Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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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.
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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Morgana
regular
Reged: 28/08/2003
Posts: 12460
Loc: East Coast
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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.... 
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Bored?.... why not read my blog .... its the developing story of the trials and tribulations of boat ownership!
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Abestea
regular
Reged: 04/06/2007
Posts: 98
Loc: River Clyde
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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......
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Somewhere between reality and fantasy......
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curve
regular
Reged: 09/02/2008
Posts: 991
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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. 
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Tranona
regular
Reged: 10/11/2007
Posts: 1377
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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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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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Excellent, yes, the camper van. nice one. it is also a way to freedom, and that, is, at the end of the day all that matters...
enjoy my friend, enjoy.
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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Quote:
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.
Not picking you out. but HOW do you calculate that ?.. its a difficult one. Sir.
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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curve
regular
Reged: 09/02/2008
Posts: 991
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Quote:
Not picking you out. but HOW do you calculate that ?.. its a difficult one. Sir.
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.
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jordanbasset
regular
Reged: 31/12/2007
Posts: 203
Loc: Shropshire
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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
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"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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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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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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curve
regular
Reged: 09/02/2008
Posts: 991
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Quote:
WHAT do you expect or need in your current thinking.. ?
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.
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Morgana
regular
Reged: 28/08/2003
Posts: 12460
Loc: East Coast
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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!)
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Bored?.... why not read my blog .... its the developing story of the trials and tribulations of boat ownership!
Edited by Morgana (17/05/2008 18:29)
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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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.
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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anteak
regular
Reged: 28/01/2004
Posts: 1103
Loc: West Sussex
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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.
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A man may fight for many things. His country, his friends, his principles, the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally, I'd mud wrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock and a sack of French porn. EB
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KellysEye
regular
Reged: 23/07/2006
Posts: 738
Loc: Curacao
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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.
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susyrosyworzy
regular
Reged: 16/05/2001
Posts: 8136
Loc: kjaw for the next year!
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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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www.susysrunningawaytosea.blogspot.com
"As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way, we should keep an iron grip, to the very end, on the capacity for silliness. It preserves the soul from desiccation." Humphrey Lyttleton
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curve
regular
Reged: 09/02/2008
Posts: 991
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Quote:
When.. and if.. you realsie your goal.. they will be as boring as taking the kiddies to the park.
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. 
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.
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Ham_n_Jam
regular
Reged: 24/01/2008
Posts: 140
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..I've had my Pension projection come through. I can retire when I'm 108........
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JamesFrance
regular
Reged: 24/10/2006
Posts: 242
Loc: Carcassonne & Sant Carles
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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.
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James
Dolphin of Menai
Beneteau Oceanis 311.
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curve
regular
Reged: 09/02/2008
Posts: 991
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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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Morgana
regular
Reged: 28/08/2003
Posts: 12460
Loc: East Coast
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thats what? £76 a week?...... doesn't sound very feasible to me.... I gues you could survive, but while i'm not looking to live a life of luxury and excess, it does sound a bit on the light side.....
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Bored?.... why not read my blog .... its the developing story of the trials and tribulations of boat ownership!
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LadyJessie
regular
Reged: 21/11/2006
Posts: 1036
Loc: the Med
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I did decide in my early thirties that I needed to go sailing and leave the professional office life as soon as possible. It was just a means to an end. I set my goal at 55 years and started to set up pension plans accordingly. Then my father who had run his own business until he retired at 74 years of age, died just one year later. It reinforced in me the idea that early retirement is a good idea. I managed (thanks more to good market developments than any skill on my part) to secure enough funds to retire at the age of 48. In hindsight, the best decision I have ever made. Everybody who has retired early will tell you that their only regret is that they did not do it earlier. I know several 'early stoppers' here in the Med and we have the our shared slogan: "retirement is wasted on the old". So true.
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! suzy..
such a sweet thing... you WILL find it.. but you need to be out there..
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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Jessy, I BOW. ! seriously..
For an accountant, you are the sodium chloride of the earth,,, would love to offer ya a beer... 
any time dude, me fridge is always cool
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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Tranona
regular
Reged: 10/11/2007
Posts: 1377
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I've spent a big chunk of my life travelling and still enjoy the journey as well as the arrival. Perhaps not suited to giving it all up and changing lifestyle completely. Therefore aim to maximise enjoyment on a number of fronts. Really enjoyed the Ferrari museum and spending two days in Bugatti land, but best of all standing on the pitstraight of the old Reims circuit early on a Sunday morning and reliving some of the images of my childhood memory. Not sure it beats going through the Alderney Race with the tide under you or finding the entrance to Lakka harbour on Paxos after a brisk sail from Mourtos but for me variety is all.
So much to see and do!
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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Indeed.. whatever rocks yer boat..
and.. it dont NEED to be a boat.. its a way out, a path to slef imposed freedom from control and a life that mostly you dictate..
go for it.. enjoy
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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LadyJessie
regular
Reged: 21/11/2006
Posts: 1036
Loc: the Med
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Slarty; would love to have a beer with you. When are you finally going to get into the eastern Med?
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havent_a_clue
regular
Reged: 20/02/2007
Posts: 577
Loc: West Sussex
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(Sigh!) It's not going to happen for me. I think the best I can hope for is to spend as much time as possible day & weekend sailing with maybe a trip to the Med. It's the wife - she's not sailed before and needs 'room' - and I doubt she'll change, I mean, occaisionally (spelling) she throws a wobbly and says 'lets just emigrate or get out of here, I can't stand it' but the next day she says 'it's a lovely house, we're so lucky'. So I don't think she'd go for anything less than a 40 footer with ALL the trimmings, whereas myself, I think I'm a closet agorophobic and like nothing better than something small and well designed and thought out, where I can just shut out the world. And yet, I love wide open spaces - when we toured the Western USA, she got very bored with me saying 'wow look at that, isn't it fantastic' etc whenever we topped a rise and another 70mile wide flat desert valley with cactii and a ruler-straight road disappearing into the heat haze. As for pension, finance etc, well, we'll probably end up with the state pension and a couple of SMALL private ones. We don't have kids (just didn't happen for us), but we will have our house and hopefully whatever sailing boat we own paid for, so I guess we won't be too badly off come age 60. She wants a small property on the south coast which can be rented out during the winter months and a small place on either the French Atlantic coast or the French Med. I could live with this IF she'll agree to sail between the two. But I guess I'll always long to slip lines and sail off into the wild blue yonder, so unless she decides she just LOVES sailing and living aboard a 30 foooter, I suppose it'll be back and forth between France and the UK. I couldn't do it without her, 'cos I love her so much, so I'll settle for what I can get, soory about the spelling, cant see the keybord.
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"Most people have some means of filling up the gap between perception & reality, and, after all, in those circumstances there are worse things than (put preferred vice here)".
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curve
regular
Reged: 09/02/2008
Posts: 991
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But that is a great compromise. You do get to sail a lot more and you do get to stay with your soul mate.
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Captainslarty
regular
Reged: 12/08/2007
Posts: 2012
Loc: Currently La Coruna Spain
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Absolutely agreed, and in THAT you are lucky..
Most wake up and see the after effects in later life without makeup and wonder what they married.. I envy you,, as I am sure do many others.
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PM me for info re SSB's etc. Bought, sold, repaired, fitted and optimised.
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trouville
regular
Reged: 10/06/2004
Posts: 2847
Loc: crusing with an Arpège
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