Early-retirement wannabe

Marine_life

I just popped in to say that there are now only 73 days left on my countdownclock (to my 50th birthday) of which 52 are work days. Of actually as I have a week off planned 47 are work days.

its so close now......I can smell it...in a couple of weeks I think I might be able to taste it ;-)

AlwaysLearnin

:j

seven-day-weekend

My husband retired aged 55 and took his actuarily reduced Teachers' Pension. I gave up work without drawing my pension at the same time, aged 54. We did this mainly because of my husband's health, so didn't have much time to plan specifically for early retirement..

However, we had bought for cash, the previous year, a small house in a village up a mountain in Spain. We knew we could live reasonably OK (but not extravagantly) on his less than £10k Pension here, so we left our son in our UK house and moved to Spain. We lived on this Pension money for six years, although it got progressively more difficult as the cost of living in Spain was rising and the exchange rate got more and more unfavourable (income in Sterling). Any major purchase had to come from savings, (largely the lump sum from his Teachers' Pension as we had spent most of our other savings on buying the house).

I started getting my State Pension in January 2010, which helped considerably with our cash flow!

In December 2011 we returned to the UK and in January 2014 my husband got his State Pension and next week I get my Local Government Pension. So we are fine financially now. We have also boosted our savings by selling the Spanish house.

Just thought an insight from people who were not able to plan all that much might help. We did know however that we would have a regular small income.

(ETA: Forgot to say, we made a small supplement to our Spanish income by selling my husband's paintings and now we are back we make a bit of money (less than £5k a year) from house/petsitting).

Goldiegirl

Marine_life wrote: »

I just popped in to say that there are now only 73 days left on my countdownclock (to my 50th birthday) of which 52 are work days. Of actually as I have a week off planned 47 are work days.

its so close now......I can smell it...in a couple of weeks I think I might be able to taste it ;-)

Time is certainly flying past - not long at all now:)

I've been gradually bringing forward my leaving day - it now looks like I'll be finishing just before Christmas (maybe not the best time of year, but we have a week away at Christmas, and then two weeks away in March)

I don't want to wish my life away, but, as I only work two days a week it's now 37 working days left!

I feel calm and happy, and looking forward to the future. As you say, I can almost almost smell it!

Goldiegirl

melanzana wrote: »

That's a lovely way to express things!

I have a voluntary "job" on the go as we speak, which might lead to other openings on a part time basis. If it does, it does, I'm not that concerned really.

From a high tech job, I am now a voluntary city ambassador. Helping tourists in the historic parts of town. I love it! I am going to do the certified tour guide course (with the young kids, ha ha!) which sounds great from the prospectus. So off we go in
September! I love medieval history, and there's plenty of that where I am.

I'll be doing it for the love of it, rather than as a job...

Best of luck in your own journey..

Hello, Mel:)

What a lovely voluntary job, doing something you really enjoy.

I love history as well, and we have a historic town very nearby..... Something to consider for the future.:)

red_wellies

I hope it isn't too late to join you....

Who is aiming for early retirement?

Me :j

When did you begin planning and what drove the decision?

About 2 weeks ago (hence I have finally registered on MSE after years of lurking and this is my first post!).

I am about to turn 37 and I have realised that there is no way I want to work full-time for 30+ more years - and indeed that probably isn't even an option in my field. I have also realised that if I take action now then I won't have to :j

What is the strategy for getting there?

A combination of ISAs and pension (not final salary unfortunately). That is as far as I have got so obviously this plan needs some finessing

How much of a relative decline in income are you prepared to take?

Pretty substantial. I estimate that I could manage comfortably on £15k with any state pension being a bonus.

What are your main concerns?

Uncertainty. A lot can happen in 20 years.

red_wellies

Marine_life wrote: »

I just popped in to say that there are now only 73 days left on my countdownclock (to my 50th birthday) of which 52 are work days. Of actually as I have a week off planned 47 are work days.

its so close now......I can smell it...in a couple of weeks I think I might be able to taste it ;-)

It sounds as though you are really close to retiring at 50 :T That is quite an achievement - especially these days when everyone around me seems to be resigning themselves to working to 70 or more :eek:

Do you mind me asking you when you started planning for early retirement? I wonder if at nearly 37 I am leaving it quite late....

ermine

red_wellies wrote: »

Do you mind me asking you when you started planning for early retirement? I wonder if at nearly 37 I am leaving it quite late....

49 Job done three years later. It wasn't fun at all, but it's never too late. 37 is a great time to think about retiring early - in your twenties it's all too far away and in your forties you have to sweat buckets to make it up... Go for it!

mgdavid

Is a pyramid scheme Spam? reported as such anyway.

ETA
spam removed - -thanks .

jamesd

Starting at 37 mainly means you'll need to pay money in at a faster rate to get to your target than if you'd started earlier. Depending on your income, required expenditure now and in retirement you might be able to retire before you reach 50.

If you're very highly committed you might do something like me and pay in more than 60% of your (net pay plus gross pension contributions) each year. For me it ended up being an increase in savings and investments of around 2900-3000 a month over 102 months so far. At present I've accumulated more than 85% of my total (net pay plus gross pension contributions) value over the period. That sort of commitment can get you to targets remarkably quickly, though it's a lot faster and easier if your income is well above your spending need or wants.

Spending level in retirement is of huge importance. You need to have accumulated around 20-25 times that level in savings and investments to retire, less the part provided by the state pension once that starts and anything provided by defined benefit work pensions.