Getting tired of the effort it takes to save money......

[Smudge]

All my motorcycling mates take the piss out of me for always having a flask of coffee in the tail pack on my motorcycle. But then they moan about paying £2.50 for a takeaway coffee at whatever bike meet we end up at. Many of them will have 2 or 3 of these takeaway coffees throughout our rideout of the day.
I dont mind spending on fish & chips, or whatever meal we have.... but sod paying £7.50 for a few coffees.

 

[Notafettler]

Depends on your perspective. If an annual shed break allows the holiday maker to save sufficient money to retire in their 40's then that person has the rest of their life as one long holiday.

Conversely, a sun bunny may get a week or two every year somewhere or other, but may end up working into their late 60's or beyond to pay for the habit.

From where I'm sitting, in my armchair designed for prematurely retired people of leisure, the Butlins inspired shed vacation seems a most splendid option. If you prefer spending your life up a chimney or down a pit then the expensive holiday may be for you.

So you enjoy your annual 2 weeks annual break in whatever place it is you fancy, and Derrick and I will enjoy our 52 weeks annual chillax with equal relish.

Haven't worked since I was 50. 2 weeks away is not the difference between retiring at 40 and 67. Sitting in a shed isn't a holiday. But I have just built (laboured may be more accurate) a "garden room ". At the top of my terraced garden. You go through a small shed and you are in a room with a raised vegbeds on 3 sides, double glazed with a flat heavily insulated roof. The rural view are magnificent.....still not a holiday.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I managed it through savings and doing materially well out of a divorce, and due to a bit of luck (although I'm a firm believer that you make your own luck) I ended up owning 2 houses outright so have a steady rental 8ncome. I could have no pension at all and still - barely - have stopped when I did.

Think about it. I've never had car finance, so that's 3 and a half grand or more I've saved, each and every single year of my adult life - if we assume 300 sovs a month is fairly typical, that is £125,000 that I haven't spent that the typical working car driving adult has chucked away. That's gone into my bank.

Multiply that by all the other things people spend their money on, and suddenly in my early 40's I find that I have a lot, and I mean a lot, of liquidity. That gave me something to think about sat in my sun lounger on the patio for 2 weeks every year. Think about that next time you sign up for a new car, holiday, mobile phone contract, gym membership, etc, etc. The choice is yours and no one elses.

It's a lifetime of undisciplined spending habits that delays retirement for a significant number of people, but they're too close to the problem to see it and blame the fact that they weren't in the forces or uniform services for having to work so late in life instead. Well I've news for them - they're simply wrong.

Early 40s! I always thought, from your posts, that you were closer to 60! Retirement ages people.

I retired early at 50, totally due to being in the right place at the right time, but soon realised I was too young to just potter around and started back as a self-employed business adviser where I could work part-time.

My attitude has always been to make some provision for future finances, but to still spend as much as I could afford on things I enjoyed at the time.

I am intrigued that the average working car owner spends £300 per month on car finance. Is that total spend including depreciation or interest on the finance deal?

 

[Landsurfer]

I've still got the old car. Just thought I'd see what benefit my age now has.. PS It wouldn't fit bikes in well. Tempted with a pick up one day.

Had pickups for the last 15 years, Hilux, Rangers and Isuzu's .... Recently replaced the latest pickup with a Ford Transit Custom 9 seater minibus. I can get 3 bikes in across the vehicle without taking wheels off and its a joy to drive .... but not an Auto like all my pickups where .... £15K with 14000 miles on the clock and sexy alloys .... love it.

 

[Notafettler]

Still not a holiday! Nice though.

 

[johnblack]

Had pickups for the last 15 years, Hilux, Rangers and Isuzu's .... Recently replaced the latest pickup with a Ford Transit Custom 9 seater minibus. I can get 3 bikes in across the vehicle without taking wheels off and its a joy to drive .... but not an Auto like all my pickups where .... £15K with 14000 miles on the clock and sexy alloys .... love it.

I've had a few Caravelles and last year had a Kombi Van for a few months, possibly the best vehicle I've had, absolutely loved driving it. Not retired yet but def. think that's what I'll have when I stop working.