What AGE are you planning or indeed DID retire... and if pos.. how.. ?

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Thought about this for a while.. was going to do a poll, but didn't seem appropriate.
Ok, I retired relatively early (Age 47 - Jayne age 41 - Molly -2) - we had LONG planned - around 10 years to be honest - to accomplish this. for us, the ability to do it at this age was -
Understanding to the best of our ability of costs.
accumulation of skills.
Lack of need of the material existence - only to be fair - by having been there ! -
The uk house price rip off - and the fact that I was in a very well payed job in the NHS with 23 years for pension - allowing me to take my pension at 50.. just kicked in... not a lot, but manageable and far preferable to the 'old' life.

we are not loaded.. don't have much in relative terms as capitol, but have a regular small income.

we would NEVER go back to the old world of cars, houses, jobs, accumulating and general society type bs and all it brings..

Anyways.. thats a very brief outline of our journey.

WHAT did you do ?? .. how.. (If you dont mind fessing up)

or, WHEN do you intend to..

how many make a plan and then let it drag on for years ?.

Its not about yotting in the great scheme.. or indeed sailing.. its a means to an end - for us .. its freedom, literally . from the past and its constraints..

where do you fit in ??.. if you aint done it... when and how ?.. what are the long term plans etc..

Hopefully it will help others in the same planning position..

It is more a state of mind than a true plan.. the state of mind allows the plan to work.. for us...

Joe n Jayne n Molly.
 
going aged 50....

Been working on the plan for 5 years, and just under 10 years to go.... money going away each month, seen by us as untouchable.....

Will retain a house in the UK, which we will rent out to provide additional income...

All financial commitments are (intentionally) finished by 49 at the latest.... unlike so many of our friends we have no long term mortgage or other financial commitments taken out aged 35 that run until we are 60..... we have happily sacrificed the crawl up the property ladder to enable us to achieve this position.

From quitting the rate race, we'll have a long wait until the pension kicks in at 65, and it will be significantly reduced in value, but we'll cope with that....

We have a number of goals we've set ourselves.... we want to sail our own boat under the Sydney Harbour bridge.... we want to explore Greece properly... we want to visit the Pacific islands... we want to transverse the Panama Canal... we want to visit the Glaciers and the Fjords.... etc etc

We both think (at this point in time) that once we're on the boat, then we'll remain on it until we are too old to continue comfortably.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I would like to retire between 50 and 55. I am just finishing off an engineering degree so i am going to have to examine what i need to do to achieve this in the next 15 years once i find a job.

Now if i could just win the lottery tonight......
 
As soon as I have enough funds and assets to live comfortably without the need to work.

Current estimates put this to about two or three years time at which time I will be just past 40. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
In the middle of the "retiring process" that is semi-retired and finally leaving mainstream job later this year.

We planned 7 years ago by buying a charter boat in Greece so we could try out the life in little bursts each year. Took the boat over this year and will try a longer spell this autumn. So far so good. Do not intend selling up as should be able to cope with 3 or 4 years and then sell the boat.

After recent trip to boat, drove back through Europe taking a week. Got quite taken with camper vans which seem a popular thing for other oldies to wander around in enjoying the world!
 
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As soon as I have enough funds and assets to live comfortably without the need to work.

Current estimates put this to about two or three years time at which time I will be just past 40. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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Not picking you out. but HOW do you calculate that ?.. its a difficult one. Sir.
 
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Not picking you out. but HOW do you calculate that ?.. its a difficult one. Sir.

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I run my own business and have been stockpiling rewards in the form of savings, a few shares and some property. I estimate in another two or three years I will have enough funds in reserve to keep me going until the end of my days in the manner to which I have become accustomed.
 
Re: What AGE are you planning or indeed DID retire... and if pos.. how

Myself and Cathy are both retiring next year,being a gentleman I will not tell her age but I will be 49. Able to finance this through mixture of pension and property.

Would not describe myself as greatly experienced but have sailed off and on for 30 years,first love was dinghies then moved into bigger boats, but it has mainly been a week here, fortnight there and a weekend when I can manage it.
Thought we had pretty much decided on sort of boat we wanted, but Cathy has been seduced by catamarans so we will need to check a couple out to see if they will be suitable. Although I have been in a number of different types of mono hulls my only experience of cats are hobie 16's, great fun but.... This is my prejuduce as reading the threads here it is obvious from owners of cats that the larger ones are stable etc etc just not sure. Still we still have 13 months and it is right to check out all the options.

Was planning to buy in the med but with currrent exchange rate am now seriously looking at the U.S. Appreciate there will be extr costs, but you seem to get an awful lot more for your money and I can get to sail the caribbean before coming back to the med

Good thread - Neil and Cathy
 
This is a very intersting one (for us) .. ie - the manner in which I have been accustomed"..

