If you could ask one question? If you have a burning question detail it in the comments here. Also, if you don't want your TH-cam name shouted out on the channel as I discuss your question, then state that in the comment area too. Hope you enjoy getting involved. I'll see you on Saturday 18th January here 👉 th-cam.com/users/livevuUTYMll_yE?feature=share 👈
You do not like sponsors but I had to watch a video for C0mpareTh3Market midway through this video. You have very little control over which adverts are shown but you WOULD have control over which sponsor you choose. Surely that is preferable to unwitingly peddling insurance companies? You did say you considered a sponsor because it is for something you actually use. If you believe in a product, why not get something out of it?
My retirement happened due to unexpected chronic illness, and yes I am grieving the loss. I'd value opening up a conversation about how to pivot away from usual expectations of the 'Go Go' years of carefree fun and to find meaning from the 'Go Slow' and careful phase. Grateful for your channel and for my great home - Australia.
I think many subscribers like me would be interested in interviews with other retirees you meet on your travels- it’s a variety of stories that’s interesting because there are multiple solutions to the same problems. It’s why we all follow a handful of TH-camrs….
My biggest concern is health insurance. I live in the US, and we don’t have the same programs found in other countries. Our health insurance is paid by our employers. We want to travel while we’re still able so retiring early is the ultimate goal.
My friend. By the way! I Love your content. Please Stop worrying about what we all think. We are all different and this is truly about your journey and not ours. We all have different perspectives and needs in life and we will pick and learn from your experiences. Good ones and bad ones. Keep enjoying the journey what ever that is. You have over 45,000 of us watching your journey. Life is good and God is in control. God bless my friend. Love for Sarah .
I hope this is the type of comment you are looking for: Since deciding to retire early at 62 later this year, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to maintain my usual work standards. As a software engineer working from home-a profession I’ve enjoyed for decades-I now struggle to focus or even sit at my desk. Challenges that once felt manageable now seem overwhelming. I’m also concerned about alienating coworkers, many of whom I’ve built strong relationships with over the years. Neil, I’d value your thoughts and would love to hear how others have approached their final months of employment.
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I'm also finding this. I'm getting more grumpy at work by the day! I'm also feeling anxious about telling boss and my collegues abount my plan to retire, which i never thought would be case. I actually feel abit quilty about it, which is insane.
It's a huge change that, for most of us, goes against decades of focus on staying employed! It's not surprising that people have unease as they get near making it official. Good luck with everything.
My hubby and I experienced this also. We had our plan and it was like we needed to stick with the 'normality of work' whilst we knew we were both leaving early to pursue our early retirement dreams. I think some call it 'quietly quitting' as you count down the time. We tried to keep a positive mental attitude during this funny period in time and just adopted the 'smile and wave boys, just smile and wave' from the "Penguins of Madagascar" film and it seemed to work for us. Good luck! :)
I’m a little over a year from retirement and am trying to plot as many days off as I can take. I’m using them for things I can look forward too and motivation. I’m also trying to stay grateful for my employment and that I’ll get a pension after I’m done. The struggle is real.
Look forward to the livestream, Neil. The initial question would be around how did you and Sarah go about fully selling up in the UK. 1. What did you need to consider before selling everything. 2. What are the potential risks of no longer having a UK residence. 3. Tax, pensions, NHS, medical care/prescriptions, banking, and probably lots more you havevhsd to think about, and even if you hadn't planned whats cropped up aftercthe fact..relates to point 1 considrations holistically. I hope that gives the theme of which feels like a huge step to sell a home to help fund my wife & I traveling and potentially a similar small European home?? Look forward to Saturday. All the very best Steven
Managing expectations in retirement… I keep thinking we could do it.. but the fear of running out of money is still scary..I have loved watching you both… and this was a labor of love and it shows…thanks much!!!
I’ve always loved your channel. From one creator to another, you know how to keep the “You” in TH-cam. Can’t wait. Looking forward to the ride. Cheers! ❤
Inflation bothers me more than anything else. What will happen when I get tired of travel? or it gets too expensive for me? IF I can't afford to travel any longer, how will I be able to afford to 'settle down'???
Keep the channel real, your life, your experiences, unscripted, and your everyday stuff, don't go too deep or focus on mini-cohorts of your audience, you will lose people. We are all different, with different goals, finances, etc. We will pick up on what resonates with us as individuals.
Planning for when the unthinkable happens. Three years ago it happened to me. My husband and I were retirement traveling and he passed away suddenly. In the end I moved back to Canada and bought a house. But now I feel stuck. Any thoughts on how you would handle this?
I’m thinking of retiring in 2 years at the age of 60 . My partner is younger and will continue working for another 10 years at least. How best to occupy your free time without becoming bored . Ps I enjoy sports and walking the dog . I spend time with my children but they are getting more independent. Summer and the warmer months will be fine. But I don’t want to be stuck behind a tv screen all winter .
Hi Neil, me and my wife agree on our plan for the future. However due to family illness/loss she is as more focused on living for today (and spending lots today!). How best do we strike the balance between spending today and saving for the future. Do you regret any of the sacrifices you made. Keep up the good work. Paul Lewis
The toughest question I have struggled to answer in my first year of retirement is what is my purpose and how to discover it. Many people say it is the key to a successful retirement but there is little advice about how to go about discovering it for yourself. Any insight?
I'd say start with your own interests. What do you enjoy doing? Is there something you're interested in learning? Whether its hiking local areas, photography, working out, cooking, learning a new language, find opportunities to get started. Pursuing existing interests and exploring new ones can help you identify new purposes.
It only matters if you think nit matters. I don't particularly have a purpose, and I couldn't care less. Im happy with my dogs, I'm off on my boat. I worked for myself for decades, maybe enjoying time is my purpose.
I've been considering all the things I wanted to do but didn't have time because work was in the way. Woodworking, sailing, writing a book, amateur botany, building software apps and I still have a whole bucket list of places I want to visit. I know retirement will be different but my challenge will be choosing what to do rather than having nothing to do.
My spouse and I saved all our working lives. We kept a budget, exploited all financial retirement options such as work accounts and IRA's and lived with frugality to have a comfortable and free-wheeling retirement. Our goal was to enjoy what we built up. After a life of saving, how do you transition from expert saver to champion spender?
Good luck with the way forward My question: If you wasn't receiving your TH-cam income from ads, would your current situation be sustainable? If so, what is the 1 key thing that has made that happen? Thanks
I am 65 and still working but comtemplating on what i will do when i retire in 2 years time. Travelled extensively in my younger years and have no wish to travel in my retirement. Spend a lot of my free time at the moment training for a marathon so hopefully if my body holds out i will still be able to run when i retire. Just wondering if you have any plans for the future, for example, when travel becomes more of a chore than a pleasure?
Hi Neil and Sarah, the following is the BEST question you can answer. You have given us a great deal of information over the years and thank you!! IF YOU WERE TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?
🎉 excited for this opportunity and for your first live stream. Go Neil!! You'll do fantastic!! I'd like to know what suggestions you might have to help get a spouse, who loves his job and is concerned about boredome and lack of purpose in early retirement, to get on board with full-time travel plans? Need strategies. Thanks!
Can't wait for your livestream if for nothing else than just to say hello and wish you and Sarah well. I have a question for you, Neal. How is your back doing? How did you fix it? Or did you? It's hard to travel when it's painful to move.
Thank you for all your work. , all the questions you have are good to think about and to try to see different ways to go about life in general, Best wishes Loree from Winnipeg.
Neil this is a practical question. Many of us have different kinds of investment accounts, retirement accounts at work and IRA's that we have been assiduously building up during our work life. Now we have retired and it is time to withdraw funds. How do you simply keep real time account amounts and withdrawls in one place so you know what you have at a glance? Rather than logging into 5 websites (in our case) and copying numbers that change by days' end. Is there some sort of software or linked spreadsheets that one can use? Thank you for being so generous with the work you did to become versed in retirement finances. It has been a tonic for me and so many others.
I think my biggest concern is the classic running out of money issue. I've done alot of planning and thinking over the last 12 months. Your channel and others have given me different perspectives to consider but the uncertainty around how long my wife and I might live and what we might need in later life is ever in the back of my mind. Obviously you want to enjoy life in your go-go years but how do you balance that with making sure you have something left for later years.
