Early-retirement wannabe

MallyGirl

Similar here except there were no fees and I got a full grant due to Mum's low income. Dad covenanted a small amount extra which helped.
I never went home after uni.
Mum loaned small deposit on first flat but I didn't get married till my 30s so we paid for that ourselves.

coyrls

Terron wrote: »

Of course things might have changed in the last 40 years.

You think?

hugheskevi

As I'm approaching an interesting milestone, time for an update.

My first early retirement plan dates back to 2009. It has changed a lot over the years, but the key point of the plan was to buy a house in London and commit to living and working there for a period of at least 10 years. This was based on spreadsheet analysis of the earliest possible date early retirement would be at all feasible. The end of at 10 year period will be reached next week.

I am still living in that house, and if I were to retire immediately the position of my wife and I would be (all figures after all taxes based on 2019/20 rates, and show our combined resources and income from all sources, including saving, ISAs, DB, DC and State pension):

• We would have about £400,000 to spend on a property, to include all costs of moving and purchasing
• We would have an annual income of £32,000 between now (both aged 42) and age 58 (assuming an increase in minimum pension age to 58)
• At age 58 we would have an income of £46,000 for the rest of our lives.

I think that pretty much meets the analysis back in 2009, as whilst we could have a decent retirement on the figures above, it would involve some quite big compromises compared to what we want.

Ideally, I would like to increase the amount available to spend on retirement property to £500,000 and increase annual income up to £50,000 with an additional £60,000 for travel in the first 3 years of retirement. I probably won't quite reach these figures, and expect to retire in mid-2022 or mid-2023. That shouldn't be a problem, as currently our expenditure is about £30,000 p/a (excluding mortgage payments) so there are very big margins in the figures.

Along the way I've been struck by how useful it is to have short-term goals that focus the mind, despite not really being very important. At first the goal was always to put all of our income subject to higher rate tax into a pension - that led to scrabbling around for cash in March/April for a few years . Once there was enough in our pensions, the focus turned to making maximum ISA contributions for both of us, which was very challenging when the ISA limits were increased so much.

Our mortgage has always been a lower priority, but I should be able to pay it off in April, assuming I can get about £10,000 more 0% credit card borrowing offers before then which should be routine. Then there will just be 0% credit card debt to repay, which I will do just for convenience. Over the last decade we have generally rotated about £70,000 of 0%, fee-free credit card borrowing which has been very helpful to meet the short-term goals.

Now the time remaining to retirement is about 2.5 to 3.5 years, it is all getting much more interesting, and we are starting to think about exactly where we will travel after we retire and sell our house. I want to keep open the possibility of traveling for 3 years before returning and buying a retirement house, but I expect we will travel for less, perhaps 1.5 to 2 years.

JoeEngland

I'm 6 months into retirement and so far it's going well. Finances are doing significantly better than budget, mainly because DW is still working but also the grocery budget erred on the side of caution and we're spending less than that. We're working to get the house ready to go on the market in a few weeks.

When I think back to work I don't miss it, well, apart from the salary! There were times I'd be sitting in traffic queues coming home and I longed for the day I wouldn't be doing it anymore but thought it'd never arrive! Hopefully this year my dream to live somewhere more rural and nearer to the coast will have happened. Moving will be the start of a new chapter for us both, and for me it'll draw more of a mental line behind work as we'll be living somewhere I don't associate with working.

If you're not the sort of person who lives to work or who feels like your identity is tied to your job then FIRE is great. Even though it was forced on me to give up work at 53 (financially it would have been better to have done 1-2 more years) I feel better in myself and with each passing month feel more comfortable with the financial situation. We have a retirement budget of around 17-18k pa, plus contingency and a separate holiday pot, and for us that is doable.

bluenose1

Brilliant JoeEngland, love to hear of people re-endorsing the benefits of retirement. I will be retiring in 16 months at the latest at 55 but if an expected redundancy opportunity comes up hopefully sooner.
We are currently moving to the Coast so my travelling time will extend to approx 1 hour each way until I finish work.
Was trying to hold out but the truck traffic near us has got to ridiculous levels and I dread to think of the air pollution.
Financially i should really do another year or two as well but i have had enough of the bureaucracy and red tape.
My husband retired a couple of year ago and loves it.

doingitanyway

JoeEngland wrote: »

I'm 6 months into retirement and so far it's going well. Finances are doing significantly better than budget, mainly because DW is still working but also the grocery budget erred on the side of caution and we're spending less than that. We're working to get the house ready to go on the market in a few weeks.

When I think back to work I don't miss it, well, apart from the salary! There were times I'd be sitting in traffic queues coming home and I longed for the day I wouldn't be doing it anymore but thought it'd never arrive! Hopefully this year my dream to live somewhere more rural and nearer to the coast will have happened. Moving will be the start of a new chapter for us both, and for me it'll draw more of a mental line behind work as we'll be living somewhere I don't associate with working.

If you're not the sort of person who lives to work or who feels like your identity is tied to your job then FIRE is great. Even though it was forced on me to give up work at 53 (financially it would have been better to have done 1-2 more years) I feel better in myself and with each passing month feel more comfortable with the financial situation. We have a retirement budget of around 17-18k pa, plus contingency and a separate holiday pot, and for us that is doable.

I wish you well in the next stage of your life. It is refreshing to see there are people who prioritise time over the ever larger pots of money people feel they need. Keep us updated on how your move goes.

tigerspill

JoeEngland wrote: »

I'm 6 months into retirement and so far it's going well. Finances are doing significantly better than budget, mainly because DW is still working but also the grocery budget erred on the side of caution and we're spending less than that. We're working to get the house ready to go on the market in a few weeks.

When I think back to work I don't miss it, well, apart from the salary! There were times I'd be sitting in traffic queues coming home and I longed for the day I wouldn't be doing it anymore but thought it'd never arrive! Hopefully this year my dream to live somewhere more rural and nearer to the coast will have happened. Moving will be the start of a new chapter for us both, and for me it'll draw more of a mental line behind work as we'll be living somewhere I don't associate with working.

If you're not the sort of person who lives to work or who feels like your identity is tied to your job then FIRE is great. Even though it was forced on me to give up work at 53 (financially it would have been better to have done 1-2 more years) I feel better in myself and with each passing month feel more comfortable with the financial situation. We have a retirement budget of around 17-18k pa, plus contingency and a separate holiday pot, and for us that is doable.

I 100% agree with this. I stopped work at the and of April 2019 so am just over 9 months into retirement. I have not looked back a single time. Finances doing OK and OH still working for another 18 months.
I stopped at 53 and OH will stop at 55.
I feel so much better. It is well worth taking a bit of pain to save to return early. So many people said life is for living and spending what they had. Who is laughing now?

itm2

Congratulations Joe England - great decision. I retired at the same age (6 years ago), and having just watched my father lose the end of his life to Alzheimer's I have become acutely aware of how much/little time I have left to enjoy it. Money has no value to me without time.

JoeEngland

itm2 wrote: »

Congratulations Joe England - great decision. I retired at the same age (6 years ago), and having just watched my father lose the end of his life to Alzheimer's I have become acutely aware of how much/little time I have left to enjoy it. Money has no value to me without time.

Sorry about your dad.

You're right that we need time as well as money. It helps if you're the type of person who doesn't have expensive tastes or hobbies, and can enjoy simple things in life. One basic thing I really appreciate about being retired is getting more sleep.

itm2

JoeEngland wrote: »

One basic thing I really appreciate about being retired is getting more sleep.

Yes! I have never lost the huge sense of luxury that I feel when I wake up and see that it's an hour later than I would usually have arrived at the office!