55 here and just left the business world. I could not be happier, it's actually even better than I thought it would be. After 40 years working and 36 at a massive corporation I can finally breathe and be myself. No more bull and meetings, no more appraisements and box ticking! The blue print is always, start early, start a pension, don't buy pointless materialistic junk, pay off all debts and mortgage, invest in non risky options and get the hell out as soon as you can. I wish everyone good luck and hope all can one day feel the freedom I have today.
The feeling of no more stress and pressure is a great feeling! We know we were fortunate being part of the teachers pension scheme but being mortgage and debt free was the thing that helped us be able to make the final jump.
I was made redundant at 54. Took a year out to travel and decided to take early retirement with my teaching pension at 55. Absolutely no regrets! Moved to Southern Spain so that I could live my life outdoors. Bought a tiny van and sold our family home when my husband finally retired at 65, lots of regrets because he waited that long. I have been retired for about 10 years now and am finally able to claim my old age pension next year. Like you, I never wanted to go back into teaching and have not had to work. I enjoy my life so much and have never been bored since I took that decision, apart from during Covid restrictions. I have travelled a lot, learned a new language, walked thousands of miles, made lots of new friends and maximised my time. Like you, I feel healthier, happier, well-rested and extremely thankful❤ Thanks for encouraging others to take the leap.😊
I hope we are still as happy, like yourself, when we get to state pension age! We have been amazed at how little we need at the moment to enjoy our lives. Happy retirement to you both x
Becoming a sudden widow at 48 and now at 51 i can underatand how you look at life so differently now. .Grief takes alot out of you physically and mentally and makes you appreciate life and think about how you want to spend your time.
Many thanks for sharing this and we are sorry for your loss. Grief does take so much out of you, but it does get easier and we get more skills to deal with it. Our loss was a pivotal life moment for us and we knew we needed to change things up. We have never regretted what we have done. Thanks for the comment and take care. 🙏
I retire next week at the age of 58 after a very stressful job in the NHS. It is encouraging to hear that your retirement has been so rewarding. I am looking forward to that stress lifting too.
We found the point when we made the decision and handed in our notice alleviated some of the stress but the feeling when we finally left was transformational! We do have different stresses at times but nothing like that of teaching and certainly not like that of working for the NHS. Hope all goes well - it is a strange feeling in that first week knowing you will never go back and we kept ourselves purposely busy with travel, seeing family and friends and then the house move. Enjoy your freedom x
Ditto! I am also retiring from local government at 58 as I’ve had enough. There is no longer job satisfaction and cuts are destroying public services which is hard to stomach when you have spent your adult working life building up. Best wishes for your retirement
That was the same exact script I followed. At 53 I became debt free including mortgage and was able to retire early. However, I continued working for five more years but I took a lower paying less stressful job working full-time from home. I retired last year at 59. I live a modest but comfortable life. I couldn’t be happier
It’s amazing isn’t it how happy we can be living a modest life where time is our greatest benefit - like you we are not averse to taking on part time or temporary work if needed - it will not have the same stress and pressure that our teaching careers did. Thanks for sharing your very similar experience and we hope life continues to be great 😊
@@earlyretirementwanderlust by the way. My mother was a teacher who retired at 55. She also was debt free. It’s weird but I live just like my mother. It’s so true you do become your parents😂😄😜
Awesome story. My dad recently died at 84 (just old age) but had retired at 57. He has 27 years in retirement doing the things he enjoyed doing. Best thing he ever did, so glad he made the decision. Good luck 🙏🏻
Exciting times ahead for you - the biggest thing we enjoy is the luxury of time. We have been able to spend quality time with our mums and our children and of course to travel 🚐
I retired early 10 years ago after a stressful working life in social care management. I knew I wouldn’t have any income for 6 years until I could access my pension which was really scary. However I knew if necessary I could downsize or I could get a part time job, so jumped off the cliff and went for it. It’s been the absolute best decision ever, I’ve never regretted it for one second, I’ve not had to downsize or return to work, just been sensible and not wasted the money I had. We have a VW van to get out and about in which is a brilliant added bonus.
Nice to know you still have no regrets. We have managed for 19 months already and have got much better at our budgeting and keeping to it while still travelling. The van has been a fab investment as it gives us our freedom at very little cost! Thanks for sharing your experience with us x
So pleased you popped up on our feed. I retired 8 years ago at 55 (nurse) and my husband retired 11 years ago at the age of 49(Police). He did go back to work after 6 months and finally retired a year ago but the job he did was less stressful and fun. We also have Max the VW camper, 18 months, and love your vlogs. We don't regret retiring at all and think the key to it is budgeting.
Budgeting is definitely the key for us! We are trying to avoid having to work for a few years at least - at some point we think it would be quite stimulating doing seasonal work somewhere in the UK or abroad - but more for the social aspect. Thanks for watching 😊 Happy travels in Max 🚐
So succinct, so clear, so true, particularly the dreaded ‘Sunday’ feeling and the increasing insomnia - as an ex-teacher I limped to 54 (by downshifting from a stressful HOD role). To be honest the key to our fortunate position of being able to retire has been largely due to being beneficiaries of our mad property market rendering us mortgage-free. My wife retires next week and fingers-crossed we pick up our new campervan in April before driving off into the sun. You have articulated our own deliberations, worries, calculations over the last few years exactly. I’m sure your decision and the reasons behind it will be an inspiration to many who might just need such words of encouragement.
Hi- thanks for the comment and sharing your story. It's so exciting getting a van...it really did change our life and our outlook. It probably contributed to our decision to ER at the age we did...as over the years it had helped us realise what was truly important to us. Wishing you all the best for your time together. R&J
You are so right about changing your mindset from accumulating wealth to drawing down on it once retired. The New Zealand pension is a "subsistence" only amount so if one wants a good lifestyle you need a lump of capital to invest and drawdown on. Luckily in N.Z. (unlike Australia) the pension is not means tested - yet!
It's a real tough one as we have been conditioned all of our lives to save either for a rainy day or for our retirement. Breaking that habit of saving is not easy. Likewise seeing your coveted saving pot reduce over a period of time rather than growing is also a hard one to get our heads around. Pensions are always a tricky thing in the current economic climate...who knows where things will go with state pensions in the future!?! Thanks for the comment👍
Thanks for a great video. Interesting that you talk about the health benefits of retirement - I have shared a couple of your videos with my wife, I can’t remember which ones, but one was from the very beginning of your vlogging journey, the other from very recently - we too have a campervan. She remarked upon how much healthier you both look in the recent video compared to how you looked in the early days. I think we don’t all realise how unhealthy our working life can be and how much it impacts on our physical and mental health and well being.
Thanks for this. It's always nice to hear positive feedback. Interestingly, our kids both said at Xmas that we were looking a lot better and a lot more chilled out...even though they always considered us pretty chilled out anyway. The way we feel at the moment is pretty good. There doesn't seem to be many downsides of making the leap of faith into early retirement.
I can imagine teaching is hellish in this day and age …….good luck 🍀 to you both, you deserve it 🤘😎🏞️ I’m a few years older than you and I also made the move in my 40’s …..best decision of my life 🤘frugrality definitely leads to massive fulfillment, and you start to realise what BS we’ve all been drawn into at various stages of our journey 🍀😎
Hi. Just found your channel. I’m retiring from teaching in two days at the age of 55. I’m excited for all of the reasons you mentioned. I’m retiring for my health and my relationships. Your video reinforced my hopes for retirement. Thank you from 🇨🇦
Congratulations Melissa- enjoy the last couple of days in work. If you are anything like us, you will love it. We had quite a few anxieties leading up to the big day, but it was actually really anticlimactic and we have never looked back since.
Thanks for your videos they Inspire me. I crave not having that Sunday night feeling, even though with working shifts sometimes i have 2 Sunday nights a week😂. I am planning to retire at 55 years old, I am currently 52, and I feel like I am just clinging in there everyday. I have bought a campervan, outright, in preperation and to enjoy now. I’m mortgage free and have some savings. However, as i am single i feel i need to work at least until i am 55 and my work pension kicks in. I enjoy and take great comfort in your videos, thanks for taking the effort to produce them.
We were always aiming for 55 and would have financially been much better off if we had continued working. Having your campervan and no mortgage when you do retire will allow you to have your freedom to travel and live to a budget - we could not do most of our adventuring otherwise! Time will pass quickly and you will be 55 before you know it! In the mean time - happy travels 🚐
Congratulations to both of you! I'll be 55 soon, but I still have financial commitments I need to see through. I'll be looking at full or phased retirement in the next year or so, and my partner (also a teacher) will also be looking at early retirement in the next 4-5 years. Out of the many things you said that rang true, one thing that stands out is this question of personal health. You are sleeping so much better and getting the most out of your time, and this is something I've had to give serious attention to. It does not make sense to work into my 60s and give up healthy years in exchange for money. We never know what's coming!
Better quality sleep and lower heart rate in the day were 2 big changes after we finished! A phased retirement would also make sense if you are not both at the same stage to retire together. Thanks for watching x
I’m 38 and considering retirement. I’ve got enough assets to keep me living a moderate lifestyle. I’ve got a pretty good lifestyle at the moment but I also feel time is more precious than accumulating wealth.Fortunately the house is paid off and have a few rentals… unfortunately, people my age aren’t in a position or think about their health just yet which makes me feel there isn’t anyone out there in my age group that I can discuss the topic with.
Inspiring content! I’m retiring from teaching this year, but dropped my many responsibilities and have been part time for a while to adjust to the idea of not working. As soon as you take a step back you realise that the constant stress of teaching is toxic and very bad for your well-being. I’ve lost both my parents this year and it has really made me reassess what’s important. I just need my younger hubby to think about retiring early to join me in my adventures!
Hi Lorraine- we are sorry for your loss- life can be so cruel sometimes. Please don't get us wrong- we loved our jobs, but we too were in a situation where we critically reevaluated what we valued. It was only after I retired that I realised the effect it really had been having on me...and I thought I was coping quite well!!! Good luck with the next few months, and don't forget to enjoy the process of retiring- it goes so quick. Thanks for reaching out. R
I’m loving your content. I turned 50 last year and am in the process of planning for early retirement. I work as a Manager of a policy team in public education in Australia and it’s so intense and stressful. Your vlogs give me hope that I can actually make this work.
Thanks for the comment- it's always nice to hear our ideas resonate! For us, the planning for ER was way worse than how it actually turned out. It was more the fear of the unknown. Having a plan, trusting in it and having a back up plan if it all turned pear shaped helps with any worries. Have a good one down there in Australia. R&J
Thanks for your video. I will be going on early retirement in June 2024. I will be 63 years old. I made the decision to be closer to my family and live the rest of my life on my terms.
Good for you - it was quite a daunting feeling at the finality of finishing our careers and safety net of work but we have never looked back since! Hope all goes well for you 😊
Thank you for the update. I'm 53, and for the last few years have cut back to supply teaching for my final school. A little unpredictable at times, but the sense of control and improved mental health is so worth it. Planning to take my TP at 55 like you guys; the recent changes make a real difference to those of us in the 'old' scheme too. Enjoy your retirement!
