Early-retirement wannabe

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  • seven-day-weekend
    seven-day-weekend Posts: 36,755 Forumite
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    melanzana wrote: »
    How is everyone?

    Has anyone taken the plunge lately? Don't dither, if you can afford to, and really want to, just do it! Take it from me.

    Still great here. Just back from your wonderful country, Oxford and surrounds. Wow. Pity about the Sterling difference as I am in euroland. But I coped.

    Off to Basque Country in a couple of weeks. Somewhere I always wanted to go. Great flights and accomm. Will be moving around on buses and trains. Great way to see the place and meet the natives!

    Best of luck to all.
    The Basque country is so beautiful and the Basque people are so friendly. You'll love it!
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
  • fatbeetle
    fatbeetle Posts: 567 Forumite
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    1.Who is aiming for early retirement (or who has retired early already)?

    Set a date of Feb 2018, to fully retire at 59 yrs old. My wife, the jammy... will be 54yrs old on retiring.

    2 When did you begin planning and what drove the decision?

    We've been day dreaming about it for years, started seriously thinking / planning it in the last 6 months. A bit of lateral thinking started us believing it was possible.

    3. What is the strategy for getting there?

    Take my super as a lump sum to last us for 6 years. After 6 years my wife's (massive) super will kick in.

    4. How much of a relative decline in income are you prepared to take / did you take?

    The first 6 years we'll be living cautiously on around 265,000 quid pa. After my wife;s super kicks in we'll have around 50,000 quid pato play with.

    5. What are your main concerns?

    The strength of the Aussie dollar vs the quid.
    “If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and who weren't so lazy.”
  • chucknorris
    chucknorris Posts: 10,786 Forumite
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    Marine_life wrote: »
    Many thanks.


    A lot of people think about Financial Independence in tandem with Early Retirement and once you have reach FI actually the burning desire to RE reduces, simply because you know you can.


    I am not certain to get the promotion so could still be going this year - but if its offered, I've concluded I would be mad to turn it down.

    I'm also dithering over retirement, I'm 58 and financially independent, the stats point to about another 28 years of life. Obviously it could be more or less, if its more that's great, but if it was less, when I get there and reflect, I imagine that I would be thinking that I should have had more leisure time in my remaining years. That is my thought process at the moment, and it is becoming difficult to see myself working more than another year. I like my job, but it doesn't compare favorably to my hobbies and past times. I don't think that I will run out of money, but I'm damn sure that I am going to run out of time.
    Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one birdThe only time Chuck Norris was wrong was when he thought he had made a mistakeChuck Norris puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".I've started running again, after several injuries had forced me to stop
  • seven-day-weekend
    seven-day-weekend Posts: 36,755 Forumite
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    My firm advice is....do it while you can because you may not be able to otherwise.

    A friend of ours died suddenly at 62....but he'd had his three years of living in the sun in Portugal.

    Another friend died at 59, three weeks after being diagnosed with cancer - he never had a chance to retire to the country, which was his dream.

    Do it while you can, you may not get another chance.
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
    Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton
  • chris_m
    chris_m Posts: 8,250 Forumite
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    seven-day-weekend wrote: »
    My firm advice is....do it while you can because you may not be able to otherwise.

    Spot on.
    My interests include landscape photography and fell walking, so I decided to jump ship once my deliberately pessimistic forecasts indicated that I could afford to live the lifestyle that I want - rather than waiting for maximum pension, maybe to find that my knees had packed up by then.
  • chucknorris
    chucknorris Posts: 10,786 Forumite
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    edited 25 May 2016 at 8:45AM
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    chris_m wrote: »
    Spot on.
    My interests include landscape photography and fell walking, so I decided to jump ship once my deliberately pessimistic forecasts indicated that I could afford to live the lifestyle that I want - rather than waiting for maximum pension, maybe to find that my knees had packed up by then.
    seven-day-weekend wrote: »
    My firm advice is....do it while you can because you may not be able to otherwise.

    A friend of ours died suddenly at 62....but he'd had his three years of living in the sun in Portugal.

