year in dues. A year of owning the pontoon in Missouri is about $7,229. The club is roughly half the yearly cost, with no maintenance, no winterizing and nothing lost in value. You give up owning the boat.

The Florida boat, because salt water is a different animal

$75,995 for the boat, and about $17,600 a year to own it.

Most people figure a Florida retiree buys a bigger boat, because the canal behind the house runs out to the Gulf. Florida’s own registration numbers say otherwise. 52.9% of Florida’s pleasure boats are 16 to 25 feet, and 86.9% of them are under 26 feet.³² Nationally, the Coast Guard puts 94% of powered boats under 26 feet.⁵²

Florida does have four to five times Missouri’s share of boats over 40 feet, so the hunch is right at the very top end and nowhere else.^32,33

The real difference isn’t size. It’s salt.

Sun Tracker’s own written warranty lists what it will not cover, and one of the items is “corrosion caused by saltwater.”³⁰ The company that builds Sun Tracker, White River Marine Group in Springfield, Missouri, also builds a completely different brand called Mako, and Mako’s own website says those boats are built to take on rough saltwater conditions.³¹

The lake boat’s own maker won’t cover it against saltwater damage.

A 22-foot Mako is $75,995 and the trailer is another $5,640. A 22-foot Sun Tracker pontoon for the lake is $48,995 with a $5,450 trailer.^4,28 Same length. The saltwater boat costs about $27,000 more.

Mako has the same catch as Sun Tracker on prep and freight. To see the price with those in it, you have to pick a dealer first.²⁸

The bills that only exist in salt water

Bottom paint. Riviera Beach Boatyard in Florida publishes $90.00 a foot to paint a bottom that’s never been painted. That covers lifting the boat out of the water, marking the water line, sanding it, two coats of primer, two coats of paint, and putting it back in. A bottom that’s been painted before is $60.00 a foot, and their page calls that a limited time offer.³⁴ On a 22-foot boat, the first job runs about $1,980.

Nobody publishes how often it has to be redone. We opened two boatyards looking for that answer and neither one says. Ask the yard you’d use.

A diver, every month. Aqua Pro Yacht Maintenance in Fort Lauderdale publishes a flat $4.00 a foot for boats 20 to 50 feet, and says monthly cleaning is the safe default in South Florida all year.³⁶ On a 22-foot Mako that’s $88 a month, or $1,056 a year, for something a trailered lake boat never buys once.

Zinc anodes. These are chunks of soft metal bolted to the boat that corrode on purpose, so the salt water eats them instead of your propeller and your other underwater hardware. Aqua Pro runs a whole page about replacing zinc anodes without a dollar figure anywhere on it, and says they get quoted one boat at a time. They do publish how often. Two to four times a year.³⁶

Lifting the boat out of the water. Oasis Boatyard and Marina in St. Augustine charges $10.00 a foot to lift it, pressure wash it, block it up and put it back in, for boats 45 feet and under. Their bottom paint jobs do not include the zinc anodes, the prep work, or the paint itself.³⁵

Hurricane season, and what the law actually does

A Florida marina is not allowed to order you to come get your boat.

Florida law says marinas may not have or enforce a policy requiring boats to be removed after a hurricane watch or warning goes out. The law says why, right in the text. They want protecting the lives and safety of boat owners to come before protecting property.³⁷

Either way, you end up with the bill. That same law spells out the notice a marina is allowed to put in your contract, which says the marina’s own people may move your boat out of its slip if that’s reasonable, and that you may be charged a reasonable fee for it.³⁷

Deepwater seaports are the exception. Getting your boat out of there is required, and not doing it can bring a fine up to three times what it costs them to remove it.³⁷

Oasis Boatyard says in capital letters on its own page that hurricane rates are double the normal cost to lift a boat out, and that yours will be the last boat back in the water and the first boat pulled once a storm is cleared.³⁵ The City of Marathon’s actual slip contract puts the job of watching the weather on the boat owner, says storm tie-up assignments are a minimum of one week, and says you pay at the time they assign it. That same contract says a sunken boat has to be removed within ten working days, or the city removes it and bills the owner.³⁸