We were pleasantly surprised at what a difference the court case has made to our pension, we had already left the profession at that point so it was a bonus! Good luck with your early retirement plans, we have no regrets so far!
Fabulous video. I thought I was being reckless but your story mirrors mine pretty much exactly with the exception of career type. I still feel a little guilty at stopping at 52 and sometimes feel embarrassed when talking to older friends about it. Somehow I find myself apologising that ‘I’m not boasting’ and ‘I’ll probably die a poor man’. I ran a small business for 25 years and loved what I did but after losing dad in 2020 and the idea of doing my daily grind v seeing my beautiful granddaughter every day, well lets just say it was the easiest decision I’ve ever made. Bons voyages.
Thank you for sharing your story - absolutely a good decision to spend time with your family if that is what you wanted! Those are precious years and memories. Like you - the big hit on our pension was worth the years we have gained 😊
Your retirement life is almost exactly like mine. Lost 3 members of my family very close together, a stressful job in law, worrying about finances, downsized to a full renovation project etc etc. I’ve been retired now for 9 months and absolutely love it, just loving every part of my life. Off to The Lake District with our dog and daughter next week😀 thanks for sharing all the advice and info. See you in the next one 😀
Thanks for sharing this with us Jane...life is never easy and we are sorry for your losses. It is so tough to deal with at times- but you sound to be doing ok. We are firm believers that out of trauma comes growth...no matter how hard that may feel at the time. Day by day we are finding it easier to deal with our loses...but it never goes away...and we wouldn't really want it to go away entirely as it shows that we really loved the people that we lost. We too kept ourselves busy in the early days with projects, but we are now starting to love what we have managed to create. Enjoy the Lakes and the time with your daughter. It is an awe inspiring place. Thanks again for sharing. R&J.
Just found your excellent channel. I'm 60 and semi-retired and wife a little older and fully retired. We live in New Zealand. No government pension until we are 65.
Welcome to our little channel- we are glad that you found us! We think it's pretty clear that we love retirement so far- what's not to love?😂 Thanks for the comment👍
I was transfixed watching your video today - such good info and encouragement. So many of the topics discussed we relate to. My pension plan has an online gizmo that allows me to make all kinds of calculations based on different scenarios - it is very helpful as I’ve noticed what little change there is in the pension as the years go on. I’m on the short stretch!
And still on the count down to when you can return to the Yorkshire Dales. I have never asked Sharon - What is your job? I loved finding our online pension calculator - as in England, they have changed our pensions slightly, if we joined the scheme before 2007 and we are suddenly better off than we thought we would be! The time will fly until you retire - it did for us!
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yes the countdown is on and I consider this stretch the immediate phase for our retirement which is why your video was so helpful! I work in communications for a K-12 educational association and my colleagues are mostly fabulous retired teachers!
Going out travelling/visiting places at better quieter times is a big one. Much less stressful. The simple things like country walks are benefitting your physical and MH too :)
We have definitely noticed how much fitter and healthier we are! The biggest thing we find strange travelling off peak season is the lack of children on campsites - something w have never had!! (And really don’t mind - it’s just strange!)
Loving your videos... I'm retiring at the end of May when I'll be 55 and will be buying our first motorhome together and your videos are giving us some real inspiration...keep them coming!!
Exciting times ahead! The van is the best investment (after a house) we ever made as it has given us our freedom to get away frequently at little cost. Thanks for watching 😊
You have to do what is right for you - balancing stress, work and mental health is a delicate thing. Glad you have found something that works for you x
I really relate to that item of moving from saving to spending and it does take time to adjust your mindset...oh and that Sunday Night feeling, people just do not realise the impact it has on your wellbeing. I have 2 questions though - 1) do you miss that Lifestyle you had before? 2) when you eventually can draw your pension does that then change your lifestyle now by potentially 50%, 100% or 100% +?. I find your channel very honest, covering some really important subjects and being very genuine, your subscribers are growing quickly which reflects my comments...well done both
It took us so long to get into the savings mindset - probably only the last 10 years, that it felt sad moving back to spending - but hopefully only temporary until we can access our teachers pension. In answer to your questions - No we don't miss our lifestyle from when we were working as much as we thought we would! We are on quite a strict budget which we quite like - we enjoy the challenge of eating well and planning our meals, we can travel cheaply because we own the van outright and use park for the night to find free or cheap park ups. I occasionally miss that at the moment we can't really afford to eat out or have take aways very often but we have changed our mind set on that. When travelling we might eat in the van, then have pudding out or go and share a bottle of wine somewhere scenic. We see our children and family more which is important to us. We can't get any credit as we have no income so have to pay for things like insurance in one go but that does actually save us a little in the long run When we finally access our teachers pension we will be maybe 10% better off than the budget we have set ourselves at the moment but we will have a lump sum we can draw on if needed. When we finally get to state pension age we will be able to party hard as our income will nearly double!! Hope some of this helps!
Great video, im in a similar situation myself. I completely agree that you're quality of life improves once the stress of work has lifted. I look forward to watching your next video
Yes, but there is also a lot us DC pension contibutors can do to put ourselves in a better position. Start early, choose an employer with a better matching scheme, change off the default fund... all things the vast majority of people fail to do and suffer the consequences of, and those steps apply whether you are a low or high earner.
@@Waddywoos360 agreed, but the average person has no idea how to do some of those things. A person in a final salary scheme has to worry about none of those things.
@@scareybailey Yes. As a former DC pension administrator at a large corporation, fewer than 5% of employees had ever logged in and fewer than 1% had amended their fund selection. As the first generation (90's birthdays) without DB pensions at all, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people when my generation reaches their 50's and 60's and cannot retire.
Hi thanks for reaching out- a great question! We naturally get a lot of questions about finance, and we hope you understand that we are uncomfortable sharing the pounds and pence details of what we do, but we are happy to share an overview. We set our monthly budget at £2K per month- this covers everything. We have £700 of standard monthly bills such as utilities, etc. We aim to live off £200 per week cash, that covers petrol, food, and any other day to day expenses. This leaves a surplus each month from the £2K that we try to keep for the inevitable things that crop up. Our travel adventures are as cheap as you can get them, as we own our van outright. However we do get a small income from freelance travel writing that we put in a separate savings pot for our travel adventures- that helps with ferry costs, campsite fees and other expenses. Our fallback, if everything goes pear shaped, is that we are still young, and if we need money, we can return to some form of work. It would never be teaching, as we no longer need that level of salary or responsibility. It would likely be seasonal, temporary work that fits with our thirst for adventures and new experiences. I hope this helps? Have a great day. Richard & Jackie
Nice to hear some people are able to make these choices and I do wish you all the best. Though I must admit watching this at 37 I find it hard to imagine how the numbers will stack up for us and younger generations. Doing some back-of-a-napkin calculations I would need roughly £1m saved to retire at 57 to cover a modest income, meaning I would need to save the majority of my salary every year for the next 20 years which would leave me with nowhere near enough to cover my current living costs. This is without even taking into account inflation or the inevitable rising taxes due to our aging population. Obviously you hope pensions are invested wisely to cover this but I think the reality is most people in future are only ever likely to retire early if they have a sizeable inheritance. Sorry to bring a bit of gloom to into the picture but I think it's important to be realistic about the prospects of doing this for many people. That said as you prove there is a lot you can do to organise your lives to live more frugally and achieve your goals, but I think there are an awful lot of younger people with the head in their sand about this thinking they can maintain their current lifestyle forever.
We never fully appreciated as 18 year olds when we made our decision to be teachers how fortunate we were with the pension scheme that we were in and are truly thankful for it. I feel you are right, our children in their mid 20's are trying to get ahead in their pension planning - Luke is a financial planner and has just completed all his pension advisor exams. I am not sure me and Richard would have been as sensible. By retiring earlier than we had initially planned, we have had to adjust our spending significantly and actually feel that we are far more sensible with our budget and for now are enjoying the process of making the most of every penny while still being able to travel extensively. Owning the campervan definitely helps with that. All the best with your future plans
Thank you - when we first formulated our early retirement plans there wasn’t a lot of information out there! It’s nice to know you find it of use ☺️ hope your plans go well.
Thanks for sharing your story. My wife and I are in our mid-40’s and have the option to take early retirement through her employer at age 50. The monthly benefit would not allow us to live in our current high cost of living country, but we are planning on moving anyway. We can live well in different parts of the world for that money. Still not sure if we will retire at 50, but it’s nice to know that we will have the option to do so.
A great opportunity for both you and your wife. I suppose the main question would be if you ever wanted your return to live in your country much later in life if you have family there. Thanks for watching 😊
My wife and I are also planning/ wanting to leave early in two years (aged 56). We both work in the NHS for over 30+ years and have 2 DB, 2 DC and a Sipp pension. Once Premium Bonds are full (at 56) which is our trigger to quit. We managed to pay off two mortgages this year (54). We are both tired and do not enjoy the work we once loved due to the state of the NHS now. After listening to this video its making me think/consider going sooner.
We found it quite daunting make that final commitment and resigning from tough but secure jobs but decided the absolute worst thing that could happen is we would have to work again but it would be part time or temporary work not a full on stressful career. We would not teach again as we know we would be ‘all in’ and couldn’t do it half heartedly. Luckily the need hasn’t happened so far and we are really enjoying our time we have together and especially with our families 😊 good luck with whatever you decide x
Hi Richard & Jackie. Thank you for sharing your personal circumstances and experiences. We are in the process of planning our retirement and looking forward to it next year.. I have a business to sell later this year, which is very demanding. My wife is a nurse and she will finish up just after me. We will both be 58 and cannot wait to start a new chapter in our lives and do the things we want to do without any ties. Your video was very motivational and thank you once again for sharing. I look forward to more of them!
Thank you for your lovely words, we are really enjoying the process of learning how to make the videos and it gives us a focus in our early retirement. It sounds like you are almost there - it is a scary time handing in your notice and making that break from working life, we had so many worries about making our decision, but can happily say we have never looked back. We also have the mindset that the worst that can happen is we have to do some sort of work, but it would not be a career, just temporary maybe seasonal jobs which we might really appreciate doing in 10 years time from a social point of view. Good luck with all your plans, hope that everything goes well x
I’m so happy for you both! I still have 4 1/2 more years until I can retire from teaching and get my pension in the USA at 62 and move back to Germany. I will start getting social security at 65 and should be ok from there on. I feel like I’ll never get there but I hope I get to enjoy my retirement years. Great video!
I’m turning fifty next month and competing 25 years of full-time teaching in Ontario, Canada. I’ve worked a side hustle for 18 years and am considering cutting that out to continue teaching until age 55 and 30 years of service. A lot of colleagues here are retiring at age 50 but I think it is worth it personally to maximize the pension. I want the “breeze”! Good luck to everyone!
It is definitely a fine balance of retiring with enough of a pension to be comfortable versus the time you gain! Good luck with your future plans. Canada is on our bucket list of future travel plans when we do finally access our pensions.
Another lovely video! Thank you both for the insights and your candor. It is SO helpful to hear about your experiences as we are just 23 weeks from launching our early retirement. One thing that I started (Richard may like this) is a weekly entry in an Excel file that lists the 1,400+ weeks that we have left to live. It's a great way to make note of the highlights and adventures of each week. Then, when you want to reminisce or remember all that you've done, you have a handy way of documenting the whole reason you did this in the first place. I hope that you would consider a live Q&A or a Zoom call where we could submit questions...particularly in a time block that we US-based folks might join too. Cheers!
