Early-retirement wannabe

Marine_life

I had always thought that retirement would come in one big dramtic rush with a gold watch and a cheesy leaving do ... but the lat few weeks have seen me change track slightly.

Next weekend we will go and look at some "retirement" homes, actually the place I want to retire and I am very excited! We have found a house that we really want, in a ski resort but within a realistic commuting distance of a city where I could work.

....I am being intentionally vague :-)

The house we have found is (in my view) unbelievably cheap, its in ski resort which is 45 minutes from a major airport and 75 minutes from a major city by train. I'm not worrying that one of you might nick it from us but hey you never know! ;-)

So I'm now thinking that we could actually test drive our retirement before we jump in. The ski lift is 150 m from the front door and the thought of skiing every weekend is ....well....like a dream.

If we have our offer accepted i will gladly post pictures!

ermine

Marine_life wrote: »

within a realistic commuting distance of a city where I could work.

Now that's an unusual specification to make of a place in retirement. Ski-ing, yes, if that lights your fire. Commuting?

Good luck in realising your dream anyway, hope the house works out!

brizza

How interesting - fingers crossed ML.

gallygirl

Fantastic ML. Hope it works out for you, I think being 'there' and not being able to do what you want when you want would help you make the decision to jump ship :T.

I for one won't be stealing it from you (even if I could afford it ). Skiing = snow = cold which doe not = happiness :rotfl:

jamesd

Marine_life wrote: »

If we have our offer accepted i will gladly post pictures!

Unless accepted offer is binding best to wait until there is a legally binding stage reached.

gadgetmind

Marine_life wrote: »

75 minutes from a major city by train.

To my mind this equals middle of nowhere but that suits some people.

Marine_life

gadgetmind wrote: »

To my mind this equals middle of nowhere but that suits some people.

I should have clarified I actually don't spend that much time in the office currently as I do mostly project work so I am typically only in the office 1-2 days a week. If I do have a week in the office then my intention would not be to do that trip everyday. Generally I am quite flexible but a typical work week could look like the following:

Monday - work from home
Tuesday - Go to office, overnight in city
Wednesday - overnight in city
Thursday - travel home
Friday - work from home

I only see this as a short term solution and there are two potential ways this could play out.

1. I continue to work for one more year after my 50th birthday (so effectively two years from now).

2. I find a working arrangement that enables me to work differently (probably on a consulting basis).

Option 2 is by far the most preferable and might work but only on my terms. The idea behind option 2 is that I will work 400-500 hours per year.

bownyboy

Fantastic and inspirational thread that's taken me a number of days to read through (iPad on daily commute).

I'm 41 with not much at all in the way of pension provision apart from a Standard Life Stakeholder that is a £15k pot. I've no idea if its any good or has performed well or if I should restart my contributions into it.

I've never worked at a company that offers pensions (apart from once but I stayed less than 2 years so they refunded me the check).

So now I'm realising after reading lots of threads and websites (monevator, mr moustache ermine's blog etc) that I need to have a plan and quick.

Currently live with GF in forever home, overpaying by £500 a month means the mortgage will be paid off in 6 years.

We live pretty frugally already, so if I take today's outgoings the number I come up with for retirement is £20k a year each. Assuming £7.5k state pension means I need £12.5k year.

I've just opened a stocks & shares ISA with H&L Vantage 60% accumulator. According to compound interest calculators it will take 15 years to get to £300k ish at £980 a month, assuming modest 5% growth and inflation of 2.5%. This £300k assumes 4% year withdrawal rate for £12k.

Now there's a chance I save more than this as once mortgage is paid off I can contribute another £818 + £500 a month.

There's also the gap between 56 and 67 state retirement age to think about.

So I've made a start. Am sure it will change along the way, but I feel better mentally that I have done previously.

I've also moved away from trying to get rid of the mortgage quickly and instead think about investing and pensions.

atush

With tax releif at your highest rate, and personal tax allowance each, it makes sense to use a pension alongside S&S ISAs for retirement as ISA are tax free so pensions with their tax relief that could be taken tax free (as part of your PA) are an excellent idea.

Do either of you have work pensions that your employers contribute to? If not, have you asked whey they will start one to comply with the new law/regulations?

hugheskevi

I'm 41 with not much at all in the way of pension provision apart from a Standard Life Stakeholder that is a £15k pot. I've no idea if its any good or has performed well or if I should restart my contributions into it.

With so little in it, good or bad performance is of very little importance. Whether or not contributions should be restarted depends on how competitive this arrangement is compared to alternative pension options (assuming pension contributions fit into your plans, which based on what you have said would be extremely probable).

Currently live with GF in forever home, overpaying by £500 a month means the mortgage will be paid off in 6 years.

That may well not be the financially optimal thing to do, given such low interest rates.

We live pretty frugally already, so if I take today's outgoings the number I come up with for retirement is £20k a year each.

That isn't frugal compared to the average - £40,000 gross income for a pensioner couple is well within top 40% of pensioner couples' incomes.

Assuming £7.5k state pension means I need £12.5k year.

Why are you not planning on a joint basis? If, for example, one partner has access to salary sacrifice pension arrangements but the other does not, it may well be more efficient to have unbalanced retirement incomes.