What Florida charges, and what it doesn’t

Florida charges no yearly tax on what your boat is worth. It’s written into state law. A registered boat and the outboard motor that pushes it are exempt from personal property tax, and you pay the registration fee instead.²²

There’s also a $2.25 service fee, a $2.00 plate fee and a $1.00 Save the Manatee Trust Fund fee on top.²³ A 22-foot Mako in Palm Beach County comes to about $47.38 a year.

Missouri looks at your boat every January and won’t renew the registration until the county tax is paid, about $493 a year on the $32,995 pontoon in our example. Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa charge nothing like it. Florida charges nothing like it either, and then takes it all back in bottom paint, a diver every month, zinc anodes, and hurricane season.

What it costs to own the Florida boat for a year

We don’t have a J.D. Power valuation on this exact Mako, so the value it loses uses J.D. Power’s own published range of 20% to 30% over five years, applied to the $75,995 price. That’s an estimate and we’re calling it one.⁵⁰

Bottom paint sits on top of all of it at about $1,980 the first time, and nobody publishes how often it comes back around.³⁴

At Florida’s average of 36 days a year, that’s about $489 a day.

Owning the Florida boat costs well over twice what owning the Midwest boat costs, and buying it costs more than twice as much too.

What does the boat business itself say a year costs?

$10,000 to $30,000 a year on a $50,000 boat, published by a company that sells boats.

Their own rules of thumb in that same article: about 10% of the boat’s value a year for maintenance, insurance running 1% to 2% of the boat’s value, hull cleaning at $10 to $20 a foot, engine service at $300 to $1,000 a year for each engine, and losing 10% to 15% of the boat’s value a year for the first few years.⁵¹

Their number and ours are pretty close. We built the Midwest year out of published price sheets and got about $6,700 to $7,200 on a $32,995 boat, before gas. Boat Trader’s range on a $50,000 boat starts at about $10,000. Scale theirs down to our boat and the two sit right next to each other.

We could not find one neutral source that publishes a total yearly cost of owning a boat. Every figure out there comes from somebody who sells boats, slips, storage or insurance.

Where does the money for all this come from?

A boat is not one bill. It’s a bill that shows up again next month, and next year, and the year after that, for as long as you own it.

The winter storage package is $1,449 every year in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. The insurance is $301 every year. The county tax in Missouri is about $493 every January. The diver in Florida is $1,056 every year. None of those are one-time purchases. They’re a standing order, and the boat sends it whether you went out 40 days or four.

Pull that money out of your savings in a year the market is down, and you didn’t just spend the money. You spent that money and everything it would have earned back for you later. Let that happen three years running in a bad stretch and it shows up in your balance for the rest of your life.

Or maybe worse, you sell the boat. Not because you stopped wanting it. Because a bad year in the market turned the bill into a decision instead of a payment.

Here’s what Lifestyle-First planning does differently, the money creating income comes out of your retirement savings. It has to. There’s nowhere else for it to come from.

What changes is instead of leaving everything in one account at risk in the market and selling pieces off whenever a bill shows up, you take the portion you’ve already allocated for income to live on and those non-negotiable adventures, experiences and memories with loved ones that make life worth living. Money that is not earmarked for growing and turns into income that lands in your bank account every month for as long as you live. That’s your Protected Lifetime Income. Never all of your savings. The right amount.

Same portion of your retirement money. It just shows up as a paycheck instead of a withdrawal.

The ten-year head start

We also tell people to plan what they want to do in retirement years before their actual retirement date. Not just thinking about retiring. Actually planning the income for it.

Money moved into guaranteed lifetime income earlier buys more income per dollar. A couple planning to retire at 65 who moves $100,000 into a lifestyle budget ten years ahead, at 55, produces about $15,554 a year for life. Wait until 65 to move that same $100,000 and it produces about $7,680 a year for life.

