Reply to: Retiring young?

[GlenSausio]

Sounds like your only "purpose in life" is to do stuff for other people, forever. The whole point of being a contractor is to build up a warchest so you can take things slower, earlier, and do things only for yourself.

Whilst the permies of the world work till they're 70 and at the end of it have nothing but benign memories and a carriage clock (or £200 voucher).

Look, DodgyAgent set me up with the question "what are you going to do for the next 50 years?".. I walked straight into it .. He would of said "waster" whatever my response. He's loving this. Don't feed the troll!

Let's get back on topic.. If you are near retirement , do you keep moving the "figure" because you are at the top of your game and earning a lot of easy money...when is enough enough?

[rl4engc]

I did not mean waster as in someone who has fallen out of society and sponged off others I mean someone with no real purpose in life.

Sounds like your only "purpose in life" is to do stuff for other people, forever. The whole point of being a contractor is to build up a warchest so you can take things slower, earlier, and do things only for yourself.

Whilst the permies of the world work till they're 70 and at the end of it have nothing but benign memories and a carriage clock (or £200 voucher).

[alreadypacked]

Interesting one this, my view is you pack in when you've got enough and you have had enough...
Trick is to date match these two things.
How much is enough ? 25x your expected expenses if you want to leave anything, 20x if you don't (extrapolate from current, presume 55 yrs old)
I have just had a glorious 3 months over summer off and I loved it and was easily occupied. I have struggled being off in winter in the past but as the pressure is off moneywise, it was very enjoyable.
I am sorely tempted to engineer the same next summer and take my chances workwise.
This is where the 'retirement' pot comes into its own, once you've got a decent stash you can start to work a lot more flexibly and pick and choose.
Thats the plan then prob 55 pack in

Head for the Southern Hemisphere problem sorted.

HTH

[lukemg]

Interesting one this, my view is you pack in when you've got enough and you have had enough...
Trick is to date match these two things.
How much is enough ? 25x your expected expenses if you want to leave anything, 20x if you don't (extrapolate from current, presume 55 yrs old)
I have just had a glorious 3 months over summer off and I loved it and was easily occupied. I have struggled being off in winter in the past but as the pressure is off moneywise, it was very enjoyable.
I am sorely tempted to engineer the same next summer and take my chances workwise.
This is where the 'retirement' pot comes into its own, once you've got a decent stash you can start to work a lot more flexibly and pick and choose.
Thats the plan then prob 55 pack in

[ladymuck]

Which industry you in aye love?

Not really in a specific industry, flit between airports and banks I just like to work, kinda don't care where or what

[GlenSausio]

I did not mean waster as in someone who has fallen out of society and sponged off others I mean someone with no real purpose in life. We have all met them. they are usually ex pats with nothing to get out of bed for and they want to bore you into thinking that they have the perfect life. The world moves in its own slow and dull way to them. Give me someone who has to get out of bed each morning and deal with sh*t all day. These are the people for who leisure time is valued and who usually have the capacity to understand others and what happens in the real world.

What you mean is "give me someone like me" to admire. You're a narcissist.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

[GlenSausio]

Take a course at the local technical college.

It's safer & cheaper than trying to teach yourself.

Thanks for the tip.

[DannyF1966]

I mean someone with no real purpose in life.

Would you be happier if he'd said that learning metalwork to make outdoor furniture was his Plan B and that he hopes to one day start a business doing it? Would that give him sufficient purpose in life?

[Dallas]

Its the difference between those who live to work and work to live. Once your mindset switches you realise you dont want to be part of the real world because its full of

Then we can quietly squirrel away in peace until we can price ourselves as far away as possible from them.

[jmo21]

I did not mean waster as in someone who has fallen out of society and sponged off others I mean someone with no real purpose in life. We have all met them. they are usually ex pats with nothing to get out of bed for and they want to bore you into thinking that they have the perfect life. The world moves in its own slow and dull way to them. Give me someone who has to get out of bed each morning and deal with sh*t all day. These are the people for who leisure time is valued and who usually have the capacity to understand others and what happens in the real world.

Why do you have a problem with him being in a financial position to happily do whatever his wants?

[GlenSausio]

I did not mean waster as in someone who has fallen out of society and sponged off others I mean someone with no real purpose in life. We have all met them. they are usually ex pats with nothing to get out of bed for and they want to bore you into thinking that they have the perfect life. The world moves in its own slow and dull way to them. Give me someone who has to get out of bed each morning and deal with sh*t all day. These are the people for who leisure time is valued and who usually have the capacity to understand others and what happens in the real world.

You come across as a jealous little man in a lot of your posts.

[DodgyAgent]

How is he being a waster? He's worked hard enough to build up enough funds to provide the income he needs, so can now get on and spend his life doing what he wants to do.. I wouldn't call that being a waster, I'd call that smart

Not everyone wants to work till they drop.. I certainly don't.

I did not mean waster as in someone who has fallen out of society and sponged off others I mean someone with no real purpose in life. We have all met them. they are usually ex pats with nothing to get out of bed for and they want to bore you into thinking that they have the perfect life. The world moves in its own slow and dull way to them. Give me someone who has to get out of bed each morning and deal with sh*t all day. These are the people for who leisure time is valued and who usually have the capacity to understand others and what happens in the real world.

[Avalonia]

I've been in IT for 25 years , 10 of which as a contractor , not got enough to retire on but after voluntarily benching myself from last hideous gig I don't think I want to do that tulip anymore

[FatLazyContractor]

That frightens the hell out of me. I am no position to retire yet but I love working and therefore not working is a completely alien concept at the moment. If I get to a point where I am too doddery to be useful, I'm off to a nice bland clinic in Switzerland.

Which industry you in aye love?

[GlenSausio]

The point of being a contractor is if you want to take some months out doing some of these things you can.

No, for me the point of contracting is to get higher pay, so to reach retirement (from IT) quicker.

If I started taking a few months out here and there my CV is going to look patchy. I don't know a single contractor that does that.