Early-retirement wannabe

crv1963 wrote: »

It does make interesting reading, the trick is IMHO to get a mix of different streams, not putting all your eggs in one basket. Reliance on one savings type reduces options.

Sara21 I suggest have a good read of several of the excellent threads, "What's Your Number" is a good one. Decide two things, how much you think you'll need and then when you want to pull the work plug. That way you can plan how to get the what, when.

Ask questions as many freely share their knowledge, test your thinking and increase your understanding. At least that was what I did, learn all the time, accept that there will be by the very nature of a forum differences of opinion. Go with what you feel is right for you.

Great advice. :cool:

itm2 wrote: »

Interesting discussion re. pension freedoms. I was wondering....these freedoms are quite a new thing - until a few years ago annual pension drawdowns were limited to a state-dictated GAD rate. What are the chances that future governments will withdraw the current freedoms and return to controlling drawdown rates? - e.g. if public behaviour changes and large numbers of people start drawing down their entire pension pots and blowing it all on Caribbean cruises?

This is what worried me more than anything. I was probably mid 40's before I really had any spare cash to save and although I did whack a fair bit (by my standards and starting from 0!) into a SIPP I was concerned that as I approached my desired pension age of 55 they would suddenly change the rules.

Anonymous101 wrote: »

I'd recommend you read and listen to everything you can on Financial independence Retire Early (FIRE).

https://www.choosefi.com/the-why-of-fi/

https://www.choosefi.com/financial-independence-beginners-guide/

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/

Hopefully you'll find them interesting and useful.

I so wish I'd had access to all this in my 20's.........


But I have to say btl has worked for me. Mr GG and I invested in btl as he had a cracking pension from his employer and as I only had 10 years or so before I wanted to start drawing on a pension I thought it was too short a timescale to risk investing heavily. We were in a cheap housing area, with equally cheap rents, and whacked what we could off our own mortgage every month from excess rental income. (I may also have made ad hoc payments e.g. 50p when I used a money off voucher ).



We managed to retire overseas at 53 and my son mainly manages the properties for a small amount. The mortgage free properties pay our monthly expenses, Mr GG pays for holidays and his expensive sporting habits and mine........ well it hurts to withdraw any and pay tax on it but I intend to draw on it for additional splurges . The lump sum got put to good use .


Now though I advise my kids to whack into their pensions and open ISA's etc rather than look at btl's and I encourage others to do the same. The days of wine & roses are over as far as btl is concerned I think. Still, doing anything is better than doing nothing.

gallygirl wrote: »

Now though I advise my kids to whack into their pensions and open ISA's etc rather than look at btl's and I encourage others to do the same. The days of wine & roses are over as far as btl is concerned I think. Still, doing anything is better than doing nothing.

BTL is doing very well for me. It depends on the area I think.
I have a former home in Reading and the price and rent has fallen recently. I am looking to sell it whilst there won't be any tax.


But most of my properties are east og Manchester and rents and prices are rising.

HardCoreProgrammer wrote: »

"He tells his adherents, no matter how much they are earning, that they should aim to save and invest half their income."
What if you are on minimum wage?

Agreed. Someone in that position should first be investing *heavily* in their skill set. And if they really will be on minimum wage forever [shudder!] then state pension will cover a lot of their needs so they just need to save enough to retire a few years early and help a bit with "replacement".

And the people listed in the article are on 75k, 90k. They are NOT typical UK salaries!

Is that in dollars? I paid fresh grads $80k in the US and over $100k for top ones. Salaries are higher but they have to go further due to high costs of insurance, rent, education, etc.

How can someone not on investment bankers salary, with student loans (they are massive in the US) to pay back, earn enough to retire after working for 10 years? If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, ...

I take your point, but I had colleagues earning more than me who were continuously "penniless" due to flash cars, multiple skiing holidays per year, etc. They were also doing minimum into pension (least required to get full company contribution) even though this took them into 60%/45% brackets, because they needed this income for their lifestyle.

I ensured I never went higher than 40% (other than during my utterly crazy last year of work!) and salted away enough that I would retire at 54 when the !!!! hit the fan at the end of that year.

I don't hold myself up as an example of FIRE, not at all, but the principle of saving hard, not having an expensive lifestyle, and retiring while you're young enough to enjoy it, is really what this thread is about.