How to retire early?

[contractor79]

Can I ask if you guys are seeking early retirement at all, if so when. I'm a bit disappointed that we can't cash in pension at 50 now, have to wait until 55. So if you want to retire earlier than 55 how will you achieve this?

A few thoughts:-
put £7k each year in ISA equities and leave until you have enough of them and they've grown enough to live on for a few year
If you got more to put in, put in investment funds. More of a tax hit but same idea.

[ChimpMaster]

Invest in assets that generate an income (perhaps monthly), which you must try to grow over time to such a level that it produces enough for you to live off.

Start early and invest over time. The longer you have the better... I started in my early 30s and wish I had the brains to do it in my 20s

For example (in no particular order) :

• BTL --> rental income (laugh all you want but there are/will be more opportunities)
• Savings --> bank interest
• Shares --> dividends
• Premium bonds --> monthly "prize" fund
• ISAs --> tax free growth and dividends from some funds
• Specialised investments (VCs, project greengold etc).

Any others you can think of?

[chris79]

My plan is not to save or invest just yet, but to kill my mortgage as quickly as possible, as the interest savings would probably be as good or better than savings in the bank. At the point it is paid off I can then invest the money I was using to pay off my mortgage into something else such as ISAs etc. One of the dilemmas though which I thought of recently is whether its worth maxing out an ISA *NOW* every year on the basis every year that goes by is an opportunity missed to invest £3.6k tax free (or £7k etc). The interest gained tax free would probably counter balance my mortgage interest, so it just means my mortgage takes longer to pay off, but in the long term by the end of it all I have a 10-20yr pot of tax free investments.

I'm in the same train of thought as you though, I want to work it so I can retire, or at least semi-retire by the time I reach somewhere in my 40s. At the moment I've not even hit 30 yet as you can probably guess by my name, so I'm keen to make the right moves now rather than look back and think "if only I'd done that".

The other idea I had was to build up a small fortune in my company, say £200-300k, put it into a good paying interest account, then use this to pay a (in todays value terms) £15-20k a year salary out of the company ever year. From my calculations doing this at 6% interest (minus corp tax etc) would probably be enough to last at least 25 years.. so if I retired at 40, I'd have to then consider selling my house at 65, which if it went for £200-300k (in todays terms) would last me another 25yrs.. so if I'm still here at 90 then my kids can look after me, or I can start to worry.

I did actually setup an excel spreadsheet and work it all out properly a while back which included factors such as tax and inflation (I used 2%), but it's all dependant on between now and my 40s on how much I can pull in as a contractor. It really puts me off ever wanting to get a perm job, as the possibilities of earning more money as a contractor, and running your company finances gives you so much more flexibility and life options I think.

[masonmjs@runbox.com]

Invest in assets that generate an income (perhaps monthly), which you must try to grow over time to such a level that it produces enough for you to live off.

Start early and invest over time. The longer you have the better... I started in my early 30s and wish I had the brains to do it in my 20s

For example (in no particular order) :

• BTL --> rental income (laugh all you want but there are/will be more opportunities)
• Savings --> bank interest
• Shares --> dividends
• Premium bonds --> monthly "prize" fund
• ISAs --> tax free growth and dividends from some funds
• Specialised investments (VCs, project greengold etc).

Any others you can think of?

Oil !! At the rate it's going up in value, go off to the car shop and buy as many 5 litre containers of oil as you can afford and sit back for 10 years, it's bound to be worth 5000% more than you paid for it by then

[chris79]

To be honest that's a fair one, it makes me wonder if its possible to buy a large cheap plastic storage barrel and put in a few thousand gallons in your garage. Yes it would cost a lot to start with but the savings over time would be worth it as using petrol next year at this years prices etc. There's probably some Government law somewhere to say storing petrol is illegal over a certain quantity.

[Archangel]

To be honest that's a fair one, it makes me wonder if its possible to buy a large cheap plastic storage barrel and put in a few thousand gallons in your garage. Yes it would cost a lot to start with but the savings over time would be worth it as using petrol next year at this years prices etc. There's probably some Government law somewhere to say storing petrol is illegal over a certain quantity.

Why not just buy oil futures? Then if they go up you're laughing, and if they go down then so does petrol and you're laughing. No danger of blowing yourself up either!

I think the limit on keeping petrol is 20 litres in two 10L metal containers or 4 plastic 5L ones

[ctdctd]

I think the limit on keeping petrol is 20 litres in two 10L metal containers or 4 plastic 5L ones

Or 100 litres in an old Jag XJ12 - much more fun

[chris79]

Or 100 litres in an old Jag XJ12 - much more fun

at 2mpg that should get you back to the nearest forecourt to refill it again if it drops below 90% capacity.

[Cheshire Cat]

plus if you stockpile petrol you'll have the worry of it being siphoned off in the night by some pikeys (ahem, sorry, gyppos).

[al_cam]

Unfortunately, petrol goes stale - not sure how long a large quantity would keep for - guess at 6 months to a year. Not sure about diesel.