Early Retirement aged 43 – Chatting About 3 Years of Financial Freedom
Ju and I effectively retired 3 years ago, aged 43. We made a video chatting about early retirement at the time, and another one 5 months later. We also wrote a free ‘mini guide’ explaining how we did it, which has since been downloaded a few thousand times (available here as a PDF and other formats, and here for Kindle). We followed this up with a full book describing what we’ve done to achieved and retain our financial independence: The Non-Trepreneurs. The BBC featured us on their home page back on 1 Jan 2018, which had about a million views.
Since then though we’ve not really said much about how early retirement’s going, so we’ve just sat down with a cuppa and had a chat about it (see below). The video’s about 35 minutes long, and touches on what we did to get free and why, what we’ve been doing for the past three years, plus some of the ups and downs over the past years (yep, life still ain’t quite perfect, but we’re working on it folks!).
Is this stuff of interest to anyone out there? We don’t know. If you find it interesting or useful, or feel we’ve missed out anything important (please read Funding Freedom first), drop us a line in the comments either on YouTube or on this post.
Cheers, Jay and Ju
Thanks for being so transparent and sharing your experiences. It’s incredibly useful for us as I’ve now just pulled the FIRE’ing pin at age 46. So a few years later than your good selves. I’m sure I’m going to experience some of what you describe so a heads up from those that have blazed the trail is great as it means I can be better prepared when I experience some of the same things.
We’re going a little more extreme than yourselves. Instead of a base in the UK plus a Tour/s we’re upping sticks to the Med and we’re on a plane in just a few days. That means our FIRE strategy has been a little different based around dividends and interest (ie portable wealth). Excitement and trepidation at the same time. Just shows there are multiple ways to achieve and live financial freedom.
Oh and nice work spending only £15k per annum. Gives me confidence our ground up budget, which is a follow on from tracking our expenses for years, is right and has a little overhead like yourselves. Sometimes you doubt yourself when you get some difficult comments or when you watch the profligacy of the world around you.
Thanks RIT. I doubt myself endlessly. I have all my life. But the proof is in the pudding eh? We’re both happy and budget wise in the black. It works, at least over a 3 year period… Cheers, enjoy the next few months, they should be exhilarating! Jay
Hi Jay & Ju, love your blog.
We are 49 and “retired” 4 yrs ago at the age of 45! We always said we wouldn’t work after 50. And we managed to get out early!
It’s so good to hear someone else have the same thoughts and “problems” although not really problems in the grand scheme.
We find it hard to speak to people about our life as they just think your millionaires. But we’ve sacrificed a lot over the years to be in this position now.
We like yourself live on a passsive income mostly rentals. We have always been savers and never lived beyond our means.
As for spending I’ve come to the conclusion that. We don’t need to reward ourselves for getting through the week! So we don’t spend on needless things trying to make yourself feel better!
We have a motorhome too.
Although not managed to get abroad yet. As we have a long term sick dog that can’t have rabies vaccine, so we just mosey around the UK for now. Are time will come.
As for daytime tv. Some days it wins as the weather in winter can get us down. It’s hard to fill your time but I’d rather it be like this than the other!
I look forward to reading about your 2019 travels.
Have fun
Sue
Thanks for getting in touch Sue, great to hear from someone on a similar path. Jay
Good to hear you both speak – loving your East Midlands accent. My Dad was from Ilkeston Mum from Ruddington. I was born in West Bridgford (very posh ! ) but moved south in 1963. Very interesting discussion, keep them coming….
hi jas and jul.
was wondering do you meet anyone on your travels doing the long term travel thing that are on there own ?
i have been planning on touring for a couple of years now, but was worried doing this alone may pack it in after a couple of weeks.
i cant do it yet, well dont even have a motorhome yet lol.
but do plan to buy one when the time is right.
i live in southern spain, and work self employed, my busy time is from june to october, then in winter i have plenty time on my hands, so was thinking maybe to start with can travel maybe canary islands in winter and morroco, untill i am ready to go travelling full time in maybe 3 years time.
i have been working on a way to provide an income for when do eventually travel full time, my idea was to invest in shares with a good dividend, having had shares in standard life for good few years and always paid good dividend, i invested a lot of money in more shares about a year ago, they have since crashed with my shares down 50% so much for that idea.
at the moment i am 51 and and really dont want to leave it much longer to travel, maybe 55 max, i want to be able to enjoy it while still fit enough to explore each place on a mountain bike :)
another little problem is just started a relationship, but she does not seem to share my dream of travelling in a motorhome.
you are both lucky to have the same dream :)
cheers
pete.