Oooo Susan- I love the spreadsheet idea!!! I am on it already! We do have our own little solution to documenting our weekly adventures in our weekly blog that we love looking back on. We are already on week 104 and it is a really good space to collect our memories. I will obviously love a spreadsheet solution too! In some ways, recording our memories was a bit of a motivating factor for doing RUclips. We have toyed with the idea of a Q&A session, but we think we are not quite big enough yet. We would be worried that no one would have any questions😂 If we were to do it, we would have to upscale our IT skills- but would try to include out friends across the pond. It blows our mind that people across the world are hooking into what we are doing. All the best, R.
Really enjoyed this video! So helpful! We are in the planning stages and have paid off the mortgage, have no debts, and are trying to get more aggressive about saving in non-retirement accounts we can access early…
No mortgage and debts was the biggest part of our plans - the amount we could put into savings after that was astounding! If we had just held out until 55 we would have been in a very different position but we are not complaining as we love our life as it is! Happy retirement planning - that is part of the fun x
I retired at 50 from the Fire Brigade 71/2 yrs ago. I love it, had the same concerns but none of them realised…..the only problem is my wife still works in the NHS so we don’t have that total freedom just yet…biggest thing I noticed was that you just don’t have to cram everything, gardening, housework, diy, repairs, shopping etc into a short frantic weekend…….you can spread them out and take your time - so much nicer
Many thanks for the comment. Time really is so valuable and something that we definitely feel we have neglected in the past. We are finding that our retired life is now so rich, we cannot figure out how we managed to fit working in! We feel really grateful for the time that we now have for each other and ourselves as individuals. Have a good weekend, R
Thank you - we are certainly trying to make the most of the time that we now have together and fill it with experiences - hope your plans go as you want x
Thank you, this video sort of confirms our thoughts and what we have been working towards... We are going at 55 me as a teacher, my wife from social services ... better to have a little for a long time than a lot for no time..... T5 is mid build.... 2 years and one term to go.. :)
Thanks for the comment and such positive feedback. It's fair to say that we are loving what we do at the moment and are grateful for each and every day. Have a lovely weekend. Richard & Jackie
We are in our early 50s. We have our home, our cabin, and our huge Ford truck paid off. We have a RRSP and one Pension RRSP. We are hoping to save and have a little cash before retiring. I’m hoping to do so in a few years. 🤞
We hope all your plans go well, owning our property and campervan outright were 2 big steps in us being able to retire early as they are the 2 biggest debts we had. We are realising that we are very fortunate in the UK as we do not have to worry about things like health insurance in our old age as we have the NHS. Good luck 🤞
Speaking as someone who’s been a saver for most of my life, becoming a spender scared me. I established three income sources to reduce how much I withdraw from savings and to alleviate some of my fears. The income sources are semi passive and two side hustles I work on about 15 hours a week. Because my expenses are so low, those income sources typically pay about 70% of my expenses.
Absolutely love this video, as a maths lover I loved your graph. I have a personal finance RUclips channel and do podcast style videos called ‘Let’s chat about money’. I’d love to have you on as guests.
Hi @thegeordiesaver. Thanks for this kind offer- it was such a surprise! At this moment we don't really feel confident enough to do any collaborations as we are still in the early days of our RUclips evolution. We do feel uncomfortable offering any advice relating to finances as we are no experts in this field and would never wish to come across as that. We are just Jackie and Richard muddling through this whole early retirement adventure doing the best we can and sharing some the things that we do along the way. Thanks for considering us, and we are sure you understand our position on this. Good luck with your podcasts- we will take a look now that we are back in the WiFi zone! Richard & Jackie
@@earlyretirementwanderlust No problem, that's totally understandable. I'm always very cautious about not giving financial advice. The offers always there if you change your mind in future. Looking forward to your upcoming videos, your content is brilliant!
Hubby and i really enjoy all your videos, the travel ones givev us ideas of places to stsy while your honesty and openess about your approach to retirement and day to day life are inspiring. Richard, youve succeeded in gettinb the other half doing morming stretches, you deserve a medal 🏅
If only he could get his wife motivated enough to do her stretching 🤣 Thank you for your lovely comment, it made our day! Travel wise, there are so many fab places out there and we magpie our travel ideas from other peoples instagram and RUclips accounts!
Just stumbled across this video and gosh how relevant to my life. Due to a horrific car accident I had to medically retire from work at the age of 41. I've since gotten divorced and I am now with a wonderful partner and he is looking to retire at 55. He got divorced and had to start over again and 6 years ago he bought a house for £183k...incredibly he will have his mortgage of £150k paid off in another 3 years...when he is 55. His house is currently valued at £249k which is really good. He aims to downsize and we are going to buy a small campervan and just take off when we want. We are so excited for his retirement when we will finally have the time to fully enjoy each other's company and just enjoy life. I shall let him see this video and it might put some of his worries to rest.
Owning our campervan has been life changing for us. We have had it for 6 years - when we worked it allowed us to escape for weekends and have cheap longer holidays ( as teachers) but since we have retired it has given us so much freedom. Hopefully you will find that too. It sounds like you are both well ahead with your planning - hope it all goes well 🚐
Owning our campervan has been life changing for us. We have had it for 6 years - when we worked it allowed us to escape for weekends and have cheap longer holidays ( as teachers) but since we have retired it has given us so much freedom. Hopefully you will find that too. It sounds like you are both well ahead with your planning - hope it all goes well 🚐
Retired at 51 from a major steel plant closure in 2010. Got maximum redundancy after working there for 35 years. I had paid towards a final salary scheme from age 18 as a manager. I bought an extra 8 years pension AVC's so was only 3% short of a full private pension. Commuted the maximum lump sum from my pension, which was not taxable then at all. The pension age was 50 then as well, so I got my pension straight away. My pension was paid at a higher rate before state pension age ( 66 ), until I get my state pension next January, then it will drop but I will be around £250 a month better off than I am now, when the state pension is added, my private pension in itself now, is only just shy of my working wage. I even got payment in lieu of wages as I left because I finished physically before my end date. I left work on 27th March 2010, the pension age was raised by Gordon Brown on 6th April 2010. Since I have left though, I have had to pay 8 years state pension NI contributions that I was missing, because I was 'opted out' and because the years needed for a full pension changed. Instead of crying poverty and whingeing like the Waspi Women, I just accepted that it was a change in government policy and paid from 2016 to 2023 inclusive, to give me a full state pension, as if I wasn't opted out. Evidentally the missing years between 2010 and 2016 made no difference because they were before the government rule change. Enjoying retirement now without any financial worries at all. Initially when i retired i put my redundancy money, pension lump sum and payment in lieu together and bought a £117 000 rental property for extra income ( my 4 bed detached house with double garage, was already paid off. My own property is there to be downsized, if i ever need to take extra money back, which i probably won't. Hope that the triple lock remains forever. Us boomers have always had a hard life lol. The best part of all though is that I am slim, very fit, no comorbities and take no prescription drugs after leading a healthy lifestyle all my life and being a life time amateur racing cyclist also, with plenty of aerobic exercise. I do not know anybody else my age who is as fit and healthy. My ambition is to at least be on my pension for as many years as I had worked.
It sounds like you have really got retired life sussed! We know we still have 3 years NI each to contribute to our state pension that will need to be paid in the next 14 years. We are really enjoying our time being more active, definitely not as fit as you but I think we do pretty well for people over 50! We are excited to get out cycling in the Dales over the spring and summer, we are fair weather cyclists. It is great to hear about how other peoples early retirement plans came about and it's surprising how many of us are out there. Thanks for watching and your comments over the past few months
Very interesting video. Reading the comments, your channel seems to have a lot of subscribers who left teaching early, having had enough. I think the key thing with your health/wealth graph is there is an implicit assumption that work's benefits are wealth rather than health. I've just retired finally from a public sector role at nearly 64 having partially retired and taken pension at 60. we have been able for the last four years to take longer holidays using our motorhome whilst maintaining an income from work. I personally enjoyed working half time , still having the benefit of a salary. I enjoyed work more and the great colleagues I worked with. Although we cannot know what the future holds, the actuaries expect half of us 60 somethings to live to nearly 90. Many people are maintaining good health into their 80s. So for those in their early 50s, you need to plan for 40 year time horizons. It's great how you planned all this with your eyes open. The right answer will be different for different people: the important thing is to know yourselves and to make informed decisions.
Hi Tim, thanks for the comment. It is great to hear that your retirement journey is working out. We understand that many people love their jobs and have no wish to take early retirement. We absolutely loved our jobs and the people we were fortunate to work with. Unfortunately, the events of 2021 absolutely crushed us, and it took some recovering from. We are firm believers that out of trauma comes growth and we are grasping that with both hands. For us, the right thing to do was to early retire and find more time for us. This will not be the case for others, as they will have their own paths and aspirations to follow. As for life expectancy- who knows... we just want to make the best of the time that we have. Thanks again, R.
Great video guys. It is all in the planning. Plan, plan and plan again. You don’t get to retire early just landing on your lap. You need to work hard all of your life for it and when it happens it’s down to that hard work so enjoy every minute of it because you just don’t know when it will all end. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
We definitely feel like we made some good decisions in the last 10 years that have enabled us to get through the next couple of years until we get our teachers pensions and then we should be fine! The campervan being the main bonus as it gives us our freedom to travel at very little cost. I bet you are on a weekly count down now until you hit the red rock country x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yes absolutely. We return from Florida in 3 weeks time, then head to Italy with our friends for 4 nights and then we head to California in May. We, like you guys, are very very lucky but then good decisions earlier in life have made these things possible. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
It's amazing that you can access your pension at 55. In Australia, the earliest you can access your superannuation tax-free is 60 years old, and to access the government pension it is now 67! Enjoy your retirement 😊
Yes we do feel very fortunate that we had that option. We will take a huge hit on the amount we would have got had we continued to 65 (teachers pension age) but we decided the extra years we gained for ourselves was worth it. We too cannot access our state pension until 67 (possibly 68 by the time we get there) We do think we will have to do some sort of seasonal or part time work at some point to top up our pension and savings.
I am in Australia too. I can see them not allowing us to access super until 67 to match with aged pension. I can also see them including your house in the assets test. So I am not sure what to do. I am a full time teacher aged 56.
I’ve been retired 6 years now. My health and general well-being is so much better. I didn’t realise quite how stressful my job was until I stopped doing it. I sleep longer and wake refreshed and have far more time for exercise.
So true. It is only when you are out of the race that you realise what an effect it was having on you. We are really proud to say that we cannot remember the last time when we set an alarm. We go to sleep when we are tired and wake when we wake. The improvement in my sleep has been one of the significant benefits of early retirement for me. R
I know that sunday feeling, anxious and worried about another 65 hour week. I'm 46,I hope to be done by 60 and hopefully make it to then❤ good video guys x
It's the one thing that we definitely do not miss and we are grateful on a weekly basis for the change. It is only recently that we realised what an effect it was having on our whole weekends. We did get better at starving it off later and later into Sunday if that is any consolation. Thanks for the lovely feedback. 👍
So sensible to do early retirement. We retired at 50…….1st heart attack 4 months later….. Money was a worry but being mortgage free was the decider. Go for it if you can. Should add the health issues has not stopped us enjoying life…..caravanning & travelling Europe. Flying is an issue due to huge travel insurance premiums.
Wow, that must have tough after making the decision to retire early! Glad that everything has settled down and you are able to get out there travelling. The UK and Europe have so much to offer - we keep discovering new, beautiful places, even in the Dales where we live and have explored for years! No regrets so far x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Never give up travelling…….We are in our late..ish 60’s now…….we’ve both had serious health issues…..too many to mention…😂😂😂 To travel & explore is in our blood still! Caravanning is preferred now purely because we can get a car into a hospital…😂😂 Difficult with a 7.4m moho…!
@graemeroberts5730 amazing! We will try and make the most of it 😊 we have just arrived back in the french alps for 3 weeks making the most of our season pass we bought in January!
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Enjoy! Life is so for living. So go out there and enjoy every moment! You will have problems but they can always be overcome. Stay positive and happy!
I also appreciate all the comments here, they all Inspire me as they seem to be from like minded people. I forgot to say, I’m a Police officer, so hearing so many similar situation comments, and how people make them work is reassuring
Thank you - we love hearing from like minded people and what their experiences have been. I think we all share the same fears and worries about taking the plunge to retire.
Lovely early morning vlog to watch whilst sipping coffee in bed and also not having to get up to go to work ! Working out a budget is fairly straight forward and having an emergency fund is also a must. We are off to great Langdale this morning o your recommendation- but first tonight at Patterdale estate which looks very interesting , have pu been? Thanks for the vlog, x Claire
We have played around with a budget over the past 18 months and now we feel we have found a great balance to live on whilst allowing us the freedom to travel whenever we want. We have not stayed at the patterdale estate - is it a campsite? We love it in that area of the lakes! Have a great time in the Langdales - hopefully you will not have a knock on the door to evacuate with a storm like we did 🤣 it’s a stunning area with fab hikes from the van door 🚐 the pub is great too which always helps x
Congratulations. Dreams are always worth aspiring towards. Who Dares Wins. Thank you for the fiscal, physical and emotional views expressed. An emotional response question related to mental health, 'how have you adapted with self-worth?' Acknowledged, or not by some, many gain a sense of self-worth from work achievements, with a second order effect, of income. Wondering if this has at any stage triggered any emotional emptiness with the emotion of self-worth?
Hi, at the moment we keep ourselves busy and motivated by setting ourselves goals and we are enjoying being learners again. We have enjoyed the project of renovating our cottage and are now enjoying being in the new community and exploring our new surroundings. We have not for one minute felt any regrets or lack of self worth, in fact at the moment, maybe even the opposite.
You could also do some part time teaching at a local college if you needed an income top up. Teaching has a lot of transferrable disciplines. For most people, semi retirement is more of a possibility. I'm 58 and I have to find just over 8 more years to fund us both before getting a state pension. Anyone getting a pension at 55 is very fortunate. The health v wealth graph is one which we have also grappled with. So pension companies give you your pension in a linear way, but you should front load the pension benefit, and the only way to do that is to cash it at 55.
We didn’t realise it all those years ago when we started teaching how fortunate we are with the profession we chose and how good the pension scheme is. You are so right we do probably have transferable skills we have never considered - I know Richard is really enjoying his free lance writing for magazines which gives us a small income we put towards ferry costs! The graph really resonated with us as we have lost quite a few young (45-55) friends and family members in recent years.
@@earlyretirementwanderlust another consideration for when you get your pension at 55 is that you will both want to ensure you are using your personal allowances. If your pensions do not utilise that, you could draw down some of your pension pot, which is done via a wage slip with tax taken on an emergency basis, you then have to put that onto a tax return to reclaim the tax. We are also debt free and have been since our mid 40s and could manage financially until state pension, but state pension isn't quite enough, so would look to top it up with £150 per week from savings. We have looked into lots of part time income opportunities but for now it's best to earn bigger with what we know. We can't even do Only Fans (too ugly), so we have to keep working and retain a sense of humour :)
@whereveraway it all sounds so complicated - thankfully our son is a financial advisor who has just completed his pension exams so he will have to start earning his years of free food and wine! Sadly we have the same problem with only fans 🤣🤣🤣🤣 we also feel that at some point between 55-67 we will WANT to do some work instead of needing to which might help build our long term savings back up 😬
At 60 I still enjoy my stressful NHS job. I balance things by working 4 days per wk, do ad-hoc garden work, enjoy time away in our crampy-van and meditate. I also enjoy the regular income and knowing that my pension is quietly growing for when I need it x
Thanks for this- it's always good to hear how others structure their early retirement. For us, the campervan really has made our travel aspirations realistic. Glad that you like a good meditate too- it's a game changer- I only wish I had found it earlier in my life. R
Great video guys thank you. Quick question. Will both of you have the full state pension for when you turn 67, i.e. 35 years contributions? Also would love to know your 2024 annual expenses budget, as we too are planning for post work life and would love to know what your spending looks like. Have you seen the PLSA report, as mentioned here by the BBC, ie that couples will need £22.4k (minimum), £43k (moderate) or £59k (comfortable) in retirement in 2024? Thanks :)
Hi Ian, We both still have 3 years of contributions to make before we are 67 which we will pay after we get our teachers pension. In all probability we will probably naturally pay the contributions off if we do some seasonal work for a couple of years which we plan to do from a social point of view when we have grown tired of travelling 🤣 we are trying to live off £2000 per month at the moment which we stick to pretty well. We do however have a small pot that we get from freelance writing and RUclips that pays for our ferries and air fairs when needed on top of that. The £22k figure is quite arbitrary as it depends if you are still having to pay rent, have debts and what life style you are used to - for us it is almost manageable with all our travel included but we have no mortgage and own the van outright which massively helps.
I am 65 and ready for retirement. However, after 43 years as a professional engineer and worked all over the world I am not sure how to stop. I still need to come to terms with not having a busy career.
That is something we were worried about - particularly Richard whose job as a Deputy Head was relentless. For us, moving house and taking on a renovation project at the same time kept us busy for a good 6 months! Hope you find something that gives you purpose in your early retirement. Having our campervan means we can get away regularly and cheaply when we get itchy feet!
With regards to earning extra income, have you thought about renting out your home whilst you travel in your van? This could either be as a straight 6 or 12 month let, or AirBnB. This would help see you through to your pension in a couple of years :)
When we first made our plans to move to the Dales we renovated the cottage with a mind that we could rent it out on airbnb or on short term lets when we travel if we ever needed the money. It is our ultimate back up plan as we know we could get around £500-700 per week in peak seasons. However... when we completed the renovations and fell in love with the house, it feels strange to have random people in our house. It is definitely an option that we regularly discuss as we are away so much. For now, we seemingly run a free airbnb for our family and friends which is so lovely that they want to live our lives for a few days!! We are in France again skiing and my sister has moved in for a week - rent being a couple of bottles of wine 🤣
What a fantastic video! You both nailed every point on my mind! Perfect ❤ congratulations 🎉. We are 45 and are making huge strides to retire at 50 for every single one of the reasons you mentioned! Health is wealth!
I’ve just discovered that having retired early at aged 60 6 years ago on TPS I’ve now not paid enough NI years after 2016 when the law changed! Make sure you check your state pension projection ok.
@@earlyretirementwanderlustif you sign up as sole traders you can pay class 2 contributions for the missing 3 years so £150 instead of £850 a year for class 3 NI!
Great honest video guys .. loving your journey …. Good on you both for having the strength to go for it … once that pension comes in you will feel like millionaires lol ….But you would never have got that time back … you are in the youth of your retirement journey 😊
We love your quote ‘the youth of our retirement journey’ which is so true. We are thankful and really appreciate the time we have, spending it exploring our new area, spending more quality time with our family and being able to travel 😊 thanks for watching x
I have resigned my post at 52. I have taken a massive financial hit and cannot take a pension for quite a few years. I feel nervous and worry about lack of purpose. These videos help. I may make my own video in two years with my thoughts on my decision...
Love your video. I’m 53 and completely debt free now but the one thing that keeps me from retiring is my son who is 15 who needs a stable home at such an important time. I’m guessing you guys don’t have kids.
55 here and just left the business world. I could not be happier, it's actually even better than I thought it would be. After 40 years working and 36 at a massive corporation I can finally breathe and be myself. No more bull and meetings, no more appraisements and box ticking! The blue print is always, start early, start a pension, don't buy pointless materialistic junk, pay off all debts and mortgage, invest in non risky options and get the hell out as soon as you can. I wish everyone good luck and hope all can one day feel the freedom I have today.
The feeling of no more stress and pressure is a great feeling! We know we were fortunate being part of the teachers pension scheme but being mortgage and debt free was the thing that helped us be able to make the final jump.
I was made redundant at 54. Took a year out to travel and decided to take early retirement with my teaching pension at 55. Absolutely no regrets! Moved to Southern Spain so that I could live my life outdoors. Bought a tiny van and sold our family home when my husband finally retired at 65, lots of regrets because he waited that long. I have been retired for about 10 years now and am finally able to claim my old age pension next year.
Like you, I never wanted to go back into teaching and have not had to work. I enjoy my life so much and have never been bored since I took that decision, apart from during Covid restrictions. I have travelled a lot, learned a new language, walked thousands of miles, made lots of new friends and maximised my time. Like you, I feel healthier, happier, well-rested and extremely thankful❤ Thanks for encouraging others to take the leap.😊
I hope we are still as happy, like yourself, when we get to state pension age! We have been amazed at how little we need at the moment to enjoy our lives. Happy retirement to you both x
Greetings from South Spain. Not retired but happily planning for it 😊
Becoming a sudden widow at 48 and now at 51 i can
underatand how you look at life so differently now. .Grief takes alot out of you physically and mentally and makes you appreciate life and think about how you want to spend your time.
Many thanks for sharing this and we are sorry for your loss. Grief does take so much out of you, but it does get easier and we get more skills to deal with it. Our loss was a pivotal life moment for us and we knew we needed to change things up. We have never regretted what we have done.
Thanks for the comment and take care. 🙏
I retire next week at the age of 58 after a very stressful job in the NHS. It is encouraging to hear that your retirement has been so rewarding. I am looking forward to that stress lifting too.
We found the point when we made the decision and handed in our notice alleviated some of the stress but the feeling when we finally left was transformational! We do have different stresses at times but nothing like that of teaching and certainly not like that of working for the NHS. Hope all goes well - it is a strange feeling in that first week knowing you will never go back and we kept ourselves purposely busy with travel, seeing family and friends and then the house move. Enjoy your freedom x
Ditto! I am also retiring from local government at 58 as I’ve had enough. There is no longer job satisfaction and cuts are destroying public services which is hard to stomach when you have spent your adult working life building up. Best wishes for your retirement
Thank you so much! Good idea to keep busy especially in the first few weeks. @@earlyretirementwanderlust
@@earlyretirementwanderlustget back to work 😅, there's a lack of teachers!!!!
