Early-retirement wannabe

MallyGirl · 19 July 2018 at 12:20PM

For me, retired will be when I leave the full time job with no intention of getting another one. OH is coming round to the idea of retiring at 60 now - we could probably go earlier but that will see DD through uni as it is a long course with less opportunity to work in the hols. I expect we will want to help her as it is her vocation - vet med - and I would rather do that than have her struggle with balancing studies/work experience placements and trying to earn some cash to keep her going.
He did say he was at a meeting with a similar aged colleague the other day and the guy said he was looking forward to 2 years time when he could retire (must have been thinking about turning 55). DH is always better when he finds someone else doing something that I am trying to get him to do!
LinkedIn did send me an interesting part time consultancy role in a local charity yesterday. I suspect I might take that sort of gentle wind down route (but before 60) as I am not sure I want another 9 years of the stress/hassle/grief of the FT role.

kidmugsy · 19 July 2018 at 12:32PM

Triumph13 wrote: »

Could be some interesting conversations:

Random Person: "So what do you do for a living?"
Me: "I'm a stay at home dad."
RP: "Oh, so what does your wife do for a living?"
M3: "She's a stay at home mum."
RP: "?????"

We are of independent means.

Anonymous101 · 19 July 2018 at 2:38PM

If you need to give a job title other than retired, "self employed" or "Investment manager" would be options if you want to play a straight bat.

Depending on the person asking I'd like to have a bit of sport though.

Terron · 19 July 2018 at 4:35PM

Triumph13 wrote: »

I think that can vary a lot depending on your relationship to the part time work.
If you need the money to make your plans work then you are definitely still a wage slave.

If you are using it to cling on to your status and/or identity then clearly you haven't made the transition.

If you are using it to keep your options open in case you want / need to return to full time work then mentally you're probably not what I would call retired.

Adter I lost my job when I was 54 I bought properties to let. I pay other people to manage them so that id very much a part time job. I could have surviced living off my capital but it felt better to pit it to work,

With the tax changes I started putting new properties into a company, so I am technically employed as the director. though I have payed a lot more into the company that I have taken out so far.,
I did a bit of GDPR consultancy for one of my letting agents this year. I needed to research it for myself anyway,
Having found out that my pensions aren't quite as good as I thought they were going to be. Property forms part of my plan, but I am my own boss in all roles and can chose when to work or not.

As far as HMRC are concerned I am still working (tax bill arrived this morning

). As far I my sister are concenrned I don't work. Pne of them "retired" from teaching but went back to cover a maternity leave and srill does tutoring.

k6chris · 19 July 2018 at 5:21PM

kidmugsy wrote: »

We are of independent means.

I am a Lifestyle Entrepreneur......

atush · 20 July 2018 at 4:03PM

Terron wrote: »

Adter I lost my job when I was 54 I bought properties to let. I pay other people to manage them so that id very much a part time job. I could have surviced living off my capital but it felt better to pit it to work,

With the tax changes I started putting new properties into a company, so I am technically employed as the director. though I have payed a lot more into the company that I have taken out so far.,
I did a bit of GDPR consultancy for one of my letting agents this year. I needed to research it for myself anyway,
Having found out that my pensions aren't quite as good as I thought they were going to be. Property forms part of my plan, but I am my own boss in all roles and can chose when to work or not.

As far as HMRC are concerned I am still working (tax bill arrived this morning ). As far I my sister are concenrned I don't work. Pne of them "retired" from teaching but went back to cover a maternity leave and srill does tutoring.

Have you set up a pension thru the company?

Terron · 20 July 2018 at 4:12PM

atush wrote: »

Have you set up a pension thru the company?

Not yet. I have been reinvesting the profits so far. I am currently in the process of buying a third property for it. T transferred my pure DC company pension to a flexible scheme and plan to start paying into that from my company. probably next year.

MallyGirl · 10 August 2018 at 12:15PM

I am now back from a 'bucket list' type of holiday which has helped to crystallise some of our ideas on early retirement and our approach.
For some, the 'being frugal now to quit earlier' is the way to go but this break has shown that that is not for us. We will continue to contribute heavily to pensions (for the tax/NI breaks) and ISAs (for the flexibility and ability to manage income tax bills) but we will also be taking some more of these sort of trips whilst we are still fit and healthy enough to do it. I would hate to retire and find I was too knackered to do some of the things I had been looking forward to - and then there is also the bus that might take me out tomorrow.
I would rather work a little longer to pay for this approach.
DH actually enjoys his job so that might be a future challenge - if I want to quit before he does. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it.
We had quite a physical holiday seeing wildlife and it was fantastic but it brought home that we might not be able to do this stuff if we leave it too long. My Dad, 72, has had both knees and one ankle replaced so that doesn't bode well genetically.
I think this will mean that we might still have some outstanding mortgage to pay - and we will have had to extend the mortgage term while we are still working - into retirement but we will be able to more than offset that with a TFLS should we want to.

happyandcontented · 10 August 2018 at 12:36PM

MallyGirl wrote: »

I am now back from a 'bucket list' type of holiday which has helped to crystallise some of our ideas on early retirement and our approach.
For some, the 'being frugal now to quit earlier' is the way to go but this break has shown that that is not for us. We will continue to contribute heavily to pensions (for the tax/NI breaks) and ISAs (for the flexibility and ability to manage income tax bills) but we will also be taking some more of these sort of trips whilst we are still fit and healthy enough to do it. I would hate to retire and find I was too knackered to do some of the things I had been looking forward to - and then there is also the bus that might take me out tomorrow.
I would rather work a little longer to pay for this approach.
DH actually enjoys his job so that might be a future challenge - if I want to quit before he does. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it.
We had quite a physical holiday seeing wildlife and it was fantastic but it brought home that we might not be able to do this stuff if we leave it too long. My Dad, 72, has had both knees and one ankle replaced so that doesn't bode well genetically.
I think this will mean that we might still have some outstanding mortgage to pay - and we will have had to extend the mortgage term while we are still working - into retirement but we will be able to more than offset that with a TFLS should we want to.

We have taken this approach too.

We could both retire now theoretically, but we also both enjoy our jobs and if I am honest I am not sure that we have enough hobbies, aside from travelling, to sustain retirement!

We are now actively exploring new hobbies to see what will appeal long term whilst we have now decided to both do an extra 18 months working to add to our cash reserves and boost my pension.

JoeEngland · 10 August 2018 at 8:25PM

happyandcontented wrote: »

We have taken this approach too.

We could both retire now theoretically, but we also both enjoy our jobs and if I am honest I am not sure that we have enough hobbies, aside from travelling, to sustain retirement!

We are now actively exploring new hobbies to see what will appeal long term whilst we have now decided to both do an extra 18 months working to add to our cash reserves and boost my pension.

Hobbies, learning something new, playing a sport, volunteering etc, the world is your oyster and the only real limit on what to do with your time when retired is your imagination.

Early-retirement wannabe

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