Early-retirement wannabe

silverwhistle

gadgetmind wrote: »

I don't feel we have an extravagant lifestyle, no sports cars, no skiing, no fancy watches, no yachts, but we're still trying for twice that pcm in retirement.

Even the fixed energy+insurance+council-tax+health bills rip out £12kpa without even trying!

Eh? Leaving aside dental work my figure for the above is less than 2K including car insurance for one vehicle. My take home pension is about £13K p.a. , I get some FITs from my solar panel, some random private tutoring for treats and I've just started to draw on some shares which I've been rolling up the dividends since I got them.

I have a couple of weeks skiing every year (I used to live in the Alps) and have a season ticket for a premiership football team. I sometimes wonder what people spend their money on as I live comfortably enough if I recognise the limitations of my income. If money got tight I'd get a PT or summer school teaching job but I balance laziness with conscientiousness and the latter just demands too much.

I used to go sailing; there's a class of boats called OPBs which are a much better option than a yacht,most of which, if my local marinas are anything to go by, never go anywhere..

Marine_life

silverwhistle wrote: »

I sometimes wonder what people spend their money on as I live comfortably enough if I recognise the limitations of my income.

...and that's the point. It entirely depends on your priorities.

If your number 1. priority is an early retirement then its quite possible to cut expenses significantly. There's also an element that says 'if you never had it you will never miss it'. However, I do believe that once you've had a certain level of income it does take a while to whittle it back down again. That's not saying either way is right or wrong (i.e. spending a lot or spending a little) but every individual needs to decide what's acceptable to them (in terms of minimum expenditure), how much money they need and what their safety net is.

Therefore I'm planning a retirement where there is almost zero chance of money becoming tight....because once I'm gone....I'm gone

Marine_life

gadgetmind wrote: »

However, unlike some (many?) in my income bracket, I accept that it's as much luck as skill

I think there are quite a few who have that feeling (I know I do). For me I put it down to a little bit a ability aligned with a bucketload of (over) confidence and being in the right place at the right time. Similarly I expect there are a lot more talented people than me who never reach their potential for exactly the opposite reasons (low confidence and wrong place).

What a fantastic place the world we be if we could keep the luck but make sure those who had the talent could achieve their potential.

ex-pat_scot

Yup - luck and a little bit of talent - plus a shed load of hard work.


I quite like the pithy "the harder I work the luckier I get", even if it's not fully true (for me at least).


It's also Resilience. To keep trying in the face of serial failure or lack of success. I'm not saying I have it, but I recognise it in others who I believe to be successful.


And sometimes a shocking lack of self-awareness. (if I actually knew how inept I can be, I think I might lose all hope...)

edinburgher

Marine_life wrote: »

I think there are quite a few who have that feeling (I know I do). For me I put it down to a little bit a ability aligned with a bucketload of (over) confidence and being in the right place at the right time. Similarly I expect there are a lot more talented people than me who never reach there potential for exactly the opposite reasons (low confidence and wrong place).

How nice to hear someone who seems to be doing very well appreciating this. It seems that the only people I meet doing very well financially are blowhards who view themselves as self made and are flabbergasted by how stupid everyone else must be to not be them! :rotfl:

gadgetmind

Marine_life wrote: »

I expect there are a lot more talented people than me who never reach there potential

One of my jobs is trying to ensure that all of my talented people reach their full potential.

This takes a lot of work as many are happy to follow and simply don't want to lead, many are happy with the skills they have and don't want to acquire more, and many can tackle a clearly stated problem but struggle with real world ones.

Meanwhile, others are constantly acquiring new skills without any prompting, are natural leaders, and can come up with a solution to a complex and multi-faceted problem before others have even figured out what the real problem is.