I'm really excited about your new direction with this. I've gone into overwhelm though about what would my one question be 😂Which is very much how I am about where to go first in terms of my world travel. I have put it off for so long and now in my middle 60s there's a lot to pack in Neil 😁 I guess my first question would be how to decide where to go when. As a very little first step, I want to take 3 weeks in April 'somewhere' in Europe and am finding that overwhelming. I welcome the opportunity you may be giving here going forward to provide a place for reflection, gaining clarity on questions and finding my way forward in this lifelong desire to explore the world which is eventually about to happen. Thank you
My issue is trying to retire early on a couple of fairly small pensions. My question is wondering if you have any energy saving things in place. I have 3 years before I hit the minimum retirement age so have put in solar panels and battery storage whilst I am still employed and can pay off before my earliest retirement date. My reasoning is to have the lowest possible energy bills so that they don't eat into my pension money. Noting that over the years these costs are only likely to increase. Also looking at my final car ever car purchase a view to reliability, running costs, low repairs, etc. Trying to get my living costs down across the board so I can live comfortable on the lowest amount of pension income. Based on council tax, insurances, food increases, energy increases even with the measures I am try to put in place, I don't think I will ever be able to retire early and that's having paid into two mentions my whole working life.
It’s frightening. Some have no pensions put aside maybe through no fault of their own. The state pension used to be worth it but by the time I retire I’ll be lucky to buy a loaf of bread with it! Maybe getting a camper van and living on the road will be their best choice anyway.
@@juliecadman371 What concerns me is rumors that the government is looking at possibly means testing. So along with the retirement age goalposts moving, and if the pension from your job is equal to or more than your state pension you won't get the state one at all. Had me thinking about just using my work pension to try and retire early and just it up to get me to the state pension age. Then would be basically living off the state pension. Renting out our house and living in a campervan has crossed my mind. Or renting house out using income to try living in a country where the monthly income from renting could pay for everything to be comfortable if you know what I mean.
I have put off retirement due to having my own business and enjoying it very much. I have finally deferred to my wife and have been winding my business down for the last few months so that I can retire at the end of the financial year in a couple of months. I am 72, so the clock is ticking. I am worried about getting bored, so travel is going to be my main outlet for the energy that will not be directed into the business. One other issue that we both recognise is that we had nothing at all when we married 51 years ago, and now we have a sizeable nest egg. Switching from invest and save mode into spending mode is going to be a major challenge. We have started on our bucket list of travel adventures with motorbike tours of Tasmania and African already booked, more to come.
We had the same question as a previous comment about making friends whilst traveling. So to add to it. How can we create a community of slow travelers who can meet and share our experiences in person through sharing our mutual locations?
Usual question surrounding real costs, money needed etc. But for a different question how do you cope with different beds every week travelling and how long does it take to get use to not being able to go back home to a comfy bed ?
We have been doing the same thing you guys did. We’ve had some health issues on the road, and will be buying a highrise condo in order to have a place to fly to if one of us becomes ill. Our health has been degrading as we’ve been eating in restaurants too often. We don’t want to use airbnb, but will have to going forward in order to cook for ourselves. I’d like to hear more about how you handle illness on the road, and what plans you’ve made for health emergencies.
My question, when I reach my financial goal, I plane to sell up like you n Sarah did n long term travel + have base in wife's country. But I have a worry about banks closing accounts if your not permanently resident in this country (seen few articles about this in past few years), now I could have a few current accounts to mitigate 1 or more being closed, but my main worry is my stocks n shares ISA looking at the different providers there all pretty vague some will close if you move abroad and some may let you hold it but the account will be inactive - I know you can't add to them when living abroad but can you hold them and withdraw your dividends. What are you experience and fears with keeping your accounts while travelling?
I really enjoy watching your channel. I'm wondering, what was the driving force behind your decision to live completely cash-based for the first decade of retirement, rather than adopting the 4% rule with a 3-5 year cash reserve for market fluctuations?
17:12 My concern is running out of money and the correct withdrawal plan to keep things going as long as you need them to! What spreadsheets do you use to keep you on track with everything including inflation, etc? I really enjoy your channels - thank you for your insight, you’re a wealth of information! Many thanks, Mell
Hey Neil, I'm in between jobs now at 56 and want to take few months to rest. Then give thought to next steps. So I'm not at retirement yet but am looking at wkg for 14 more years so subjects that focus on life stages and events and how they shape retirement.
Best of luck with the live stream Neil! My one question would be how to find new hobbies or interests? I have several that I want to spend more time doing in retirement but my wife has none at all, and doesn’t share any of my interests. I worry that she’ll be frustrated with me going out to pursue my interests while she sits at home with nothing to do. This might be a tricky one for you, as you and Sarah seem to do everything together.
U3A (University of the 3rd Age) is a cheap and local place to try all sorts of different things.
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Hi Neil - Finding you here has been a god send for me. Your advice and guidance have given me the kick up the arse i needed to make the decision to retire later this year. Having said that I feel incredibly anxious about retiring. My biggest fear is that there is stock market crash in the first could of years of my retirement which means ill need eat into my investments more than just living off their yields. Do you have any advise for this?Does this anxiety ever go away? If not how do you make sure you don't let this type of worrying get in the way of enjoying retirement?
Hi Neil, looking forward to the live stream question and answer session. I’d love to know how you decide which ‘bucket’ or account to withdraw your money from to be as tax efficient as possible. Did you get any paid advice? (I know that this is technically two questions, but I thought I’d try my luck 😀) Keep up the great work!
Question on “Pace of Travel” Watching you progress over the years, it appears that Sarah and you have moved at different paces during your travels- fast, slow and due to life circumstances had at times been forced to reset and take care of things back home. It feels you have done it all which brings up my ask… Have you settled into a constant pace of travel that you both are comfortable with and if so, is it something you can discuss so we can learn from it? BTW- Thank you Sarah and Neil, your channel was the first travel channel that started making both my wife and I think that we have places to go and we need “2 go roam” in our 50s.
Discovered your channels about a year ago - great stuff, really useful so keep it up its appreciated by many I'm sure. My question is if you could go back 5 years in a time machine and start again what single thing would you do differently (if any) with the knowledge and experience you now have? Thanks both
What platforms or research do you do to decide on a long-term property in another country. E.g. do you negotiate a 3-month rental price for a property in Spain/other country?
Hi, I would like to ask about how to break bad health habit to improve the health in time before you retire? I have a sugar addiction which I believe comes from boredom and a way to handle when not being content. Thank for a very nice channel.
What helped me was a nutritionist who introduced me to the metabolic balance program (there is an official program versus a lot of other non official programs). The start of the program is a 2 day fast and the one I chose was three meals each day made out of vegetables only you can include spices but no oils after the two days I felt my sugar cravings had gone but it’s a work in progress you can’t just revert back to eating sugar again.
@@caroljordan4316 Science would say a diet of protein, carbohydrates and fats within a daily calorie tolerance, not including persons with diabetes or other known medical conditions of course, is what's sustainable and healthy. It's difficult to refute or prove otherwise, basic thermo dynamics. Anything else is folly. Obviously we're all different and have different strategies on the approach to it. Bang in some cardio and resistance training and you've done mostly everything you can. Then it's down to genetics and luck how long you get.
Ex UK Teacher here, downsized 2 years ago at 51 and moved from a southern English town to rural Wales. Love it, wouldn't go back. Hate to travel but that is my point, travel is your thing it isn't my thing. I still work but I do less work to free up time to explore the big questions in life. You said in your video something about purpose and I have found that to be important. Having an income is also important (to my stress levels) as many people will not have the funds that you have to flit between the UK and Spain. My other point is that there are so many views of your videos proves there are a lot of unhappy middle aged workers out there in TH-camLand. Backing off work to do other things, phased retirement as they call it, as you age may well be better for the majority of your viewers. Namaste.
Hi Chris, Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Yes, taking the time for the big questions is something that I feel we should all be doing. Sadly I have seen so many people try and find the answers by watching mindless TV... that was actually a fear of mine, if I didn't retired TO something, would I end up just wasting time. Since giving up my corporate job, I have had so much more time to learn and think about the world and I feel so much better for it. Quick point on the flitting from the UK to Spain, not sure if you are up on our story, but we only go to the UK to visit Sarah's aging mother, we are travelling fulltime and the house in Spain cost less than 40% of the average UK house. Be sure, we are living a far more frugal lifestyle than the majority of people our age in the UK. This was our choice but not the choice that I would say is for everyone. All the very best and appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Hi, I’ve recently retired. I have an annual budget of expenses broken down into categories, but find it difficult to track our spending against the budget categories. Have you got any advice on how you do this?
