Early Retirement - (nearly) one year on

MallyGirl

shinytop wrote: »

I can confirm they do. Don't forget car insurance too :eek: I think two factors that are big influences in when you can retire are (1) when you start your family and mortgage and (2) whether you get divorced. It's going to be a lot harder being retired with a big mortgage and/or dependent kids.

Personally, I started (1) age 26 and (2) hasn't happened (so far )

I only had 1 DD just before my 35th birthday. She turns 17 in 2 weeks and already has a load of driving lessons booked. We bought her a car last week as practicing will be important whilst learning and our cars are not suitable for this. Once she passes I will be retiring from being Mum's taxi which will be liberating.
We did pay the mortgage off 13 years ago but then decided to make one more jump up the housing ladder. That mortgage is due to be paid off in 2025. DD is hoping to go to uni to study vet med in 2020 which is a 5 or 6 year course. I suspect that 2027, when we are both 60, will be retirement time unless something unexpected brings that sooner.

justme111

Re IT prevalence here - it is an area with many well paid jobs and this is the thread about early retirement - amongst higher earners it happens more often then amongst lower ones so it is no coincidence.
Re retirement and children- interesting.
Some of those retiring early do so at 60 ( which is not that early) and it would coincide with the end of uni for children. Some have children who got additional funding like bursaries or more money for good results etc. Some have enough money to retire anyway either because of their income in retirement can manage helping children or because they saved for it in parallel since children were young or because of inheritance - often by the time one generation thinks about retirement, another about uni one more generation dies. Some don't have children at unis.

pimento

in_my_wellies wrote: »

I'd advise anyone not to wait but to DO IT NOW!

I completely agree.

My first husband died after a short illness in 2014 and all our plans for a retirement in New Zealand (he was a Kiwi) died with him.

I was extremely fortunate to find love again and have now been married for a year.

I have learned that when Man plans, God laughs.

uk1

michaels wrote: »

I suspect I am selfish enough that I would not put myself through extra years of work just so my kids could choose not to

It is neither a matter of selfishness or choice imho.

Life is much harsher for our kids than it was for us in my view and I'm not really talking about supporting kids who choose not to support themselves but instead find themselves in situations not of their making or choice.

I made a promise to my kids that I would never abandon them as long as they did their best and I'm fortunate and more than willing to be able to keep that promise.

coyrls

michaels wrote: »

So the stats say they average age of fatherhood is 33 and motherhood is 30 so it seems to me that I am not going to be alone in having dependent kids well into my 50s which would appear to preclude retirement before this age. I also assume the average is impacted by two groups, those who leave education early and have kids young and those who go to university and have kids old so some sort of bimodal distribution with a large cohort of above average earners who have their kids older than this average.

It's just another expense to add to the budget. It can be done: I retired at 59 when my son was 19 and in his first year at university. He went on to do an MA. You just have to have some slack in your planning so that you can deal with unexpected expenses.

jaybeetoo

I’m 62, retired and my youngest is 17.

Too late for people here, but from the day my children were born, I invested the child allowance each month (mostly in investment trusts). It has built up into a decent sum to pay for the children to go through university.

Anonymous101

pimento wrote: »

Another one counting the days.

I had a light bulb moment on here a couple of months ago when it was suggested I think about giving my 2 hour each way commute the bum's rush and retiring early (58) at the end of the tax year and deferring my DB pension until I am 60. I will get a severance payment of 13 weeks salary when I leave and plan to live on that and savings until my pension starts.

My (57 year old) husband enjoys his job so will carry on working but we are planning to sell up our house in the SE and move to Exeter which is much more convenient for my husband's work. This will (hopefully) free about £150k of equity.

I will take the largest TFLS and my pension will be about £16k. I do have a progressive health problem which means I should have 15 years of being able to do the long haul holidays that we both love, after which our expenditure will fall.

I have a countdown app on my phone and as of today I have 57 days left but we have a two week holiday in Australia and Hong Kong booked before then.

I'm really glad now that I paid into my pension scheme because I resented paying the money for many years thinking I would rather had had it when times were tight.

