Early-retirement wannabe

gadgetmind

atush wrote: »

How are you going to do that if you are retiring? Could cause maritsl disharmony.

We've always been aiming to retire at 55 and she's six months younger than me, so simples!

but not if you ae still thinking of turning a hobby into a business as before. You know you like to tinker (see the many lengths of metal tubing lol)

Lots of hobbies, a number of them could turn a decent profit, and I'm also starting a new business that launches in 2018Q2, but this will be chewing money for the next 18 months.

However, my calculations suggest that we can live off savings effectively forever with no reduction in what we "take home" per month.

gadgetmind

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

Would the best thing to do is start a personal pension for me? I don't have a pension at all (stupid I know!) as I was self employed and only really started thinking about early retirement a few years ago.

Yes, you can put up to £2880pa into a pension and HMRC will add 25% to it. You'll then almost certainly be able to take it all out tax free, so £720pa pretty much for nothing.

Also check your state pension situation. Assuming you were paying class 2/4 you'll probably be better off than you think, particularly if you have some HRP for when raising family.

You might also get qualifying years if on certain benefits - well worth checking.

We have been overpaying the mortgage for years and it would be so nice to not have that bluddy £700 a month going out of our bank account.:p

Ouch!

Wednesday2000

gadgetmind wrote: »

Yes, you can put up to £2880pa into a pension and HMRC will add 25% to it. You'll then almost certainly be able to take it all out tax free, so £720pa pretty much for nothing.

Also check your state pension situation. Assuming you were paying class 2/4 you'll probably be better off than you think, particularly if you have some HRP for when raising family.

You might also get qualifying years if on certain benefits - well worth checking.

Thanks for replying.:)

I did check my state pension this year and paid some missing years so that is up to date at least.

I was going to look into claiming the Personal Independence Payment, I had forgotten about that.

So personal pension would be the way to go. We would probably keep some cash savings too. I don't know whether to just pay off some of the mortgage too.

I suppose we could do all of them together as if we paid down some of the mortgage we would have a lower payment each month.

westv

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I've been reading this thread for a while and I can't remember if I ever posted. I look at Mr Money Mustache and Monevator too.

I look at those site sometimes to but it's just a pity that Americans can't spell moustache.

ams25

westv wrote: »

How many others are finding the biggest obstacle to the possibility of early retirement is their other half? :D

not an obstacle so much as in I am early retired and she is still working... which helps (although she wants to stop in a year or 2)

But she is not interested in personal finance (at all) and (really) enjoys spending money which is a budgeting challenge :eek: (I am not always right on this...). Currently she is very keen on a major house improvement which would take our reasonably safe & sensible plan to one less safe and reasonable. When I explain the risks and why I am less keen...I get the "glaze"..

"Yes I understand all that, but when can we do it" :rotfl:

now crazily revising/reviewing spreadsheets to see if we could do this project (would add value to the house and quality of life for sure... but you can't eat bricks and mortar...)

A compromise could be that she works longer to help fund it of course...

Wednesday2000

westv wrote: »

I look at those site sometimes to but it's just a pity that Americans can't spell moustache.

I think some of the people on there are very obnoxious too!:rotfl:

I used to look at the Early Retirement Extreme forum, but that wasn't very interesting.

I look at a few more blogs too, The Escape Artist and a couple other blogs. Think, Save Retire, except he has already retired at 35, I think it was!

I've only really been thinking about retirement for a few years now, I didn't even know what net worth meant a few years back.:o I suppose I just thought as we both had quite well paid jobs that we were doing okay. We didn't really think about the future that much.

OldMusicGuy

ams25 wrote: »

Currently she is very keen on a major house improvement which would take our reasonably safe & sensible plan to one less safe and reasonable. When I explain the risks and why I am less keen...I get the "glaze"..

This is all part of our plan. My wife and I both like house revnovation and interior design. We will be downsizing from our current 5 bed house to a 3 to 4 bed place in a cheaper part of the country. This will release significant equity from our current place and give us a renovation project to occupy us together, effectively building our "nest" for the next 20 years. The downsizing will allow us to have a significant home improvement budget for the next place. So we satisfy the "new kitchen, new bathroom, home extension" urge as part of our cost saving exercise.....

Sorry if I sound smug....;)

ams25

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

This is all part of our plan. My wife and I both like house revnovation and interior design. We will be downsizing from our current 5 bed house to a 3 to 4 bed place in a cheaper part of the country. This will release significant equity from our current place and give us a renovation project to occupy us together, effectively building our "nest" for the next 20 years. The downsizing will allow us to have a significant home improvement budget for the next place. So we satisfy the "new kitchen, new bathroom, home extension" urge as part of our cost saving exercise.....

Sorry if I sound smug....;)

hmmm....maybe a little. But sounds like a sensible plan.

In our case we like the house/location and are not ready to downsize or move. Extending makes sense....and would probably payback when we do come to downsize. I just like having contingency in the plan and this removes a lot of it. But we like house projects too and would both enjoy it. Swings and roundabouts....

Reue

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I've been reading this thread for a while and I can't remember if I ever posted. I look at Mr Money Mustache and Monevator too.

Monevator is excellent for factual information. I've just recently transferred my ISA based on their advice.

MMM is a great read but sometimes difficult to relate to. The figures thrown around by him and those on the forums are insane compared to the sorts of salaries us Europeans can get.

Wednesday2000

Reue wrote: »

MMM is a great read but sometimes difficult to relate to. The figures thrown around by him and those on the forums are insane compared to the sorts of salaries us Europeans can get.

Yes, I know, I think the same thing.

I quite like reading the challenges the people on MMM set for themselves. Some of the people are very hardcore.