@@aldozilli1293 There's a lack of teachers and nurses for a reason.
That was the same exact script I followed. At 53 I became debt free including mortgage and was able to retire early. However, I continued working for five more years but I took a lower paying less stressful job working full-time from home. I retired last year at 59.
I live a modest but comfortable life. I couldn’t be happier
It’s amazing isn’t it how happy we can be living a modest life where time is our greatest benefit - like you we are not averse to taking on part time or temporary work if needed - it will not have the same stress and pressure that our teaching careers did. Thanks for sharing your very similar experience and we hope life continues to be great 😊
@@earlyretirementwanderlust by the way. My mother was a teacher who retired at 55. She also was debt free. It’s weird but I live just like my mother. It’s so true you do become your parents😂😄😜
Awesome story. My dad recently died at 84 (just old age) but had retired at 57. He has 27 years in retirement doing the things he enjoyed doing. Best thing he ever did, so glad he made the decision. Good luck 🙏🏻
100% agree. That is absolutely why we are doing what we do.
Many thanks for the comment. 👍
Thank you for sharing your story. I love it. I’m planning to retire in 2025 at 55. I’m so looking forward to our new adventure.
Exciting times ahead for you - the biggest thing we enjoy is the luxury of time. We have been able to spend quality time with our mums and our children and of course to travel 🚐
you folks are such a lovely couple, bless you!
Thank you ☺️
Retired at age 48. Retirement is great
I retired early 10 years ago after a stressful working life in social care management. I knew I wouldn’t have any income for 6 years until I could access my pension which was really scary. However I knew if necessary I could downsize or I could get a part time job, so jumped off the cliff and went for it. It’s been the absolute best decision ever, I’ve never regretted it for one second, I’ve not had to downsize or return to work, just been sensible and not wasted the money I had. We have a VW van to get out and about in which is a brilliant added bonus.
Nice to know you still have no regrets. We have managed for 19 months already and have got much better at our budgeting and keeping to it while still travelling. The van has been a fab investment as it gives us our freedom at very little cost! Thanks for sharing your experience with us x
So pleased you popped up on our feed. I retired 8 years ago at 55 (nurse) and my husband retired 11 years ago at the age of 49(Police). He did go back to work after 6 months and finally retired a year ago but the job he did was less stressful and fun. We also have Max the VW camper, 18 months, and love your vlogs. We don't regret retiring at all and think the key to it is budgeting.
Budgeting is definitely the key for us! We are trying to avoid having to work for a few years at least - at some point we think it would be quite stimulating doing seasonal work somewhere in the UK or abroad - but more for the social aspect. Thanks for watching 😊 Happy travels in Max 🚐
I’m a visual learner and love your “nerdy “ graphs … 😂
Cannot beat a good graph Victoria😂
Thanks for the comment👍
So succinct, so clear, so true, particularly the dreaded ‘Sunday’ feeling and the increasing insomnia - as an ex-teacher I limped to 54 (by downshifting from a stressful HOD role).
To be honest the key to our fortunate position of being able to retire has been largely due to being beneficiaries of our mad property market rendering us mortgage-free.
My wife retires next week and fingers-crossed we pick up our new campervan in April before driving off into the sun. You have articulated our own deliberations, worries, calculations over the last few years exactly. I’m sure your decision and the reasons behind it will be an inspiration to many who might just need such words of encouragement.
Hi- thanks for the comment and sharing your story. It's so exciting getting a van...it really did change our life and our outlook. It probably contributed to our decision to ER at the age we did...as over the years it had helped us realise what was truly important to us.
Wishing you all the best for your time together. R&J
You are so right about changing your mindset from accumulating wealth to drawing down on it once retired. The New Zealand pension is a "subsistence" only amount so if one wants a good lifestyle you need a lump of capital to invest and drawdown on. Luckily in N.Z. (unlike Australia) the pension is not means tested - yet!
It's a real tough one as we have been conditioned all of our lives to save either for a rainy day or for our retirement. Breaking that habit of saving is not easy. Likewise seeing your coveted saving pot reduce over a period of time rather than growing is also a hard one to get our heads around.
Pensions are always a tricky thing in the current economic climate...who knows where things will go with state pensions in the future!?!
Thanks for the comment👍
Build residual income, it’s the best way to go into retirement. You will have more options. We are having fun helping others do this with us
Thanks for a great video. Interesting that you talk about the health benefits of retirement - I have shared a couple of your videos with my wife, I can’t remember which ones, but one was from the very beginning of your vlogging journey, the other from very recently - we too have a campervan. She remarked upon how much healthier you both look in the recent video compared to how you looked in the early days. I think we don’t all realise how unhealthy our working life can be and how much it impacts on our physical and mental health and well being.
Thanks for this. It's always nice to hear positive feedback. Interestingly, our kids both said at Xmas that we were looking a lot better and a lot more chilled out...even though they always considered us pretty chilled out anyway. The way we feel at the moment is pretty good. There doesn't seem to be many downsides of making the leap of faith into early retirement.
I can imagine teaching is hellish in this day and age …….good luck 🍀 to you both, you deserve it 🤘😎🏞️
I’m a few years older than you and I also made the move in my 40’s …..best decision of my life 🤘frugrality definitely leads to massive fulfillment, and you start to realise what BS we’ve all been drawn into at various stages of our journey 🍀😎
Thank you ☺️
Hi. Just found your channel. I’m retiring from teaching in two days at the age of 55. I’m excited for all of the reasons you mentioned. I’m retiring for my health and my relationships. Your video reinforced my hopes for retirement. Thank you from 🇨🇦
Congratulations Melissa- enjoy the last couple of days in work. If you are anything like us, you will love it. We had quite a few anxieties leading up to the big day, but it was actually really anticlimactic and we have never looked back since.
Thanks for your videos they Inspire me. I crave not having that Sunday night feeling, even though with working shifts sometimes i have 2 Sunday nights a week😂. I am planning to retire at 55 years old, I am currently 52, and I feel like I am just clinging in there everyday. I have bought a campervan, outright, in preperation and to enjoy now. I’m mortgage free and have some savings. However, as i am single i feel i need to work at least until i am 55 and my work pension kicks in. I enjoy and take great comfort in your videos, thanks for taking the effort to produce them.
We were always aiming for 55 and would have financially been much better off if we had continued working. Having your campervan and no mortgage when you do retire will allow you to have your freedom to travel and live to a budget - we could not do most of our adventuring otherwise! Time will pass quickly and you will be 55 before you know it! In the mean time - happy travels 🚐
Congratulations to both of you! I'll be 55 soon, but I still have financial commitments I need to see through. I'll be looking at full or phased retirement in the next year or so, and my partner (also a teacher) will also be looking at early retirement in the next 4-5 years. Out of the many things you said that rang true, one thing that stands out is this question of personal health. You are sleeping so much better and getting the most out of your time, and this is something I've had to give serious attention to. It does not make sense to work into my 60s and give up healthy years in exchange for money. We never know what's coming!
Better quality sleep and lower heart rate in the day were 2 big changes after we finished! A phased retirement would also make sense if you are not both at the same stage to retire together. Thanks for watching x
I’m 38 and considering retirement. I’ve got enough assets to keep me living a moderate lifestyle. I’ve got a pretty good lifestyle at the moment but I also feel time is more precious than accumulating wealth.Fortunately the house is paid off and have a few rentals… unfortunately, people my age aren’t in a position or think about their health just yet which makes me feel there isn’t anyone out there in my age group that I can discuss the topic with.
Cool video-Retired at 62 -School Psychologist-still miss my special kids-now relaxing in Thailand!
Thank you 😊 have a great time in Thailand 🇹🇭 as a school psychologist you have definitely deserved it!
Inspiring content! I’m retiring from teaching this year, but dropped my many responsibilities and have been part time for a while to adjust to the idea of not working. As soon as you take a step back you realise that the constant stress of teaching is toxic and very bad for your well-being. I’ve lost both my parents this year and it has really made me reassess what’s important. I just need my younger hubby to think about retiring early to join me in my adventures!
Hi Lorraine- we are sorry for your loss- life can be so cruel sometimes. Please don't get us wrong- we loved our jobs, but we too were in a situation where we critically reevaluated what we valued. It was only after I retired that I realised the effect it really had been having on me...and I thought I was coping quite well!!! Good luck with the next few months, and don't forget to enjoy the process of retiring- it goes so quick.
Thanks for reaching out. R
I’m loving your content. I turned 50 last year and am in the process of planning for early retirement. I work as a Manager of a policy team in public education in Australia and it’s so intense and stressful. Your vlogs give me hope that I can actually make this work.
Thanks for the comment- it's always nice to hear our ideas resonate! For us, the planning for ER was way worse than how it actually turned out. It was more the fear of the unknown. Having a plan, trusting in it and having a back up plan if it all turned pear shaped helps with any worries.
Have a good one down there in Australia. R&J
Thanks for your video. I will be going on early retirement in June 2024. I will be 63 years old. I made the decision to be closer to my family and live the rest of my life on my terms.
Good for you - it was quite a daunting feeling at the finality of finishing our careers and safety net of work but we have never looked back since! Hope all goes well for you 😊
Thank you for the update. I'm 53, and for the last few years have cut back to supply teaching for my final school. A little unpredictable at times, but the sense of control and improved mental health is so worth it. Planning to take my TP at 55 like you guys; the recent changes make a real difference to those of us in the 'old' scheme too. Enjoy your retirement!
We were pleasantly surprised at what a difference the court case has made to our pension, we had already left the profession at that point so it was a bonus! Good luck with your early retirement plans, we have no regrets so far!
Thanks for inspiration. I am an American living in Japan with a camper van wanting to retire early as well. I am 53
Thanks for this. We have not regretted one moment of our early retirement and it just seems to get better and better. Good luck with your plans.👍
Fabulous video. I thought I was being reckless but your story mirrors mine pretty much exactly with the exception of career type. I still feel a little guilty at stopping at 52 and sometimes feel embarrassed when talking to older friends about it. Somehow I find myself apologising that ‘I’m not boasting’ and ‘I’ll probably die a poor man’. I ran a small business for 25 years and loved what I did but after losing dad in 2020 and the idea of doing my daily grind v seeing my beautiful granddaughter every day, well lets just say it was the easiest decision I’ve ever made. Bons voyages.
Thank you for sharing your story - absolutely a good decision to spend time with your family if that is what you wanted! Those are precious years and memories. Like you - the big hit on our pension was worth the years we have gained 😊
Your retirement life is almost exactly like mine. Lost 3 members of my family very close together, a stressful job in law, worrying about finances, downsized to a full renovation project etc etc. I’ve been retired now for 9 months and absolutely love it, just loving every part of my life. Off to The Lake District with our dog and daughter next week😀 thanks for sharing all the advice and info. See you in the next one 😀
Thanks for sharing this with us Jane...life is never easy and we are sorry for your losses. It is so tough to deal with at times- but you sound to be doing ok. We are firm believers that out of trauma comes growth...no matter how hard that may feel at the time. Day by day we are finding it easier to deal with our loses...but it never goes away...and we wouldn't really want it to go away entirely as it shows that we really loved the people that we lost. We too kept ourselves busy in the early days with projects, but we are now starting to love what we have managed to create. Enjoy the Lakes and the time with your daughter. It is an awe inspiring place.
