FIREside Chats

jennystarpepper

becky_rtw said:

jennystarpepper said:

becky_rtw said:

We are definitely going to travel. We're learning French because we want to live there eventually. 

We have to sell our place anyway so that helps a bit actually. Means we aren't tied to anywhere. 

Ideally for me we'd travel by train, but hubby would like a camper van. All of France and Corsica is on the list, as are the Nordics.

Lots of hiking and running definitely. I also would like to spend some time in French speaking parts of the world like Morocco (been once). Maybe learn a 3rd language, our French is decent now, not fluent of course. Being able to communicate is really important to me. 

We'll probably start drawing up more definite plans once we put the place up for sale. It can take up to a year to sell dental practices. This means we may have to move our plans around. 

We are real stay at home peeps by nature so this seems our one chance to explore some more. Then we are looking at chateau/towers in France, probably in Burgundy or Occitane (have to watch for termites down south though!). 

We have a few years to go yet and having a bit of time to plan things is good because you can 'tweak' as much as you want., but it is exciting to think about the future.

Love your Idea of train travel, we have discussed a few train journeys in Australia.  Our last trip to NZ had our train trip stopped due to an earth quake, but we can book again and our friends and family were safe. 

Train in Aus are meant to be good, but not necessarily cheaper. I love a bit of 'man in seat 61' https://www.seat61.com/index-mobile.htm

For inspiration.

We did London to Florence via a few days in Geneva a couple of years ago. It was lovely to travel through the mountains and Italian trains are a delight. Free prosecco in slightly fancier class 😂

LOL, love me a bit of seat 61.  Had a few day trips, when I've been in Australia, The Ghan is on my wish list.

Ahhh, my penny jar needs to work harder!!

Karmacat

Loving the plans being shared.  I retired early at 62, because of ill health (chronic fatigue), that was four and a half years ago.  The 18 months was taken up with my mother - nursing, death and probate duties, plus assorted family madness.  The next two years were spent going on reduced rate, short notice cruises (4 altogether), catsitting in London for relatives, I love being around cats and having London on my doorstep for a few weeks but not permanently, ignoring everything that needed doing in my house and garden in favour of getting out a bit instead of struggling with work and going to bed immediately.  Brilliant time.  Then the pandemic struck.  Enforced time at home with lockdowns has meant I've been stuck at home like everyone else of course, so I've caught up on a lot of that stuff in my home and garden.  Not all of it by any means, but quite a bit.

What now for the plans?   Got a short trip away planned to a self contained airbnb in the countryside, trying to arrange a family visit, but nothing planned internationally this year and even if I was offered a catsitting gig by the same nephew, I'm not sure I'd take him up on it.

Longer term - I hope to travel again the way I have done.  I hope my garden will have more perennials as I grow from seed, divide clumps and buy from garden centres, I hope to regain some more health.  I hope to learn new skills.  I hope to self-publish at least two other books: one is an apocafic novel, the other is my four-month travel diary from 1976.  As amended  plus a second edition for my first book.

Busy_Mee

People are surprised to hear I haven't got any grand plans for when I retire  in the summer. 

They keep asking whether I will pick up any consultancy work. Err no, if I wanted to work I would carry on doing what I have been doing.

Initially, we will use this summer to catch up with family and friends we haven't seen in the last year. We already have a few booked in to come and stay in August. We also have a week in Greece (dodgy) and a week in Scotland ( more certain) booked.

We want to travel when we are able and have planned on 4 or 5 trips a year. We are planning on two long haul either side of Christmas and then a couple of short haul in the summer. We will also go to Scotland, which we love.

We want to visit Japan, New Zealand, The Pacific Islands, New England, a bit more of South America, and South Africa. 

We also like to explore less touristy bits of Europe and I like swimming in the Med, so we will have trips to unspoiled Mediterranean spots in the summer months. We also want to do the C500 route through the Scottish Highlands.

The rest of the time I intend to do all the things I like doing but have just never have the time for, gardening, baking, a flower arranging course, reading, meeting friends for coffee, running and keeping fit.

I am already a trustee of a charity, which I will continue with and will probably also do something a bit less corporate and a bit more hands on, like helping at a food bank.

Our daughter gets married next year and I will help with the planning. Hopefully in time we will also have grandchildren.

As I said nothing earth shattering, but a whole load better than working 40 + hours a week. I can't wait.

Suffolk_lass

Lots of plans before we stopped work have been revised and I cannot see us going for too many long haul flights in our plans (just maybe one) - we do still hope to visit NZ as I have been but Mr Sl has not. He lived in Australia before we met and there are various places there we still want to visit, along with revisiting some we have been to before. We both enjoy cricket and could include an Ashes tour in there at some point. I had already begun to explore using commercial supply chain vehicles and vessels as a slower way to travel, and provide some much needed time to just be. The long-haul could be a non-stop flight back from WA. I don't like flying if I'm honest but trains, boats and self-propelled vehicles are all good. We hope to try a long term rental in Italy too - an out of season but in a tourist location we know well in high season. Who knows after that?!