Follow traditional retirement planning and that $100,000 creates maybe $4,000 a year, or $4,700 a year or $5,500 a year adjusting up for inflation each year but is not guaranteed. It is also at risk of loss likely in a mix of stocks and bonds.

Same hundred thousand dollars. More than double the income, for the rest of both of their lives, because of when they did it.

$100,000 moved into guaranteed lifetime income at 55 pays for the pontoon in any of the four Midwest states, every year, for as long as you live. It does not pay for a saltwater boat in a Florida slip. That one takes closer to $130,000 with the same ten-year runway, or about $250,000 if you wait until you retire at 65 to set it up.

If you’ve saved more and you want to put more toward the life you want, the math is easy to estimate. $200,000 with a ten-year runway creates about $31,108 a year for life. Wait until you retire at 65 and the same $200,000 creates about $15,360.

And keep this in mind. The boat budget you’d use in your go-go years, when you’re healthy enough to be out there every other weekend, keeps coming for the rest of your life. No matter what the market does. No matter how long you live. And if you’re married, as long as your spouse lives. Even if you sell the boat later on.

Nobody ever asked you what you wanted to do with the money

The reason your advisor never priced out a winter storage package for you isn’t laziness. The whole traditional retirement planning business is built backward.

The standard retirement plan starts with your savings and lets that balance decide what life you get. Usually, it’s based on some safe withdrawal rate, or a retirement success score, or a guardrail strategy. Nothing concrete. Nothing guaranteed. Just a plan built on hoping the market agrees with your retirement date.

Doesn’t that sound more like a business model than a plan for your retirement?

Lifestyle-First planning starts at the other end. You decide your life first. Your essentials, your adventures, your experiences, and the memories you want with the people you love. Then we build income underneath all four that arrives in your bank account every month for as long as you live. That’s your Protected Lifetime Income.

Never all of your money. The right amount for the life you picked, with the rest left liquid and still growing. And if you plan your income earlier, you can either use less money to create the income you need, or create even more income out of the money you’re setting aside for it.

There is a trade-off with having the right amount of Protected Lifetime Income, and we’ll show it to you before you decide anything. The protected part is less liquid, and on its own it leaves less behind. The liquidity piece is something traditional planning tends to emphasize without fully disclosing the cost of you using that liquidity. Here is what liquidity in an annuity really means.

What you get for that trade-off is pretty powerful. Since the income covers your life, the rest of your money isn’t being drained to live on. You’re not forced to take income from your retirement account when it’s down. It’s left alone to grow, and the luxuries, the emergencies and what you leave your kids all come off that growth side.

Here’s how Lifestyle-First income planning works.

First your life, then your money.

A boat is one line on a longer list. Here is what the retirement you want actually costs, with every piece of it priced.

Related reading

• What the Retirement You Want Actually Costs
• What Your Retirement Hobbies Actually Cost
• What a Trip in Retirement Really Costs
• What a Country Club Membership Actually Costs
• What a Bucket List Golf Trip Actually Costs
• What Would a Random Tuesday Look Like in Retirement?
• Afraid to Spend Money in Retirement

