Planning for Early Retirement - what do you think?

fred246

I remember someone saying that you should be retiring for where you want to go to  instead of saying where you want to leave. "I am retiring to sail round the world, go fishing and play golf" rather than "I am retiring because I hate working". Of course you can and should start new hobbies in retirement but without any funding it's more difficult.

Brenster

fred246 said:

I remember someone saying that you should be retiring for where you want to go to  instead of saying where you want to leave. "I am retiring to sail round the world, go fishing and play golf" rather than "I am retiring because I hate working". Of course you can and should start new hobbies in retirement but without any funding it's more difficult.

The thought of retiring and not being able to afford to do the things i want to do sounds like hell, i personally would rather to continue to work

fred246

I love walking which is cheap but you end up driving quite a distance and then you need lunch with a pint and before you know it you have spent a bit.

NumberMan

The conversation has taken an interesting turn. I certainly have some plans for things to do in retirement but these are not fully fleshed out and i recognise this as something to address. I find my time is somewhat monopolised by work so there are lots of hobbies i would spend more time on given the chance but it is difficult to envision exactly what this would look like.

One option i have been considering is rather than having a cliff-edge retirement, either taking a three/six month sabbattical or dropping my days down to 2/3 a week for a couple of years which may both relieve some of the financial pressure as well as giving me a chance to adjust mentally. There is the option of doing some low-impact self-employed work to supplement my income.

In summary i realise there are retired people who struggle without the structure of work but i anticipate the vast majority find something fulfilling to do (partcularly where physically fit) so i see myself as more likely to fit into the second category.

barnstar2077

All seems fine

My boss sat me down yesterday and spent two hours telling me why he was going to implement some new measures that will make my life miserable, and why I should be thanking him for doing so!  He repeated the phrase "This isn't a stick to beat people with" several times.  There was no mention of a carrot however.  I won't miss all of the company bull$*!t that's for sure!

I was off for a few months a year or so ago and found that I was pretty much able to arrange to meet a family member or friend for lunch every other day.  Throw in some hobbies, lots of exercise, and making more of an effort to meet a special someone, and I don't think I will be bored.  Worse case scenario I will do some volunteering, something to do with helping the elderly (they have the best stories), or maybe helping out at an animal shelter, as I love dogs.

I agree that people should be going to something rather than running away from something, but at the same time, financial freedom gives you all the time in the world to work out who you are and what you really want to do with your life.

Anonymous101

Somewhat optimistic but with a few tweaks could work

A very interesting thread for me this one. I'm the same age as you slightly behind on existing savings but earning a little more and therefore saving at a larger rate than was possible for me a few years ago. I have similar goals around retirement (mid 40's) and have over the last few years been extremely interested in learning about Financial independence and the prospects of retiring early.

From a financial point of view I would say that your numbers look healthy and that they are very much in line with my own goals. I think working for an extra year or two in order to give yourself a larger buffer and additional peace of mind, especially for when stock market declines will inevitably materialise, is a wise move. I'm also a fan of derisking as much as possible prior to retiring so personally I'd look to pay off the mortgage as a hedge to drawing down any investments when markets are low. Other than that I don't think your plan is too far off.

The advice of retiring to something rather than away from something. Personally I don't see this as a problem, my outlook on life is that there is a whole world of things to see, do and experience and that I've always seen work as something that takes far too much time so would certainly not see having too much time as an issue. 

I will say that my experience of this board is that the readers are more cautious than others I frequent and certainly more so than the views I read on a lot of the FIRE blogs. I'm not wishing to put down any of the advice as its all valid and much of it is very sensible but I think its worth baring in mind it's likely to be on the cautious side when reading.

barnstar2077

All seems fine

Anonymous101 said:

A very interesting thread for me this one. I'm the same age as you slightly behind on existing savings but earning a little more and therefore saving at a larger rate than was possible for me a few years ago. I have similar goals around retirement (mid 40's) and have over the last few years been extremely interested in learning about Financial independence and the prospects of retiring early.