I'm afraid of sequence of returns risk. Our plan is to winter in S.E.A. for the first 5 years and come back for the summers to try and minimize our spendin and hopefully retire earlier than we could otherwise.
We are from the UK (Liverpool) and 7 years into early retirement We are currently spending 6 months in Turkey and 6 months in Spain/travelling and our only slight concern is health insurance ie to self fund or find affordable health insurance. Might bump into you in our local cafe in the park again 🖊️ 😎
I’ve got several pension pots with varying amounts. Don’t want to get an annuity but how do I best manage these pots once I retire? I’m not an investment specialist and don’t know where to start! (No name check please)
My question would be: When you were in accumulation stage, how did you stay engaged at work when you had +5 yeras to go, but psychologically you were checked out/wishing the years away so you could get to retirement quicker?
I retired at 50, 4 years ago, and have 10+ projects i want to do, so should be very busy, but I'm an extrovert.. i like bouncing ideas of people. I'm finding retirement very isolating. The web would have you believe there are many people who have achieved F.I.R.E but I cant find them (in their 50s). I guess the crux of my question is How do I keep myself motivated. I was always accountable to other people and always delivered projects on time, to budget. Now i spend way to much time playing computer games. (I sound like the story of your dad!!) and never finish things i start.
Reading these comments you must have answered the majority hundreds of times in previous videos? No bad thing to get them all in one place though. I think people really want to know precisely how much you have in cash and investments to see if they can replicate your lifestyle but that's not a good way to plan for yourself. And I know you've explained in the past a number of reasons why you don't disclose your income. Coincidentally there's another U.K based couple who have recently been very candid regarding their income now, and when they receive a pension later this year at 55yrs. Probably one of their most watched videos. I imagine it will be their most watched very soon.
Thanks Martin, I appreciate why people want to know but equally... that seems a short circuit to what actually they need to focus on. The fear I have always had is that if we share, people might say "We have that much too, lets go do it!" but we are all different and it might not work for them. Appreciate you getting involved Martin.
Hi. I've been watching your channel the last few months now and it's really interesting to me. I'm currently 59 with a retirement age of 67, my mortgage is due to finish at 67 also. I've taken out a small pension already and I have a bigger pension due at 60 but am thinking of taking it now and using the money to pay off my mortgage early so I can retire earlier ? Also with that pension I have a cash lump sum which I can if I want double and take a slightly smaller pension . Not sure if that is the right thing to do ? I am currently still working and paying into my company pension scheme and also getting company shares which i can take tax free when i retire. Myself and my wife are like you and love to travel. I love your channel and find it so interesting . Keep up the good stuff your doing. Baz.
57 years old and have saved/invested over my career - had real focus upon this for the last 6-7 years and achieved growth 91.07% since November 2019. This is great and sure that there is enough to retire with a nice retirement now but and there is a big BUT and that is confidence to make the decision to sacrifice a well paid job / business to start a draw-down strategy for the rest of my life. The recent budget has made me question the purpose of continuing to contribute into my pension, where-as until that budget I intended to keep growing the pension with it all left to my daughter if I were to pass. Now my focus is on how to give with warm hands and not cold hands but I still lack the confidence today to stop working and starting enjoying the benefits of my labour. I am focussed on stopping to work maybe at the end of 2025 but I remain unsure 🤣
I am the same age and have been dealing with similar concerns. Congratulations on your investment achievements over the last several years! My wife and I hired a fee-only financial planner and the resulting plan has given us a level of confidence. I would not give anyone direct financial advice, but I will put out a suggestion to look into value (vs growth) investing. That is to say, a balanced portfolio (both regionally and by industry) that pays significant dividends. You might find that you can live off dividends and allow your principal to continue to grow. If you can do so, that, my friend, will be a huge confidence booster. My only other advice after 16 months of retirement is to work on and enjoy your health. All the best to you at this exciting juncture!
Hi David, you clearly outline the worries of many. I share a lot of your worries too. I guess we have to choose our path and go for it and be happy with that. Hope you find the way that works best for you. All the very best from me.
My question - I am 57, single , back living with my elderly father so no property anymore. Work full time and also get a small NHS pension but not enough cash to purchase a property and not enough years left for a mortgage. I can't stomach the idea of paying rent! Desperate for original ideas for retiring asap eg live on a boat and costs if anyone has tried something. Really don't want to work until 67
A good question and one i researched before i retired. The reality is, if you own your own home and have no debts you can live quite cheap. I found the figures quoted online for a 'medium lifestyle' budget to be way higher than i spend and also didnt take into account any savings income i am getting. And i live quite well. 👍
@@peterh9238 It's not difficult is it? Add up your outgoings and deduct it from your income. It's what you were doing before you retired presumably? That's not aimed at you.
Have you got contingency plans for when your money runs out? We are early retirees and know we will likely run out at 84 and our contingency is selling our house.
@@MartinSheldon-r7e I thought some time ago they said that they were inspired by the book 'Die with Nothing' and were also not engaged by the 4% rule, so surely you have to slowly spend down some how, and I just wondered how peace of mind equates to their future planning. We are happy with the idea of selling our house before 84 to continue funding our retirement.
@@LisaBlumire Not read the book but I think it was more about spending money on experiences that enriched your life rather than just saving to create wealth? Sounds like a bit of an oxymoron because you need money in the first instance? To be honest we should all do what suits us best. I've just done what suits me and changed as things change around me. I haven't worked properly since the age of 30 and I'm 55. They appear to spend within a budget forecast for 8-10 years. Their plan is based on the rule of 72. They have a similar amount of money invested which will replace the money they're spending now. It's perpetual. Factor in as you get older you spend less. And they are now back on the property ladder should things go wrong. Works for them might not work for everyone? Apologies if I'm talking out of turn or got it wrong.
We've so enjoyed watching the two of you journey about the world and give insights and thoughts on the experiences along the way. Ages are similar to my wife and I, so we are living a bit vicariously through ya'll until the day comes to join in :) I wanted to point to a format for live stream questions that seems very effective and might help prep. Weekly I watch @MikeWinger (example: th-cam.com/video/up8hPCnFVjk/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=MikeWinger) and his "10 Questions" videos. He basically researches and deep-dives into the first question during the week, then launches with that as the primary one he covers. He then takes the other 9 questions during the livestream itself. This may help you dealing with the format and give you a way to anchor your thoughts. It's really helpful in how Mike manages the Q/A videos. Just a thought. Really appreciate you two and your joy of travel.
Thank you Bryan, appreciate you taking the time to give me the tip! I have just checked out the channel and yes, I like the style. Not sure I will be able to achieve this in the first Live Stream (more a case of just managing the nerves of being live to the world!) but I think I will watch some more of his stuff and see what I can adopt. Thanks a lot!
@@2GoRoam His early ones tackled 20 questions at a time, so he even adjusted down to 10 due to handling them properly. I totally get the nerves thing, but at least you have the comfort level of being in front of the camera as much as you've been. Looking forward to it when it starts. You managed to do a full walk around the city talk while dealing with your back pain. You made it through that stronger so this should be smooth sailing :)
I’m a little behind with my YouTubing, but I think there was a documentary video in the UK that we were waiting for before the backstory on the house. However, again I’m behind and that may already have aired and been discussed.
No questions here, just a comment.... Retirement for me was not scary. Retirement for me was a life save (to get away from a pressure cooker job). Retirement for me planned itself actually. I worked 24/7 literally for 41 yrs and never even had an eye on the future. All the while I was socking money away in 401k programs and my Pension was in the background too. So.... when I did retire I had more money than I could have ever expected or hoped for. Retirement is with my wife and we are also together 24/7 and thats all I need. We don't have nor really want close friends we just want each other and to travel come and go as we now please. Life is great!