Run your own number

Put in your savings, the income you want, and the age you’d claim Social Security, and see what your own picture looks like. It costs nothing and asks nothing of you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. Sun Tracker, 2027 PARTY BARGE 20 DLX model page. Published national price of $32,995 with a 60 horsepower four-stroke, an overall length of 21 feet 11 inches, and a tandem-axle trailer with brakes at $4,950.
2. Sun Tracker, 2027 BASS BUGGY 16 XL Select model page. Published national price of $19,795, overall length 18 feet 5 inches, trailer $3,195 or $3,550 with brakes.
3. Sun Tracker, 2027 PARTY BARGE 16 DLX model page. Published national price of $20,595, overall length 18 feet 5 inches.
4. Sun Tracker, 2027 PARTY BARGE 22 XP3 model page. Published national price of $48,995 with a 150 horsepower four-stroke, overall length 24 feet 2 inches, trailer $5,450.
5. Sun Tracker, price disclaimer page. States that published prices are shown without dealer prep and freight charges, and that taxes, title, registration and documentation fees are additional.
6. Sportsman’s Outfitter & Marine, Belton Missouri, winterization and storage rates. Six-month storage package at $1,449 for a four-stroke outboard delivered by the owner and $2,599 for the same boat picked up at the lake, four-stroke winterizing alone at $479 for motors over 75 horsepower, shrink wrap at $26 a foot, and the $425 surcharge for lakes outside their standard list.
7. Progressive, average boat insurance cost. Average annual policy of $301 in the low-cost state group including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, and $657 in the high-cost group including Florida, from policies written December 2023 through November 2024.
8. BoatUS, membership plans and prices. Basic membership $25 a year with no towing paid, Freshwater Towing $130 a year and not available in Florida or Hawaii, Saltwater Towing $215 a year, and the Trailer Assist add-on at $15 a year.
9. Missouri Department of Revenue, titling and registration fees. Boat registration of $55 plus a $9 processing fee for a boat 16 feet up to 26 feet, on a three-year term, with $25 to $150 across all length classes.
10. Missouri Department of Revenue, watercraft titling and registration. Requires a paid personal property tax receipt from your county of residence to register or renew, states sales tax of 4.225% plus the local rate where you live, and gives the 60-day titling window with a $10 penalty capped at $30.
11. Missouri Revised Statutes, Section 137.115. Requires the assessor to assess all personal property at 33 and one third percent of its true value in money as of January 1 each year.
12. Camden County Missouri Assessor, personal property questions. Confirms the 33 and one third percent assessment and states that Missouri law has no provision allowing taxes to be prorated.
13. Missouri State Auditor, 2025 Property Tax Rates, Report No. 2026-006. Appendix VII lists the 2025 tax rates per $100 of assessed value for Camden County entities, including Camdenton R-III schools at 2.7500 and Mid-County Fire Protection District at 0.7270, and shows the range of fire and school district rates across the county.
14. Kansas Statutes, K.S.A. 79-5501. States that watercraft was assessed at 5% in tax years 2015 through 2025 and that on and after January 1, 2026 all watercraft is exempt from all property or ad valorem taxes in Kansas.
15. Kansas Department of Revenue, 2026 Personal Property Summary. Page 21 confirms watercraft is no longer appraised and assessed at 5% and is exempt from all property or ad valorem taxes on and after January 1, 2026.
16. Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, boat registration fees. Registration and renewal of $40.00 plus a $1.00 agent fee and a $1.50 transaction fee, flat for any length, expiring every three years.
17. Nebraska Revised Statutes, Sections 77-202 and 77-119. Exempts tangible personal property that is not depreciable business property from property tax, which is why a personal pleasure boat owes no yearly value-based tax in Nebraska.
18. Nebraska Game and Parks, boat registration and licensing fees. Three-year registration of $44 under 16 feet, $64 for 16 to under 26 feet, $84 for 26 to under 40 feet and $134 for 40 feet and over, plus a $4 issuing fee.
19. Nebraska DMV, motorboat registration. States that actual registration of a motorboat is conducted by any County Treasurer’s office.