I submit, that that they may limit things, jeeeeez, dont get me wrong.. i am not an expert, just doing 'it'...

but, imhe.. the things you list are oft the things you gladly do without.. and, keep you from doing what you want to do in the first place.

so, what things that you have do you NEED to be happy. - I USED to need 4 k a month in my hand and Jaynes wage.. now delerious on 500 squids. ... dont MISS anything..

WHAT do you expect or need in your current thinking.. ?
 
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WHAT do you expect or need in your current thinking.. ?

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I want and will expect to get my current level of living when I retire. I can't live without dining out, electronic gadgets, foreign travel etc

The only difference for me when I retire would be owning my own boat instead of chartering one with friends as I do currently. I don't intend to liveonboard permanently but I am hoping to do lots of long cruises so it will be semi-live nboard.
 
Wow.... I'd be 140 years old before I could afford to leave on those terms....!

We're aiming at £1k a month, and from our budget calcs reckon that we can live a pretty darned fine lifestyle on that amount.... perhaps less so in the med, but like kings in other places.....

For me personally, one of the things I am looking forward to is getting away from 'needing' the latest gadgets... and another is finding fresh local produce and eating both cheaply and handsomely.... (I do love to cook!)
 
No probs Curve. IF you dont intend it being your primary home, and want to use it as a holiday resort, fine, more power to yer elbow.. we USED to dine 'out' all the time.. but it is so, so underated.. you find, wothput the complications of 'modern' life that time is actually on YOUR side.. you can COOK.. you can plan.. its more hte getting used to the fact that time is the thing you sought and payed for, and now.. well, it the thing you have surplus of. its a difficult concept.
The idea of 'dining out' is so naff now that we just dont do it... we can spend a day planning and cooking and still have TIME to spare.

Again, each to their own..


One word of advise if I may.. what you consider importnant and life changing NOW.. will oft' fade to insignificance in the future... be prepared.. many of the things you value are simple escapes from the the life you have persued.

When.. and if.. you realsie your goal.. they will be as boring as taking the kiddies to the park.
 
Retired 8 years ago at 47. Sold house (which has now doubled in price but so what!). Bought lovely £100k boat in Mallorca and lived happily on army pension, no debts and a little bit in reserve.

6 Glorious years in Med. Spit up with wife. Split assets. Got new woman. Going to do it all over again next year when she retires - apart from, hopefully, the splitting up bit.

Lessons learned:

1. Buy the smallest boat you can live on, not the biggest you can afford. The cheaper the better. No gizmos, spend the money on fun.

2. Don't listen to the doom mongers (especially on ybw).

3. Divide everything you hear in bars by three.

4. Don't give a toss about health - Que sera sera.

5. Carry only 3rd party insurance.

6. It is not what your income is, it is how you spend it.

Finally, do it as soon as you can and don't look back. I am already running out of time and my six years seems like six months. Just be happy and glad that you have the balls to do it in the first place - many don't.
 
We left the UK at the ages of 48 and 54. We both resigned from well paid jobs. With no pension until at least 60 we've relied on income from renting a flat and a house in London.

Strangely, although our annual income is tiny compared to what it was, we don't feel badly off. No business clothes costs, cheap fuel costs, no poll tax, no commuting costs, no road tax, no car costs, minimal electricity and gas costs, food cheaper, booze cheaper etc etc. And above all nobody telling us what to do and charging us ever more tax for the privilege of doing so.
 
Re: What AGE are you planning or indeed DID retire... and if pos.. how

Yeah, Kelly - I learned that on my four month trip,now a frightful 2 years ago - cheap and that wonderful escape from officious officials and paperwork. I'm off for a month to do the same again - same boat, same skipper, sameish area. My only sorrow, if you can be quite so melodramatic, is I never found that special man to sail away with.

S x
 
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When.. and if.. you realsie your goal.. they will be as boring as taking the kiddies to the park.

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But that is one of the best things to do in the world. Even though they are my nephews and not my own I love spending time with them even if it is just to take them to the park.

And personally I refuse to retire unless I can still keep my chaffeur, house keeper and gardener. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

ps And we have to dine out cos my partner and myself are terrible cooks so its either the chip shop or one of the fine eateries in Brighton.
 
Re: What AGE are you planning or indeed DID retire... and if pos.. how

The first time I was 31, had started a business which made a profit, but Dennis Healy was threatening to take it all away. We sold the big house, the Jag and Sunbeam Tiger and bought a boat.

After 2 years we went back to the business as the kids needed schooling.

Margaret Thatcher destroyed the business, so we did some serious work for little reward until I was 56.

We then managed to retire, did various boat and camper van things and now have a house and a smallish boat.

I am now 70 and hope to have many more years of doing what suits us.
 
I wonder if it is possible to sail away on just the state pension. Let's assume you already have your boat and it is set-up ready to go. Could you survive on just the state pension amount?
 
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