Hi Neil, great video, thank you. My question for the live stream is set in the following context: 1) the Retirement Living Standards (PLSA) report that in 2024/25 you need a "net income" of £59,000 for a couple to have a comfortable retirement in the UK, and 2) the rapid inflation and the cost of living increases we've had over the past 3 years. My question set against these factors is - What is the annual budget for you and Sarah to have a year of travel and living in the UK, Spain and abroad in 2025? I'm asking this question as my wife and I will be doing similar in a couple of years so we are tracking the budgets/expenses of other similar couples who are currently doing what we want to do, ie with a similar spending pattern, ie not fat FIRE or skinning FIRE but somewhere in between. Thanks and all the best, Ian
If Neil Neil Sarah say they do what they do for nine months on £35000 how does that help you or anyone else? You'd have to copy them. Living like this is quite dynamic. Prices fluctuate, air fares, fuel, hotels and accommodation. Plus you need to be savvy enough to be able to book in advance or on the hoof as you're moving and deal with issues as they arise. I get why people ask about budgets but it's a small part of the jigsaw. We travel full time in the U.K and Europe mostly and our budget has been about £35,000 with a house sit for about six weeks, although it's not a problem if we spend more than that and we also run a car and have a storage unit in addition to that amount. Apologies if I sound condescending it's not meant like that. Also I did exactly the same thing. Trawled TH-cam for info but it wasn't really that helpful when we came to actually do it. And for us it's not a holiday as such it's just normal day to day living for the most part and then we treat maybe twelve weeks like a holiday.
Hi Neil - I’m 52 years old from Australia and been thinking about preparing for retirement and came across your wonderful channel - lots of thought provoking stuff! My one question is - how have you dealt with contact and interaction with close family - what about your kids or grand kids? How do you keep integrated in their lives while traveling - you might be away for birthdays, special events in their lives etc… if you still have your parents how have you possibly managed supporting them through their health issues or perhaps them needing your care or even “power of attorney” etc…
Thanks for your channels, I've really enjoyed watching both this one and the travel one since discovering them early last year. My question would be, do you feel it's possible to consciously not want to 'invest' and still retire without running out of money? By that I mean, me and my husband have paid off our mortgage and we're debt free at 50, so now at 57&56, (no kids) we've built up a fairly big nest egg. I get a DB pension which I plan to take early (age 58), and he has a fairly health DC pension pot. And we're both due full state pension at 67 (assuming things don't change too much between now and then). My DB pension will cover the vast majority of our current annual outgoings. Plus I get a lump sum which we feel will easily cover our first year of planned world travel. Neither of like risk so our savings are just in various bank accounts (different banks to make sure not ove the FSA protection limit), and a few fixed rate bonds at healthy interest rate currently. Plus we've max out our ISA for the last few years. And will continue to do so, from our savings for as long as poss. So can we realistically just leave that money like that, and not get involved with stocks and shares and growth and things we don't understand? 😊 And just gradually spend it plus our pensions for the rest of our lives? We also have our house and no one to leave it to, so will either plan equity release or sell up and rent when we're older. We've done the maths and we certainly feel we've got 'enough' (easily 25 x our current annual expenditure). So are we being naive or foolhardy thinking we can avoid seeing a Financial advisor and avoid 'investment'? Is 'sticking it in the bank' a viable way of 'managjng' our finances? 🤔 Thanks for your thoughts.
You've answered your own question. And really only you can answer it. Financial advisors are just sales people. Like you I owned my own home and then I lived my first 20+years of retirement on bank interest and then some of the capital amount during the low interest rate period. Since then I have invested into managed funds but i still get enough in interest to cover my outgoings. We sold our home and that money is banked ready to buy another property if we decide that what we want to do. I look at the state pension as a bonus. They usually give ten years notification of any major changes.
Neil not sure this is as transparent as you could be. The channel has always been for passive income for you in "retirement". It is as if you don't want to admit that. The other topic you need to address is that retirement is a dying concept and increasingly less relatable and even self congratulatory. Boomers have benefited from massive increases in property and that is what has primarily financed this and many others. People just a few years younger will never fully retire.
Hi Daydreamer, I am just going through the comments now to get the questions together for the Live Stream tomorrow. With regard to this being a passive income and that being the objective from the outset, unfortunately I need to take issue with that point. As I have been at pains to state in videos, we have multiple oppotunities to earn money through our TH-cam work and have avoided them all. The only that we have used has been the Ad revenue from TH-cam showing Ad's and a Patreon. The objective for Patreon was actually to create a safe space for us to communicate, mainly because Sarah stopped reading comments on the channel soon after we started as you need a bit of a thick skin to handle some comments and she chooses to not have a thick skin, which I quite like :-). So Patreon is a safe space where Sarah feels able to chat with our viewers that like what we do. Interesting insight for you, I just looked at our earnings for the 4 years we have been on TH-cam, it is just over $25k (in total), the costs, i.e. laptops, cameras, mics, subscription servies etc have cost us in excess of $10k since we started. So the net is around $15k. If we had taken advice from others this number could easily be 10x but that isn't why we have our channels. When looking at the amount of work each video takes, a better option would have been something like, teaching english online. Less work and significantly more money. I've never shared that detail before anywhere, so hope you respect me taking the time to clarify. With regard to the relevance of retirement, that is a whole other debate lol. All the best, Neil
My wife and I have been working towards FIRE since 2020. We have just over 50% of our FIRE number. However, we are expecting a new born baby next year. How do you expect this to impact it and do you think FIRE is still possible for people with children?
I m in same boat! With two small school going kids, traveling is impossible. So we are stuck in same town for 95% time of a year. Better to work and earn extra money than staying home all day. Without extensive traveling options. FIRE is boring
I know a certain amount of bait is needed with TH-cam titles. But I’m not even going to watch this one. Title tells me nothing about the content. Too many other vids in my To Watch list.
Ok now I see what you ment in your reply to my last week's comment. I'll post it in a reply to this new comment here. Some positive points to add. I'm blessed with a veteran's pension. That could cover our monthly expenses if we can keep them under $3k a month. But the $2k-$2,500 budget would allow us to continue to build our savings for emergencies. We've set up a custodial account for our daughter to help cover some her living and education costs. But we expect her to work part time to cover her basics. Food, electric, water, phone, internet, etc. Oh and since she wants to study law, her mouth dropped when we explained it most likely would cost over $150k here in the States. 😢 Not wanting to shatter her dream. I asked her to think of some ways she could make it a reality. Get a job, get scholarships find a good cheaper university... Do No Take Out Student Loans! How about attending a university in Germany? It's a fraction of the cost and Europe would be and great place to work. 😊 Yes Ok 👍 Yes stressing about this as well. 😊 Thoughts? Caviots: Possible VA scholarship Possible getting German citizenship She's fluent in English and Spanish now learning German. She starts High school next school year. Hence 4- 5 year window to prepare.
Intl Nomad - where is home, in respect to ensuring banking, healthcare cover remains active. IE without fixed address these items and others are challenging, particularly renewing Bank cards
If you could ask one question? If you have a burning question detail it in the comments here. Also, if you don't want your TH-cam name shouted out on the channel as I discuss your question, then state that in the comment area too.
Hope you enjoy getting involved. I'll see you on Saturday 18th January here 👉 th-cam.com/users/livevuUTYMll_yE?feature=share 👈
You do not like sponsors but I had to watch a video for C0mpareTh3Market midway through this video. You have very little control over which adverts are shown but you WOULD have control over which sponsor you choose. Surely that is preferable to unwitingly peddling insurance companies? You did say you considered a sponsor because it is for something you actually use. If you believe in a product, why not get something out of it?
My retirement happened due to unexpected chronic illness, and yes I am grieving the loss. I'd value opening up a conversation about how to pivot away from usual expectations of the 'Go Go' years of carefree fun and to find meaning from the 'Go Slow' and careful phase. Grateful for your channel and for my great home - Australia.
I think many subscribers like me would be interested in interviews with other retirees you meet on your travels- it’s a variety of stories that’s interesting because there are multiple solutions to the same problems. It’s why we all follow a handful of TH-camrs….
My biggest concern is health insurance. I live in the US, and we don’t have the same programs found in other countries. Our health insurance is paid by our employers. We want to travel while we’re still able so retiring early is the ultimate goal.
My friend. By the way! I Love your content. Please Stop worrying about what we all think. We are all different and this is truly about your journey and not ours. We all have different perspectives and needs in life and we will pick and learn from your experiences. Good ones and bad ones. Keep enjoying the journey what ever that is. You have over 45,000 of us watching your journey. Life is good and God is in control. God bless my friend. Love for Sarah .
Thanks so much! Lovely message!!! Highly appreciated.
