Alternative living to escape the rat race....

canonman

Has anyone here managed to escape the rat race and semi‑retire before 35?

I’ve been part of this forum for around 15 years, and it’s been an incredible resource for navigating all things money. But until about six months ago, I was like most people—caught up in the rat race. Constant bills, rising mortgage payments, utilities, council tax… and then I stopped to think: if we’re lucky, we get 75 years of life. That’s 75 winters, summers, Christmases. When you break it down, around 40% of your waking hours are spent working, and another 30% sleeping. There has to be more to life than that.

So I decided enough was enough.

I sold our house, kept one property as a rental (though it’s more hassle than it’s worth), and bought a 28T RV. I hold a Class 1 licence, so I can move it easily, and the unit is fully off‑grid capable—one fixed cost. By my calculations, this reduces our expenses by about 85%. I’ll only need to work one week a month to have more disposable income than I did before. The RV does need some work, but that’s already underway.

I’d love to hear from others—has anyone else taken the leap, stepped away from the rat race, and found a way to live differently? How did you do it, and what challenges did you face?

Sorry if this is the wrong thread admins please feel free to move it and here is a similar pic to ours and interior.

fwor

It's probably going to depend a lot on what line of work you're in. In some areas of tech, it could be quite difficult to keep yourself up to date and relevant if you are only doing one day a week. And a lot of clients (in some areas of tech) are not interested in employing people to do one day a week.

And of course you have to bear in mind that you have a lot of years of living to do at 35. The thing you would really want to avoid is finding that you're running out of money at age 50, with no real prospects of re-skilling.

I retired in my mid 40s, and I did that on the basis of a financial model that showed that I could survive until taking my DB pension without having to work at all. That meant that I didn't have the worry of having to find short-term contracts for 15 years.

Emmia

What would happen if you developed a health condition that meant you could no longer drive the vehicle? And if you have no physical address, how does that work for banking, voting and insuring the vehicle etc. 

Plus the vehicle (unlike a physical property in most cases) will continuously depreciate - so hopefully you have enough in the bank to buy a replacement in due course.

Do you own land where you can park it? Or have you factored those costs into your calculations?

The other problem might be, that if you decided not to live in the RV any more for whatever reason, you'll probably find buying a new property almost impossible - so I'd probably hang onto that BTL.

singhini

i stopped working at 45 (but then did 2 years working in a factory). 

i got fed-up of paying £25k in Income tax and NI   (that's £25k every year for about 9 years)
I sold the house and downsized and have been living off bank interest, savings and rent-a-room scheme, plus i am mortgage free.

As you said, there's more to life   (i got out of bed at 12.05 today and i will be doing the same tomorrow) 🤣

PS: that's a lovely motor 👍

fwor

A further point on big vehicles: a friend and her then-partner bought themselves a large truck (which was actually a Police Incident Response Unit) and did up the interior to add a bed and basic cooking facilities. 

They then hatched a plan to drive it up and around Scotland - only to discover that it did about 12MPG, and it needed new tyres at £1600, and it's quite difficult to find somewhere to park up a big truck and live in it if you don't want to keep spending money on diesel.

So they lived in it on a side street in Brighton for a year and then sold it to someone else!

canonman

fwor said:

It's probably going to depend a lot on what line of work you're in. In some areas of tech, it could be quite difficult to keep yourself up to date and relevant if you are only doing one day a week. And a lot of clients (in some areas of tech) are not interested in employing people to do one day a week.

And of course you have to bear in mind that you have a lot of years of living to do at 35. The thing you would really want to avoid is finding that you're running out of money at age 50, with no real prospects of re-skilling.

I retired in my mid 40s, and I did that on the basis of a financial model that showed that I could survive until taking my DB pension without having to work at all. That meant that I didn't have the worry of having to find short-term contracts for 15 years.

I don't work in tech! 

I trained as a HGV mechanic and then went off driving. I've tried to do remedial office work, however I've always gone back to driving simply as the money is too good and I can work on my own terms wherever in the UK and with the current shortage of drivers employers need you more than you need them. It's also a really strange industry and there's no interviews. No formality is it's. Can you drive? Can you start on Monday type attitude? I really do feel for people that have to apply for jobs.

I'm also really fortunate that I purchased two properties and one is currently a rental. 

Congratulations on retiring at 40!

canonman

fwor said:

A further point on big vehicles: a friend and her then-partner bought themselves a large truck (which was actually a Police Incident Response Unit) and did up the interior to add a bed and basic cooking facilities. 

They then hatched a plan to drive it up and around Scotland - only to discover that it did about 12MPG, and it needed new tyres at £1600, and it's quite difficult to find somewhere to park up a big truck and live in it if you don't want to keep spending money on diesel.

So they lived in it on a side street in Brighton for a year and then sold it to someone else!

I spent the last 10 years driving vehicles much larger and this won't be moving all that often. Most likely three times a year to follow areas of the UK I'd like to be in. I'm unsure to purchase an actual caravan or a van conversion for little holidays! 

canonman

singhini said:

i stopped working at 45 (but then did 2 years working in a factory). 

i got fed-up of paying £25k in Income tax and NI   (that's £25k every year for about 9 years)
I sold the house and downsized and have been living off bank interest, savings and rent-a-room scheme, plus i am mortgage free.

As you said, there's more to life   (i got out of bed at 12.05 today and i will be doing the same tomorrow) 🤣

PS: that's a lovely motor 👍

Congratulations at beating the system. I really do admire that. It must feel so empowering to know that other people have to or want to, but feel the need to continue with the rat race! .

With your spare time, do you follow any interests or any hobbies? 

singhini

I’ve got a classic car (a Mercedes R107 500SL) and I spend a lot of time walking to keep fit. I walk or run every day, and once a month I pick a random day to do a 26-mile walk, which usually takes me around six hours.

Although I have the Mercedes and a Mini as potential daily drivers, they’re usually SORN for most of the year because I’m perfectly happy walking everywhere.

I also grow my own vegetables and cook from scratch.

All of this means I live at a slower pace of life and don’t cram as much into each day as others might. Add to this  the fact I often stay in bed until midday (as I am right now), i therefore find my days feel adequately filled.

Long gone are the days of drinking and going to the pub. Nor do i eat out or eat takeaway. Simply growing food and cooking fills my days.

My annual spend Jan to Nov (this year) is just over £10k and that spend includes having a pet cat who sadly passed away from cancer back in April (due to vet bills, his spend this year was £2k and so moving forward i suspect total 2026 annual spend will be £9k). 

Ah, the simple life!

fwor

canonman said:

I trained as a HGV mechanic and then went off driving. I've tried to do remedial office work, however I've always gone back to driving simply as the money is too good and I can work on my own terms wherever in the UK and with the current shortage of drivers employers need you more than you need them. It's also a really strange industry and there's no interviews. No formality is it's. Can you drive? Can you start on Monday type attitude? I really do feel for people that have to apply for jobs.

Ah yes - it's an odd industry, from what I can tell. An ageing workforce that seems (for some unknown reason) to particularly affect HGV driving. Doesn't seem like there is likely to be any shortage of short-notice work any time soon, so as long as your eyesight and general health hold up, you should be OK for the foreseeable.

p00hsticks

canonman said:

I sold our house, kept one property as a rental 

The vast majority of 35 year olds probably wouldn't have any equity in the property they live in (if they've managed to buy one yet), let alone have a rental property too. What you describe is not going to be an option for many at that sort of age