Planning for early retirement

justme111

NumberMan wrote: »

I don't think working three or four years more than I need to just to self-insure myself against a marginal risk is worth it.

You articulated what I thought .
Re children and how expensive they are - they are as cheap or expensive as one makes them.

Lrimas

NumberMan wrote: »

I agree with pretty much everything you said. The only area where we differ is the above where I have taken the exact opposite approach. 5-10 years ago I was working hard and successfully climbing the corporate ladder and retirement at 40 looked much more realistic than it does now. However I made the decision around 5 years ago that I would scale back work in order to give myself more time to enjoy now even if it meant ultimately delaying retirement.

With a relatively short work horizon, I think the rewards of working 40-50 hour weeks and playing the political game for the chance of getting a promotion which will only last a couple of years is not a trade-off which looks attractive. Thus, I am currently much happier in an environment where I have no anticipation of a 25% raise from a one-off promotion but can still count on a few percent above inflation raises while maintaining a positive work-life balance. Scaling back by going part-time if my plan is running ahead of schedule is also an attractive thought.

Haha, I completely agree. I am in the very lucky position where my new job is less stresful than my previous - I moved out of management and work from home 4 days a week. I do need to remember that is luck though (and the industry I am in) and not necessarily a strategy that most people can follow.

itwasntme001

Interesting comments and thought i would reply given i am in a similar situation to the OP. I am mid-30s and earn £80k. Work isn't too stressful and decent hours. But i do want to "retire" asap so i can do whatever i want to do with my life - which may mean working again but at least in an area which i am passionate about and that i would do for 0 pay.


I have a home worth 600k and 260k mortgage. About 470k in stocks (combination of isa, trading and pension), 25k in P2P and 85k in cash (mostly at decent interest rates). I am also in the fortunate position to eventually receive an inheritance of at least 500k but hopefully that will be a long whilst yet.


Even with the above i do not think it will be a comfortable retirement given there is a lot of uncertainty the longer the time horizon out of work. But then you only are in your 30s and 40s once (prime decades) before health issues could really affect how you live your life. It may not be so bad but then again it could be so why bother scrambling for margin of safety when you wont have much time to do what you really want whilst you are in your prime?


So i say take a bit of risk, do whatever you want to do and don't focus too much on whether you have enough or not to "retire". You are in a good position as i am, and as long as you have spending under control i think you will be fine to leave work early. Technological advancements will mean stuff will get cheaper over the long term anyway (as long as capitalism holds).

NumberMan

Thanks again everyone for the comments. I intend to keep linked in to the thread and will try to post updates on how I'm getting on at regular intervals.

MoneyGeoff

You are in a great position to retire in your 40s. Here are some useful FIRE sites:

http://www.retirementinvestingtoday.com/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
https://theescapeartist.me/
http://financiallyfreeby40.com/blog/
http://monevator.com/
http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/
https://simplelivingsomerset.wordpress.com/
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/

scarlettsmith694

The first and foremost question for people who are planning to take early retirement is deciding how old they should be when they retire and defining early retirement. These are highly subjective questions which no financial planner or self-help book can answer.
So According to UK Stock market news and research you have to think seriously on it that how you can plan for your early retirement.