I like to think that I do get the best out of everyone but exactly what this is does vary considerably. And I've never found a way to turn someone who isn't an intelligent, creative and intuitive autodidact into one!

jamesd

gadgetmind wrote: »

I'm lucky in that I ... hit the milestone of the extra digit on my income over 15 years ago. ... I accept that it's as much luck as skill

Consider the real example of three brothers:

1. Stayed in school to age 18, got to university and worked in IT eventually as a programmer then leaving that job after not being paid for six months volunteered full time unpaid for what became a top 100 web site and got a job with the firm producing the software that formed a key part of its operations, resulting in the best job he's ever had. Could retire before 55 if desired on original income objectives.
2. Joined the navy as an artificer (sort of engineer, non-regulated type) at 16 and after full term now works on a production line that makes pills.
3. Didn't attend high school at all and did no adult education to compensate. Worked moving things in warehouses until injury stopped that. Will undoubtedly retire on the state pension and nothing else.

Luck is definitely involved but so is ability and the choices to be able to be in a position where the particular luck is possible. Brothers 2 and 3 wouldn't get anywhere near the job 1 has because they lack the required background. Happenstance included things like a father who left a book on fortran at home which a bored teen read in the summer before university, getting started on their eventual career path.

gadgetmind wrote: »

realise it could all go bad pretty quickly, and am therefore prepared to save 50% of what I earn into pensions and ISAs. I know others who blow the lot, and some more, each and every month. They are seriously bright engineers but clearly don't play with financial spreadsheets.

Not a lot of luck in that, it's more like choice.

Luck can't be denied but it also takes more than luck to really benefit or even get in the position to be offered what the luck brings.

edinburgher

While I'm impressed by the commitment of posters on this thread, a lot of the posts really make me wonder whether the concept of FI is really just possible for the rich?

It is a lot easier to live a nice 'middle class' (thinking about comfort levels here) lifestyle on 50% of £100k (1 person) than it is on 50% of £30k.

MMM et. al can carp on about how all spending is evil and how it's just a matter of maths, but the fact of the matter is that if I had to save 1/2 of my wages, I'd have to live somewhere !!!! where my children would suffer for my choice (in terms of increased crime, lower educational standards, fewer acceptable role models).

Maybe I'm just being a 'complainypants'?

Trying to make use of salary sacrifice, tax advantages etc. to square the circle, but there is only so much low hanging fruit to identify.

gadgetmind

edinburgher wrote: »

While I'm impressed by the commitment of posters on this thread, a lot of the posts really make me wonder whether the concept of FI is really just possible for the rich?

FI on a decent income (definitions vary!) at an early age is very much the exception, and something not even a lot of "the rich" manage.

However, there are other approaches, and many of these involve not taking on large outgoings in the first place. If you could travel back in time 20 years to hear the arguments between my wife and myself about spending what we did on current house, you'd understand 1) that I'm the cautious one, 2) that she tends to get her own way.

It is a lot easier to live a nice 'middle class' (thinking about comfort levels here) lifestyle on 50% of £100k (1 person) than it is on 50% of £30k.

Agreed. A larger income definitely gives you more options. Not everyone makes use of them all, but ho hum. I've always worked *very* hard on the earnings side of the equation, and have left expenditure to sort itself out given that slamming 50% into pensions and ISAs is non-negotiable. I'm sure we could reduce spending, and we do shop around for key things and do a lot of repairs ourselves, but we definitely buy a lot of things that we could easily do without.

MMM et. al can carp on about how all spending is evil and how it's just a matter of maths, but the fact of the matter is that if I had to save 1/2 of my wages, I'd have to live somewhere !!!!

True enough, but what tends to happen is that as someone earns more, rather than saving a big chunk of that rise, spending just creeps up. BTDT!

edinburgher

However, there are other approaches, and many of these involve not taking on large outgoings in the first place. If you could travel back in time 20 years to hear the arguments between my wife and myself about spending what we did on current house, you'd understand 1) that I'm the cautious one, 2) that she tends to get her own way.

Hehe - that sounds familiar