Hi from Oz

[Ozziedreamer]

Hi

Have been a long time lurker and really glad I found this forum.

Recently contributed to an excellent thread by Pete44 on retiring early to South East Asia, so thought I would just quickly introduce myself.

Am almost 42, single now (was married 10 years - still not happy about what that experience cost me ), and one son who doesnt live with me. Job is reasonably well paid ($150k package) but can be quite stressful. Like most jobs, some days can be good, some days bad, and some just downright S**T. I definitely dont want to be one of those people that just drops dead whilst working or shortly thereafter

Have thought about this a lot and the way I see it I have two options.

Option A. Sell everything at 50 and move to SE Asia. Expect I would have around $800k cash after selling home plus another $400k coming my way at 60 from benefits, ie total net worth $1.2M at 60 - easy to live off this amount in places like Thailand, Phillipines, etc

Option B. Keep working until 60. Based on current living expenses, and child support ending soon, I expect at 60 to have my house paid off ($600k value) plus another $2.4M in savings and benefits - ie total net worth $3M. I am very much a LBYM person -once child support ends (in 2 years) and house paid off (in 6), my expenses would be about $30k pa.

So working the extra 10 years means amassing an extra $1.8M

Most days, I think I prefer Option A, but Option B is tempting, if for nothing else to rub it in to the ex on how well off I ended up , and probably means I could live part of the year here, and part of the year overseas. Dont have strong ties here, parents are quite elderly and my son is very much growing up fast and quickly becoming independent.

So what would you do - keep making hay whilst the sun shines, or just quit the rat race and lie on a beach somewhere .

Still have plenty of time to decide, and I know that ultimately it will be up to me and how I feel after 50 including how bearable the job is at the time, but any useful comments appreciated, particularly from those that might have had to make a similar decision in the past, and how it worked out for them (including any regrets). Also would like to know whether people think 60 is too old to enjoy yourself including travel...

 

[growing_older]

I'm more in the camp as facing similar decisions, not having already made them in my life. I am thinking that if I were to ER too early, my reasonably well paid job is not something I could easily replicate after I had taken a few years off. So any extra working would be much better done now before I retire than later when I likely would end up in a lower paying job. "making hay whilst the sun shines" is the approach that I'm taking, although my goal is much lower than yours. Likewise, I feel a need to balance between piling up as much as I might want vs taking too many years to do it. I do still want to have plenty of time to enjoy all that hay.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[arebelspy]

Welcome! Suggest you do a search on these forums on "one more year" to get some thoughts on your questions.

 

[robbridg]

I've been through the divorce mill. My advice is to not let your divorce cloud your judgement.

IMO, if your job is tolerable continue to work it, continue to LBYM and save save save. Take some nice vacas to SE Asia and really feel out where you'd like to wind up eventually. And who's to say you have to work to 60? Why not 50 or 55? On the other hand, if you can't take it any more maybe you do want to cash out. That's up to you. Just take your time deciding. Your divorce can be the best thing that's ever happened to you.

Good luck brother!

 

[Ozziedreamer]

Thanks for the advice guys and the welcome. Agree with robbridg, if I can tolerate it, will continue to work, LBYM and save.

 

[kcowan]

I retired at 50 from a Top 10 job. Then hung out my shingle and consulted for 10 years. Those were the best years of my life. And I was not fully engaged so had ample holidays.

Consider your options. BTW you would be better off to relocate to Thailand at 50 than at 60.

 

[omni550]

Welcome.

It sounds like you're trying to make it an either/or decision for 50 or 60.
It can be in-between 50 and 60, too, can't it?

Some other variables to consider:

• longevity in your family, and how well they 'age' (i.e. keep their faculties and physical abilities)
• your own physical condition
• what you might like to spend your free time (in early retirement) doing. Will aging (especially, if in poorer health) cut into being able to do it?

I've heard of too many people who have delayed doing things ("Oh, we'll take that trip to X when we retire", "We'll get a RV and travel the country when we retire, etc.) only to either die early or develop some condition/ailment that precludes them doing whatever they were delaying doing. As someone once said, "Tomorrow is promised to no one."


omni