From a financial point of view I would say that your numbers look healthy and that they are very much in line with my own goals. I think working for an extra year or two in order to give yourself a larger buffer and additional peace of mind, especially for when stock market declines will inevitably materialise, is a wise move. I'm also a fan of derisking as much as possible prior to retiring so personally I'd look to pay off the mortgage as a hedge to drawing down any investments when markets are low. Other than that I don't think your plan is too far off.

The advice of retiring to something rather than away from something. Personally I don't see this as a problem, my outlook on life is that there is a whole world of things to see, do and experience and that I've always seen work as something that takes far too much time so would certainly not see having too much time as an issue. 

I will say that my experience of this board is that the readers are more cautious than others I frequent and certainly more so than the views I read on a lot of the FIRE blogs. I'm not wishing to put down any of the advice as its all valid and much of it is very sensible but I think its worth baring in mind it's likely to be on the cautious side when reading.

I know it is somewhat of a tangent, but if you know of any good FIRE blogs / websites I would be interested in some links please.  Thank you.

Thrugelmir

Utterly crazy and fundamentally flawed plan

At 55 I took a backward step. Took a junior role in a quasi public sector organisation. 33 days annual leave, plus bank holidays. Flexi time. resulting in an additional 2 days off every 4 weeks. No expectation of overtime being worked. DB pension scheme. Stress levels disappeared.  At 61 dropped to a four day week as had reduced my own work load. At 63 got fed up with the internal politics. Walked away. Volunteered for the National Trust. 

Anonymous101

Somewhat optimistic but with a few tweaks could work

barnstar2077 said:

Anonymous101 said:

A very interesting thread for me this one. I'm the same age as you slightly behind on existing savings but earning a little more and therefore saving at a larger rate than was possible for me a few years ago. I have similar goals around retirement (mid 40's) and have over the last few years been extremely interested in learning about Financial independence and the prospects of retiring early.

From a financial point of view I would say that your numbers look healthy and that they are very much in line with my own goals. I think working for an extra year or two in order to give yourself a larger buffer and additional peace of mind, especially for when stock market declines will inevitably materialise, is a wise move. I'm also a fan of derisking as much as possible prior to retiring so personally I'd look to pay off the mortgage as a hedge to drawing down any investments when markets are low. Other than that I don't think your plan is too far off.

The advice of retiring to something rather than away from something. Personally I don't see this as a problem, my outlook on life is that there is a whole world of things to see, do and experience and that I've always seen work as something that takes far too much time so would certainly not see having too much time as an issue. 

I will say that my experience of this board is that the readers are more cautious than others I frequent and certainly more so than the views I read on a lot of the FIRE blogs. I'm not wishing to put down any of the advice as its all valid and much of it is very sensible but I think its worth baring in mind it's likely to be on the cautious side when reading.

I know it is somewhat of a tangent, but if you know of any good FIRE blogs / websites I would be interested in some links please.  Thank you.

Here's a few of my favourites -
Some of these are more educational and others more personal.
The personal ones are written by people from all across the range of incomes and expenditures. I enjoy that as I think it helps me question and understand my own.
I don't read as many US based blogs as I used to but always worth looking in on the original FI blogger Mr Money Moustache and you won't find any investing blogs more detailed than Big ERN's.

If I had to recommend a couple to anyone new to FIRE it would be Monevator, Banker on Fire and Mr Money Moustache. Between the three of them they cover all the principles and are the most applicable to most people.

UK 
https://monevator.com/
http://bankeronfire.com/
https://theescapeartist.me/
https://firevlondon.com/
https://simplelivingsomerset.wordpress.com/
http://quietlysaving.co.uk/
https://www.finumus.com/

US
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/.
https://earlyretirementnow.com/

BananaRepublic

Several neighbours, R. and R., are retired and get bored. S. next door retired at about 56 and she loves it. Her macular degeneration has stopped perhaps due to much reduced stress levels. A friend’s father hates it, her mum loves it. I took early retirement last year just before lockdown. I love it although I don’t like lockdown. I didn’t want to retire at 67 and find that ill health meant I couldn’t enjoy the free time. My maternal grandfather retired at 60 or 65 and within a year he was dead. Retirement at 50 or younger would be ideal, I was a bit older. Too many people are fixated by making money rather than enjoyment of life.