I hope this is the type of comment you are looking for: Since deciding to retire early at 62 later this year, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to maintain my usual work standards. As a software engineer working from home-a profession I’ve enjoyed for decades-I now struggle to focus or even sit at my desk. Challenges that once felt manageable now seem overwhelming. I’m also concerned about alienating coworkers, many of whom I’ve built strong relationships with over the years. Neil, I’d value your thoughts and would love to hear how others have approached their final months of employment.
I'm also finding this. I'm getting more grumpy at work by the day! I'm also feeling anxious about telling boss and my collegues abount my plan to retire, which i never thought would be case. I actually feel abit quilty about it, which is insane.
It's a huge change that, for most of us, goes against decades of focus on staying employed! It's not surprising that people have unease as they get near making it official. Good luck with everything.
+1 for this. How to stay motivated when still 2 years away from your planned retirement date/year.
My hubby and I experienced this also. We had our plan and it was like we needed to stick with the 'normality of work' whilst we knew we were both leaving early to pursue our early retirement dreams. I think some call it 'quietly quitting' as you count down the time. We tried to keep a positive mental attitude during this funny period in time and just adopted the 'smile and wave boys, just smile and wave' from the "Penguins of Madagascar" film and it seemed to work for us. Good luck! :)
I’m a little over a year from retirement and am trying to plot as many days off as I can take. I’m using them for things I can look forward too and motivation. I’m also trying to stay grateful for my employment and that I’ll get a pension after I’m done. The struggle is real.
Look forward to the livestream, Neil. The initial question would be around how did you and Sarah go about fully selling up in the UK. 1. What did you need to consider before selling everything. 2. What are the potential risks of no longer having a UK residence. 3. Tax, pensions, NHS, medical care/prescriptions, banking, and probably lots more you havevhsd to think about, and even if you hadn't planned whats cropped up aftercthe fact..relates to point 1 considrations holistically. I hope that gives the theme of which feels like a huge step to sell a home to help fund my wife & I traveling and potentially a similar small European home?? Look forward to Saturday. All the very best Steven
that is my q too.. except I am in the U.S.
Managing expectations in retirement… I keep thinking we could do it.. but the fear of running out of money is still scary..I have loved watching you both… and this was a labor of love and it shows…thanks much!!!
I’ve always loved your channel. From one creator to another, you know how to keep the “You” in TH-cam. Can’t wait. Looking forward to the ride. Cheers! ❤
Wow, thank you!
Inflation bothers me more than anything else. What will happen when I get tired of travel? or it gets too expensive for me? IF I can't afford to travel any longer, how will I be able to afford to 'settle down'???
Keep the channel real, your life, your experiences, unscripted, and your everyday stuff, don't go too deep or focus on mini-cohorts of your audience, you will lose people. We are all different, with different goals, finances, etc. We will pick up on what resonates with us as individuals.
I agree, I follow a handful of channels but have unsubscribed from many more….I’ve oscillated with this channel to be honest.
I, too have unsubscribed from a few travel TH-camrs. I only follow 2 others now.
I'm a social introvert. I love being with people. If I don't have a TH-cam channel - how do I meet people & make friends while traveling?
Planning for when the unthinkable happens. Three years ago it happened to me. My husband and I were retirement traveling and he passed away suddenly. In the end I moved back to Canada and bought a house. But now I feel stuck. Any thoughts on how you would handle this?
I am so sorry for your loss.
Vivian: If you’re still able to travel. And you still want to. Sell anything that is holding you back. And get back out there. 😊
I’m thinking of retiring in 2 years at the age of 60 .
My partner is younger and will continue working for another 10 years at least.
How best to occupy your free time without becoming bored .
Ps I enjoy sports and walking the dog .
I spend time with my children but they are getting more independent.
Summer and the warmer months will be fine. But I don’t want to be stuck behind a tv screen all winter .
Hi Neil, me and my wife agree on our plan for the future. However due to family illness/loss she is as more focused on living for today (and spending lots today!). How best do we strike the balance between spending today and saving for the future. Do you regret any of the sacrifices you made. Keep up the good work. Paul Lewis
The toughest question I have struggled to answer in my first year of retirement is what is my purpose and how to discover it. Many people say it is the key to a successful retirement but there is little advice about how to go about discovering it for yourself. Any insight?
I'd say start with your own interests. What do you enjoy doing? Is there something you're interested in learning? Whether its hiking local areas, photography, working out, cooking, learning a new language, find opportunities to get started. Pursuing existing interests and exploring new ones can help you identify new purposes.
It only matters if you think nit matters. I don't particularly have a purpose, and I couldn't care less. Im happy with my dogs, I'm off on my boat. I worked for myself for decades, maybe enjoying time is my purpose.
Exactly, I'm never done hearing you HAVE to have something to retire to, usually from people that do nothing but work.@@hilarygibson3150
I've been considering all the things I wanted to do but didn't have time because work was in the way. Woodworking, sailing, writing a book, amateur botany, building software apps and I still have a whole bucket list of places I want to visit. I know retirement will be different but my challenge will be choosing what to do rather than having nothing to do.
My question would be: you have sold everything, what will you do if you run out of money or one of you gets ill?
My spouse and I saved all our working lives. We kept a budget, exploited all financial retirement options such as work accounts and IRA's and lived with frugality to have a comfortable and free-wheeling retirement. Our goal was to enjoy what we built up. After a life of saving, how do you transition from expert saver to champion spender?
I could have written this same comment. Have saved since a child when banks had little passbooks for kid accounts. Becoming a spender will be odd.
Good luck with the way forward
My question: If you wasn't receiving your TH-cam income from ads, would your current situation be sustainable? If so, what is the 1 key thing that has made that happen?
Thanks
I am 65 and still working but comtemplating on what i will do when i retire in 2 years time. Travelled extensively in my younger years and have no wish to travel in my retirement. Spend a lot of my free time at the moment training for a marathon so hopefully if my body holds out i will still be able to run when i retire.
Just wondering if you have any plans for the future, for example, when travel becomes more of a chore than a pleasure?
Hi Neil and Sarah, the following is the BEST question you can answer. You have given us a great deal of information over the years and thank you!! IF YOU WERE TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?
🎉 excited for this opportunity and for your first live stream. Go Neil!! You'll do fantastic!!
I'd like to know what suggestions you might have to help get a spouse, who loves his job and is concerned about boredome and lack of purpose in early retirement, to get on board with full-time travel plans? Need strategies. Thanks!
Woohoo livestream! I will have to watch it on delay. I’m so muddled with timezones at the moment!
I think the crux of it is to have the courage to take the plunge as you guys have. Most of the time barriers are only contraints in our own minds.
Can't wait for your livestream if for nothing else than just to say hello and wish you and Sarah well.
I have a question for you, Neal. How is your back doing? How did you fix it? Or did you? It's hard to travel when it's painful to move.
Thank you for all your work. , all the questions you have are good to think about and to try to see different ways to go about life in general, Best wishes Loree from Winnipeg.
Neil this is a practical question. Many of us have different kinds of investment accounts, retirement accounts at work and IRA's that we have been assiduously building up during our work life. Now we have retired and it is time to withdraw funds. How do you simply keep real time account amounts and withdrawls in one place so you know what you have at a glance? Rather than logging into 5 websites (in our case) and copying numbers that change by days' end. Is there some sort of software or linked spreadsheets that one can use? Thank you for being so generous with the work you did to become versed in retirement finances. It has been a tonic for me and so many others.
Did you guys buy a home in Spain? I heard there is a new tax coming in. I hope you are not going to be affected.
Keep up your good work and hi from the Atlantic Ocean!
I think my biggest concern is the classic running out of money issue. I've done alot of planning and thinking over the last 12 months. Your channel and others have given me different perspectives to consider but the uncertainty around how long my wife and I might live and what we might need in later life is ever in the back of my mind. Obviously you want to enjoy life in your go-go years but how do you balance that with making sure you have something left for later years.
