Early-retirement wannabe

ex-pat_scot

edinburgher wrote: »

That's a nice idea if you can afford to do it. Charities would probably benefit a lot more from money than your time (mentioned as volunteer work is often mentioned in FI blogs/forums). I find myself thinking 'just stay for a month or two and write them a big cheque!'

Yes - it's lovely in theory to volunteer for local charitable stuff (and there's lots to be said for having a local presence, particularly in humble charitable activities such as care), but if I can contribute my £100/hr salary rather than do the job of a min wage worker, then they benefit disproportionately.


It's not an "either-or".



My thinking is to set up my last year so that I perhaps earn up to HR threshold, then salary sacrifice the rest to charity. That would mean roughly £60,000 to them. (?not sure of the sal sac element, as it would only save 2% unless I could persuade the company to also contribute the ers NIC).
I know how hard it is to fund-raise the usual way for charity - "sponsored fun" rather sticks in my throat - and cake sales / jumble sales are also pretty modest raisers of cash.


I could always volunteer for free as a professional (I have a few charities as clients), but I suspect I wouldn't be valued much if I did that, and I couldn't split my charity across multiple causes.


I do need to talk this through with my wife though, before embarking. It's our money and retirement, not mine.

Wednesday2000

I will probably do some unpaid charity work after I retire. I have worked for them during my working life so I would like to do that. I want to get involved with community groups too.

I'm worrying more after Brexit that I might be too confident about the numbers as I am thinking that inflation might eat into the amount I'm hoping we could live on.

If it all goes wrong we might have to push it back for a couple of years or rethink what our retired life might look like. I would be happy for my hubbie to retire and for me to get a part time job to increase our income if he really wants to go at age 55. He has had health issues too so that will have to be a consideration.

westv

When it comes my retirement will consist of fun, fun, fun.

ex-pat_scot

westv wrote: »

When it comes my retirement will consist of fun, fun, fun.

I perhaps have a slightly different perspective!
There will be elements of fun.
There will hopefully be lots of family.
There will hopefully be a fair bit of responsibility - perhaps for fragile parents; perhaps for fragile others.


I'd love to have space to decompress. Many months, hopefully. Time to discover who I am and we are. That will involve lots of reading, spiritual reconnection, tons of exercise (which will bring lots of contemplative space).


I'd love to explore and discover. That will hopefully involve travel, but not just for travel's sake.


What I want freedom from is financial servitude. The tyranny of the Monday morning meeting and the ever-present tannoy of tasks and requests that fill my brain and push the daydreams out of the edges.


I'd not describe any of that as "fun" though.
I might discover a hedonistic self though, when I start on the journey.

gadgetmind

ex-pat_scot wrote: »

I expect that the decision to stop will not be simple.

I expect that HMG will force my hand.

Without a major stock market wobble, I'll hit the LTA in 2018, won't be able to stomach the tax bill if not contributing to a pension, so will either *drastically* reduce days or knock it on the head.

I'm also at max state pension after rule changes, so any further NI paid is simply being wasted.

I need to get to 55 (in 2018) to access pension and also be able to access all of my SIP shares tax free, but can't see me doing any work after that other than side jobs such as angel investing and non-exec work.

If markets do wobble, well that's no bad thing as I can crystalise as much as possible but leave untouched and keep working on pensions/ISAs etc. for a few more years.

As I say, optimisation.

Ray_Singh-Blue

gadgetmind wrote: »

My company pays for 1-2hr sessions with an IFA for senior staff just to make sure they're on the right track. I showed the guy my spreadsheets and models, and he said in summary, 1) you don't need an IFA, 2) why are you still working? I told him that while implementation might be complete, I was now at an optimisation phase.

Is there possibly some clever reverse psychology in there? If I ran a company & wanted to retain my senior staff , I might try something similar. Set them up an appointment with an IFA, Get the IFA to tell them they can retire right now, but also that they are so skilled at accumulating wealth that they do not need an IFA. Deeming IFA advice unnecessary not only invalidates the "retire now" advice, but provides them an emotional stimulus to maintain employment as this is how they have "won" and how they can go on being a "winner"

gadgetmind

Ray_Singh-Blue wrote: »

Is there possibly some clever reverse psychology in there?

I don't think my employer is that smart, I don't think the IFA was that smart, and I don't think that I'm that smart.

edinburgher

gadgetmind wrote: »

I don't think my employer is that smart, I don't think the IFA was that smart, and I don't think that I'm that smart.

Also the IFA would probably be banned from practicing as an IFA for accepting bribes from your employer to give wonky advice

N1AK

gadgetmind wrote: »

I expect that HMG will force my hand.

I need to get to 55 (in 2018) to access pension and also be able to access all of my SIP shares tax free, but can't see me doing any work after that other than side jobs such as angel investing and non-exec work.

I always struggle a little with this view combination. If you've reached a point where you could retire perfectly comfortably and don't want to keep working then why would a, for example, 10% difference in your total tax rate force your hand? It sounds like hyperbole or an example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

gadgetmind

N1AK wrote: »

why would a, for example, 10% difference in your total tax rate force your hand?

10% may not, but it would be significantly more than that.

By dropping down to a 4 day week, I have chopped £20k off what my tax bill would have been otherwise plus I'm putting more into my pension than I'd have been allowed to do.

If I can't put anything else into my pension without 55% tax, and if I draw it as income a load is taxed at over 60%, then I'm sorry but I'm not going to slog my guts out just to fund HMG's magic money tree.