This post is a slightly wishful, half-serious explanation of our dreams for the future.
The ultimate dream, for both me and my husband, is to retire fully at age 50. My husband is older than me, slightly, so it might change so that when I retire at age 50, my husband then will as well, even though he’s slightly older. I also want to retire to somewhere in the countryside, in a village in a cottage, much like the one described in my post about the frugal cottage name. I guess this is when we’ll reach financial independence, when our income/savings will last for our retirement.
Now, doing to sums and projections for this, based on our current incomes and savings rates, makes for some very scary reading. In fact, unless we make drastic changes and are able to sustain them for the next 20-odd years, we won’t make it. Even with the move and downsize (presumably) included, it’ll take an enormous amount of effort and sacrifice on our point, to even come close to the figures.
But, in my mind, those sacrifices will be worth it.
So much in life is about instant gratification and immediate pleasure, that a lot of people don’t take into account delayed gratification and what that can also bring. Too many people my own age are so totally focused on the here and now, that the future and their future happiness isn’t even considered. Now, that’s fine for now, whilst they’re young and in work, but what about 20 years down the line? When there’s little to show for all that time, effort and money earned? Then what?
One of my worries about the future is that we spend so much time working, so much energy used to be able to live, then when we actually retire, we’ll end up living a life that’s much harder than it should be, purely due to lack of consideration. Lack of delayed gratification and planning for the future might lead to very tough times ahead. And what for? So I can have some more cake/chocolate/coffee/other treat I might want.
Reading other blogs about early retirement, by those who have succeeded – even at some very early ages – is very inspiring, but the numbers they have in terms of net worth, in passive income, in investments and in other income streams, is awe-inspiring. Numbers me and my husband can only dream about. But, is it bad to have a dream?
We’d have to be mortgage free (obviously) for this to happen, plus have a lot of money in savings/investments/other lines of income so we could support our outgoings. I want us to be able to travel, experience places in the UK we’ve never managed to get to, and have a good standard of living. It’s hard to predict what income we’d need specifically, but I’ve got a good goal in mind, taking into account inflation.
Can it be done? I sure hope so! And if we don’t manage to succeed, I’ll still know that we’ve given it all we have got. Now it’s written down it makes it real, right?
Have you thought about early retirement? What are your goals and dreams? I’d love to hear about your plans!
Nicola,
I am hoping my wife and I can “retire” at age 45. We can do some traveling, and work freelance work on our own schedule. It is definitely doable if you put aside enough and start early enough 🙂
I think 45 might be pushing it for us, but I shall follow your journey with interest! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment 🙂
We have plans to retire in less than 7 years. It’s a plan and a goal, there is so many things you can cut and earn that you would be surprised. For example I was driving a Mercedes less than 4 years ago and that’s just the beginning of my trials, I’m sure you can do it even better than you think.
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment 🙂 I think the thing that will help us most is to keep a strict eye on what goes where, and how we can make our money work best for us.
Your plans sound great – we’d ideally like to retire early too; we’re going to try and be as self-sufficient as possible so that we don’t need a huge income. Fingers crossed!
x
Self-sufficient sounds great although I don’t know how successful I’d be at that. We seem to have pretty similar life aims though 🙂
I often worry if all of this work is going to pay off. I wonder if I should be enjoying my life right now instead of constantly worrying about the future.
I often wonder this too – are we planning so much for the future that we miss out on the present? It’s a fine balance, I think. Thanks for stopping by!
I think that sounds like a wonderful dream/goal. Eric is older than me so I hope to be able to retire when he does. It would be pretty tough to go to work everyday when he’s retired and relaxing (although I’m not sure he’ll ever fully “relax”-just not his personality).
Hi Nicola,
Retiring by age 50 with your husbands sounds absolutely fantastic! I wish you luck in every way possible and am sure you guys have the mentality to get there.
I especially like your paragraph including “So much in life is about instant gratification and immediate pleasure, that a lot of people don’t take into account delayed gratification and what that can also bring. Too many people my own age are so totally focused on the here and now, that the future and their future happiness isn’t even considered.”
I’m 21 years old and feel the exact same way you do here. I’m all for delaying today’s gratifications in hope for tomorrow’s delight.
Best Regards,
Dividend Beginner
Thank you for your kind words. If you are already starting at 21, you are way ahead of the game – well done you! Looking forward to seeing your journey 🙂
My plan for retirement is to not have to work at the age of 40 (15 years) This will require a lot of things on my part. For instance we have to get out of debt and be able to invest so much more then we currently are. Thanks for the post
Hello there Nicola,
I a, binge watching YouTube and reading your blog and am loving it.
You sound like you’re from Yorkshire.
I used to be but live in Australia now. You are fabulous and inspiring. I’m 48 and just on the cusp of retiring, and whilst we’ll live minimally, we’ll be happy. Love everything you do,
Francesca.
Hi Nicola,
Myself and my husband paid off our mortgage last week, huge sense of achievement for us, still hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I’m 38 and my husband is 39, can’t retire just yet as we’ve spent all our money on the mortgage but for now we’re both happy that we have this financial security.
Best of luck in your financial independence journey x
Louise
That must be such a fantastic feeling! I cannot wait until we can say the same 🙂