Early-retirement wannabe

DairyQueen

MallyGirl wrote: »

I can only hope - with 15 yrs service, and counting, it might be enough to make the break. Just not till DD is at uni.

I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. It pays to keep a close eye on the timing of 'rationalising' events. Back then I was on the project team which had the dubious responsibility of selecting those who would be meeting the taxi at the door. It was the summer of 1999 (remember?). I was the team manager of a niche team and also managing the 'Y2K project'.

It was one of those rare sequence of events that happen just a few times in a lifetime. I 'rationalised' myself out of a job at the exact moment when I knew the company couldn't lose me (any other time I would have been easily replaceable). Enter the most lucrative six-months of my professional life and biggest ever pay day - 31st December 1999. The contractor rate they had to pay to retain me from October 1999 through April 2000 paid-off my mortgage and gave me the flexibility to work exactly how/when I wanted for the next decade.

Maybe Brexit is one of those magical career moments for you. Another giant step toward retirement?

atilla

I finished a 9 month stint travelling the length and breadth of the country at the end of June. Popped over to Manchester to do a quick job, first week in July. On my return i thought "F**k it, i really can't be arsed with this any more". I'd pretty much decoided to knock work on the head.
Moving on 2 weeks and a day at the races my friend said, you do know 12 months ago you said you were going to call it a draw with work don't you? That's when i realised how quick time was passing by.
So, without saying no more work ever - i renewed my company insurance for another year just in case, but, in essence, i've called it a draw.


I was putting it off thinking i needed to work when in reality, i absolutely didn't.
Am i a millionaire? absolutely not.
Am i happy having made the call?? Absolutely.

DairyQueen

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

... once he gets close to LTA you stop paying into his pension and simply spend it.

Mr DQ took lifetime protection in 2016 so hasn't been able to contribute to a pension since.

Funny you should mention 'spending it'. I have spent a goodly amount of today modelling household income from now until age 85. Mr DQ will be 'comfortable' regardless of whether he survives me (likely) so I think now may be as good a time as any to start drawing down. At this rate we'll be amongst those unfortunate people who have spent their lives saving and never have the chance to spend it.

Perhaps I should give Mr DQ a not-subtle hint on how to manage drawdown?

He likes to travel but no surprises that his idea of 'a dream holiday' afloat doesn't include sailing down to the Med (my holiday heaven). So let's pretend that I have a budget of £40k to spend on a special 'show Mr DQ the advantages of retirement' holiday.

It needs to be good weather and of sufficient duration/interest to distract him from his focus on work.

Suggestions anyone?

DairyQueen

Marine_life wrote: »

To be honest my early retirement conundrum comes from the fact that I climbed the corporate ladder relatively late in my career and having made the leap in status and earnings its then incredibly hard to walk away.
Any regrets I might have mostly relate to the past, and particularly not spending enough time with the children. I don't have any 'current' regrets i.e. about things I might be missing out on now.
I am in a daily wrestling match with my subconscious self about the next steps and while I don't take a 'positive' decision I will continue to drift along in employment. What I really lack is a positive lever one way or the other that makes me either commit to working or early retirement. At the moment I haven't found it.

I am not sure if that will help you but that is where my head is at.

Do you have a partner ML? If so, how do they feel about your ongoing commitment to work? Is your OH relaxed about your decision of when (if?) to retire?

kidmugsy

DairyQueen wrote: »

So let's pretend that I have a budget of £40k to spend on a special 'show Mr DQ the advantages of retirement' holiday.

It needs to be good weather and of sufficient duration/interest to distract him from his focus on work.

The Barrier Reef during the Queensland dry season. Specifically, Heron Island. So drive down from Cairns or drive up from Brisbane, to Gladstone (if memory serves), then take a helicopter out to the island, or the ferry. Get the timing right and you'll see lots of whales. Get the timing brilliantly right and you'll see the last of the whales swimming south and then when you are on the island you'll be snorkelling among the first of the turtles coming in to lay their eggs.

You might also like to drive to Hervey Bay (whales again!) to visit Fraser Island, which isn't on the reef but is worth a trip. Be sure to visit the Sunshine Coast and see the Glasshouse Mountains.

Another possibility: in the NZ summer you might like to tour the South Island.

hugheskevi

He likes to travel but no surprises that his idea of 'a dream holiday' afloat doesn't include sailing down to the Med (my holiday heaven). So let's pretend that I have a budget of £40k to spend on a special 'show Mr DQ the advantages of retirement' holiday.

It needs to be good weather and of sufficient duration/interest to distract him from his focus on work.

Suggestions anyone?