Thanks again for sharing. R&J.
Amazing 👏 Thank you for sharing.❤
Thank you ☺️
Just found your excellent channel. I'm 60 and semi-retired and wife a little older and fully retired. We live in New Zealand. No government pension until we are 65.
Welcome to our little channel- we are glad that you found us!
We think it's pretty clear that we love retirement so far- what's not to love?😂
Thanks for the comment👍
I was transfixed watching your video today - such good info and encouragement. So many of the topics discussed we relate to. My pension plan has an online gizmo that allows me to make all kinds of calculations based on different scenarios - it is very helpful as I’ve noticed what little change there is in the pension as the years go on. I’m on the short stretch!
And still on the count down to when you can return to the Yorkshire Dales. I have never asked Sharon - What is your job?
I loved finding our online pension calculator - as in England, they have changed our pensions slightly, if we joined the scheme before 2007 and we are suddenly better off than we thought we would be! The time will fly until you retire - it did for us!
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yes the countdown is on and I consider this stretch the immediate phase for our retirement which is why your video was so helpful! I work in communications for a K-12 educational association and my colleagues are mostly fabulous retired teachers!
Going out travelling/visiting places at better quieter times is a big one. Much less stressful. The simple things like country walks are benefitting your physical and MH too :)
We have definitely noticed how much fitter and healthier we are! The biggest thing we find strange travelling off peak season is the lack of children on campsites - something w have never had!! (And really don’t mind - it’s just strange!)
Loving your videos... I'm retiring at the end of May when I'll be 55 and will be buying our first motorhome together and your videos are giving us some real inspiration...keep them coming!!
Exciting times ahead! The van is the best investment (after a house) we ever made as it has given us our freedom to get away frequently at little cost. Thanks for watching 😊
I will be 55 next month. Hopefully I could make my decision to retire of 33 years working.
congrats on your decision and making that leap! really inspired and enjoy your posts!
Thank you 😊
I'm too young to retire just yet but I've gone part time and it's made so much difference to the work life balance. I will never go back to full time.
You have to do what is right for you - balancing stress, work and mental health is a delicate thing. Glad you have found something that works for you x
I really relate to that item of moving from saving to spending and it does take time to adjust your mindset...oh and that Sunday Night feeling, people just do not realise the impact it has on your wellbeing. I have 2 questions though - 1) do you miss that Lifestyle you had before? 2) when you eventually can draw your pension does that then change your lifestyle now by potentially 50%, 100% or 100% +?. I find your channel very honest, covering some really important subjects and being very genuine, your subscribers are growing quickly which reflects my comments...well done both
It took us so long to get into the savings mindset - probably only the last 10 years, that it felt sad moving back to spending - but hopefully only temporary until we can access our teachers pension.
In answer to your questions - No we don't miss our lifestyle from when we were working as much as we thought we would! We are on quite a strict budget which we quite like - we enjoy the challenge of eating well and planning our meals, we can travel cheaply because we own the van outright and use park for the night to find free or cheap park ups. I occasionally miss that at the moment we can't really afford to eat out or have take aways very often but we have changed our mind set on that. When travelling we might eat in the van, then have pudding out or go and share a bottle of wine somewhere scenic. We see our children and family more which is important to us. We can't get any credit as we have no income so have to pay for things like insurance in one go but that does actually save us a little in the long run
When we finally access our teachers pension we will be maybe 10% better off than the budget we have set ourselves at the moment but we will have a lump sum we can draw on if needed. When we finally get to state pension age we will be able to party hard as our income will nearly double!!
Hope some of this helps!
What a great video! Great information and perspective. Thank you!
Thank you ☺️
I appreciate the graphic about the Health vs Wealth !
Really helpful ❤
Thank you ☺️
Great video, im in a similar situation myself. I completely agree that you're quality of life improves once the stress of work has lifted. I look forward to watching your next video
Thanks - we have such a different out look on life now those stresses are gone!
Final salary teaching pensions will have helped here. Try the same on defined contribution pensions.
Yes, but there is also a lot us DC pension contibutors can do to put ourselves in a better position. Start early, choose an employer with a better matching scheme, change off the default fund... all things the vast majority of people fail to do and suffer the consequences of, and those steps apply whether you are a low or high earner.
@@Waddywoos360 agreed, but the average person has no idea how to do some of those things. A person in a final salary scheme has to worry about none of those things.
@@scareybailey Yes. As a former DC pension administrator at a large corporation, fewer than 5% of employees had ever logged in and fewer than 1% had amended their fund selection. As the first generation (90's birthdays) without DB pensions at all, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people when my generation reaches their 50's and 60's and cannot retire.
loving these videos, really helpful - would love a monthly budget breakdown from you to work out how much we can retire on too.
Hi thanks for reaching out- a great question! We naturally get a lot of questions about finance, and we hope you understand that we are uncomfortable sharing the pounds and pence details of what we do, but we are happy to share an overview.
We set our monthly budget at £2K per month- this covers everything. We have £700 of standard monthly bills such as utilities, etc. We aim to live off £200 per week cash, that covers petrol, food, and any other day to day expenses. This leaves a surplus each month from the £2K that we try to keep for the inevitable things that crop up. Our travel adventures are as cheap as you can get them, as we own our van outright. However we do get a small income from freelance travel writing that we put in a separate savings pot for our travel adventures- that helps with ferry costs, campsite fees and other expenses.
Our fallback, if everything goes pear shaped, is that we are still young, and if we need money, we can return to some form of work. It would never be teaching, as we no longer need that level of salary or responsibility. It would likely be seasonal, temporary work that fits with our thirst for adventures and new experiences.
I hope this helps? Have a great day.
Richard & Jackie
Nice to hear some people are able to make these choices and I do wish you all the best. Though I must admit watching this at 37 I find it hard to imagine how the numbers will stack up for us and younger generations. Doing some back-of-a-napkin calculations I would need roughly £1m saved to retire at 57 to cover a modest income, meaning I would need to save the majority of my salary every year for the next 20 years which would leave me with nowhere near enough to cover my current living costs. This is without even taking into account inflation or the inevitable rising taxes due to our aging population. Obviously you hope pensions are invested wisely to cover this but I think the reality is most people in future are only ever likely to retire early if they have a sizeable inheritance. Sorry to bring a bit of gloom to into the picture but I think it's important to be realistic about the prospects of doing this for many people.
That said as you prove there is a lot you can do to organise your lives to live more frugally and achieve your goals, but I think there are an awful lot of younger people with the head in their sand about this thinking they can maintain their current lifestyle forever.
We never fully appreciated as 18 year olds when we made our decision to be teachers how fortunate we were with the pension scheme that we were in and are truly thankful for it. I feel you are right, our children in their mid 20's are trying to get ahead in their pension planning - Luke is a financial planner and has just completed all his pension advisor exams. I am not sure me and Richard would have been as sensible.
By retiring earlier than we had initially planned, we have had to adjust our spending significantly and actually feel that we are far more sensible with our budget and for now are enjoying the process of making the most of every penny while still being able to travel extensively. Owning the campervan definitely helps with that. All the best with your future plans
Thanks for sharing your experiences on this channel, it's a useful resource for us thinking of doing similar.
Thank you - when we first formulated our early retirement plans there wasn’t a lot of information out there! It’s nice to know you find it of use ☺️ hope your plans go well.
I appreciate you guys sharing your experience ❤
Our pleasure!
Thanks for sharing your story. My wife and I are in our mid-40’s and have the option to take early retirement through her employer at age 50. The monthly benefit would not allow us to live in our current high cost of living country, but we are planning on moving anyway. We can live well in different parts of the world for that money. Still not sure if we will retire at 50, but it’s nice to know that we will have the option to do so.
A great opportunity for both you and your wife. I suppose the main question would be if you ever wanted your return to live in your country much later in life if you have family there. Thanks for watching 😊
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Exactly. That is one of the considerations we have.
I retired from teaching at 48 and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I am now focusing on my health and travelling.
We are loving the freedom we now have! Happy travels x
My wife and I are also planning/ wanting to leave early in two years (aged 56). We both work in the NHS for over 30+ years and have 2 DB, 2 DC and a Sipp pension. Once Premium Bonds are full (at 56) which is our trigger to quit. We managed to pay off two mortgages this year (54). We are both tired and do not enjoy the work we once loved due to the state of the NHS now. After listening to this video its making me think/consider going sooner.
We found it quite daunting make that final commitment and resigning from tough but secure jobs but decided the absolute worst thing that could happen is we would have to work again but it would be part time or temporary work not a full on stressful career. We would not teach again as we know we would be ‘all in’ and couldn’t do it half heartedly. Luckily the need hasn’t happened so far and we are really enjoying our time we have together and especially with our families 😊 good luck with whatever you decide x
Hi Richard & Jackie. Thank you for sharing your personal circumstances and experiences. We are in the process of planning our retirement and looking forward to it next year.. I have a business to sell later this year, which is very demanding. My wife is a nurse and she will finish up just after me. We will both be 58 and cannot wait to start a new chapter in our lives and do the things we want to do without any ties. Your video was very motivational and thank you once again for sharing. I look forward to more of them!
Thank you for your lovely words, we are really enjoying the process of learning how to make the videos and it gives us a focus in our early retirement. It sounds like you are almost there - it is a scary time handing in your notice and making that break from working life, we had so many worries about making our decision, but can happily say we have never looked back. We also have the mindset that the worst that can happen is we have to do some sort of work, but it would not be a career, just temporary maybe seasonal jobs which we might really appreciate doing in 10 years time from a social point of view. Good luck with all your plans, hope that everything goes well x
I’m so happy for you both! I still have 4 1/2 more years until I can retire from teaching and get my pension in the USA at 62 and move back to Germany. I will start getting social security at 65 and should be ok from there on. I feel like I’ll never get there but I hope I get to enjoy my retirement years. Great video!
Thank you, big changes for you when you do finally get to retire! Hope all goes well with your plans x
I’m turning fifty next month and competing 25 years of full-time teaching in Ontario, Canada. I’ve worked a side hustle for 18 years and am considering cutting that out to continue teaching until age 55 and 30 years of service. A lot of colleagues here are retiring at age 50 but I think it is worth it personally to maximize the pension. I want the “breeze”! Good luck to everyone!
It is definitely a fine balance of retiring with enough of a pension to be comfortable versus the time you gain! Good luck with your future plans. Canada is on our bucket list of future travel plans when we do finally access our pensions.
Another lovely video! Thank you both for the insights and your candor. It is SO helpful to hear about your experiences as we are just 23 weeks from launching our early retirement. One thing that I started (Richard may like this) is a weekly entry in an Excel file that lists the 1,400+ weeks that we have left to live. It's a great way to make note of the highlights and adventures of each week. Then, when you want to reminisce or remember all that you've done, you have a handy way of documenting the whole reason you did this in the first place. I hope that you would consider a live Q&A or a Zoom call where we could submit questions...particularly in a time block that we US-based folks might join too. Cheers!