I'm really excited about your new direction with this. I've gone into overwhelm though about what would my one question be 😂Which is very much how I am about where to go first in terms of my world travel. I have put it off for so long and now in my middle 60s there's a lot to pack in Neil 😁 I guess my first question would be how to decide where to go when. As a very little first step, I want to take 3 weeks in April 'somewhere' in Europe and am finding that overwhelming. I welcome the opportunity you may be giving here going forward to provide a place for reflection, gaining clarity on questions and finding my way forward in this lifelong desire to explore the world which is eventually about to happen. Thank you
My issue is trying to retire early on a couple of fairly small pensions. My question is wondering if you have any energy saving things in place. I have 3 years before I hit the minimum retirement age so have put in solar panels and battery storage whilst I am still employed and can pay off before my earliest retirement date. My reasoning is to have the lowest possible energy bills so that they don't eat into my pension money. Noting that over the years these costs are only likely to increase. Also looking at my final car ever car purchase a view to reliability, running costs, low repairs, etc. Trying to get my living costs down across the board so I can live comfortable on the lowest amount of pension income. Based on council tax, insurances, food increases, energy increases even with the measures I am try to put in place, I don't think I will ever be able to retire early and that's having paid into two mentions my whole working life.
It’s frightening. Some have no pensions put aside maybe through no fault of their own. The state pension used to be worth it but by the time I retire I’ll be lucky to buy a loaf of bread with it! Maybe getting a camper van and living on the road will be their best choice anyway.
@@juliecadman371 What concerns me is rumors that the government is looking at possibly means testing. So along with the retirement age goalposts moving, and if the pension from your job is equal to or more than your state pension you won't get the state one at all. Had me thinking about just using my work pension to try and retire early and just it up to get me to the state pension age. Then would be basically living off the state pension. Renting out our house and living in a campervan has crossed my mind. Or renting house out using income to try living in a country where the monthly income from renting could pay for everything to be comfortable if you know what I mean.
@@RS.Outdoorsbuy gold
I have put off retirement due to having my own business and enjoying it very much. I have finally deferred to my wife and have been winding my business down for the last few months so that I can retire at the end of the financial year in a couple of months. I am 72, so the clock is ticking. I am worried about getting bored, so travel is going to be my main outlet for the energy that will not be directed into the business. One other issue that we both recognise is that we had nothing at all when we married 51 years ago, and now we have a sizeable nest egg. Switching from invest and save mode into spending mode is going to be a major challenge. We have started on our bucket list of travel adventures with motorbike tours of Tasmania and African already booked, more to come.
We had the same question as a previous comment about making friends whilst traveling. So to add to it. How can we create a community of slow travelers who can meet and share our experiences in person through sharing our mutual locations?
Usual question surrounding real costs, money needed etc. But for a different question how do you cope with different beds every week travelling and how long does it take to get use to not being able to go back home to a comfy bed ?
We have been doing the same thing you guys did. We’ve had some health issues on the road, and will be buying a highrise condo in order to have a place to fly to if one of us becomes ill. Our health has been degrading as we’ve been eating in restaurants too often. We don’t want to use airbnb, but will have to going forward in order to cook for ourselves. I’d like to hear more about how you handle illness on the road, and what plans you’ve made for health emergencies.
Totally agree with this comment. We’ve been retired and travelling 3 mths a year…. but recently health is determining our future plans for travel.
My question, when I reach my financial goal, I plane to sell up like you n Sarah did n long term travel + have base in wife's country.
But I have a worry about banks closing accounts if your not permanently resident in this country (seen few articles about this in past few years), now I could have a few current accounts to mitigate 1 or more being closed, but my main worry is my stocks n shares ISA looking at the different providers there all pretty vague some will close if you move abroad and some may let you hold it but the account will be inactive - I know you can't add to them when living abroad but can you hold them and withdraw your dividends.
What are you experience and fears with keeping your accounts while travelling?
I really enjoy watching your channel. I'm wondering, what was the driving force behind your decision to live completely cash-based for the first decade of retirement, rather than adopting the 4% rule with a 3-5 year cash reserve for market fluctuations?
17:12 My concern is running out of money and the correct withdrawal plan to keep things going as long as you need them to! What spreadsheets do you use to keep you on track with everything including inflation, etc?
I really enjoy your channels - thank you for your insight, you’re a wealth of information!
Many thanks, Mell
Hey Neil, I'm in between jobs now at 56 and want to take few months to rest. Then give thought to next steps. So I'm not at retirement yet but am looking at wkg for 14 more years so subjects that focus on life stages and events and how they shape retirement.
Best of luck with the live stream Neil! My one question would be how to find new hobbies or interests? I have several that I want to spend more time doing in retirement but my wife has none at all, and doesn’t share any of my interests. I worry that she’ll be frustrated with me going out to pursue my interests while she sits at home with nothing to do. This might be a tricky one for you, as you and Sarah seem to do everything together.
U3A (University of the 3rd Age) is a cheap and local place to try all sorts of different things.
Hi Neil - Finding you here has been a god send for me. Your advice and guidance have given me the kick up the arse i needed to make the decision to retire later this year. Having said that I feel incredibly anxious about retiring. My biggest fear is that there is stock market crash in the first could of years of my retirement which means ill need eat into my investments more than just living off their yields. Do you have any advise for this?Does this anxiety ever go away? If not how do you make sure you don't let this type of worrying get in the way of enjoying retirement?
Hi Neil, looking forward to the live stream question and answer session.
I’d love to know how you decide which ‘bucket’ or account to withdraw your money from to be as tax efficient as possible. Did you get any paid advice?
(I know that this is technically two questions, but I thought I’d try my luck 😀)
Keep up the great work!
Question on “Pace of Travel”
Watching you progress over the years, it appears that Sarah and you have moved at different paces during your travels- fast, slow and due to life circumstances had at times been forced to reset and take care of things back home. It feels you have done it all which brings up my ask…
Have you settled into a constant pace of travel that you both are comfortable with and if so, is it something you can discuss so we can learn from it?
BTW- Thank you Sarah and Neil, your channel was the first travel channel that started making both my wife and I think that we have places to go and we need “2 go roam” in our 50s.
Discovered your channels about a year ago - great stuff, really useful so keep it up its appreciated by many I'm sure. My question is if you could go back 5 years in a time machine and start again what single thing would you do differently (if any) with the knowledge and experience you now have? Thanks both
What platforms or research do you do to decide on a long-term property in another country. E.g. do you negotiate a 3-month rental price for a property in Spain/other country?
Do you have travel insurance, and also health insurance of some sort?
Hi, I would like to ask about how to break bad health habit to improve the health in time before you retire? I have a sugar addiction which I believe comes from boredom and a way to handle when not being content. Thank for a very nice channel.
What helped me was a nutritionist who introduced me to the metabolic balance program (there is an official program versus a lot of other non official programs). The start of the program is a 2 day fast and the one I chose was three meals each day made out of vegetables only you can include spices but no oils after the two days I felt my sugar cravings had gone but it’s a work in progress you can’t just revert back to eating sugar again.
@@caroljordan4316 The mind boggles. What qualifaction did this nutritionist have?
@@MartinSheldon-r7e she’s a fully qualified practitioner in her field.
@@caroljordan4316 Science would say a diet of protein, carbohydrates and fats within a daily calorie tolerance, not including persons with diabetes or other known medical conditions of course, is what's sustainable and healthy. It's difficult to refute or prove otherwise, basic thermo dynamics. Anything else is folly. Obviously we're all different and have different strategies on the approach to it. Bang in some cardio and resistance training and you've done mostly everything you can. Then it's down to genetics and luck how long you get.
Ex UK Teacher here, downsized 2 years ago at 51 and moved from a southern English town to rural Wales. Love it, wouldn't go back. Hate to travel but that is my point, travel is your thing it isn't my thing. I still work but I do less work to free up time to explore the big questions in life. You said in your video something about purpose and I have found that to be important. Having an income is also important (to my stress levels) as many people will not have the funds that you have to flit between the UK and Spain.
My other point is that there are so many views of your videos proves there are a lot of unhappy middle aged workers out there in TH-camLand. Backing off work to do other things, phased retirement as they call it, as you age may well be better for the majority of your viewers. Namaste.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Yes, taking the time for the big questions is something that I feel we should all be doing. Sadly I have seen so many people try and find the answers by watching mindless TV... that was actually a fear of mine, if I didn't retired TO something, would I end up just wasting time. Since giving up my corporate job, I have had so much more time to learn and think about the world and I feel so much better for it.
Quick point on the flitting from the UK to Spain, not sure if you are up on our story, but we only go to the UK to visit Sarah's aging mother, we are travelling fulltime and the house in Spain cost less than 40% of the average UK house. Be sure, we are living a far more frugal lifestyle than the majority of people our age in the UK.
This was our choice but not the choice that I would say is for everyone.
