Any folks from the UK on here who are interested in early retirement? I have been a long-time reader, who has finally been motivated to start seriously planning my retirement and becoming financially independent. Unfortunately, my circumstances won't allow me to do anything as extreme as Jacob (we are taxed way too high in Europe, our costs are also ridiculous relative to our incomes, and unfortunately I am not a very high earner).
Any of the UK people want to share their experiences?
Have a look at this thread:
http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/topic.php?id=1505
ERE jacob-style is certainly achievable in Europe, and in some areas like healthcare might be even easier. High property prices are an obvious drawback (in the UK at least) through if your willing to be flexible on where you live, you can house yourself very cheaply. NI looks pretty reasonable for property though ?
UK here too.
Just starting out myself, looking at alternative housing as currently living in London - very difficult! Living on a boat seems the most viable option, whilst maximising ISA & Share ISA contributions.
I think the most important thing to do is ensure that all investments are sheltered from tax, and it is singificant. Once retirement kicks in, the good thing at least is that your first £7k per year of earnings is tax free, so if you plan well enough by shielding most of your income in tax wrappers such as ISAs, you can retire somewhat early.
Currently aiming for 35 - thought its very difficult!
Thanks for the replies!
Yes, property in Northern Ireland is more affordable than London, and is still falling in price after a mega-bubble. However, you do have to realise that wages here are quite a bit lower with the average salary being at £19.5k (US$30k). Unfortuntately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I have already bought my house a year ago, and ignoring the improvements I have made, the value has fallen by about 10% since then. My mortgage payments are about 25% less than equivalent rent, so I have been cushioned a little by the price fall.
You are dead right about tax being really important for UK'ers with maximum contributions into an ISA account really being a no-brainer. Even though it's retirement 101, I don't even have one, so I will definitely look into it very soon.
I have a blog detail, pretty boring and excruciating in detail for now. At the moment I am just trying to keep track of my outgoings to get a handle on what I need to spend, and what I am wasting so I can cut the waste and increase savings.
http://earlyretirementuk.blogspot.com/
I am 28 and have set myself a minimum target of having my mortgage paid down, and having investment income of £10k a year by the time I am 40. After putting up a significant amount of money as deposit, and renovating my house, then buying appliances and furnishings, I am pretty much starting again.
I was born in NI. I moved to England 8.5 years ago for uni, studied a masters. My full time job pays 26% more and my consultancy role pasy 100% more than if i returned.I live in Yorkshire now another cheap region of the UK, but my job pays the same as a London wage (well more because of a relcoation bonus)
I am in the accumulation phase, INTJ. My wife is finishing her PhD and my 15 month old is kind of cheap to live with and we bought a new house about 3 months before I discovered this website . despite this I save 47% minimum of my income. MY childcare and consultancy wage income/costs blur this so it can be 77% some months.
I save into my company pension. iii.co.uk S+S ISA, I have some products with scottissh friendly (avoid massive mistake realied when mathematically no point of wihdrawing investment but did get £150 upfront x 2 for saving £15 a month) and I pay into my wifes pension (need to change to a SIPP)
I intend to return to Ireland one day esp. a border county for arbitrage reasons, e.g. if you live in (Londonon)Derry or Newry you can buy fuel in the South and profit. Plus woring and earning across borders can pay. Plus with residency rules having two passports can pay.
I never find I have clear results from a retirement calculator but in five years min I could return and retire but since my savings are partially in pensions that we cant reach til 55 I'd be better off going part time. Plus with my wife, part of us would want her to be a full time house-mum, part me fulltime housedad and part bit of each.
My advice to anyone on low pay would be look for ways to increase it. eg. a pub shift on a friday or Saturday night, working at a petrol station or a tesco on a weekend shift. If you can increase your hours to a full time job + 8-16 hours you ill be sorted.
ALSO my number ONE tim to amy UK based person is http://WWW.MONEYSAAVINGEXPERT.COM. Martin Lewis runs a good site. Full of info you just need to be a good filter.
I got a free bottle of wine today at work so if this doesn't make sense or their are typos that is why.
Anyway number one tip is http://www.moneysavingexpert.com and 2 is http://www.quidco.com for the UKers.
The tax allowance is increasing to 10k by the end of this parliament so I concur ISA's are an essential part of retirement planning
oh and fool.co.uk is a tip.
Hi NorthernirelandERE,
After i finished Uni i worked in the UK for most of my 20's and for several reasons i didn't move a step towards ERE. Then i moved to Australia, got my game face on and have been doing alot better for the past few years.
If i was in the UK now trying to progress to ERE and i owned my own house i would definitely look into taking on a lodger. The Government allow 4250pounds per year from lodger income to be tax free. This was not the case a few years ago. Obviously this may not be practical for your unique circumstances but if i ever return to the UK to work and have a house i hope to try this out.
Hi NorthernIrelandERE & welcome to the forum.
I'm based in the UK too. Currently in Scotland but likely moving to the South East soon. I currently pay into a final salary scheme pension that is about to get nerfed, and max out my Stocks & Shares ISA allowance each year. But when I move it will be for my partner's job, not mine, so it will be scary to have no income for a while, and watch the savings slowly going down.
What do you do work-wise, and what % of your take home pay is your house costing you each month? I see from your blog that you owe £56K on your mortgage, which doesn't sound too bad. As Fiddle mentioned, could you take in a lodger to lower your housing costs?
This may help:
A simple retirement calculator, UK version
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/07/28/a-simple-retirement-calculator-uk-version/
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