When did you decide to retire?

Hi

To people who have retired or planning soon to retire, i am curious when or what is your trigger point?

Is it because for example :

a) you have reached your net worth goal
b) you have reached your passive income goal
c) you have reached a) and b)
d) your youngest kid has reached a certain age and/or independent
e) you just don't care as you have reached a certain age
f) other reasons (pls share!)



Would really appreciate hearing your stories, long or short.....tks

 

A few days after i started working!

 

I retired when:

• I paid my house off,
  
• my children became financially self-sufficient,
  
• passive income > anticipated retirement spending + 20% safety net, and
  
• work BS > BS tolerance threshold.

 

Top be honest the death of my husband was the catalyst of my selling our industrial property with our 12 tenants. Sorting out everything after [change of partnership, CGT, tax etc} I realised what a problem I would be leaving my children if I suddenly left this earth! Even though I had told them where to find the records and to go screaming for help from my accountant I knew it would take a long time to sort everything out besides being a very expensive exercise. Now there is only a house to be sold and easily sold assets .. I am now a happy SFR

 

Calculated a $ figure and counted back. No later than 2020 for me. I'm calling it my 2020 vision.

Trigger point was realising that you can manage on less money but time is finite.

 

Been wanting to retire for the last couple of years.
This is the year it's going to happen, finally.

The most simplistic answer for us would be a), reached a level of net worth, which has far exceeded initial expectations when we started investing in property.

 

Class of 2017. Congratulations.

 

It took you that long?

 

I might be a little different than most of the comments here.I am 63 and have been a bricklayer all of my working life,which started just before I turned 15.My son and I are also both licensed builder's and we usually have something on the go as well as the sub-contract brickwork.(Coffs Harbour duplex at the moment)I hope that my body holds up long enough for me to go out on my own terms,which hopefully it will, although it is jacking up a bit now and then these days.If I'm still above ground I'd probably like to go until I get close to the 70 mark.(we'll see)One of my very good mates who has worked with me on and off since we were kids has just decided that he is going to cut back this year and just come in now and then on decent jobs and when the weather is ok. He is 67 and has enough to do on his farm anyway he reckons.Of course we told him he's "dogging"it and should be ashamed of himself.(just kidding of course) I'll give you an update in a couple of years.Regards Terry.

 

2 years short of a half century of brick laying, you must have hands of steel and a super dense back by now.
How many million bricks you reckon you've laid in your lifetime?

 

Aim to retire around 2053. The Sydney Melbourne HSR should be completed by then.

 

I decided when the benefits of my job were outweighed by the sacrifices. We bought a retirement house in an amazing area with zero jobs for us. When I realised I want to do alot more of the following: leisurely breakfasts in bed, mountain bike rides I never thought I had the ability to do, who knows whatever amazing activities I may be able to do well at (kyaking, caring for injured wildlife, kickboxing). When I saw opportunities to jump on a last minute bargain holiday in an exotic location (I want to really explore China).

I have a great job, but like most people my boss wants me there every day and has to agree any timeoff for the above. Erm no thanks. I'm finding other ways to do what I want.

 

Gee'z Ace,that would be a hard one to put a figure on,but even been a bit conservative I suppose it would have to be a few million.Of course housing is not the same now and when we used to do lots of double brick houses and commercial premises there were a lot of bricks and blocks in them.Now with the advent of the various lightweight alternatives (and tilt up slabs ) for commercial work, that has knocked that part of the industry about a fair bit.We rarely do a solid brick house these days either.Although quite a few people are putting open fireplaces in their outdoor areas (here in Wagga at least)again which keeps us older blokes interested.As for the hands of steel mate,I wish they were as they can get pretty sore sometimes.I am still fairly active after work as well and train boxer's at our local PCYC gym.You might know one of them by name if you follow the game.His name is Anthony McCracken and has been among the top rated Cruiserweights for a few years now,although not active at the minute because of a detached retina.He will be right to go in a few months again hopefully.Regards Terry.

 

What is it with brickies wanting to work way past the age when most of us want kick up our heels and retire? My old man is a brickie, still working and about to push past age 70 with no desire to retire. The brickie gene skipped me and I'm in the strange circumstance where I have retired well before my father!

 

G/day HomePage,I can relate to your father's attitude and gives me a lift just reading your comment.I think fellows such as your Dad came from a different world really where a man's (or woman's) manual working ablility was what they were judged on.His early life would have probably been the same as mine,cutting and carting wood for the open fires and for the laundry copper,looking after the chooks,and in my case doing whatever chores my Nan or my Mum found for me,no tv's then,we would listen to the wireless a couple of times a week in the evenings.We did get to the pictures on a Saturday every fortnight though so all in all a pretty good life.ha,ha.Anyway what I am getting at is that our lives were filled with manual work and it was very important that you could hold up your end I think.(you might have to ask your Dad what he reckons I suppose)That's my excuse anyway HomePage for wanting to carry on as long as I can.Good luck to you (and your old man)Terry.

 

When I lost my driver's license and couldn't work, I rented out my place and moved to Thailand for 12 months. After 12 months went by I thought I'd like to stay retired after realising retirement at 36yo on 28k rental income must be better than retiring at 65yo on 100k+ rental income. So I stayed for 10 years but I'm getting sick of it now so I'll move back to Oz soon. With the higher cost of living I might have to work part time which is fine but I think I'm unemployable after a 10 year break so not sure what to do

 

Gave away day job around 9 years ago

Continued trading property and developing property.

Was not enough when I left the day job but I took a chance that I could continue to grow wealth and cash flow. So far it's worked and now I can't stop

 

Can you pretend to have some kind of a job or talk up some of the skills you learned while living in Thailand?

 

I reckon you will be OK. Love to hear more about your mini retirement abroad