Meanwhile we have a large garden (by modern standards), grow most of our veg and summer fruits, keep bees (again, after a long break - not very good at it!), walk, cycle and take too little core strength exercise. We also have a (relatively) old motorhome which we plan to use a bit more to explore UK and have postponed a few trips that were planned for last year and this. Our house needs some work too and we are both quite good at just stopping when we should press on.

He motorcycles, I still don't, despite promising to take my test. I'm not sure which direction that will take but we might need some bigger buildings at some point as we have a huge amount of kit to support our various hobbies and pastimes. 

There might be more when I am feeling it - been struggling with enthusiasm recently.

hugheskevi

Busy_Mee said:

People are surprised to hear I haven't got any grand plans for when I retire  in the summer. 

They keep asking whether I will pick up any consultancy work. Err no, if I wanted to work I would carry on doing what I have been doing.

I get asked this frequently too.

I think many people don't appreciate how powerful the effect of working slightly longer is when retiring early. You are probably at your peak earnings at that time, and as you have achieved financial independence any additional income is pure surplus. So if there is any doubt you have 'enough' it is easily remedied by slightly more work. I found that the period between having minimum needed, target resources and plenty of resources was only about 4 years in total (ie from the time early retirement became viable albeit with sacrifices to retirement with as much as I could possibly need was a period of 4 years of work).

I did briefly consider things like working overseas, or returning to work after travel, or doing some other job later in life, but rapidly concluded that when I leave my main full-time employment I want to be in a position where I never need to work again (I may choose to, but it would be a choice, not a necessity).

The same conclusion applies to just about everything which might be irritating yet financially beneficial - so I thought about things like continuing a mortgage well after retirement and even though that had some quite desirable features it fell into the category of preferring to work slightly longer to reduce all risk and irritation and have a nice relaxing retirement.

The principle gets extended a bit further when considering things which may generate risk/expenditure. I far prefer to get these sorted before retirement so the cost is a known quantity and de-risks retirement slightly and generally makes for an easier life. So things like health tests, dental treatment, voluntary National Insurance contributions are all things I aim to get as well sorted as possible before leaving.

Busy_Mee

I agree. I could have gone 18 months ago and been OK, but wasn't quite ready. Then COVID happened and 
the extra time/salary and a period of temporary promotion has boosted our savings and my pension.

Thanks for the advice over on the pensions board regarding the McCloud judgment. I hadn't realised that my choice was between Classic throughout or Alpha from 2015. I mistakenly thought I could stick on my currently hybrid Classic/Alpha entitlement.

I calculated the two scenarios manually this morning and "I think" Classic throughout will be the best option. Tbh we are not talking huge differences. The best is £2k more a year pension and 3k more on lump sum.
 I was  slightly worried that I might be in a situation where I might need to repay some of the lump sum.

edinburgher

I never thought about the idea of a mortgage being annoying in retirement, but I suppose I can see how that might be a thing. I think we all sacrifice a degree of optimisation to get towards the nirvana of perhaps not the financially most efficient life, but the one that annoys us least! This is the reason I consider building myself a Vanguard Target Retirement clone for lower fees, but never bother.

Cashed in a random jar of silver found in a wardrobe today, paid half of that into my SIPP (£17.88, £22.35 after tax relief). As always, I'm thinking about it as a cafe breakfast and a few beers in 20 years time Maybe I should start aiming for something more dramatic...

ElmoR

Reading everyone's plans for retirement has been enjoyable It makes you realise that there are possibilities and also well beaten tracks that can be followed.

I'm hoping to 'go' at 60 (in 2028), and DH is 5 years younger, so we'll need a pot to get us to SP (hoping it exists then).

One quick question about NI contributions - how do you know if you contracted out? I don't think I ever did but keep reading this and it has me wondering now. Checked the website and I have "full" years listed as 27 paid up in 2020 and 15 years possible left to pay more. I thought you needed 35 years contributions in total for a full SP? Have I got that wrong?

Also, how do the NI years add up? Are they tax year, calender year or to your birth date?!

Plans for retirement. This is going to sound extremely weird but I never feel I will live til then. It doesn't seem like a real possibility yet my rational brain says don't be silly, you will. This is down to having treatment for cancer at age 19 - 20 years old and the constant nagging fear that something similar may happen. The doctor said something very psychologically damaging at the time - if you don't have this treatment you will not reach 30. It did me a favour in some ways because I decided to live every day as if it was my last and since then have done utterly insane amounts of travel, risk-taking, working abroad in exotic and far flung places, and crammed more in than I could have ever imagined.