All the very best and appreciate you taking the time to comment.
I admire your standards regarding sponsorship. I am tired of clicking on a video only to have to sit through a commercial for Airalo or AG1.
My main concern for full retirement is a) pensions not keeping up with inflation (CPI) and b) maintaining a sense of purpose.
Hi, I’ve recently retired. I have an annual budget of expenses broken down into categories, but find it difficult to track our spending against the budget categories. Have you got any advice on how you do this?
I'm afraid of sequence of returns risk. Our plan is to winter in S.E.A. for the first 5 years and come back for the summers to try and minimize our spendin and hopefully retire earlier than we could otherwise.
Would a 2nd passport be useful (as some people recommend)? It seems it is difficult to have a 2nd one.
We are from the UK (Liverpool) and 7 years into early retirement We are currently spending 6 months in Turkey and 6 months in Spain/travelling and our only slight concern is health insurance ie to self fund or find affordable health insurance. Might bump into you in our local cafe in the park again 🖊️ 😎
I’ve got several pension pots with varying amounts. Don’t want to get an annuity but how do I best manage these pots once I retire? I’m not an investment specialist and don’t know where to start! (No name check please)
Did both you and Sarah both want to travel for retirement or did you have to convince her. How did you manage the transition.
My question would be: When you were in accumulation stage, how did you stay engaged at work when you had +5 yeras to go, but psychologically you were checked out/wishing the years away so you could get to retirement quicker?
I retired at 50, 4 years ago, and have 10+ projects i want to do, so should be very busy, but I'm an extrovert.. i like bouncing ideas of people. I'm finding retirement very isolating. The web would have you believe there are many people who have achieved F.I.R.E but I cant find them (in their 50s). I guess the crux of my question is How do I keep myself motivated. I was always accountable to other people and always delivered projects on time, to budget. Now i spend way to much time playing computer games. (I sound like the story of your dad!!) and never finish things i start.
Reading these comments you must have answered the majority hundreds of times in previous videos? No bad thing to get them all in one place though. I think people really want to know precisely how much you have in cash and investments to see if they can replicate your lifestyle but that's not a good way to plan for yourself. And I know you've explained in the past a number of reasons why you don't disclose your income. Coincidentally there's another U.K based couple who have recently been very candid regarding their income now, and when they receive a pension later this year at 55yrs. Probably one of their most watched videos. I imagine it will be their most watched very soon.
Thanks Martin, I appreciate why people want to know but equally... that seems a short circuit to what actually they need to focus on. The fear I have always had is that if we share, people might say "We have that much too, lets go do it!" but we are all different and it might not work for them. Appreciate you getting involved Martin.
Hi.
I've been watching your channel the last few months now and it's really interesting to me. I'm currently 59 with a retirement age of 67, my mortgage is due to finish at 67 also.
I've taken out a small pension already and I have a bigger pension due at 60 but am thinking of taking it now and using the money to pay off my mortgage early so I can retire earlier ?
Also with that pension I have a cash lump sum which I can if I want double and take a slightly smaller pension . Not sure if that is the right thing to do ? I am currently still working and paying into my company pension scheme and also getting company shares which i can take tax free when i retire. Myself and my wife are like you and love to travel.
I love your channel and find it so interesting . Keep up the good stuff your doing. Baz.
57 years old and have saved/invested over my career - had real focus upon this for the last 6-7 years and achieved growth 91.07% since November 2019. This is great and sure that there is enough to retire with a nice retirement now but and there is a big BUT and that is confidence to make the decision to sacrifice a well paid job / business to start a draw-down strategy for the rest of my life. The recent budget has made me question the purpose of continuing to contribute into my pension, where-as until that budget I intended to keep growing the pension with it all left to my daughter if I were to pass. Now my focus is on how to give with warm hands and not cold hands but I still lack the confidence today to stop working and starting enjoying the benefits of my labour. I am focussed on stopping to work maybe at the end of 2025 but I remain unsure 🤣
I am the same age and have been dealing with similar concerns. Congratulations on your investment achievements over the last several years! My wife and I hired a fee-only financial planner and the resulting plan has given us a level of confidence. I would not give anyone direct financial advice, but I will put out a suggestion to look into value (vs growth) investing. That is to say, a balanced portfolio (both regionally and by industry) that pays significant dividends. You might find that you can live off dividends and allow your principal to continue to grow. If you can do so, that, my friend, will be a huge confidence booster. My only other advice after 16 months of retirement is to work on and enjoy your health. All the best to you at this exciting juncture!
Hi David, you clearly outline the worries of many. I share a lot of your worries too. I guess we have to choose our path and go for it and be happy with that. Hope you find the way that works best for you.
All the very best from me.
Hi. If you would can you say on average how much to spend per month. That would help me and no doubt others to see the costs of having no fixed abode.
My question - I am 57, single , back living with my elderly father so no property anymore. Work full time and also get a small NHS pension but not enough cash to purchase a property and not enough years left for a mortgage. I can't stomach the idea of paying rent! Desperate for original ideas for retiring asap eg live on a boat and costs if anyone has tried something. Really don't want to work until 67
Van life
How can we keep our UK: bank, brokerage and mobile phone accounts open? As they typically close them when notified of a new address outside of the UK.
Do what everyone else does. Use a trusted relative.or friends address. No other way round it.
My question is how much money, or how much do you think you needed a year to retire on comfortably?
Calculate your annual expenses x 25 = a rough estimate of the pot you require to retire.
@@chumabanjwa4662Where does that figure come from?
A good question and one i researched before i retired.
The reality is, if you own your own home and have no debts you can live quite cheap.
I found the figures quoted online for a 'medium lifestyle' budget to be way higher than i spend and also didnt take into account any savings income i am getting. And i live quite well. 👍
@@peterh9238 It's not difficult is it? Add up your outgoings and deduct it from your income. It's what you were doing before you retired presumably? That's not aimed at you.
Have you got contingency plans for when your money runs out? We are early retirees and know we will likely run out at 84 and our contingency is selling our house.
Think their plan is to not run out of money?
@@MartinSheldon-r7e I thought some time ago they said that they were inspired by the book 'Die with Nothing' and were also not engaged by the 4% rule, so surely you have to slowly spend down some how, and I just wondered how peace of mind equates to their future planning. We are happy with the idea of selling our house before 84 to continue funding our retirement.
@@LisaBlumire Not read the book but I think it was more about spending money on experiences that enriched your life rather than just saving to create wealth? Sounds like a bit of an oxymoron because you need money in the first instance? To be honest we should all do what suits us best. I've just done what suits me and changed as things change around me. I haven't worked properly since the age of 30 and I'm 55. They appear to spend within a budget forecast for 8-10 years. Their plan is based on the rule of 72. They have a similar amount of money invested which will replace the money they're spending now. It's perpetual. Factor in as you get older you spend less. And they are now back on the property ladder should things go wrong. Works for them might not work for everyone? Apologies if I'm talking out of turn or got it wrong.
looking forward to you going live.....⚡next week
We've so enjoyed watching the two of you journey about the world and give insights and thoughts on the experiences along the way. Ages are similar to my wife and I, so we are living a bit vicariously through ya'll until the day comes to join in :)
I wanted to point to a format for live stream questions that seems very effective and might help prep. Weekly I watch @MikeWinger (example: th-cam.com/video/up8hPCnFVjk/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=MikeWinger) and his "10 Questions" videos. He basically researches and deep-dives into the first question during the week, then launches with that as the primary one he covers. He then takes the other 9 questions during the livestream itself. This may help you dealing with the format and give you a way to anchor your thoughts. It's really helpful in how Mike manages the Q/A videos.
Just a thought. Really appreciate you two and your joy of travel.
Thank you Bryan, appreciate you taking the time to give me the tip!
I have just checked out the channel and yes, I like the style. Not sure I will be able to achieve this in the first Live Stream (more a case of just managing the nerves of being live to the world!) but I think I will watch some more of his stuff and see what I can adopt.
Thanks a lot!
@@2GoRoam His early ones tackled 20 questions at a time, so he even adjusted down to 10 due to handling them properly. I totally get the nerves thing, but at least you have the comfort level of being in front of the camera as much as you've been. Looking forward to it when it starts. You managed to do a full walk around the city talk while dealing with your back pain. You made it through that stronger so this should be smooth sailing :)
Many people say they sell everything. You did. However you bought another house in Spain, why?