Oooo Susan- I love the spreadsheet idea!!! I am on it already! We do have our own little solution to documenting our weekly adventures in our weekly blog that we love looking back on. We are already on week 104 and it is a really good space to collect our memories. I will obviously love a spreadsheet solution too! In some ways, recording our memories was a bit of a motivating factor for doing RUclips.
We have toyed with the idea of a Q&A session, but we think we are not quite big enough yet. We would be worried that no one would have any questions😂 If we were to do it, we would have to upscale our IT skills- but would try to include out friends across the pond. It blows our mind that people across the world are hooking into what we are doing.
All the best, R.
Thank for you for sharing!
Thanks for the comment! R
Really enjoyed this video! So helpful! We are in the planning stages and have paid off the mortgage, have no debts, and are trying to get more aggressive about saving in non-retirement accounts we can access early…
No mortgage and debts was the biggest part of our plans - the amount we could put into savings after that was astounding! If we had just held out until 55 we would have been in a very different position but we are not complaining as we love our life as it is! Happy retirement planning - that is part of the fun x
I retired at 50 from the Fire Brigade 71/2 yrs ago. I love it, had the same concerns but none of them realised…..the only problem is my wife still works in the NHS so we don’t have that total freedom just yet…biggest thing I noticed was that you just don’t have to cram everything, gardening, housework, diy, repairs, shopping etc into a short frantic weekend…….you can spread them out and take your time - so much nicer
Many thanks for the comment. Time really is so valuable and something that we definitely feel we have neglected in the past. We are finding that our retired life is now so rich, we cannot figure out how we managed to fit working in! We feel really grateful for the time that we now have for each other and ourselves as individuals.
Have a good weekend, R
Wonderful insight - thanks. Life is too short and wealth can't buy health. I am hoping to try and retire at 50 with some sort of side hustle.
Thank you - we are certainly trying to make the most of the time that we now have together and fill it with experiences - hope your plans go as you want x
Fab, thanks xxx
Thank you 😊
Thank you, this video sort of confirms our thoughts and what we have been working towards... We are going at 55 me as a teacher, my wife from social services ... better to have a little for a long time than a lot for no time..... T5 is mid build.... 2 years and one term to go.. :)
It sounds like you are well up on your planning for early retirement - hope it all goes smoothly for you - we certainly have no regrets
Brill video, thank you. Glad to see it going so well and well done on getting out!
Thanks for the comment and such positive feedback. It's fair to say that we are loving what we do at the moment and are grateful for each and every day.
Have a lovely weekend. Richard & Jackie
Very informative guys, thank you for sharing. And a belated happy birthday Richard 🎉
Thank you - he had a fab birthday and thoroughly enjoyed his curry takeaway he has been craving 😊
We are in our early 50s. We have our home, our cabin, and our huge Ford truck paid off. We have a RRSP and one Pension RRSP. We are hoping to save and have a little cash before retiring. I’m hoping to do so in a few years. 🤞
We hope all your plans go well, owning our property and campervan outright were 2 big steps in us being able to retire early as they are the 2 biggest debts we had. We are realising that we are very fortunate in the UK as we do not have to worry about things like health insurance in our old age as we have the NHS. Good luck 🤞
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you! I’m in Canada, so it’s similar to our health system.
Enjoy!! For now, I’m dreaming and crossing my fingers.
Speaking as someone who’s been a saver for most of my life, becoming a spender scared me. I established three income sources to reduce how much I withdraw from savings and to alleviate some of my fears. The income sources are semi passive and two side hustles I work on about 15 hours a week. Because my expenses are so low, those income sources typically pay about 70% of my expenses.
We do get a small income from freelance writing in a couple of magazines which certainly helps towards our travel costs 😊
Absolutely love this video, as a maths lover I loved your graph. I have a personal finance RUclips channel and do podcast style videos called ‘Let’s chat about money’. I’d love to have you on as guests.
I follow you both, as well as 2goroam 👍🏻 it would be great to see a collab with you all.
@@RobinHood-us7sg thanks for that!
Hi @thegeordiesaver. Thanks for this kind offer- it was such a surprise! At this moment we don't really feel confident enough to do any collaborations as we are still in the early days of our RUclips evolution. We do feel uncomfortable offering any advice relating to finances as we are no experts in this field and would never wish to come across as that. We are just Jackie and Richard muddling through this whole early retirement adventure doing the best we can and sharing some the things that we do along the way.
Thanks for considering us, and we are sure you understand our position on this.
Good luck with your podcasts- we will take a look now that we are back in the WiFi zone!
Richard & Jackie
@@earlyretirementwanderlust No problem, that's totally understandable. I'm always very cautious about not giving financial advice. The offers always there if you change your mind in future. Looking forward to your upcoming videos, your content is brilliant!
@thegeordiesaver thank you 😊
Hubby and i really enjoy all your videos, the travel ones givev us ideas of places to stsy while your honesty and openess about your approach to retirement and day to day life are inspiring. Richard, youve succeeded in gettinb the other half doing morming stretches, you deserve a medal 🏅
If only he could get his wife motivated enough to do her stretching 🤣 Thank you for your lovely comment, it made our day!
Travel wise, there are so many fab places out there and we magpie our travel ideas from other peoples instagram and RUclips accounts!
Just stumbled across this video and gosh how relevant to my life. Due to a horrific car accident I had to medically retire from work at the age of 41. I've since gotten divorced and I am now with a wonderful partner and he is looking to retire at 55.
He got divorced and had to start over again and 6 years ago he bought a house for £183k...incredibly he will have his mortgage of £150k paid off in another 3 years...when he is 55.
His house is currently valued at £249k which is really good.
He aims to downsize and we are going to buy a small campervan and just take off when we want.
We are so excited for his retirement when we will finally have the time to fully enjoy each other's company and just enjoy life. I shall let him see this video and it might put some of his worries to rest.
Owning our campervan has been life changing for us. We have had it for 6 years - when we worked it allowed us to escape for weekends and have cheap longer holidays ( as teachers) but since we have retired it has given us so much freedom. Hopefully you will find that too. It sounds like you are both well ahead with your planning - hope it all goes well 🚐
Owning our campervan has been life changing for us. We have had it for 6 years - when we worked it allowed us to escape for weekends and have cheap longer holidays ( as teachers) but since we have retired it has given us so much freedom. Hopefully you will find that too. It sounds like you are both well ahead with your planning - hope it all goes well 🚐
Retired at 51 from a major steel plant closure in 2010. Got maximum redundancy after working there for 35 years. I had paid towards a final salary scheme from age 18 as a manager. I bought an extra 8 years pension AVC's so was only 3% short of a full private pension. Commuted the maximum lump sum from my pension, which was not taxable then at all. The pension age was 50 then as well, so I got my pension straight away. My pension was paid at a higher rate before state pension age ( 66 ), until I get my state pension next January, then it will drop but I will be around £250 a month better off than I am now, when the state pension is added, my private pension in itself now, is only just shy of my working wage. I even got payment in lieu of wages as I left because I finished physically before my end date. I left work on 27th March 2010, the pension age was raised by Gordon Brown on 6th April 2010. Since I have left though, I have had to pay 8 years state pension NI contributions that I was missing, because I was 'opted out' and because the years needed for a full pension changed. Instead of crying poverty and whingeing like the Waspi Women, I just accepted that it was a change in government policy and paid from 2016 to 2023 inclusive, to give me a full state pension, as if I wasn't opted out. Evidentally the missing years between 2010 and 2016 made no difference because they were before the government rule change. Enjoying retirement now without any financial worries at all. Initially when i retired i put my redundancy money, pension lump sum and payment in lieu together and bought a £117 000 rental property for extra income ( my 4 bed detached house with double garage, was already paid off. My own property is there to be downsized, if i ever need to take extra money back, which i probably won't. Hope that the triple lock remains forever. Us boomers have always had a hard life lol.
The best part of all though is that I am slim, very fit, no comorbities and take no prescription drugs after leading a healthy lifestyle all my life and being a life time amateur racing cyclist also, with plenty of aerobic exercise. I do not know anybody else my age who is as fit and healthy. My ambition is to at least be on my pension for as many years as I had worked.
It sounds like you have really got retired life sussed! We know we still have 3 years NI each to contribute to our state pension that will need to be paid in the next 14 years. We are really enjoying our time being more active, definitely not as fit as you but I think we do pretty well for people over 50! We are excited to get out cycling in the Dales over the spring and summer, we are fair weather cyclists. It is great to hear about how other peoples early retirement plans came about and it's surprising how many of us are out there. Thanks for watching and your comments over the past few months
Very interesting video. Reading the comments, your channel seems to have a lot of subscribers who left teaching early, having had enough. I think the key thing with your health/wealth graph is there is an implicit assumption that work's benefits are wealth rather than health. I've just retired finally from a public sector role at nearly 64 having partially retired and taken pension at 60. we have been able for the last four years to take longer holidays using our motorhome whilst maintaining an income from work. I personally enjoyed working half time , still having the benefit of a salary. I enjoyed work more and the great colleagues I worked with. Although we cannot know what the future holds, the actuaries expect half of us 60 somethings to live to nearly 90. Many people are maintaining good health into their 80s. So for those in their early 50s, you need to plan for 40 year time horizons. It's great how you planned all this with your eyes open. The right answer will be different for different people: the important thing is to know yourselves and to make informed decisions.
Hi Tim, thanks for the comment. It is great to hear that your retirement journey is working out. We understand that many people love their jobs and have no wish to take early retirement. We absolutely loved our jobs and the people we were fortunate to work with. Unfortunately, the events of 2021 absolutely crushed us, and it took some recovering from. We are firm believers that out of trauma comes growth and we are grasping that with both hands. For us, the right thing to do was to early retire and find more time for us. This will not be the case for others, as they will have their own paths and aspirations to follow. As for life expectancy- who knows... we just want to make the best of the time that we have.
Thanks again, R.
Great video guys. It is all in the planning. Plan, plan and plan again. You don’t get to retire early just landing on your lap. You need to work hard all of your life for it and when it happens it’s down to that hard work so enjoy every minute of it because you just don’t know when it will all end. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
We definitely feel like we made some good decisions in the last 10 years that have enabled us to get through the next couple of years until we get our teachers pensions and then we should be fine! The campervan being the main bonus as it gives us our freedom to travel at very little cost. I bet you are on a weekly count down now until you hit the red rock country x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yes absolutely. We return from Florida in 3 weeks time, then head to Italy with our friends for 4 nights and then we head to California in May. We, like you guys, are very very lucky but then good decisions earlier in life have made these things possible. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
It's amazing that you can access your pension at 55. In Australia, the earliest you can access your superannuation tax-free is 60 years old, and to access the government pension it is now 67! Enjoy your retirement 😊
Yes we do feel very fortunate that we had that option. We will take a huge hit on the amount we would have got had we continued to 65 (teachers pension age) but we decided the extra years we gained for ourselves was worth it. We too cannot access our state pension until 67 (possibly 68 by the time we get there) We do think we will have to do some sort of seasonal or part time work at some point to top up our pension and savings.
I am in Australia too. I can see them not allowing us to access super until 67 to match with aged pension. I can also see them including your house in the assets test. So I am not sure what to do. I am a full time teacher aged 56.
Congrats and thank you for sharing!
