On the road to financial independence and beyond
I’d like to say more about my experience so far of living on 4% (or thereabouts) of my drawdown funds each year. Five and a half years ago I quit my job with a view that I could live on my existing assets if I chose to. I finished work in December 2013 so I…
Having a car can be a significant benefit to an individual or family but can represent significant costs being incurred. A car can be one of the top five household expenditures but it is one where we can have and make some choices. A car incurs an initial purchase cost, and an interest cost or…
The 4% “safe withdrawal rate” (SWR) is often mentioned on financial independence blogs (e.g. Monevator) or in books (e.g. Reset). I view it as a guideline based on a specific historical model. I prefer to use natural yield as my guide. Having ceased paid work just over five years ago I have now calculated how…
The news is full of Brexit news this week with various parliamentary votes happening. There is much concern about whether we leave or postpone or remain, and whether we have a deal or not. I don’t want to get into all that but I do want to consider the investment situation. There are many global…
These thoughts are inspired by a post from a US blogger I follow on four things he gave up to retire early. According to him the four things given up were power/influence, big beautiful house, international travel, and guaranteed financial security. I will comment on these four and two more of my own. I feel…
New (and old) investors are often advised to buy equity index tracker funds rather than actively managed equity funds. A tracker fund will hold shares in order to closely replicate the index it is aiming to track. This avoids any good or bad choices of which shares to hold. It is claimed that trackers beat…
Shares magazine this week has a cover feature on how your ISA can pay you £10,000 a year tax free. It’s worth a read if you are a subscriber. Spending It suggests that £10,000 would cover “essential spending” if you are retired and have no mortgage or rent to pay. So I thought I would…
As a parent of school age children this is a question I need to answer. Our children are aware that in most households one or both parents go out to work. Until recently this had been the case for us, most of the time, but now mum is ending her part time job to free…
I had written the letter a year earlier as a way of setting out my intentions. I had decided to leave my job at a future time of my choosing rather than resign in the face of current aggravations. So, I wrote out my letter of resignation stating that I had achieved what I had…