Early retirement / FIRE

frenchman

Eats cheese. Sells crack.
Any farkers / burners gone down this path?

Early retirement

Wife and I have just turned 30. We’ve both succumbed to the lifestyle creep that comes with well paying jobs. We’ve got no debt but also don’t own our house and are currently living in an expensive city (median house price is +1mil).
I think we’ve missed the boat for grabbing a place in Tassie (also it’s too farkin cold there). So that leaves Cairns, Toowoomba or Adelaide for what we believe would suit us financially, jobs and give the best riding. We’ve always lived a fairly simple lifestyle, it’s only in the last 18months that we’ve both realised the amount of junk we’ve accumulated is unnecessary.

I wouldn’t say we dislike our jobs, it allowed us both to buy in cash 2 new cars and bikes last year. We are also saving 30-40% of our income currently. However looking further ahead we’d rather spend more time riding and not working. Neither of us want to quit our jobs but would rather go part time. Unfortunately contract/freelance work isn’t possible for either of us.
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
Any farkers / burners gone down this path?

Early retirement

Wife and I have just turned 30. We’ve both succumbed to the lifestyle creep that comes with well paying jobs. We’ve got no debt but also don’t own our house and are currently living in an expensive city (median house price is +1mil).
I think we’ve missed the boat for grabbing a place in Tassie (also it’s too farkin cold there). So that leaves Cairns, Toowoomba or Adelaide for what we believe would suit us financially, jobs and give the best riding. We’ve always lived a fairly simple lifestyle, it’s only in the last 18months that we’ve both realised the amount of junk we’ve accumulated is unnecessary.

I wouldn’t say we dislike our jobs, it allowed us both to buy in cash 2 new cars and bikes last year. We are also saving 30-40% of our income currently. However looking further ahead we’d rather spend more time riding and not working. Neither of us want to quit our jobs but would rather go part time. Unfortunately contract/freelance work isn’t possible for either of us.
What are you asking?
 

creaky

XMAS Plumper
Sounds great, but I have two darlings/turds (depending on the day) who will be dependent upon me for the next 15 years at least. I'm planning on becoming a nudist when the youngest turns 20 to encourage her to leave home.

I can help you with location options:

Cairns - too damn hot in summer.
Toowoomba - you are joking I hope.
Adelaide - Only been to Adelaide once, hot, dry as fark but a nice town with hills and beach close by. Would me my pick of the three.
Tassie - Surely Tassie is cheaper than Adelaide? I'd take the cold I reckon, if you can manage sufficient income on the island.

If I was picking a place to live in Aus and getting employment was not a problem the it would either be mid north coast NSW or NSW south coast.
 

mas2

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Any farkers / burners gone down this path?

Early retirement

Wife and I have just turned 30. We’ve both succumbed to the lifestyle creep that comes with well paying jobs. We’ve got no debt but also don’t own our house and are currently living in an expensive city (median house price is +1mil).
I think we’ve missed the boat for grabbing a place in Tassie (also it’s too farkin cold there). So that leaves Cairns, Toowoomba or Adelaide for what we believe would suit us financially, jobs and give the best riding. We’ve always lived a fairly simple lifestyle, it’s only in the last 18months that we’ve both realised the amount of junk we’ve accumulated is unnecessary.

I wouldn’t say we dislike our jobs, it allowed us both to buy in cash 2 new cars and bikes last year. We are also saving 30-40% of our income currently. However looking further ahead we’d rather spend more time riding and not working. Neither of us want to quit our jobs but would rather go part time. Unfortunately contract/freelance work isn’t possible for either of us.
Instead of full toowoomba why not just west of Brissy? Either that or Sunshine Coast would be my choice for riding too.

This year I went to 4 day weeks for 6 months. It used up my annual leave as I accrued it and a little long service. If you can't go part time would your employer let you do something similar to that?
 

Freediver

I can go full Karen
Cairns- cyclones and crocodiles
Toowoomba- LNP and Hanson voters.
Adelaide- Worst water in the land, can't even clean your teeth with it because of the stink. Bad 80's hair everywhere.
 

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Also you have to decide how important it is to have family and existing friends nearby ,in a small place its easy to make new ones
And save for a house somewhere cheap you will never get the lifestyle renting somewhere expensive
 

droenn

Fat Man's XC President
FIRE always sounds nice, but also seems risky (and I'm becoming more risk-adverse the older I get).
Sounds like you are more limited as to where you can get part-time work? Those places listed aren't known to be full of opportunities (depending what you do).