20. Iowa Code, Section 427A.2. States that personal property shall not be listed or assessed for taxation and is not subject to the property tax.
21. Iowa Department of Natural Resources, boat registration fees. Three-year renewal registration of $28.15 under 16 feet, $41.65 for 16 to under 26 feet, $80.65 for 26 to under 40 feet and $155.65 for 40 feet and over.
22. Florida Statutes, Section 328.68. States that every registered vessel and the outboard motor capable of propelling it is exempt from personal property tax and pays a vessel registration certificate fee instead.
23. Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, vessel registration fee chart. Annual registration of $28.75 for a boat 16 to under 26 feet with an optional county fee of $13.38 that is charged only in fifteen named counties, plus a $2.25 service fee, a $2.00 aquatic plate fee and a $1.00 Save the Manatee Trust Fund fee.
24. Mercury Marine, published performance test data. A 27-foot pontoon with a single 300 horsepower Verado burning 5.3 gallons per hour at 3000 rpm and 21.7 gallons per hour at 6000 rpm, tested September 1, 2021.
25. US Coast Guard, 2018 National Recreational Boating Safety Survey, Exposure Survey Final Report. Reports 29 days a year for the average owned motorized boat, outings averaging 4.4 hours, 45.3% of motorized boats taken out at least once, 93.1% of owned boats in operating condition, and state averages of Florida 36, Missouri 34, Kansas 29, Nebraska 27 and Iowa 26 days.
26. City of Vero Beach Municipal Marina, reservations and rates. Main Marina annual slips at $16.00 per foot per month, monthly slips at $18.00, dry storage at $20.00, with higher South Complex rates and $35.00 per foot for vessels over 100 feet, billed on the boat’s overall length or the slip length, whichever is greater.
27. Indian Point Marina, Table Rock Lake, slip rentals. Publishes nightly slips at $30 and weekly at $150, and offers annual slips on the same page with no price, asking readers to contact them.
28. Mako Boats, 226 CC and 246 CC model pages. Published national price of $75,995 for the 226 CC at 22 feet 2 inches with a trailer at $5,640, and $104,995 for the 246 CC, with prep and freight requiring a dealer selection.
29. Mako Boats, inshore skiff lineup. Published national prices with the trailer included, including the PRO SKIFF 13 CC at $17,995, the PRO SKIFF 17 CC at $25,995 and the PRO SKIFF 19 CC at $43,995.
30. Sun Tracker, Limited Warranty document. Lists galvanic or stray current corrosion, and corrosion caused by saltwater, under what is not covered.
31. Mako Boats, home page. Describes the brand as saltwater center console boats, inshore skiffs and offshore fishing boats built to take on rough saltwater conditions.
32. Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 2025 Alphabetical Vessel Statistics by County. County-by-county pleasure vessel registrations by length class, which we totaled to 527,443 boats in the 16 to 25 foot class, 52.9% of the state’s pleasure fleet, and 86.9% under 26 feet.
33. Missouri Department of Revenue, Marine File Statistics. Missouri boats by length and type as of July 1, 2026, including 589,133 boats in the 11 to 20 foot bucket and 90,276 pontoons.
34. Riviera Beach Boatyard, bottom painting prices. $90.00 per foot for a first-time bottom paint job including haul, launch, labor and materials, and a limited-time promotional price of $60.00 per foot for a previously painted bottom.
35. Oasis Boatyard and Marina, St. Augustine Florida, services and rates. Haul out, pressure wash, block and launch at $10.00 per foot for boats 45 feet and under, bottom jobs excluding zincs and paint, and a posted notice that hurricane rates are double the standard haul out cost.
36. Aqua Pro Yacht Maintenance, Fort Lauderdale, boat cleaning prices. Published flat rate of $4.00 per foot for hull cleaning on boats 20 to 50 feet, monthly service described as the safe default in South Florida year round, and zinc anodes described as quoted separately based on the boat.
37. Florida Statutes, Section 327.59. Prohibits marinas from requiring vessels to be removed after a hurricane watch or warning, allows the marina to move a vessel and charge a reasonable fee, and sets a fine of up to three times removal cost for failing to remove a vessel from a deepwater seaport.
38. City of Marathon Florida, Marina User License Agreement. Places responsibility for storm awareness on the boat owner, sets storm mooring assignments at a one-week minimum payable at the time of assignment, and requires a sunken vessel to be removed within ten working days at the owner’s expense.