I’m a little behind with my YouTubing, but I think there was a documentary video in the UK that we were waiting for before the backstory on the house. However, again I’m behind and that may already have aired and been discussed.
Glad that you’ve found your personal ikigai.
Are you and Sarah becoming residents in Spain or sticking to 90/180 days? Or are you UK residents for tax purposes?
How do you manage if you retire but your partner continues working, leaving you feeling lonely?
No questions here, just a comment.... Retirement for me was not scary. Retirement for me was a life save (to get away from a pressure cooker job). Retirement for me planned itself actually. I worked 24/7 literally for 41 yrs and never even had an eye on the future. All the while I was socking money away in 401k programs and my Pension was in the background too. So.... when I did retire I had more money than I could have ever expected or hoped for. Retirement is with my wife and we are also together 24/7 and thats all I need. We don't have nor really want close friends we just want each other and to travel come and go as we now please. Life is great!
Hi Neil, great video, thank you. My question for the live stream is set in the following context: 1) the Retirement Living Standards (PLSA) report that in 2024/25 you need a "net income" of £59,000 for a couple to have a comfortable retirement in the UK, and 2) the rapid inflation and the cost of living increases we've had over the past 3 years. My question set against these factors is - What is the annual budget for you and Sarah to have a year of travel and living in the UK, Spain and abroad in 2025? I'm asking this question as my wife and I will be doing similar in a couple of years so we are tracking the budgets/expenses of other similar couples who are currently doing what we want to do, ie with a similar spending pattern, ie not fat FIRE or skinning FIRE but somewhere in between. Thanks and all the best, Ian
If Neil Neil Sarah say they do what they do for nine months on £35000 how does that help you or anyone else? You'd have to copy them. Living like this is quite dynamic. Prices fluctuate, air fares, fuel, hotels and accommodation. Plus you need to be savvy enough to be able to book in advance or on the hoof as you're moving and deal with issues as they arise. I get why people ask about budgets but it's a small part of the jigsaw. We travel full time in the U.K and Europe mostly and our budget has been about £35,000 with a house sit for about six weeks, although it's not a problem if we spend more than that and we also run a car and have a storage unit in addition to that amount. Apologies if I sound condescending it's not meant like that. Also I did exactly the same thing. Trawled TH-cam for info but it wasn't really that helpful when we came to actually do it. And for us it's not a holiday as such it's just normal day to day living for the most part and then we treat maybe twelve weeks like a holiday.
Why do you consider it essential to travel when you retire? Everyone is different
Don't they say at the end of every video. Our dream is world wide travel. What's yours?
Hi Neil - I’m 52 years old from Australia and been thinking about preparing for retirement and came across your wonderful channel - lots of thought provoking stuff! My one question is - how have you dealt with contact and interaction with close family - what about your kids or grand kids? How do you keep integrated in their lives while traveling - you might be away for birthdays, special events in their lives etc… if you still have your parents how have you possibly managed supporting them through their health issues or perhaps them needing your care or even “power of attorney” etc…
Thanks for your channels, I've really enjoyed watching both this one and the travel one since discovering them early last year.
My question would be, do you feel it's possible to consciously not want to 'invest' and still retire without running out of money?
By that I mean, me and my husband have paid off our mortgage and we're debt free at 50, so now at 57&56, (no kids) we've built up a fairly big nest egg. I get a DB pension which I plan to take early (age 58), and he has a fairly health DC pension pot. And we're both due full state pension at 67 (assuming things don't change too much between now and then).
My DB pension will cover the vast majority of our current annual outgoings. Plus I get a lump sum which we feel will easily cover our first year of planned world travel.
Neither of like risk so our savings are just in various bank accounts (different banks to make sure not ove the FSA protection limit), and a few fixed rate bonds at healthy interest rate currently. Plus we've max out our ISA for the last few years. And will continue to do so, from our savings for as long as poss.
So can we realistically just leave that money like that, and not get involved with stocks and shares and growth and things we don't understand? 😊 And just gradually spend it plus our pensions for the rest of our lives? We also have our house and no one to leave it to, so will either plan equity release or sell up and rent when we're older.
We've done the maths and we certainly feel we've got 'enough' (easily 25 x our current annual expenditure).
So are we being naive or foolhardy thinking we can avoid seeing a Financial advisor and avoid 'investment'? Is 'sticking it in the bank' a viable way of 'managjng' our finances? 🤔
Thanks for your thoughts.
You've answered your own question. And really only you can answer it. Financial advisors are just sales people. Like you I owned my own home and then I lived my first 20+years of retirement on bank interest and then some of the capital amount during the low interest rate period. Since then I have invested into managed funds but i still get enough in interest to cover my outgoings. We sold our home and that money is banked ready to buy another property if we decide that what we want to do. I look at the state pension as a bonus. They usually give ten years notification of any major changes.
Neil not sure this is as transparent as you could be. The channel has always been for passive income for you in "retirement".
It is as if you don't want to admit that.
The other topic you need to address is that retirement is a dying concept and increasingly less relatable and even self congratulatory. Boomers have benefited from massive increases in property and that is what has primarily financed this and many others. People just a few years younger will never fully retire.
Hi Daydreamer,
I am just going through the comments now to get the questions together for the Live Stream tomorrow.
With regard to this being a passive income and that being the objective from the outset, unfortunately I need to take issue with that point. As I have been at pains to state in videos, we have multiple oppotunities to earn money through our TH-cam work and have avoided them all. The only that we have used has been the Ad revenue from TH-cam showing Ad's and a Patreon. The objective for Patreon was actually to create a safe space for us to communicate, mainly because Sarah stopped reading comments on the channel soon after we started as you need a bit of a thick skin to handle some comments and she chooses to not have a thick skin, which I quite like :-). So Patreon is a safe space where Sarah feels able to chat with our viewers that like what we do.
Interesting insight for you, I just looked at our earnings for the 4 years we have been on TH-cam, it is just over $25k (in total), the costs, i.e. laptops, cameras, mics, subscription servies etc have cost us in excess of $10k since we started. So the net is around $15k. If we had taken advice from others this number could easily be 10x but that isn't why we have our channels. When looking at the amount of work each video takes, a better option would have been something like, teaching english online. Less work and significantly more money.
I've never shared that detail before anywhere, so hope you respect me taking the time to clarify.
With regard to the relevance of retirement, that is a whole other debate lol.
All the best,
Neil
My wife and I have been working towards FIRE since 2020. We have just over 50% of our FIRE number.
However, we are expecting a new born baby next year. How do you expect this to impact it and do you think FIRE is still possible for people with children?
I m in same boat! With two small school going kids, traveling is impossible. So we are stuck in same town for 95% time of a year.
Better to work and earn extra money than staying home all day.
Without extensive traveling options. FIRE is boring
Is it really ethical, in today’s climate change era, to encourage more tourists in already swamped locations?
You don't have to visit swamped locations. And you can travel ethically if that's what you want to do.
I know a certain amount of bait is needed with TH-cam titles. But I’m not even going to watch this one. Title tells me nothing about the content. Too many other vids in my To Watch list.
Cheers Mark, understand... there are quite a few videos on TH-cam :-). I feel your pain.
Ok now I see what you ment in your reply to my last week's comment. I'll post it in a reply to this new comment here.
Some positive points to add. I'm blessed with a veteran's pension. That could cover our monthly expenses if we can keep them under $3k a month.
But the $2k-$2,500 budget would allow us to continue to build our savings for emergencies.
We've set up a custodial account for our daughter to help cover some her living and education costs. But we expect her to work part time to cover her basics. Food, electric, water, phone, internet, etc.
Oh and since she wants to study law, her mouth dropped when we explained it most likely would cost over $150k here in the States.
😢 Not wanting to shatter her dream. I asked her to think of some ways she could make it a reality.
Get a job, get scholarships find a good cheaper university...
Do No Take Out Student Loans!
How about attending a university in Germany? It's a fraction of the cost and Europe would be and great place to work. 😊 Yes
Ok 👍
Yes stressing about this as well. 😊
Thoughts?
Caviots:
Possible VA scholarship
Possible getting German citizenship
She's fluent in English and Spanish now learning German.
She starts High school next school year. Hence 4- 5 year window to prepare.
Intl Nomad - where is home, in respect to ensuring banking, healthcare cover remains active. IE without fixed address these items and others are challenging, particularly renewing Bank cards