How about a trip that whilst not a package, can be easily assembled from its component parts, traveling around Kenya and Tanzania. Not too hard to arrange, with enough to plan to be interesting and engaging. I think that part of the world has some of the most amazing sights all concentrated quite close together. I've been to all the places below at various times, and think it would make for something like a 40 day trip, and cost quite a lot less than £40,000 unless you really spent a lot on food and accomodation. This itinerary would involve a lot of great beach and lakeside relaxing, combined with a lot of big game viewing.

(1) Fly to Nairobi, take a car north to Ol Pejeta conservancy. Spend about 10 days there seeing the animals (including the last 2 northern white rhino on the planet) and doing the various activities.

(2) Transfer to Mombasa, for a week in nice accommodation relaxing on the white beaches. Perhaps taking one of the new trains between Nairobi and Mombasa and relaxing in 1st class.

(3) Pop along to Maasai Mara with a safari company for a few days to see wilderbeest migration, before carrying on into the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, spending about a week in total seeing the animals and the wide open plains.

(4) Climb Kilimanjaro at full moon (it is an easy climb, just walking, although altitude sickness can be an issue), spending about 7 days climbing to get the full experience. Perhaps using a company such as Kilimanjaro Heroes.

(5) Take the ferry over to Zanzibar for about 5-10 days, touring around and relaxing at a good resort.

(6) Fly from Dar down to Kipili on Lake Tanganyika, for a few days before flying home at Lake Shore Lodge

cfw1994

40k to me would be a very long holiday!

Iceland (spent a week there a few years back, would like to spend 10days a do a full circuit of the place....probably October, to catch Northern lights)

We did a month in USA with our kids (14/16 yr old then): total was around £12k. We Airbnb’d in some amazing spots, you can always spend more on luxury accom, but I loved the places we found!.....5 days to storm sights of New York (City Pass: boats, skyscrapers, even a great off broadway theatre show!), train to DC for a few days to meet old pals and tour about (Post Office building is a hidden gem with views to die from at the top & a cool food court below!)...then flew to Salt Lake City for a hire car trip through Utah, Vegas, LA, Yosemite, Monterrey (fab whale trip!) then SanFran. Can dig out a ‘blog’ I did for kicks if you want...
I’ve worked for US companies for over 25 years, but had never taken the kids across....but we saw some awesome sights, the things you don’t when working!

I’d look to take him somewhere away from his regular trips...for me, that would be an eastern trip (China, Hong Kong, Japan, then Australia and NZ).

I’m not so sure my wife is overly keen at my enthusiasm for me giving up the regular pay check....I need you to have a word!!

MallyGirl

It depends on if he likes wildlife.
We have just got back from the most incredible holiday in Canada - Vancouver Island and then a floating lodge on a tiny island between Vancouver Island and the mainland, nestled in The Great Bear Rainforest. By the end we had seen many bears (black and grizzly), bear cubs, whales (grey and humpback), Orca, dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea lions, sea otters, bald eagles, plus a river otter, a mink and a raccoon! We saw fresh wolf prints but never the animal. There was a cougar on the island but we never saw him either.
We also walked through temperate rainforest comprising trees aged in the many hundreds to over a thousand years. We bathed under a hot spring waterfall.
It was heaven and I would go back tomorrow if I could.
We also love NZ and Tanzania inc Zanzibar. We have had 3 fab holidays in Oman in recent years because we had friends living there.
Retirement is all about the travel for me.

JoeEngland

atush wrote: »

My OH's company used to have in house IT but have now farmed that out.

Yep, it's very common for companies to outsource their IT, often with some of it going offshore. I was caught up in this a few years ago and ended up TUPEing to a consultancy who were as bad to work for as I suspected they'd be.

OldMusicGuy

DairyQueen wrote: »

He likes to travel but no surprises that his idea of 'a dream holiday' afloat doesn't include sailing down to the Med (my holiday heaven). So let's pretend that I have a budget of £40k to spend on a special 'show Mr DQ the advantages of retirement' holiday.

Does that mean your are into sailing (as in actual sailing boats) but Mr DQ is not? Maybe a similar option would be to buy yourselves a Harley/sports car/motor home (delete as applicable) and go touring. You have the fun of choosing something together and then you can keep re-using it. It sounds like you have enough income to be able to afford to stay in some nice places and go for a pretty long period of time each time you travel. The only drawback is that does restrict you to the UK, Ireland and Europe but there are so many beautiful places to explore, so much culture to discover and so much great food and wine to sample that I am sure you can keep busy exploring those areas for the rest of your lives.

May not work if your idea of fun is being on a barge of the living dead, sorry going on cruises.....:rotfl: