Early-retirement wannabe

Techno

Marine_life wrote: »

You know this is really interesting - I have always thought how much I woukd like to do that. In fact my nephew has done it and he threw in his boring job in the UK and now works as a van driver in the french alps - with of course lots of time for skiing.

Would be interested to hear how you get on with it.

Funnily enough we were in a chalet in La Plagne and the Chalet Host was a 55 year old ex teacher ( like us). She had retired early from teaching, tried an admin job but hated it and her daughter had done a season the previous year and loved it so she thought - why not? It was the best chalet holiday we have ever had as she was older she understood her customers needs and she spoilt my OH!!! It is all down to her that we are considering it. Still 3 years ish off yet though Marine life but we will come back here if it all comes off. In fact if you retire before us and try it you can let us know all the insider tips.

dreaming

Have been following this thread with intrest as I am about 20 weeks away from "retiring". The day after my 58th birthday in August I will be redundant as department is relocating and I don't want to go. Was terrified what I would do when we were first told (18 months ago now) but have decided to take my lump sums and pensions and have calculated that I can live pretty much as I do now if I am careful (will pay mortge down with severance). Have thought long and hard about leaving the pensions until I am 60 but the "life" benefits seem to me to outweigh the financial. Luckily I have cheap(ish) hobbies and am looking forward to spending more time with family. I have wondered what it will be like going from working often 40-50 hours a week to not working at all, but will worry about that when it happens with the knowledge that I can always look for a part time job.
I hope your plans work out for you

atush

ozzage wrote: »

This is truly a great thread with many great posts over the last two years.

As a 38yo I'm traditionally a long way from retirement but the topic has recently started to interest me greatly

Unfortunately, being somewhat of a later starter, while many of you my age have children at school and soon going to uni, and mortgages with just a few years to run, we have a 3 month old daughter and rent with no mortgage at all!

Still I can invest, and do so, as much as I can. We're actually saving for a deposit in parallel and have a good chunk but are in two minds about whether we actually want to buy (we're somewhat nomadic and aren't really sure where we want to live! And here in London where we are now it's just ridiculously expensive).

It's frustrating seeing those deposit funds earning below inflation when they could have been benefiting from the recent market increases but such is the lot of the indecisive.

I'm aiming for financial independence before 50 (preferably in ten years at 48) but the plans are woolly due to our indecision about property ownership and country of residence.

I have a "number" based on current expenditure, but how realistic is it, given the unknowns of children/education costs etc? Do I WANT to fund university? Do I WANT to help with deposits? Only time will tell and if I do then plans must change.

I include London rent in my "number" now, and I figure that if we buy and then commit to paying it off in ten years (possible, I think) then our reduced required pot size (no rent) will compensate for the money being put into the mortgage instead of our pot. If we move somewhere cheaper then we're further in front.

There are many on here with a lot of knowledge who are clearly on top of the various resources on the net, but I'd like to offer two links which I find great:

http://the-military-guide.com/2011/01/03/how-many-years-does-it-take-to-become-financially-independent-2/

That link really drives the numbers home. As has been mentioned before, it's all about the spending levels. The savings are a side-effect of that.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-zero-to-hero-in-one-blog-post/

Mr Money Mustache is somewhat of a hero. His blog is full of wonderful posts, but this is a good introduction to what he's on about. Again, it's about spending more than anything else, but also realising that it's not SPENDING which makes somebody happy, so it's not a case of "frugal" OR "happy".

Also: those "ordering books" based on what you've read in this thread. I hope you mean "loaning them from the library" or at the very least "buying them 2nd hand"!

Surely once retired you won't be tied to living in London? Why not buy outside and rent it out with a look to retiring there?

Marine_life

AlwaysLearnin wrote: »

Thanks for the update Marine_life.

I've been watching this one with interest as early retirement, or at least getting out of the rat race, is something I'm looking to do myself. I'm personally looking to get out so that I can do something a bit more 'fulfilling' (be that family, charity, whatever), but guess that could be a romantic notion and you never know how you'll really feel until you're on the precipice of actually doing it.

I'm intrigued to know though; where does that mean you'll settle, as recall you were previously undecided.

All the best, whatever you decide.

To say decided would be taking it too far!

There are so many things to think about and the relative weighting changes from week to week.

My mother-in-law lives in a large house which was built by my father in law, so it has incredible sentimental value. She has previously asked me to buy the house from her and go and live in it - or rather she would give me half the house but I would then have to cash out the other half (to my wife's brother). To be honest I have been tempted but the main things that stops me doing that is we want to live our own lives.