Also, do you plan to do this forever? Will it limit opportunities like travel later? Will you have kids? If it doesn't work out do you have enough experience and skills to get back into the game (assuming you have to move away from current roles)?
 

droenn

Fat Man's XC President
OTOH I also think that the mantras of "jobs and growth" and your occupation determining your status in society, and accumulating stuff for the sake of it are all symptoms of a broken system, so good on you for seeking an alternative.
 

frenchman

Eats cheese. Sells crack.
What are you asking?
What ultra lord said.
Sounds great, but I have two darlings/turds (depending on the day) who will be dependent upon me for the next 15 years at least. I'm planning on becoming a nudist when the youngest turns 20 to encourage her to leave home.

I can help you with location options:

Cairns - too damn hot in summer.
Toowoomba - you are joking I hope.
Adelaide - Only been to Adelaide once, hot, dry as fark but a nice town with hills and beach close by. Would me my pick of the three.
Tassie - Surely Tassie is cheaper than Adelaide? I'd take the cold I reckon, if you can manage sufficient income on the island.

If I was picking a place to live in Aus and getting employment was not a problem the it would either be mid north coast NSW or NSW south coast.
We are DINKS at the moment but kids are on the cards at some point.
I’ve lived in Innisfail, Darwin, hooker creek (yeah google that one) Toowoomba is a paradise ;) Can’t handle the cold of Tas, I’m a lizard. Northern nsw coast might be worth a look. Thanks

Instead of full toowoomba why not just west of Brissy? Either that or Sunshine Coast would be my choice for riding too.

This year I went to 4 day weeks for 6 months. It used up my annual leave as I accrued it and a little long service. If you can't go part time would your employer let you do something similar to that?
I’ve done 8 years in Brisbane previously and we both have family there, so it’s an easy holiday if we were living elsewhere.
We would definitely take the sunny coast though. The only issue with that is we would both have to change our careers. Would be easy for my wife as she’s got a degree etc, however for me it’d be a retail job or go full time and pick up a trade, which I’d like to avoid. We could look at this if we save hard enough over the next 7-10years though.

Adelaide, don't bother

Heaps of craft brewers... snore
World Class Wineries... next
Cheap Houses... who needs money anyway...
Beaches that don't need lifeguards or vinegar... I can get that in Bali

There's no riding either....

https://www.trailforks.com/region/adelaide-634/?activitytype=1&z=9.1&lat=-34.98202&lon=138.74140
Hence Adelaide making the short list :p
Cairns- cyclones and crocodiles
Toowoomba- LNP and Hanson voters.
Adelaide- Worst water in the land, can't even clean your teeth with it because of the stink. Bad 80's hair everywhere.
Cairns - stay up the freshwater creeks and avoid the crocs. Cyclone? Have you ever had a cyclone party? It’s awesome!
Tbar - I’d never pick gravesy being a Hanson voter but the more I learn.
Adelaide - I run a buzz cut so I can get past the 80s hair, smelly water should be a breeze after spending this year riding in Rotorua!

FIRE always sounds nice, but also seems risky (and I'm becoming more risk-adverse the older I get).
Sounds like you are more limited as to where you can get part-time work? Those places listed aren't known to be full of opportunities (depending what you do).

Also, do you plan to do this forever? Will it limit opportunities like travel later? Will you have kids? If it doesn't work out do you have enough experience and skills to get back into the game (assuming you have to move away from current roles)?
Yeah those locations were picked because it’d allow us both to pursue part time work if we needed it, or possibly continue with our current employers in a part time capacity. I’m not to worried about travel opportunities overseas, my job has afforded me that so far and I was not living in aus between 2004 - 2017. There really is nowhere else we’d both rather settle down and live,
Kids will come at some point probably and for me getting back into work would be extremely difficult if I were to give it up completely, different story for my wife however.
 

frenchman

Eats cheese. Sells crack.
OTOH I also think that the mantras of "jobs and growth" and your occupation determining your status in society, and accumulating stuff for the sake of it are all symptoms of a broken system, so good on you for seeking an alternative.
Yeah it’s what we are both thinking, we’ve got everything we need and want apart from a house. What else would we do with the excess income if we don’t have the time off to do the activities we want? Time is the only thing we can’t get back.
 

hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
Trying to. But nearly 50. #fail

BTW, FIRE doesn’t mean move to the sticks.
 
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pink poodle

気が狂っている男
I got "lucky" and got made redundant, twice. I had no commitments, no dependants, and figured fuck it! I'd been through a fairly stressful process and work load in the lead up to both, it was time to live. Then I sold the house too! I've spent the last 4 years (I think) doing a small amount of casual work (mostly in cafes/bars) riding, fishing, and snowboarding. Well the last 12 months has had 2 big patches of working way too hard for my liking, but I've kicked that shit off over the last 2 months. There have been times where I miss having the bigger cash flow of the adult world. This is mostly in the mind though. I haven't missed out on any fun and I certainly waste a lot of cash. A lot of my regular customers at the moment are people I used to work with, so I get a regular reminder of how good life is now without all that shit. The semi-retired life is good.
 
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