It's possible that a bit of peace and quiet is needed for retirement. My brain is feeling tired and passion for my research is dropping. Fighting pollution, and a dream job for many people, is losing it's shine after several decades. Though that might be covid/lockdown and Brexit/loss of EU funding sources speaking? So a move to somewhere more rural, becoming recluses, and pottering round in the garden or on local walks (a coastline would be nice). Going off the grid. Our own power and as many foods grown as possible? The Good Life? In Dumfries/Galloway area or Cumbria? Support and see DD when we can obviously. As mentioned before, DH likes his computer games and making things, so he'll need a workshop space. Pricey to set up but low running costs?

Am also wondering whether one last big trip to Hawaii/New Zealand might be possible. I'd like to see leafy sea dragons in the wild. Those are the one thing I haven't seen while scuba diving that I really want to. Diving has been wonderful. Some of you have mentioned doing something big to mark a decade birthday - for 40 I went for a week of diving in Palau, 5 dives a day!! A most amazing experience.  I have literally cried with emotional happiness at the natural beauty and wonder on some dives.  I still have my scuba gear but the back injury will require a full diving medical and I'm not sure I will pass it with some loss of function/power in one leg. Maybe there is an injured/disabled diving initiative and possible insurance cover? Will look into that.

You know when people ask - would you have any regrets on your death bed? Is there something you really wished you had done? For me, that would be leafy sea dragons!!

Other than that, I want to potter/ sit on my backside (with a cat on my lap, dog at my feet maybe, and coffee), watch telly (more Punisher episodes please), a short walk in the countryside/along the coast, and read books.

I may pinch some of your ideas too though.

ElmoR xx

hugheskevi

ElmoR said:

I'm hoping to 'go' at 60 (in 2028), and DH is 5 years younger, so we'll need a pot to get us to SP (hoping it exists then).

One quick question about NI contributions - how do you know if you contracted out? I don't think I ever did but keep reading this and it has me wondering now. Checked the website and I have "full" years listed as 27 paid up in 2020 and 15 years possible left to pay more. I thought you needed 35 years contributions in total for a full SP? Have I got that wrong?

Also, how do the NI years add up? Are they tax year, calender year or to your birth date?!

State Pension and contracting-out (which leads to "COPE" references on State Pension forecasts) causes a huge amount of confusion.

The 35 years (which are financial years) only applies to those who started their adult life after 2016. Everyone one else is under a transitional system, which means that for many people 35 years is irrelevant and they will reach their full State Pension amount after a different number of qualifying years. Personally I will need 37 years for a full State Pension.

For the benefit of others, it is easy to check State Pension entitlement online, at the State Pension forecast page. This will provide you with information similar to the screen-shot below.

The most important information is the "Estimate based on your National Insurance record up to 5 April 2020"  - this is what you have accrued so far and takes account of past periods of being contracted-out. The other key piece of information is the "Forecast if you contribute another x years before (State Pension age)" noting that once you reach the full rate of State Pension you cannot accrue any more even though you still pay National Insurance contributions if under State Pension age. Usually, ensuring receipt of full State Pension, purchasing voluntary class 3 National Insurance contributions if necessary, is very good value. Past years can be purchased, and if retiring early future years can be purchased in due course if they will not be qualifying years.

This is down to having treatment for cancer at age 19 - 20 years old and the constant nagging fear that something similar may happen. The doctor said something very psychologically damaging at the time - if you don't have this treatment you will not reach 30.

One of the few reassuring things for people with serious medical conditions is that diagnosis of how long someone is going to live becomes very uncertain beyond a period of about 6 months, and certainly beyond 1 year. It is not uncommon for someone diagnosed with only a year to live to survive for several years.

Fighting pollution, and a dream job for many people, is losing it's shine after several decades.

I'd have become disillusioned very quickly - so few people are willing to take any action themselves to tackle sources of pollution, and continue to support very destructive industries through their purchases.

In Dumfries/Galloway area or Cumbria?

I wouldn't mind Scotland, but my wife ruled it out on account of remoteness and weather Some of the places in the north-east of England are excellent as well, especially out near the coast and the National Parks.

You know when people ask - would you have any regrets on your death bed? Is there something you really wished you had done? For me, that would be leafy sea dragons!!

On a similar note, one thing that always strikes me is that if someone asks 'What are you most proud of having done/achieved' then none of my answers involve my work. There wouldn't even be anything which got into my top 20 answers 

Karmacat

Elmo, even if you're living The Good Life, you can still go and see leafy sea dragons!  I just did an image search, and no wonder you want to!  Gorgeous.  If your brain is feeling tired, though (and I understand that statement) then you need some down time.  That doesn't mean it's permanent, it means you've been fighting hard, and you need some of that energy for yourself now.

I can't answer any of your questions on pensions - I do have a full state pension, but in checking it out, I just followed Martin's instructions, I don't have any special insight or memory of how to do it.  But I want to ask a question of my own, about fighting pollution?  Tell me more please