What age do you plan to semi-retire?

[northernladuk]

I would also seriously like to know what you need and how much is enough because I think about when to stop a lot more then I used to! That’s why this topic really does interest me

My initial thoughts on the absolute minimum are

Council tax 2.5 k
Electric and util 2k
Car insurance 1k
Car lease 6k
Home insurance 1k
Home repairs 4K
Tech 3k
Food and coffees 200 a week 10k
Furniture / clothes / restaurants / theatres / gifts / dental / private health insurance and so many more.

I’ve been conservative here. There are no stupid taxis or double digit k cruises or months in New Zealand

Either put more thought in or stop trolling altogether

[cojak]

Yep, car lease, home repairs and coffee...

Basically - stop spending.

[Whorty]

I would also seriously like to know what you need and how much is enough because I think about when to stop a lot more then I used to! That’s why this topic really does interest me

My initial thoughts on the absolute minimum are

Council tax 2.5 k
Electric and util 2k
Car insurance 1k
Car lease 6k
Home insurance 1k
Home repairs 4K
Tech 3k
Food and coffees 200 a week 10k
Furniture / clothes / restaurants / theatres / gifts / dental / private health insurance and so many more.

I’ve been conservative here. There are no stupid taxis or double digit k cruises or months in New Zealand

I think I can see where you need significantly more than me!

For e.g. my elec/gas, even in my current 6 bed house with far too many rooms is only £1600 a year. When I'm in a 2 bed apartment or similar it will be much lower.

My car insurance is £500

£1000 for home insurance?!? Feck me, who you insuring with?

£4k home repairs? How?

I've never been someone to buy the latest tech so £3k a year is not me.

I own my own car. No loan.

Food for home is £60 per week. I can see this going up to £100 at some stage but not £200. I'm way past those days.

I have loads of furniture - not gonna need anything new. I don't have and don't plan to have private medical as the NHS is fine.

Like I say, I currently live on £15k a year excluding holidays. Add some extra for going out more, and extra for holidays, and I'm still going to struggle to hit £35k a year, every year.

[NowPermOutsideUK]

Very helpful thread and it can be summarised as follows:

1) Once you have your own place mortgage free you need 35K in after tax income

2) A property portfolio of approx 1MM should be able to generate 60K a year in income and therefore the required 35K after tax income.

When you put it like that then ten / fifteen years of contractor money outside IR35 and on the good old rates with frugal spending should really allow you to hang up ones timesheet pen

[GhostofTarbera]

Very helpful thread and it can be summarised as follows:

1) Once you have your own place mortgage free you need 35K in after tax income

2) A property portfolio of approx 1MM should be able to generate 60K a year in income and therefore the required 35K after tax income.

When you put it like that then ten / fifteen years of contractor money outside IR35 and on the good old rates with frugal spending should really allow you to hang up ones timesheet pen

Man, anyone looking forward to retirement might as well end life now


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[Whorty]

This was the core point of my original post. I have the money, I have the time, I can choose freedom. But I have no idea what to do. And this this frustrates me, because I don't want to spend the final healthy years of my life stuck at a desk - I feel like I need to get out there, doing something I should love and enjoying it daily.

I can't agree more with this ..... as my wife was coming towards the end I asked her if she had any regrets. The only one she had was not being able to grow old with me. She knew her time would be shorter than most so she lived her life to the full whilst she was healthy enough to.

We have never skimped and saved excessively, and always done what would make us good memories and 'no regrets' when the end comes. We have lived in SA and trained as safari guides, stayed in some of the most amazing hotels all over the world, got drunk and partied on every continent (not the arctics!), made friends everywhere we went. We worked hard, earning over 200k between us for many years and whilst we spent well we always cleared debts first (including mortgage). The financial independence is what allowed us to do what we want when we want.

The expectation was she would live another 5-10 years but clearly that didn't happen. Like her, I regret that we can't do more together but this was never in our control.

I still plan to travel the world - my wofe made me promise I would try to fulfill some of our plans/dreams (when allowed). I don't need plush hotels (been there, done that, no fun as a single) and prefer 'backpacking' style instead. See more for less. The camper will help with this, especially in Europe.

As for work, I still have this. The current company has supported me so much during the past few months so I definitely owe them some quality time for the next few years. Probably won't stop doing what I do now until 55+, but I will be looking to get more time off for travel.

It's not about full retirement for me until I have something to do with that extra time. If I can work 6 months, travel 6 months, that would do me fine - fill a backpack, cheap flight to the far east or south america, then bugger off for 3 or 4 months. Or maybe put some paniers on my bike and bikepack around Europe .... so many options once you get that financial independence.

If I can't do that on £35k from savings, plus whatever I earn each year, then I have problems!!

[bownyboy]

I'm 48 and my last full time contract finished on 18th December. I have a few days consultancy this month but apart from that I'm not actively looking anymore.

Me and the wife have been saving and investing as much as possible for the last few years, so that we can stop work and spend as much time together as possible while healthy.

We spend around £3k to £4k a month, but can easily cut that back to £2k a month. We have a mortgage of £400 a month that we've kept as its only 1.44% and I believe we can easily beat that with Vanguard LifeStrategy Funds. No other debts and no kids, so outgoings are quite low.

We're lucky in that we don't care for flash cars or 'stuff'. For us its all about experiences, travel, walking, cycling, picnics, meeting up with family and friends etc.

There is a great app at FI Calc which allows you to run scenarios based on likelyhood of running out of money using the last 100 years of stock market data.

Our plan when covid is over is to rent our house out for a year and slow travel around the world utilising airbnbs and house sitting.

[LondonManc]

Semi-retire will be around 50. That will involve working still but taking a much lower paid job to cover bills and spending money. Mortgage will be gone and we'll have Plan B fully up and running fingers crossed.

Fully retire will be when I feel incapable of working a part-time job. I just feel like I'd want to keep busy, having seen too many people in their late 60s retire (i.e. stop working completely) then die from boredom within 18 months as though they've done their bit and it's time to shut down completely.

[slogger]

good discussion

one of the best threads on here - got me thinking!

I was going to retire late last year when I hit 55 - however I thought if I'm sat at desk at home due to all the covid restrictions I may as well be earning - and so started a contract (I think this was a lie I told myself)

I do agree that it would be good to do things before you retire (hobbies etc) - but it can be so hard to spend the time on these that you would like - I've been trying to learn a language/musical instrument/read lots - I'd also love to go back and finish my PhD I started 30 years ago! In fact I think I wont actually have time to do all the travelling/reading/learning that I'd like to do when I retire either..

I think I've probably just got a fear that it will all go wrong when I retire - I wont have enough money or will be bored etc - guess I just have to grow a pair and jump - else will be stuck working till I drop! I read an interesting article recently about how your worst case fear over retiring is just other peoples day to day reality - i.e. if it doesnt work out you just go back to work..

[rootsnall]

Our plan when covid is over is to rent our house out for a year and slow travel around the world utilising airbnbs and house sitting.

Happy days, I dream of that I'm mid 50s and contracting part time, I retired fully and then bottled it when my pension pot took a hit in the early Covid days and got lured back. Pot now recovered. A late addition to the family means I can't really travel full on until I'm in my 60s. Plenty hobbies but there's a lot of time to fill ......