    Another friend died at 59, three weeks after being diagnosed with cancer - he never had a chance to retire to the country, which was his dream.

    Do it while you can, you may not get another chance.

    I now think that I have just about managed to switch my focus away from the finance of retirement, to my longevity, so I really can't see myself working more than one more year. Which in itself makes that last year a bit easier, as I now have the end in sight (not that it was that hard to begin with).

    I did inform my employer that if they didn't revise my timetable (I'm a lecturer) that I would retire this December, they are working on doing that right now, if they don't do that, then I will definitely retire this December, I have made that perfectly clear.
    Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one birdThe only time Chuck Norris was wrong was when he thought he had made a mistakeChuck Norris puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".I've started running again, after several injuries had forced me to stop
  • Goldiegirl
    Goldiegirl Posts: 8,805 Forumite
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    edited 25 May 2016 at 9:22AM
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    Marine_life wrote: »
    Many thanks.


    A lot of people think about Financial Independence in tandem with Early Retirement and once you have reach FI actually the burning desire to RE reduces, simply because you know you can.


    I am not certain to get the promotion so could still be going this year - but if its offered, I've concluded I would be mad to turn it down.

    As soon as I was confident that we were in a financial position to stop work, for me, the desire to retire early intensified, not reduced.

    I have to say, at nearly 18 months after finishing work, the thought of promotion and committing to four more years of work, fills me with horror. I wouldn't do it for any money.

    I've said it before, but I think you'll know when you are ready for retirement, when you are ready to ditch your signature.

    When you are retired, you don't care if someone beats you - it doesn't matter any more!
    Early retired - 18th December 2014
    If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough
  • edinburgher
    edinburgher Posts: 13,462 Forumite
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    Are there any people on this thread who made it on average salaries (say £30k) and without defined benefit pensions? I ask as our pension pots seem to creep up and it can be a bit disheartening (currently contributing 14% of salary between us and employer).
  • Triumph13
    Triumph13 Posts: 1,730 Forumite
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    Goldiegirl wrote: »
    As soon as I was confident that we were in a financial position to stop work, for me, the desire to retire early intensified, not reduced.
    +1 on this. Once you have 'enough' the marginal utility of any more can drop off very rapidly indeed.
    I also strongly agree with Melanza that "the less you have the easier the decision". If we earned less / had a lower savings rate then I would call it quits now as we should be able to cover our current spending (as a family with 2 kids still at home) already. The desire to go is immense now, but another 32 months would give us an extra 25% - and take me to the LTA - so that's what we're aiming for. I have spent SO much time thinking , "but if I keep going for another x years I'd have y much more money" and come to the conclusion: 'What for?", as I can very happily fill my days having fun doing things that are well within my budget already (I have a gigantic backlog of books to read for one thing!).
    At the weekend I met a couple of friends who recently took early retirement after he got made redundant. As they said 'we don't really have enough money, but we don't care!' They just got back from a multi-week cycling holiday in Spain and are looking happier and healthier than I've ever seen them. No amount of extra money buys that.
    So Marine Life, if you do get offered the promotion, before you accept please ask yourself exactly what you will do with that extra money and what will you NOT be doing if you have to keep working?
  • Triumph13
    Triumph13 Posts: 1,730 Forumite
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    edinburgher wrote: »
    Are there any people on this thread who made it on average salaries (say £30k) and without defined benefit pensions? I ask as our pension pots seem to creep up and it can be a bit disheartening (currently contributing 14% of salary between us and employer).
    Hi edinburgher, this thread does seem to be rather dominated by the better-heeled, but as Mr Money Mustache would say, it's not about how much you earn, it's about your savings ratio. If you earn 30 and live on 15 you can retire just as soon as someone who earns 100 and lives on 50 (particularly as the state pension is much more significant for someone on a lower income).
    The obvious riposte to that of course, is that living on 50 is a damn sight easier than living on 15, but at the end of the day it still comes down to the mindset of saying 'I want to live a much cheaper life than my earnings would allow in order to retire early'
    It can be done, but you will need to make some hard decisions and get your savings ratio well above 14%.
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