Can I afford to quit

webnibbler

NorthernMonkey1 said:

I’m approaching 42, and I’ve mostly had enough of work.

42 seems young to be feeling this way. Have you explored what it is about your job that you have had enough of? Is there an opportunity to do something different you would enjoy doing more even if it means earning less? Or retraining perhaps.

Could you start a side hussle that gives you enjoyment and could grow to take more time and start to replace your work income.

vacheron

In addition to all the points above, and considering a 15 year "bridge" does your £1,100 per month include for:

Boiler reaches end of life (possibly twice) - £5k
House needs a new roof - £10-15K
Windows need replacing - £10-20K
New cars (as and when they need replacing) - £ thousands

Does Mrs NM work, or want to work? If not, is she happy with living on a combined salary of £13,200 per year for the next decade and a half? 

Your SIPP will then need to last you until your state pension age (assume 67, 68?). What will realistically be left of that after 12-13 years to supplement both your state pensions? (i assume neither of you will have paid enough years contributions to be eligible for the full state pension at this point), so you will need to factor in that reduction, or the cost of buying up any extra years.

I am usually optimistic about these types of ideas, but I just think this is far too tight, with little to no contingency accounted for. 

chiefie

That looks incredibly tight. Things go wrong, houses fall to bits, kids eat for England (or whatever country you are in :-)) and most importantly you and your partner change too. Good luck - and don't forget to check on your state pensions you won't have paid enough to get the full one

2nd_time_buyer

Looks very tight but on the positive side, with a (very) fair wind it might be just about workable.

Often it is easier to carry on, rather than make a change. If you are not happy with how things are, then I applaud your boldness. You will have the breathing space to find out what (if anything) you would rather do. 

... So in my opinion, it is not such a bad idea assuming you are not slamming the door to working in the future.

Arthurian

Could you reduce your hours?  I found that going from working Mon-Fri to having every Monday off made a huge difference.  You can do what you want to do on your Mondays off while everyone else is dragging themselves back to work, and Friday afternoon comes so much quicker.  Mondays are considerably less busy than weekends, for walks in national parks or shopping.

Nebulous2

I'm one for making the big, bold decisions, sometimes to my detriment. I twice gave up a job I was no longer enjoying for a different role with a drop in salary. Both times I was (eventually) much happier in the new role. We

However I think you are running it too tight here. As said earlier, our children had some expensive hobbies. We also holidayed, and despite doing campsites /gites it still had a cost. 

Have you thought about part-time, even in a different field? Two days a week - even at minimum wage would give you a cushion to depend on. 

El_Torro

I agree with those who say you should look at either reducing your hours or changing job, even to a less well paying job. You have a good amount of assets accumulated for a 41 year old, but I don’t think you’re close to being able to take early retirement yet. There’s too many things that could go wrong (and some of them will, that’s life) for this to work.

Steve182

42 is far too young to retire unless you are seriously rich, which you are certainly not.

You (presumably) have plenty of fitness, energy and a baby, but you would have little money to allow you to enjoy any of them if you retired.

Remember - when you retire you have more time to spend money!

Retireinten

I really don't like my job, it's a means to an end and although I'm pretty resilient the stress is wearing me down a bit. So I understand the 'I've almost had enough of work' statement.  I know I need to make a change and I'm working on it... but the answer isn't to retire for me, not yet anyway, because we don't have the funds for the lifestyle we want in retirement.

Can you look at this a different way?  You are well on your way to financial independence as a family because your spending is very low and your assets pretty much covers that low spend.  But you don't have any 'fun' money or contingency and that's what makes this feel very, very tight.

What you do have is enough financial security to make a change. Part time work, a complete career change, new job on less money, you and your wife both work part time etc etc. These are far less risky than complete retirement and worth exploring to get a better quality of life overall. 

jim8888

I feel if you're having to ask the question, the answer is probably "no". Or not to the standard you want. That's the thing about retirement, how much money do you want to have to enjoy it? It's a difficult question to answer and takes a bit of hard headed budgeting, preferably from experience. I was shocked when I really started totalling up my household monthly spend. Bills were easy - food, council tax, car payments, utilities. It was the previously undocumented stuff that really added up - those weekend takeaways, that extra tank of petrol, the occasional treat of a meal out, the sprucing up of a spare room. Then I also had the boiler repair, the new lawnmower, the car tyre punctures, that weekend away, the replacement ipad - every month there seemed to be a significant amount of "unplanned" spend. I was lucky that I could afford it, but eventually I had to total up every "known" piece of household expenditure I could identify and then add 20% on top for the "unknowns". It still annoys me every month when I see the "unplanned" spending we incur, but at least I now accept the reality of it.