Early-retirement wannabe

DairyQueen

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

Apparently, some of them often say they are counting down the days until the kids are 18 and can leave home.

:rotfl:

The more expensive kid-time in my experience is post-18. Uni, then graduate education. then 'bank of (step) mum & dad' to bankroll house deposit. Now we are in the realm of weddings (youngest stepd recently engaged). Next step will be the (no doubt costly) grandchildren.

I draw the line at becoming a cheap provider of (grand)childcare. No thanks. You had them, you look after them. Amazes me that so many of my contemporaries fall into this trap and then find themselves tied for a considerable period of their active retirement.

Love my stepdaughter to bits but have made it very clear that there is NO WAY that I will be providing free childcare. Happy to bounce them on my knee, and indulge them at Christmas holidays. That is IT.

JoeEngland

agent69 wrote: »

I think a lot depends on what standard of living you're looking for in retirement.



I could have retired a couple of years ago, but I like to travel and decide that if I worked for another year I could upgrade all my holiday flights to business class. At the minute I'm just hanging on to see that 29th March doesn't bring disaster for the stock market, then I'll probably call it a day.

A stock market crash could happen in or out of the EU. As for travelling, have you considered going economy or premium economy and having more trips rather than splash out on business class?

agent69

DairyQueen wrote: »

Unless you are entirely invested in the UK (in which case you should shoot yourself or your IFA) then that's an unlikely outcome.

I am well spread around, with significant sums in a S/S ISA and a DC pension pot. Both have separate financial advisors, and when I see either of them I complain bitterly that they're not doing as well as the other guy.

DairyQueen

agent69 wrote: »

I am well spread around, with significant sums in a S/S ISA and a DC pension pot. Both have separate financial advisors, and when I see either of them I complain bitterly that they're not doing as well as the other guy.

Then stop worrying about the impact of Brexit on the UK stock market.

Why two advisors? Double the cost? Crazy. How will either be able to provide a holistic overview if you ring-fence assets between the two?

agent69

JoeEngland wrote: »

As for travelling, have you considered going economy

There's a well known travel forum that would ban you for life for that sort of talk.


I don't mind economy for short trips, but it's a real pain for long haul. Over the last couple of years I've been business class to Aus, NZ and SE Asia twice (good airlines never paying more than £1450).



As was mentioned above, you need to get out there while you're still fit enough to do so.

agent69

DairyQueen wrote: »

Why two advisors? Double the cost? Crazy. How will either be able to provide a holistic overview if you ring-fence assets between the two?

One advisor deals with my stocks and shares ISA, the other comes with my company DC scheme. I'm not certain it's possible to combine the 2 pots until I retire.


I know where I'm going with my retirement finances. I don't need an IFA to take an overview of everything, they just need to get best returns from the pot of my money that they manage.

justme111

agent69 wrote: »

(good airlines never paying more than £1450).

.

£1450 for business class to Australia :eek:?!
What airlines are those?
If the difference in price is so small and with one not doing more than 2 yearly long haul trips a year likely you probably would be able to afford business class anyway at those prices.

agent69

justme111 wrote: »

£1450 for business class to Australia :eek:?!
What airlines are those?

They are what are referred to as Ex EU fares (the main flight starts outside UK, and you book something cheap to connect up the dots).


I had Istanbul - Abu Dhabi - Perth returning Jakarta - Abu Dhabi - Frankfurt for £1,150 with Etihad, and Oslo - Doha - Mel return with Qatar for £1,450 (could have got it for £1,350 if I returned 2 days later but had to go back to work).


To get the cheap fares you need to be constantly checking. I saw the Melbourne fare at breakfast time at work, booked it from home in the evening and it was gone the following day.

JoeEngland

agent69 wrote: »

There's a well known travel forum that would ban you for life for that sort of talk.


I don't mind economy for short trips, but it's a real pain for long haul. Over the last couple of years I've been business class to Aus, NZ and SE Asia twice (good airlines never paying more than £1450).

As was mentioned above, you need to get out there while you're still fit enough to do so.

That must be a travel forum for people with lots of money that would ban me for mentioning cattle class We've found economy on long haul bearable when not flying direct because you get a break from the plane, but only do PE if flying direct.

gadgetmind

Kit_Katt wrote: »

Difficult to buy a long range electric car at a sensible price point

A used Tesla Model S or a new Hyundai Kona EV.