39. Indian Point Marina, Table Rock Lake, rental fleet rates. Full-day rates of $639 for a 250 horsepower sport tritoon, $599 for a 200 horsepower luxury tritoon, $529 for a 150 horsepower pleasure tritoon and $429 for a 115 horsepower fishing boat, plus the fuel policy, the $100 reservation authorization and the notice that anchors are not provided.
40. Dirty Duck Boat Rental, Osage Beach Missouri, pontoon rentals. In-season rates on their value and older boat tier, including a 24-foot pontoon at $290 for the morning half day, $375 for the afternoon half day and $425 for eight hours, with a $500 security deposit.
41. Dockside Watersports, Destin Florida, rental rates. Rates posted for August 16 through October 31, 2026, including a 25-foot 90 horsepower pontoon at $250 for a half day and $400 for a full day, with fuel listed among the items included.
42. Capitol Boat Club, Madison Wisconsin, 2026 membership plans and pricing. Weekday plan at $2,500 to join and $200 a month, Full plan at $5,000 and $300 a month, Shared plan at $7,000 and $500 a month, with dues collected twelve months a year.
43. South Florida Boat Club, membership. Boat Club membership for boats up to 23 feet at $199 a month with entry as low as $1,200, and Cruiser Club for boats up to 27 feet at $299 a month, with no usage fees and fuel as the only on-the-water cost.
44. Bridge Marina Boating Club, Lake Hopatcong New Jersey, membership. Annual membership of about $1,800 to $5,000 for weekday plans and $2,400 to $6,000 for anytime plans, a one-time $1,499 onboarding charge, and the statement that franchise boat clubs often charge initiation fees well over $5,000.
45. Carefree Boat Club, membership fees and costs guide. Monthly dues of $150 to $375 depending on plan at their Eastern Connecticut location, covering maintenance, storage, insurance, cleaning and winterizing, with the one-time initiation fee discussed but never named.
46. Freedom Boat Club, how much does a membership cost. Describes a one-time entry fee and a recurring monthly membership fee without publishing any dollar amount for either.
47. 321 Boat Club, Melbourne Florida, memberships. States that gas is not included and that the average burn rate is about $15 per hour on most of their boats.
48. J.D. Power, 2021 Sun Tracker PARTY BARGE 20 DLX values. Original MSRP of $21,395 against an average retail value of $16,460 and a low retail value of $14,400, a loss of about 23.1% over five years.
49. J.D. Power, 2016 Sun Tracker PARTY BARGE 20 DLX values. Original MSRP of $18,995 against an average retail value of $12,440 and a low retail value of $10,880, a loss of about 34.5% over ten years.
50. J.D. Power, What Is My Boat Worth. Published depreciation guidance of 10% to 20% after one year, 20% to 30% after five years and 30% to 40% after ten years, and the note that fishing and pontoon boats depreciate faster than luxury boats.
51. Boat Trader, The Real Cost of Boat Ownership. Sample annual budget for a $50,000 boat covering insurance, storage, maintenance, fuel, dockage, supplies, memberships and an emergency fund, plus their published rule of thumb of about 10% of the boat’s value a year for routine maintenance.
52. US Coast Guard, Recreational Boating Statistics 2024. Table 37 on page 71 gives counts from which we calculate that 94% of mechanically propelled recreational boats in the United States are under 26 feet.

Every figure on this page was read against the source listed above it on 26 and 27 August 2026. Prices change. Check them before you write a check. Kurt’s own carrier income figures carry no source link; they were verified with our carriers in August 2026.

All figures on this page are illustrative and hypothetical and were read at each company’s own website, price list, or the state’s own statute on 26 and 27 August 2026. Prices change constantly, and boat, storage, slip, insurance and rental prices change without notice. Tax rates and registration fees change by state and by county. Check the linked source before you buy anything or write a check. This article is for general education, not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Kurt H. Jackson is Life and Health Insurance Licensed in MO, NE, KS, IA, and FL, and is not a securities broker, registered investment advisor, or CPA. Guaranteed income strategies involve real costs and require careful planning based on your individual circumstances.