...and thank you for leaving a comment👍
I’ve been retired 6 years now. My health and general well-being is so much better. I didn’t realise quite how stressful my job was until I stopped doing it. I sleep longer and wake refreshed and have far more time for exercise.
So true. It is only when you are out of the race that you realise what an effect it was having on you. We are really proud to say that we cannot remember the last time when we set an alarm. We go to sleep when we are tired and wake when we wake. The improvement in my sleep has been one of the significant benefits of early retirement for me. R
I know that sunday feeling, anxious and worried about another 65 hour week. I'm 46,I hope to be done by 60 and hopefully make it to then❤ good video guys x
It's the one thing that we definitely do not miss and we are grateful on a weekly basis for the change. It is only recently that we realised what an effect it was having on our whole weekends.
We did get better at starving it off later and later into Sunday if that is any consolation.
Thanks for the lovely feedback. 👍
So sensible to do early retirement.
We retired at 50…….1st heart attack 4 months later…..
Money was a worry but being mortgage free was the decider.
Go for it if you can.
Should add the health issues has not stopped us enjoying life…..caravanning & travelling Europe.
Flying is an issue due to huge travel insurance premiums.
Wow, that must have tough after making the decision to retire early! Glad that everything has settled down and you are able to get out there travelling. The UK and Europe have so much to offer - we keep discovering new, beautiful places, even in the Dales where we live and have explored for years! No regrets so far x
@@earlyretirementwanderlust
Never give up travelling…….We are in our late..ish 60’s now…….we’ve both had serious health issues…..too many to mention…😂😂😂
To travel & explore is in our blood still! Caravanning is preferred now purely because we can get a car into a hospital…😂😂
Difficult with a 7.4m moho…!
@graemeroberts5730 amazing! We will try and make the most of it 😊 we have just arrived back in the french alps for 3 weeks making the most of our season pass we bought in January!
@@earlyretirementwanderlust
Enjoy!
Life is so for living. So go out there and enjoy every moment!
You will have problems but they can always be overcome. Stay positive and happy!
A lovely thing about being retired is being able to visit places in the week when they’re not busy
We 100% agree! We didn't even know that life existed mid-week when we were working😂
I also appreciate all the comments here, they all Inspire me as they seem to be from like minded people. I forgot to say, I’m a Police officer, so hearing so many similar situation comments, and how people make them work is reassuring
Thank you - we love hearing from like minded people and what their experiences have been. I think we all share the same fears and worries about taking the plunge to retire.
Like minded or just Public Sector pensioners?
Lovely early morning vlog to watch whilst sipping coffee in bed and also not having to get up to go to work ! Working out a budget is fairly straight forward and having an emergency fund is also a must. We are off to great Langdale this morning o your recommendation- but first tonight at Patterdale estate which looks very interesting , have pu been? Thanks for the vlog, x Claire
We have played around with a budget over the past 18 months and now we feel we have found a great balance to live on whilst allowing us the freedom to travel whenever we want. We have not stayed at the patterdale estate - is it a campsite? We love it in that area of the lakes! Have a great time in the Langdales - hopefully you will not have a knock on the door to evacuate with a storm like we did 🤣 it’s a stunning area with fab hikes from the van door 🚐 the pub is great too which always helps x
The site is a CL for CAMC.
@mminc4026 ah fab we have recently joined so will look it up 🚐
wonderful commentary. Thank you... it's given me some ideas!!
Many thanks for the comment- it's always nice to hear!
Richard & Jackie
thank you ! this was very inspiring ! also we are planning to retire now at 50 ❤
Thank you for watching 😊
Congratulations. Dreams are always worth aspiring towards. Who Dares Wins. Thank you for the fiscal, physical and emotional views expressed. An emotional response question related to mental health, 'how have you adapted with self-worth?' Acknowledged, or not by some, many gain a sense of self-worth from work achievements, with a second order effect, of income. Wondering if this has at any stage triggered any emotional emptiness with the emotion of self-worth?
Hi, at the moment we keep ourselves busy and motivated by setting ourselves goals and we are enjoying being learners again. We have enjoyed the project of renovating our cottage and are now enjoying being in the new community and exploring our new surroundings. We have not for one minute felt any regrets or lack of self worth, in fact at the moment, maybe even the opposite.
I’m 52 and do two days a week which I love.. we’ve just paid off the mortgage. 😊
Paying off the mortgage was the greatest feeling 😃
what a great video. very good plan!
Thankyou 😊
You could also do some part time teaching at a local college if you needed an income top up. Teaching has a lot of transferrable disciplines. For most people, semi retirement is more of a possibility. I'm 58 and I have to find just over 8 more years to fund us both before getting a state pension. Anyone getting a pension at 55 is very fortunate. The health v wealth graph is one which we have also grappled with. So pension companies give you your pension in a linear way, but you should front load the pension benefit, and the only way to do that is to cash it at 55.
We didn’t realise it all those years ago when we started teaching how fortunate we are with the profession we chose and how good the pension scheme is. You are so right we do probably have transferable skills we have never considered - I know Richard is really enjoying his free lance writing for magazines which gives us a small income we put towards ferry costs! The graph really resonated with us as we have lost quite a few young (45-55) friends and family members in recent years.
@@earlyretirementwanderlust another consideration for when you get your pension at 55 is that you will both want to ensure you are using your personal allowances. If your pensions do not utilise that, you could draw down some of your pension pot, which is done via a wage slip with tax taken on an emergency basis, you then have to put that onto a tax return to reclaim the tax. We are also debt free and have been since our mid 40s and could manage financially until state pension, but state pension isn't quite enough, so would look to top it up with £150 per week from savings. We have looked into lots of part time income opportunities but for now it's best to earn bigger with what we know. We can't even do Only Fans (too ugly), so we have to keep working and retain a sense of humour :)
@whereveraway it all sounds so complicated - thankfully our son is a financial advisor who has just completed his pension exams so he will have to start earning his years of free food and wine! Sadly we have the same problem with only fans 🤣🤣🤣🤣 we also feel that at some point between 55-67 we will WANT to do some work instead of needing to which might help build our long term savings back up 😬
Thanks guys. Very useful information a out fears and benefits. Hoping to go this year at 55😅
Thank you and good luck with your retirement plans - it has opened up a whole new world to us!
At 60 I still enjoy my stressful NHS job. I balance things by working 4 days per wk, do ad-hoc garden work, enjoy time away in our crampy-van and meditate. I also enjoy the regular income and knowing that my pension is quietly growing for when I need it x
Thanks for this- it's always good to hear how others structure their early retirement. For us, the campervan really has made our travel aspirations realistic. Glad that you like a good meditate too- it's a game changer- I only wish I had found it earlier in my life. R
Great video guys thank you. Quick question. Will both of you have the full state pension for when you turn 67, i.e. 35 years contributions? Also would love to know your 2024 annual expenses budget, as we too are planning for post work life and would love to know what your spending looks like. Have you seen the PLSA report, as mentioned here by the BBC, ie that couples will need £22.4k (minimum), £43k (moderate) or £59k (comfortable) in retirement in 2024? Thanks :)
Hi Ian,
We both still have 3 years of contributions to make before we are 67 which we will pay after we get our teachers pension. In all probability we will probably naturally pay the contributions off if we do some seasonal work for a couple of years which we plan to do from a social point of view when we have grown tired of travelling 🤣 we are trying to live off £2000 per month at the moment which we stick to pretty well. We do however have a small pot that we get from freelance writing and RUclips that pays for our ferries and air fairs when needed on top of that. The £22k figure is quite arbitrary as it depends if you are still having to pay rent, have debts and what life style you are used to - for us it is almost manageable with all our travel included but we have no mortgage and own the van outright which massively helps.
Good on ya guys!
Thank you!
I am 65 and ready for retirement. However, after 43 years as a professional engineer and worked all over the world I am not sure how to stop. I still need to come to terms with not having a busy career.
That is something we were worried about - particularly Richard whose job as a Deputy Head was relentless. For us, moving house and taking on a renovation project at the same time kept us busy for a good 6 months! Hope you find something that gives you purpose in your early retirement. Having our campervan means we can get away regularly and cheaply when we get itchy feet!
@@earlyretirementwanderlust thank you
With regards to earning extra income, have you thought about renting out your home whilst you travel in your van? This could either be as a straight 6 or 12 month let, or AirBnB. This would help see you through to your pension in a couple of years :)
When we first made our plans to move to the Dales we renovated the cottage with a mind that we could rent it out on airbnb or on short term lets when we travel if we ever needed the money. It is our ultimate back up plan as we know we could get around £500-700 per week in peak seasons. However... when we completed the renovations and fell in love with the house, it feels strange to have random people in our house. It is definitely an option that we regularly discuss as we are away so much. For now, we seemingly run a free airbnb for our family and friends which is so lovely that they want to live our lives for a few days!! We are in France again skiing and my sister has moved in for a week - rent being a couple of bottles of wine 🤣
What a fantastic video! You both nailed every point on my mind! Perfect ❤ congratulations 🎉. We are 45 and are making huge strides to retire at 50 for every single one of the reasons you mentioned! Health is wealth!
Thank you😊
What an encouraging video!
Many thanks for your comment.👍
I’ve just discovered that having retired early at aged 60 6 years ago on TPS I’ve now not paid enough NI years after 2016 when the law changed! Make sure you check your state pension projection ok.
Hi thanks for the heads up. We checked when we first stopped working and both have 3 years to top up before we are 67.
@@earlyretirementwanderlustif you sign up as sole traders you can pay class 2 contributions for the missing 3 years so £150 instead of £850 a year for class 3 NI!
@BoninBrighton interesting - we will have a look 😊
I retired at 51 in 2021 from the Department of Justice. ❤
I hope you are enjoying it as much as we do x
Great honest video guys .. loving your journey …. Good on you both for having the strength to go for it … once that pension comes in you will feel like millionaires lol ….But you would never have got that time back … you are in the youth of your retirement journey 😊
We love your quote ‘the youth of our retirement journey’ which is so true. We are thankful and really appreciate the time we have, spending it exploring our new area, spending more quality time with our family and being able to travel 😊 thanks for watching x
Great honest vid as always 😀🇬🇧👍❤
Thank you 😊
Great vlog! So helpful as ever 👍🏻
Thanks 😊
I retired last year at 54.
Best thing I've ever done.
Agreed!
Thanks for the comment. 👍
I have resigned my post at 52. I have taken a massive financial hit and cannot take a pension for quite a few years. I feel nervous and worry about lack of purpose. These videos help. I may make my own video in two years with my thoughts on my decision...
We are glad that it helps in some way. Good luck with your adventures ahead. R
Thank you for sharing. I'm so happy for you. It's inspiring.
Thank you for watching 😊
I also retired early = it's been great, but i had to sell the 4 bedrm to do so. I don't regret it one bit, & had been wanting to for a while. 😊
Once the decision is made, we found it quite liberating to let go of stuff!
Thanks for the comment,
Richard & Jackie
Love your video. I’m 53 and completely debt free now but the one thing that keeps me from retiring is my son who is 15 who needs a stable home at such an important time. I’m guessing you guys don’t have kids.
We have 2 adult children age 25 and 27 so completely independent now 😊 definitely made the decision easier!