Early-retirement wannabe

atush

gadgetmind wrote: »

My answer would have been "to be honest, I haven't thought much further than rodgering her senseless at every available opportunity."

I'm a right charmer.

Gadget, you are a hoot lol!:D

atush

Marine, my OH was in the same frame as you (ie not liking his too stressful job) but he didn't have a pension ready to start age 50.

So, he has just changed jobs, and is a lot happier for it.

ozzage

I have a list of activities, which I wish to pursue when I no longer need to work. It keeps getting longer

Pottering doesn't sound too bad as one of them, but I think that you need to think of what really interests you.

I've always liked history, so I'm thinking of doing some courses, volunteering at a museum, perhaps trying to get involved in archaeology as some sort of gopher if such a thing is needed...

These are just a few examples of the types of things that cross my mind now and then and I add them to my list when they do.

I see no reason why at least SOME of those activities won't still be valid when I'm in my 80s, and who's to say that in the intervening 40-odd years I won't have expanded the list further? I can't really see myself regretting leaving a job.

atush

Pottering is bad.

When he is home all the time, it might drive me mad lol.

Gonna have to save a bit more to keep things like Sky in the extra room and pay for a new golf membership (gave up his old one as never had time to play in the old job).

ermine

Contrast that with the weekend when I generally pottered about, watched a bit a telly, took the dog for a walk, did a few jobs around the house etc. etc.

The contrast between my work life and my non-work life is quite stark and one of the things i really worry about is the day when I finally walk away from the job....and potentially regretting it.

You can never second-guess what changes before you do the change, and change always has fewer advocates than the status quo because you haven't lived it. However I would venture -

One of the reasons your weekend was perhaps a little bit less dynamic was because you were decompressing from the working week?

I never understood just how much work ruined a perfectly good week, because I had been continuously employed since 21 bar one postgraduate year. Even if the work is good, it blocks up your time, and makes you have to fit in with other things. Like having to travel in the rush hour for a commute. Like having to go shopping at the weekend - it's a terrible time to do that, loads of other people at it

having the golden handcuffs (of a relatively well paid job) mean i would probably earn somewhere around one-quarter elsewhere of what I make here.

I'm absolutely with you on that. I'd hate to have to work on say half of what I had been earning, for the simple reason that I'd have to plug away for twice as long. For me that meant it was worth putting up with the crap and corporate stupidity for longer so I would be safe from having to shelf-stack at Tesco. If I choose to do that to write an expose about life as a shelf-stacker, that's different, because I can walk away at any time.

So where does that leave me? Am I destined for a retirement of pottering? How do i find inspiration for those early retirement years?

It will come Stress at work is insidious, and paints the world greyer a little bit at a time, so you don't notice. And the recovery time is shockingly long, months at least IMO. Inspiration is hard to find until the recovery is well underway...

ozzage

I've just realised that you're ermine.

Thanks for your pearls of wisdom, always so clearly presented and well-considered. Now please post more often on your blog! I do love to read your musings and gain inspiration for a better life.

Reue

ozzage wrote: »

I've just realised that you're ermine.

Thanks for your pearls of wisdom, always so clearly presented and well-considered. Now please post more often on your blog! I do love to read your musings and gain inspiration for a better life.

Haha, same!

Ive started reading through Ermine's blog this week, right from the beginning. Currently at Oct 2012 and its been quite a journey, very interesting to read.

I also read MMM, ERE and Moneyvator. I am a good 40 years off of retirement but can still take alot of the principles and apply them for the very early life savings like first house deposit

ermine

@ozzage thanks, you're too kind

Marine_life is quite right to have the concerns, the transition to retirement from full-time working is a major life change. Such changes are stressful in themselves even if they are positive and for positive reasons. It took me about three months even to begin to engage with the upside. ML is probably doing this in a more controlled way and that is all to the good, but the change is challenging. It does get better

@Reue

I am a good 40 years off of retirement but can still

Not necessarily, unless you want to work for 40 years Taking some of these steps early in your working life gives you options, and one of those may be to leave the ratrace earlier. OTOH you may have a taste for it or the fantastic stuff that a modern consumer economy can give you may be more to your liking. That is the great thing about getting PF right, particularly from the start. You get to choose what you do.

My main win was avoiding debt. Debt not backed by assets is the finance-killer IMO, and to be avoided if at all possible.

elantan

Can I get a link to your blog ermine ?

AlwaysLearnin

Here it is:

http://simple-living-in-suffolk.co.uk/

I noticed when copying the link that there's a new entry today that looks to be closely linked to the subject of this thread (I'll be reading it tonight)