Only freedom will do

slowlyfading

I very much lurk on that thread, as I fear that with my limited income and funds, my early retirement dream will just be laughed at

elleandie

edinburgher wrote: »

On the positive side, I managed to beat my car insurance renewal by £120, less than £250 for the year I also noticed that my first month of increased pension payments has gone in, a very healthy £411 tucked away. I was in a reflective mood yesterday morning (breakfast at a cheap local chain pub) and was a little bit saddened by the bar flies, many of whom seemed to be retired. I couldn't help but wonder how many pints I could get for £411 :rotfl:

Not sure how many people on here read the Early Retirement Wannabe thread on the Pensions board? It's a great discussion on why it's so important to run *towards* something. I wonder if I'm doing that yet.

Plodding on, remembering to breathe...

Thanks for the pension thread recommendation, will take a look!

Karmacat

Heavens! This is a big discussion I've been missing I don't post on the pensions thread, really, because I'd probably get laughed at, with the amount of money I'm retiring on.

1. I have my house.
2. I have the French investment apartment (only owe c£15k on it, but it will give no income, and I'm not selling it until I'm out of the pay-us-the-VAT-we exempted-you-from years.
3. I'll probably inherit some money from my mum, though these days, with care home fees being what they are, there are no guarantees. £60k?
4. I have £mumble mumble (oh good grief, I'm embarrassed at how little - more than £100k, less than £200k ).
5. Of course, I'm not retiring from paid work just from therapy work. I intend to make my writing pay, advertising too - since Adwords don't seem to think my all-original cat website is original enough :eek: I've just found another way of getting adverts onto a wordpress site I shall therefore become a millionaire in short order - counting the house, I'm more than halfway there

Sorry if this is TMI, Ed! But I'm betting these figures, at my age, would have that lot on the pensions thread telling me to put my nose to the grindstone. And my health is more important. I don't want to move to a flat, but I will if I have to. I just heard of a houseboat in a marina for £52k, I'd happily do that

There are ways but I do need to read up on the pensions board

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SuperSecretSquirrel

I'll be searching out that pensions thread too, thanks for the heads up Ed.

We sound similar in some ways KC My dream is early semi retirement, where I don't stop earning, I just earn probably a lot less money but by doing the things I love (MMM style).

By keeping annual expenses low, if we believe that 25x annual expenses should keep us in perpetuity, it's not really out of reach for the average Joe or Josephine... Then when you add in plans to earn in retirement, and factor in that you won't be saving a large portion of what comes in once you've reached your target amount, it seems almost as though it should be easy

I think a fully paid off house and keeping core monthly outgoings low is key. Of course if you have more coming in you can spend more, if that's what you're about, it just boils down to percentages really, and what kind of life you are happiest living

edinburgher

2. I have the French investment apartment (only owe c£15k on it, but it will give no income, and I'm not selling it until I'm out of the pay-us-the-VAT-we exempted-you-from years.

How long is that? I suspect that you're one of those people who does mental gymnastics so that they can be pleasantly surprised by upside situations. I fully expect you to come back in 5 years saying that it sold for half a million

On a totally unrelated note, I saw a young-at-heart woman (young 50s?) the other day who I got a definite KC vibe from. She was nattily dressed, but with purple hair (think trendy young person, not washed out blue rinse), a completely impractical umbrella that would probably have suited a child better and a selection of book bags.

Do you have a Scottish cousin? :rotfl:

I think a fully paid off house

<<<--- SSS comment

I think that we probably will pay off our house, but at this point in time it feels like a long term rental that we're free to redecorate. We had a discussion some time before buying about basically buying a house as a rental (IO mortgage in a good area, no plan to pay it off), but IO mortgages are largely for plutocrats these days...

Karmacat

edinburgher wrote: »

How long is that? I suspect that you're one of those people who does mental gymnastics so that they can be pleasantly surprised by upside situations. I fully expect you to come back in 5 years saying that it sold for half a million

:rotfl: No, its a one-bedder with a bunk area. It has a ski locker in the basement too Its in this village, and its a bit like this one: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/property-57222608.html
I have been known to do the mental gymnastics you describe

On a totally unrelated note, I saw a young-at-heart woman (young 50s?) the other day who I got a definite KC vibe from. She was nattily dressed, but with purple hair (think trendy young person, not washed out blue rinse), a completely impractical umbrella that would probably have suited a child better and a selection of book bags.

Do you have a Scottish cousin? :rotfl:

:j:j:j My lumberjack shirts have big plastic bling on them :rotfl: I'm a bit of a standout from my family, but the DNA is bound to express itself elsewhere, given half a chance. Sounds like me, yes

<<<--- SSS comment

I think that we probably will pay off our house, but at this point in time it feels like a long term rental that we're free to redecorate. We had a discussion some time before buying about basically buying a house as a rental (IO mortgage in a good area, no plan to pay it off), but IO mortgages are largely for plutocrats these days...

I understand where you're coming from, Ed. As for me having paid off my mortgage, I did pay off a few bits early, and when I moved 6 years ago, I paid off the remaining mortgage - the fees, otherwise, would have been silly. Bear in mind that I started that mortgage in 1987 :eek: its not surprising its been paid off :eek: You and MrsE were toddlers, I should imagine? :rotfl:

Squirrel: thanks for this! 25 x annual expenses at a reasonable level is probably doable long term for me, especially if I ever get the money from the apartment. Rather than sell this place, I'd consider all sorts of options - renting it out and living somewhere very small in Spain for a year or so, living in a camper van ditto, renting a room to aircrew in training (3 month room rental). Its why the decluttering is so important to me, so I can be comparatively mobile.

Thanks both :kisses3:

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edinburgher

You ski, KC?

Karmacat

Never in my life It was bought purely as an investment, in a summer/winter resort, because multi-millionairedom was just around the corner, and by the time the first lease to the French rental company was up, I'd take it for myself as my holiday home shows you what I know

When I was an au pair, the toddler (20 months old) was learning her new skis for the coming season :eek:

edinburgher

Haha! I wonder if climate change will make skiing a lost sport?

edinburgher

• Extra fortnight of leave approved
• £51.54 paid off 0% CC 3/4
• £1.36 OPed (just to confound my own expectations)

Have started saving up for our 10th wedding anniversary (5 years time). Now that's planning... :rotfl: