Early retirement @ 55 what to do with £ 380000

mania112

atush wrote: »

that is presuming 100 of people who do are liars?

No, that's presuming the views of the general public are that it's a 'frowned upon' industry and it's better to pretend not to be part of it sometimes. It was a joke.

mark5

Just to clarify Jamesd has given me some good advice on here in the past and often thinks of things from a different angle, was just curious about why he's so clued up.

AnotherJoe

With no disrespect to Jamesd it's not that difficult, just takes a bit of reading,asking some questions and some more reading in order to get clued up. No more difficult than learning how to fix a car engine or learn most other hobbies. It's just that so many people see some numbers and freeze, but theres nothing more complex than you learned in school age about 14 plus some knowledge on tax rules

I've got plenty of friends and colleagues who are really knowledgeable about things I have no clue about, but for some reason mention the word "pension" and you'd think it was nuclear physics.

Even if you go back to the basic question "380kis that reasonable to live on", since the OP knew he wanted to take £25k a year out its primary school level maths to determine how much is left after 11 years ! But add the word "pension" in and it becomes 100x more complex, apparently !

bowlhead99

Agreed,

From previous posts, jamesd seems to be looking to retire no later than he needs to and is saving/investing a good proportion of his income to that end - combined with maximising tax planning opportunities and getting a good understanding of just what is on offer around the place in terms of risk/reward, investment products and other options that maybe don't strike some people as 'investment opportunities' but have similar effects (such as state pension deferments etc).

You can't do that very well without some research and dedication to the task. But after all, it is your life savings and your lifestyle at stake, with only yourself to blame if you get it wrong, so you would think that few would trust others to make it fall into their lap and most would want to make as good effort as they could.

Seems like a good thing for everyone to aspire to, though not everyone has the time or inclination to do it properly and if they do, might not want to then spend more time coming on here writing about it.

Personally I *am* in financial services but haven't racked up the same number of hours as some others here on the personal finance side of things because that's not the part of financial services I'm in, and I don't have the same energy/passion for finding the exit door to the rat race, as perhaps I should!.

uk1

mark5 wrote: »

Just to clarify Jamesd has given me some good advice on here in the past and often thinks of things from a different angle, was just curious about why he's so clued up.

Me too!

James has a unique blend of talents from my observations. He isn't just knowledgeable but also patient and most importantly not adversarial. He doesn't seem to have an axe to grind.

When threads have gone wobbly I find myself wondering where he is .... and hope he pops up.



Jeff

jamesd

mark5 wrote: »

Just to clarify Jamesd has given me some good advice on here in the past and often thinks of things from a different angle, was just curious about why he's so clued up.

Before I came here I spent many years outside the UK. So I came here in part to learn what I didn't know. Then I followed up on discussions with more research. There's just about nothing which I do that others couldn't do if they put in the learning time, including learning from those disagreeing with them.

bigadaj

jamesd wrote: »

Before I came here I spent many years outside the UK. So I came here in part to learn what I didn't know. Then I followed up on discussions with more research. There's just about nothing which I do that others couldn't do if they put in the learning time, including learning from those disagreeing with them.

Yes, it's the exchange of information that's really useful, with a combination of people as consumers, people working within financial services, varying ages, some with £1million plus pension funds, some who have gone bankrupt etc etc

I like an argument, but I'd prefer to be wrong than poorer!

bowlhead99

There's nothing much fun about being dead and wealthy if you didn't at least try to tell anyone else how they could have got wealthy themselves and done something more useful with what they had.

Likewise not much to cheer about when silently turning into a pauper or from a lucky person into a middling one because you were too proud to ask for help.

The forum does a good job of bringing these two groups together IMO, given that just reading around the subject without knowing how to relate it to your circumstances can be a little intimidating and/or dry.

System

Many thanks to all, especially JAMESD

newkeen

Old thread. But just adding my thanks to jamesd. Whether or not anyone else could do it undersells the helpfulness of his posts. He has done the research and shares his findings and where to find information. Which saves a lot of time for those of us embarking on the same learning process.