Hi Pete.
Yes, we did meet single men and women travelling alone in their motorhome. Being honest, the majority of people are in a couple, with relatively small numbers of family and single travellers, but there are definitely folks travelling long term alone. I remember having a long chat with one retired lady who was long-terming alone, and said she took basic precautions, but didn’t feel unsafe. There’s also a community out there which is welcoming if you’re willing to walk over and say hello to break the ice. Even in Morocco you’ll come across British travellers (and thousands of French folks but it helps to speak French of course).
Shares are very, very easy to get wrong eh!? Some financial independence bloggers go for picking shares based on high dividend payments, and some pick based on capital growth, and some a mix of the two. Most don’t bother trying to pick individual companies though, and go for a passive broad index tracking approach. That’s working out OK for us so far (although yes, worldwide markets have been rising for years now, but we have no plans to try and sell the shares before or during a big market drop).
For your partner, it’s very understandable she might not want to commit to living in a tiny space with a cassette loo and the world’s smallest bathroom! Even we sometimes don’t like the idea of it, until we’re in the van and on the move. The sense of freedom only really comes with commencement of the journey. Maybe look at renting a motorhome for a week or two and see how she gets on with it (although I don’t think that will really capture the feeling of escape)?
Cheers, good luck fella, Jay
Thanks both of you for a really honest and insightful video. I’ve left a comment on YouTube to boost the numbers on there. Enjoy the next trip. We’re hanging around in Anglesey and Wales until about May time, then off in our van to France until late July, back for August before spending a month visiting our daughter and S-I-L who now live in the USA. They’ve also caught the FIRE bug and hope to be FI in ten years’ time when they reach their forties.
Have a great Christmas and a travel-packed 2019.
Paul
Hi Guys
Just listened to your musing of the last four years. When to retire, how much money do I need etc… Is such a personal decision and we will all have different plans, goals, must haves and so on so it’s nice to hear an honest tale of real life experience. Shame about Trolls but that’s modern social media.
Personally I am in my last few months of contracting and that’s it for me. 57 and several years of ‘ just one more’ to be safe. As you point out of the maths adds up then why not go for it. Purchase nice van next year ready for some European adventures. Keep up the good work.
Hi guys,
Reaching out from Canada. We have been fulltime since 2012, started on a sailboat and two years ago switched to a motorhome. We are looking to move to Europe and buy a motorhome there. Wondering if you can share your experience on a few points?
1. Do you find many other “young” (we are late 40’s) people in motorhomes along the way? The majority of fulltimers in N. America are retired people who sit around RV parks. They are not overly active. We like to run, bike and walk for hours to see a new town.
2. We cook a lot and trying to find a motorhome with as much counter space as possible (not using the sink/stove-top cover as counter space). Any models that come to mind?
3. Is it possible to travel Europe in a larger motorhome (9 or 10 meter)?
Cheers,
James
Hi James
Good to hear from you! I’ll have a go at answering:
1. Hmmm, most folks out travelling long term are retired and 50+. There are a smaller number of folks in their 20s, 30s and 40s. You will find the equivalent of RV parks across Europe, with folks who prefer to stay still for a few weeks or months, but also lots of people who tour more actively, often free camping or using aires. I think your experience will depend on where you choose to stay.
2. Sorry, can’t help with this one as we use small vans (6m). Probably best to browse some photos on autotrader.co.uk or mobile.de to get an idea of different layouts.
3. Yep, this is possible. Europe’s roads are (on the whole) narrower that North American ones though, with some very tight medieval towns and villages, and parking spaces are smaller, and most people stay less than 8m. Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes have additional rules too, some countries require an electronic box for paying any tolls, some have lower speed limits.
Cheers, and good luck, Jay
40 is pretty early. Must be great. Contrats!
Thanks Joslin – we didn’t actually ‘retire’ until we were 43, but we’re still only 48 and have been living a great life these past 5 years. Cheers, good luck, Jay