Can I retire at 45

fred246

ams25 wrote: »

+1. Freedom to do what you want is what financial independence means. Certainly its not retirement in the traditional sense. Do a job you love, raise the kids, travel, take a break, learn new skills etc. FI creates the possibilities. But with hopefully 30-40 years ahead you are going to need purpose and some means to support a life above the bare minimum.

I stopped working at 51, and although I may be retired from the corporate world (been there...too long...can't see it being fun again) and I don't think I need to earn again (hopefully) doing another job later, setting up a business, learning new skills are all options for me. Right now young kids are my priority and great to have that time with them...but I be!ieve something else will follow. When people ask if I am retired I usually say no.

I am in a similar position but I am finding it difficult to think of a job that I would do if I don't NEED to work. I imagine I would be an employee from hell. I don't think I would want to risk setting up a business because that could lose the financial independence that I have. Learning new skills is defintely in my planning though.

borkid

fred246 wrote: »

I am in a similar position but I am finding it difficult to think of a job that I would do if I don't NEED to work. I imagine I would be an employee from hell. I don't think I would want to risk setting up a business because that could lose the financial independence that I have. Learning new skills is defintely in my planning though.

How about voluntary work for a charity? That's what my OH did when he 'retired' at 51. I started learning an instrument and sewing, raising money for charties from my hobbies.


We feel we have been 'lucky' and want to give back to our community. We've found karma is working for us as well.

bostonerimus

Slinky wrote: »

One person's heaven is another person's hell. I'd rather have stayed in work personally :-)

Yes, fun can be very personal. But the larger point is that retiring a little early gives you the opportunity to do other things. That might be to pursue a hobby (maybe as part time work), go back to school, or just see more of your family.

bugslet

fred246 wrote: »

I am in a similar position but I am finding it difficult to think of a job that I would do if I don't NEED to work. I imagine I would be an employee from hell. I don't think I would want to risk setting up a business because that could lose the financial independence that I have. Learning new skills is defintely in my planning though.

In theory I could give up work now, over 250 k in cash, 330k in pension, age 54, mortgage under 20k, but I still enjoy work enough not to give up yet though I can see a change on the horizon.

I do a lot of advice for friends about gardens, what plant where and some design. Looking forward to doing a qualification in garden design, and hopefully converting that into a small business. In theory it will mean I can pick and choose a bit and won't tie me down too much. Like you I'd be a nightmare employee having worked for myself for too long.

silverwhistle

John_Jones wrote: »

We do not have a target yet in terms of annual income needed, as we do not want to stop work, but the Rough aim is to at least get close to six figures.

Statements like that remind me of a survey they published in the newspaper where people in various work sectors guessed the income of others. "Ooh" said the solicitor, asked to guess the income of a vicar "£60,000?" when in fact it was £16K.



Lots of of people have to manage on 4 figures, and retiring early doesn't make any difference to whether they can manage a hang glider or a Robinson.


I used to be a systems analyst until outsourcing and terminal boredom lead to me accepting redundancy at 45 with a small pension at 50. The intervening years were what is kindly called a portfolio career and then I went to live in the Alps for a time and teach English to pad out my pension. I still teach online and go back for a long skiing holiday every year.



At some stage fairly soon I'll tap into my S&S ISA which has been rolling up for years, but my main point is that my current £1200 a month keeps me pretty comfortable: football season ticket, trips to Glyndebourne (not the summer season!), decent wine and food, an away day in a helicopter next month. A friend of mine who flies helicopters as a hobby told me learning to fly would be a great incentive to get a decent paying job, but at my age that is an unrealistic prospect. The last summer school I did was fun but exhausting and would have only paid for about 6 lessons.:-)


Mind you, that trip to Rome is tempting; I used to live there when at primary school age and can still manage a bit of romanaccio!

AnotherJoe

tacpot12 wrote: »

Correct, but what it the stock market return is negative for the next couple of years. Your £300K could become £180K in a couple of years time - are you sure the stock market isn't going to react very badly if Brexit turns out to cause serious economic harm to the UK?

I dont see why Brexit turning out badly would cause a worldwide stock market crash. If the OP is prudent they will have a global spread of investments rather than just UK companies, so Brexit turning out badly would mean a low pound and their investments would do very well in Sterling terms.

kidmugsy

zagfles wrote: »

Open top car in the Alps? You realise it's quite cold up there, right?

It ended up quite hot in The Italian Job.

kidmugsy

ermine wrote: »

tend to start going with heart attacks and the like in their fifties.

Happily the age-corrected rate of heart attack deaths has vastly defined since its peak in the late 60s/early 70s. The decline started too early to be attributable to the reduction in smoking or anything else plausible.The curve looks for all the world like the plot you get for an infectious disease. Maybe that's what it was. Anyway, it's good news for people - especially men - in their fifties.

ams25

fred246 wrote: »

I am in a similar position but I am finding it difficult to think of a job that I would do if I don't NEED to work. I imagine I would be an employee from hell. I don't think I would want to risk setting up a business because that could lose the financial independence that I have. Learning new skills is defintely in my planning though.

I would only do something I would enjoy... not for the money. Volunteering perhaps, or some business venture that would be fun but not a material risk to my FI status. I simply don't know, but once the kids are older I believe I will want to do something meaningful. I am just not sure what. I see it as a nice problem to have .

PS to those in their 20s, 30s and 40s who find the idea of stopping work at 50 or earlier sad or bizarre, i would only say that I would have thought the same in my workaholic younger days when I thrived on work, but for most people (not all) that changes as you get older and if you no longer have to work for the money (due to frugal/sensible past saving and investments) then putting up with a stressful job become very hard. And what was fun at 30 is not so much fun at 50. imho.

atush

GavB79 wrote: »

The recent post about the OP asking about retiring at 40 was met with a universal 'no chance'.

As my own plans are similar, would you say the same about my expectations? To keep it simple, let's say I want to retire at 45 with a £300k pot that returns 5% pa. At NRA I will have a DB pension (LGPS) that will cover my requirements, regardless of the amount of SP I will get. So the pot can deplete completely by, let's say 68.

I anticipate £18k per annum (tax free; the pot is in a S&S ISA) to be sufficient. From age 50 there will be no mortgage, but son will be entering a more expensive phase (secondary school), so from 50 onwards drop the £18k to at most £15k. Partner intends to continue working part-time throughout.

5x 18 plus 18x 15 = £360k so I reason I only really need to [STRIKE]keep pace[/STRIKE] make a couple of % plus inflation to succeed? At best I should have a comfortable amount remaining at 68, or at worst I expect to be able to pick up short-term agency work if I really need to, to cover any unforeseen expenses or big holidays. We are not ones for new cars or designer labels, though we do like to eat out. I've even thought of going with £250k and doing the agency work early on for short periods to keep things topped up.

in your case, with a DB pension underpin you might have a better chance- ESP if unlike the other OP you arent carrying 70K of debt plus and interest free mtg?

And 5% is more than you should plan for (ok to hope for of course).

Will you get to full SP?