Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hi Ella. I just read through your whole journal. I also have a bipolar diagnosis, with a major manic episode at the start fourteen years ago. I realise how fortunate I am, being in the UK, and getting health care "free at the point of access." Like you, I have been getting better at recogn...

We did it! DH and I are now both retired. He took voluntary redundancy at Christmas, when his job was being re-located.

There has been plenty of celebrating

Time for an update, a year on. A couple of unexpected things happened since I started this journal last November. Soon after, DH went on a pay strike, which lasted for 12 weeks. Then C-19 came along, and he was at home again for another 4 months. Happily, our financial plan to build up enough money ...

Thanks @Bankai and @Noedig for the advice. When you put it like that, it makes a lot of sense. I've discussed it with DH and we're planning to buy some extra years' contributions. Congratulations @Noedig on achieving FI this year. I'm happy to hear that your wife is enjoying her retirement. I think ...

Fermenting things is a lot of fun! I started a ginger bug, and made lemonade for a while, till I decided to cut back my sugar consumption. I still make kombucha, and am experimenting with flavouring it with ginger. The other week DH and I made sauerkraut. It's really good! I now have some kimchi on ...

@Bankai, Thanks for the input. I think you have a good point that a short trial of living on £10K would not be as useful as trying it longer term. State pensions: we both have missed years of NI contributions. I have the option to make up for 2 missed years by paying £1530, which would increase my s...

Thanks for the welcomes @frihet, @rube, @frita and @earlybath @earlybath. Yes, I saw that Which article and was shocked at how much some people expected to spend in retirement. It was reassuring to see your own figures. We had been living on about £18K, and it's now down to £14.5K. I think a drop do...

I do think there are quite a few introverts on this site . . . And the extroverts tend to be of the Intuitive-Thinking variety (E-N-T-X) which I think makes them natural friends of many I-N-T introverts like myself.

Thanks @Trailblazer. Interesting. I hadn't seen that post by Jacob before.

Well I've started a journal. I'm 54, living in northern England, married to DH who is 55. I have 2 sons from my previous marriage, in their 20s and moved out. My aims in keeping this journal include: clarifying what we are doing, making contact with other people who are also living ERE-style, and be...

@frihet It sounds like a cool place to be :-) Yes I did work with Sal online a few years ago, and I still join in the ongoing support he offers. He's unusual in that he insists that he is not a guru or a teacher, and he keeps trying to retire from the work, and just play his guitar or whatever. He h...

Congratulations on your financial independence! It sounds like you have also found a lot of mental freedom. I have come to a similar place of just being, and everything being ok (most of the time!) thanks to this guy. He is based near the Ramana Ashram, so I thought I would post the link in case it'...

Hi from another introvert :-) I think we're in the minority here. I'm relatively new on the forums, and have been reading a few journals. I just read right through your journal. It's fascinating to see how things pan out over time. Particularly how many people go back to working. I've been jotting d...

Thanks @basuragomi. I'm feeling inspired to improve my spreadsheet skills

Hi,
I'm enjoying your journal.
I love the colour coded graphs. Much better than my recent attempts. What software are you using?

Welcome from another frugal Brit.

I can relate. I'm very enthusiastic about ERE, and my husband is subjected to my rants about consumerism.

I look forward to hearing about your journey.

Hi, First post here. I'm in a similar situation, and came to similar figures after working out what we need to live on from age 55-67, assuming the UK state pension doesn't change before then. I left a stressful job 3 years ago, and don't work now. I love the freedom to do whatever I like with my ti...