Early-retirement wannabe

ermine

AlwaysLearnin wrote: »

Out of interest, why going back to work for 6 (summer) months?

Tax would seem to be the obvious reason You don't want to retire having earned enough to go into 40% tax, though there are a lot of things that you can do to soak up your last year's taxable income (pension, share save schemes etc).

It would be nicer if HMRC made the end of the tax year something live 31 December from that point of view.

Having said that, the Germans may be more logical in their tax year than we are!

tugrin

I will be 58 in 2 months and have worked as a teacher for 30 years. I have a 2 hour journey each day and work in a school where we are all under tremendous pressure to do paperwork, test and make results better on a termly basis. I am divorced and both children have left home. Im in debt and my mortgage runs until I am 67 due to total incompetence on my part. I have had enough and am depressed most of the time and almost suicidal the rest.
I want to retire so badly but know I wont be able to stay in this house. I am thinking of upping sticks and going to France for a different way of life - a real change.
AM I JUST BEING DEPRESSIVELY STUPID????
Help......

atush

I would sell the house for sure and downsize, as you seem to be out of control in your finances/spending. Retiring and moving to France are out of the question with poor finances though. I also can't see you retiring early as you are in debt.

You need to get a new teaching job elsewhere with less pressure/commute, and downsize/move. And visit our Debt free board for help with that.

Sanchsoot49

tugrin wrote: »

I will be 58 in 2 months and have worked as a teacher for 30 years. I have a 2 hour journey each day and work in a school where we are all under tremendous pressure to do paperwork, test and make results better on a termly basis. I am divorced and both children have left home. Im in debt and my mortgage runs until I am 67 due to total incompetence on my part. I have had enough and am depressed most of the time and almost suicidal the rest.
I want to retire so badly but know I wont be able to stay in this house. I am thinking of upping sticks and going to France for a different way of life - a real change.
AM I JUST BEING DEPRESSIVELY STUPID????
Help......

I don't think you are being stupid and I sympathize with you. If it was me I would downsize and get out, although not necessarily to France. Your health and peace of mind are far more important than money. The stress that carrying on with this lifestyle will cause you will prob shorten your life anyway! Sorry to be so blunt but you only get one life.

dreaming

Tugrin

Sorry you are feeling so despondent. As you are on DMP is there someone you can talk to about all this? Are you able to do any of the things Atush suggests, or could you consider taking in a lodger to help out with finances? I know when things are really bad it is hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes but there is a lot of help and good advice on this site.
Hope you find a way to cope soon.

gadgetmind

ermine wrote: »

there are a lot of things that you can do to soak up your last year's taxable income (pension, share save schemes etc).

How would share save affect your taxable income?

gadgetmind

tugrin wrote: »

I wont be able to stay in this house. I am thinking of upping sticks

Why not downsize and move closer to work? Without the travel, you might be able to tune into the job more and enjoy it?

A colleague (and friend) recently "retired" from our company to become a teacher. He says it's hard work but the rewards far outweigh this and overall he's happier teaching than being in technology, which is never really an easy sleeping industry. As a "final approach glide path" to retirement, teaching suits him just fine, but it's clearly not for everyone.

kidmugsy

Marine_life wrote: »

it now looks more sensible to delay that early 2015.
- We will then take a big holiday (60-70 days) and use that as a sort of sabbatical. The idea is that we will use those 60-70 days to do our big tour of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Early 2015 rules out Queensland: "the wet" starts late Nov i.e. the weather becomes foully humid and hot. Ditto for most of the South Pacific I'd imagine. It would be ok for Perth, Adelaide (both hot, but low humidity) and Melbourne, and NZ. Opinions differ on Sydney at that time of year.

During "the dry" Queensland is magnificent.

Reue

kidmugsy wrote: »

Opinions differ on Sydney at that time of year.

I lived in Sydney for awhile and found the weather to be beautiful Jan - March. Mostly blue skies and sunshine. Very occasional early evening thunder storms with heavy rain but only seemed to last 20 mins or so.

spock007

I need to read through this thread but... JESUS< how do you all manage it? Are you all rich? Did you start businesses?
I stay at home, £44k savings, pension's worth about £15k, I'm 30, Salary ~£50k with bonus. Don't think I'll stay at home much longer. With housing costing a FORTUNE and the requirement to save for a pension too, how on Earth do you all do it???