2 hours each way, my God!
I struggle more and more with battling through Manchester traffic for an hour or so every day. I'd enjoy my job a whole lot more if I didn't have to do that just one day a week less. I've no idea how long I'd last having to do a 2 hour commute!

Well done to you for stepping off the hamster wheel. :T

happyandcontented

uk1 wrote: »

It is neither a matter of selfishness or choice imho.

Life is much harsher for our kids than it was for us in my view and I'm not really talking about supporting kids who choose not to support themselves but instead find themselves in situations not of their making or choice.

I made a promise to my kids that I would never abandon them as long as they did their best and I'm fortunate and more than willing to be able to keep that promise.

I am not sure I wholly agree with you.

We have fully financially supported all of ours through education to the stage they wanted to study to (Law Practice Cert, Masters, PhD, PGCE etc)and they all chose their own paths but we did make it clear to them that they needed to choose 'careers' with prospects, not just a subject to study at university without any clear cut idea of how it would be used or in what field.

I don't really buy into the 'not of their own choice' school of thought. I think it is more about advance planning and foresight as to what is likely to be the path to earn them a decent living in an area that they are interested in and can hopefully enjoy.

Obviously, some children have issues which preclude doing any of the above and will need support for much longer but generally, I think many are 'allowed' to drift into jobs which they are not suited for or to study subjects which lead nowhere.

I also accept that relationship breakups/job loss can cause issues and support may be required in those circumstances.

I suspect that this may not be a popular view, but as a family, it has worked for us.

bugslet

OldMusicGuy wrote: »

Finally, let's not be too hard on the world of IT. Over the last 40 years IT has transformed the way the world and businesses work. I was involved in a part of IT that contributed to improving the way businesses work and while I can't claim to have saved the world, I do feel that as a career it was more worthwhile than some of the things I considered doing.

It has revolutionised things, but IMO ( and I confirm I am a luddite), it has sucked the soul out of my industry. Everything is micromanaged to the nth degree. One of the reasons that my drivers stay well above the average job duration, is that we don't monitor their every move and analyse them to death. There used to be a real feeling of romance and 'maverickness' in haulage, all that's pretty much gone now. That is partly down to the prevalence of the corporate world, but IT has taken the fun away. Sorry OMG!:o

michaels wrote: »

I suspect I am selfish enough that I would not put myself through extra years of work just so my kids could choose not to

I do like you!

I have no kids, and I doubt I'd be able to retire at 55 if I had had them. I also intend to run down my money as low as I can. If anyone could tell me exactly when I'm going to fall ill or drop down dead, it would be so helpful;)

Thorsson

I see that my challenge to hear from some who retired early some time ago (to get a longer term perspective) only garnered one answer and that was only 7 years and OH was still working, so not really what I was after.

I had my fun when I was young, so I started a family late; only now (at 67) just about to see my first buy his house; my second will probably buy later in the year, but has already moved out. I chose to have a family and I believe that means I took on certain responsibilities, including helping them on the property ladder. We never got any help from either family, so I know how hard it is without that. My father, oddly enough, took early retirement back in 1980, when few did it. Having seen how it worked out for him, I know it doesn't suit everyone. In fact, I've watched a lot of people after retirement and I'm not convinced that moving from a full time job to no job in one fell swoop is a good idea for most. I decided to be more gradual about it.

I switched to working for a consultancy 4 years ago and gave up management, which removed most of my stress (TBH I don't think I could have carried on in my previous role for so long). I enjoy my work, as I can make a real difference - I've saved the taxpayer £ms advising government departments - and I like being able to buy what I want without having to think about the cost. I did switch to a 4 day week at 65; as I had to start drawing one work pension and I decided it wasn't worth waiting on the SP. The change cost very little with the tax and travel saved and with me no longer paying NI. I like the extra free time and I also work from home one day a week, which helps when you have a 90 minute commute.

When there's just the two of us I'll work out what our living costs are - it's very hard to work out when you have a son who has a room full of electronics, changes his clothes twice a day and has a vegetarian girlfriend you have to buy separate food for most weekends. Maybe I'll retire this year, but more likely I'll cut down my work further. I'm lucky that I have knowledge and skills that are in demand and likely to be so for the next few years, so can probably arrange this.