F.I.R.E (financial independence retire early)

[softail]

1 minute ago, bows00 said:

If you listen to the pod cast, I think you would have a different opinion.  

You maybe right, always open to new information.

[Snowy79]

One and a half years into my retirement and the honeymoon period over I think you need at least 2m peso in the bank for emergencies and about 80k per month to live on quite happily.

I did the usual amount of travelling and high tipping when I arrived and pretty much never kept my eye on the money.  Two medical emergencies and 3 partners down the line I like to think I've now levelled off with my spending.  By next month I should see my savings start to increase monthly again as oppossed to them dwindling away.

My 80k is getting me a large two bed house with about 1,000 sqm of land and stunning views.  I find I'm eating my own cooking 95% of the time now instead of 5% of the time which saves me at least 15k peso per month and as I rarely drink I'm only spending money when I play in my weekly billiards tournament.

My social life is still pretty good but it's mainly day time activities now.  Visiting friends and sight seeing.

 

[stevewool]

10 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

My 80k is getting me a large two bed house with about 1,000 sqm of land and stunning views.  I find I'm eating my own cooking 95% of the time now instead of 5% of the time which saves me at least 15k peso per month and as I rarely drink I'm only spending money when I play in my weekly billiards tournament.

If you dont mind me asking how much of the budget is paid on the rent

 

 

[Snowy79]

I'm paying 15k per month for a stunning house. 2 bed, 2 CRs and two large balconies with a double garage and loads of fruit trees. The actual garden is a good 10 times the size that you can see. Electricity works out at about 3.5k peso per month and water is about 150 peso. It comes complete with a gardener come care taker. 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Snowy79

[stevewool]

30 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

I'm paying 15k per month for a stunning house. 2 bed, 2 CRs and two large balconies with a double garage and loads of fruit trees. The actual garden is a good 10 times the size that you can see. Electricity works out at about 3.5k peso per month and water is about 150 peso. It comes complete with a gardener come care taker. 

Amazing and thanks for the reply too.

[boyee]

Dang, can I move in with you.  That's a nice house.  Most financial planners like Suzie assume you will retire with the same lifestyle after you stop working.  So if you spend $100,000 per year during your working years you will need that much times how ever many years you will live.  that is BS to me.  Even if you stay in the states.  Everyone I know even those who are poor live an inflated lifestyle here in the land of plenty.  Adjust your spending or move to a country like PH.  Or work until your 67 years old.  No offense to the 67 year old readers.

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, boyee said:

 Most financial planners like Suzie assume you will retire with the same lifestyle after you stop working.  So if you spend $100,000 per year during your working years you will need that much times how ever many years you will live. 

Well, they have a vested interest in convincing us we need as much as possible.

[davewe]

8 hours ago, boyee said:

So if you spend $100,000 per year during your working years you will need that much times how ever many years you will live.  that is BS to me.  Even if you stay in the states.  Everyone I know even those who are poor live an inflated lifestyle here in the land of plenty.  Adjust your spending or move to a country like PH.  Or work until your 67 years old.  No offense to the 67 year old readers.

Having just gone through the process a year ago I can tell you it's not as easy as it appears - one of the reasons I retired in the Philippines.

Most major expenses are fixed: mortgage/rent, utilities, car payment. Even if I wanted to downsize by selling the house, average apartment rent in the city I lived was $1200 - so I wasn't gonna save anything by downsizing.

As to the insane amounts the financial advisors recommend you accumulate, other than the obvious (they want their piece of the pie) the standard methodology is that if you don't want your IRA/401k to disappear long before you die, the recommendation is not to spend over 4% annually of what you have. That way whether the market goes up or down, in the long run you will still maintain most of your retirement savings. So if you saved a million (and I sure as hell didn't) you could take $40k per year out. Add Social Security and you have a very nice lifestyle. But if you saved 12k in your retirement fund (as the average American does) you're screwed.

Work until 67? Not many companies let you do that anymore. I retired at 64 and in a division of 1000 employees I was the oldest. There was no way I was gonna make it till 67 at that job or any one like it. So I proactively retired, sold the house, and was in the Philippines 2 months later. 

[John Chamberlain]

We are very lucky to have our own house already and the cost of living so much lower than the UK its perfect to spend your retirement in the Philippines, I am aware that if you wanted to sell a property the market is very difficult, to get what you have spent back I think it would be very unlikely. My main worry about living in the Philippines full time would be my health, I know of a German guy who was living the good life until he got ill, then the medical fees totally ruined him, he had to sell a lovely home in 2 hectares of ground for peanuts to repay the bank loan & go back to Germany. I checked out health insurance, jeezzzzzzz its so expensive, if I get unhealthy I will have to head back to the UK. I hope that I have a good few years healthy to enjoy the Philippines but I will always keep my house in the UK to retreat to when my health deserts me.

[stevewool]

4 hours ago, John Chamberlain said:

We are very lucky to have our own house already and the cost of living so much lower than the UK its perfect to spend your retirement in the Philippines, I am aware that if you wanted to sell a property the market is very difficult, to get what you have spent back I think it would be very unlikely. My main worry about living in the Philippines full time would be my health, I know of a German guy who was living the good life until he got ill, then the medical fees totally ruined him, he had to sell a lovely home in 2 hectares of ground for peanuts to repay the bank loan & go back to Germany. I checked out health insurance, jeezzzzzzz its so expensive, if I get unhealthy I will have to head back to the UK. I hope that I have a good few years healthy to enjoy the Philippines but I will always keep my house in the UK to retreat to when my health deserts me.

It’s a worry, and like you say insurance is so expensive, but great if you ever have to claim on it.

I am just going to eat well and less stress that may help, if something major happens either try to get to England .