Early-retirement wannabe

FLAPJACK

Being retired early due to ill health I had never wondered what it would be like to be retired.

To be absolutely honest ( not counting the financial side) you don't realise how much work encroaches on your life...the stress of wondering will I be late tomorrow (through no fault of your own) because the train is late, "playing the game" of new found management speak ...Blue Sky thinking, Interfacing etc, the office politics!
You soon realise that you begin to "have time" to do things for YOU and those you love....you can arrange your life to be as stress free as you want ....do your weekly shop on a Monday midmorning....Tesco's is empty..you can chat to the till person..makes them realise they are not just a part of a machine...Dr's appts Dentists appts..make them for midmorning..no rush hour to contend with...it's a whole new way of life. You soon realise "life" is not a rehearsal this is it, it's the only one you get. If you can run and be in charge of YOUR life ...not a manager....then good for you!

Obviously this only can be done if you have finance as the bedrock ....even when that income is halved to what you are used to you soon realise just how much you need to get by...and what you save by being retired..train fares..parking etc.

But money aside.... IT'S YOUR LIFE....
If you can afford it.... go for it!

Marine_life

Have hardly been on the last few days which of course means that it is now only 1351 days to go

Have been doing a couple of things over the last few weeks around refining the model which now seems to be pretty accurate. I have also been sending letters off to pension providers to make sure my estimates are accurate. In particular I have asked for an estimate for my closed final salary scheme; that is an important part of my planning so I need to know whether I am on the right path.

As I think I might have mentioned, January is an important months and there have been some serious funds squirrelled away. I am trying not to look at my daily countdown clock as I wanted to make sure I don't get too hung up on the idea (its still a long time after all).

I had to laugh at Flapjacks comments about the corporate world - its all so true - in my view the balance in todays world has moved too much towards selling with not enough focus on the quality of the delivery. What is more ridiculous though is that I am not only supposed to know what was discussed and agreed at meetings I did not attend but to have already actions in place to address.

......roll on 1350 days to go.

ratraceout

quick question - if u are earning 3000 per month today at current interest rates then your pot must be big enough to draw down without ever using up. how does that work? did u make over 10 million?

Loughton_Monkey

ratraceout wrote: »

quick question - if u are earning 3000 per month today at current interest rates then your pot must be big enough to draw down without ever using up. how does that work? did u make over 10 million?

That's for Bendix to answer.

If he did make £10 million, then I can only believe he got that by selling his pension entitlements. Apparently he's doing it all the time.

But I can't believe he intends to live on a miserable £3K a month, so will probably spend a bit more than that, hence his pot will finally be depleted. But if he's half the man I think he is, he can generate £3K a month easily on less than a million.

pension-newbie

Marine_life wrote: »

...
What is more ridiculous though is that I am not only supposed to know what was discussed and agreed at meetings I did not attend but to have already actions in place to address.

......

Do we work for the same company??? :p

Marine_life

pension-newbie wrote: »

Do we work for the same company??? :p

Probably.

I was turned down for a promotion last year because someone who does not know me, and acknowledged he did not know me, objected. The person who put me forward for the promotion listened to him.

I despair.

Our leadership spend their time going from meeting to meeting without communicating with us on the ground. Well, they would probably say sending an email is communicating.

Am I bitter?

To be honest not sure. I am in the top 1% earning people in the country and that compensates a lot. And there are a group of people in the company focused on doing the right thing. Those are the ones who matter. Believe me though, money does not buy happiness.

I would love to be made redundant. I have a contract with six months notice from the end of the quarter in which it is announed, plus redundancy pay probably would result in something in excess of one years pay. Thats enough to secure my retirement. I suspect the earliest I am likely to be made redundant is July 2012 which definitely takes me over the threshhold.

Fingers crossed.

50Twuncle

Marine_life wrote: »

Probably.

I was turned down for a promotion last year because someone who does not know me, and acknowledged he did not know me, objected. The person who put me forward for the promotion listened to him.

I despair.

Our leadership spend their time going from meeting to meeting without communicating with us on the ground. Well, they would probably say sending an email is communicating.

Am I bitter?

To be honest not sure. I am in the top 1% earning people in the country and that compensates a lot. And there are a group of people in the company focused on doing the right thing. Those are the ones who matter. Believe me though, money does not buy happiness.

I would love to be made redundant. I have a contract with six months notice from the end of the quarter in which it is announed, plus redundancy pay probably would result in something in excess of one years pay. Thats enough to secure my retirement. I suspect the earliest I am likely to be made redundant is July 2012 which definitely takes me over the threshhold.

Fingers crossed.

I was made redundant 18 months ago (6 years gross pay) and retired (on medical grounds) aged 46, last July - so am I lucky ?
Some may think so - but I would prefer to be 100% fit and still working !!

cyclonebri1

21Twinkle wrote: »

I was made redundant 18 months ago (6 years gross pay) and retired (on medical grounds) last July - so am I lucky ?
Some may think so - but I would prefer to be 100% fit and still working !!

Of course you are lucky:T, any medical issues would exist regardless of your situation, and 6 years gross pay plus retirement on meds with the pension benefits that brings is a result.

Look on it this way, if your medical issues are serious??, are you better fixed at work or in total control??

Perfect health? who has that?, and even if they do, it's here today and gorn tommorrow. Sorry to be morbid:A:A:A

Live the rest of your life.:beer:

Nic43

I am confident that if we can get to £1 m with no mortgage then I can retire at 50.

I've only recently started contemplating early retirement. Always worked hard but can't say I ever enjoyed it much. Over the last twelve months my modest investments and business seem to have done well by my standards . I now find myself largely surplus to requirements in the office. Happily divorced, aged 52 with kids nearing the end of their very expensive private schooling.

I have found this thread incredibly inspiring but more than a little confusing. Just how much do you need? I see people here with generous final salary arrangements still afraid to take the plunge. If if sell up I could probably muster about a £1m (including £500K SIPP & £100K PEP) plus an unmortgaged family house. Seems like a lot to me but is early retirement really an option or am I just dreaming?

50Twuncle

E1m will do quite nicely - I rhink ?