On the other hand the house is now too big for the MIL and we would not like her to live on her own in her advancing years, so having her come and live with us seems to be the right thing to do. Not without its issues I might add but it feels like the right thing to do.

We still haven't finally decided on location, still lots of options. I want to be near hills and mountains which either means the lake district (which is a no-no) for the MIL or Snowdonia / North Wales which I haven't tested yet (with wife and MIL). But there is still southern Germany / Austria which pulls at the heart strings. When we were first married we were always in Austria and we have a small place there now.

Family is a big consideration. Both my children will be in the UK so being close enough for the occasional weekend visit is a consideration.

However, i do think in retirement that we want to travel a lot so actually the location might not be that important and (hopefully - provided some government does not steal my savings!

Anyway - I feel lucky to have choices!

AlwaysLearnin

I can appreciate the (numerous) dilemmas. Choice can be good, but can also be burdensome in the decision making process...

It's interesting, as you appear to have got yourself in a great position and it's now all becoming 'real', so there's more emphasis to get it right. Hopefully the sentimentality of family doesn't override what you really want for yourselves, as much as is possible anyway. My wife is more 'involved' with her parents than her sister is, and it sometimes feels like her sister avoids some of the emotional factors and/or responsibilities as a result - potentially like your wife and her brother?

Anyway, you've clearly got lot's to think about. I hope it works out okay and look forward to the progress updates.

elantan

Have followed this thread in and off since it first started an have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's input and experiences, I've often thought about early retirement an it is an ultimate financial goal for us so will keep reading and learning and maybe when we are in a better financial position might even start a wee thread myself

Please keep us updated marine life I really do enjoy reading about your journey

Marine_life

AlwaysLearnin wrote: »

I can appreciate the (numerous) dilemmas. Choice can be good, but can also be burdensome in the decision making process...

It's interesting, as you appear to have got yourself in a great position and it's now all becoming 'real', so there's more emphasis to get it right. Hopefully the sentimentality of family doesn't override what you really want for yourselves, as much as is possible anyway. My wife is more 'involved' with her parents than her sister is, and it sometimes feels like her sister avoids some of the emotional factors and/or responsibilities as a result - potentially like your wife and her brother?

Anyway, you've clearly got lot's to think about. I hope it works out okay and look forward to the progress updates.

Well.....it is more complicated than you might think.

Both my wife and her brother are equally involved with the mother although because she lives in the UK and we don't then the brother sees her more regularly. However, I would say emotionally mothers and daughters are a lot closer.

Funny thing is I was the black sheep. The MIL always had high hopes for her daughter. That she would marry someone from a "good family" rather than a working class lout like me. In fact she did not speak to me for the first five years we were married. Anyway all changed over the years as I became more successful.

Watch this space.

Marine_life

exil wrote: »

Haven't read the entire thread but having thought about early retirement myself I've found the main difficulties in planning are the factors beyond one's control:-
- how long are you going to live?
- what will be your state of health?
- how safe are the pensions and investments you have?
- will the government move the state pension goalposts yet again?
- will some unexpected event - death or disablement of a relative, collapse of one's business, loss of job - derail your finances before you get to your planned retirement date?

nevertheless it's better to plan than not to plan.

Of course you never know about a lot of those things but you can play the odds a little bit!

Seriously though whilst there are a lot of things you can't control (like getting hit by a bus!) there are lots that you can e.g. living a reasonably healthy lifestyle, making sure you go for health check ups. Take control of your investments rather than let others do it for you and most of all - have a plan that gets you where you want to be with some realistic assumptions.

Marine_life

Techno wrote: »

Funnily enough we were in a chalet in La Plagne and the Chalet Host was a 55 year old ex teacher ( like us). She had retired early from teaching, tried an admin job but hated it and her daughter had done a season the previous year and loved it so she thought - why not? It was the best chalet holiday we have ever had as she was older she understood her customers needs and she spoilt my OH!!! It is all down to her that we are considering it. Still 3 years ish off yet though Marine life but we will come back here if it all comes off. In fact if you retire before us and try it you can let us know all the insider tips.

It's funny where inspiration comes from and great that you have something to aim for.

Long hours and too much work mean I have skiied a lot less in the last few years than I would like and i hope my knees will still be in good enough shape when we retire. I can see lots of trips to the alps.

AlwaysLearnin

I know nothing more about you than than this thread but it seems you've done alright for yourself, and no reason to think that won't continue! Like my dad always said, if you put a bit of effort in life normally works out okay.

All the best. I'll be watching with interest.