How much money would you need to leave the rat race and have a simple life?

[ihatethecold]

How much money would you need per annum to live off comfortably?

Where would you live? UK? Abroad?

How much equity would you want to take with you so you don’t have housing costs to factor in to monthly outgoings?

Would you do it if you could afford it?

I’m really curious to your answers.

I think we could do this but it feels like a bonkers idea.

I dream about this any time I have a lottery ticket! I Think it's actually worth a couple of pounds just to leave an unchecked ticket in my purse for a few days :)

Pay off mortgage and do some much needed home improvements
Monthly bills for 40 years
Bit of disposable

Think just for that I'd need £1.5m.

I'd stay living where I am and just be comfy.

Look at the FIRE movement in USA. (? financially independent, retired early) for inspiration.

Am doing this next year. We are moving back to the UK when dh's contract abroad ends and he retires for good. Mortgage will be gone, we have one more credit card to pay off, which will be gone next month. Ds is through university with no loans or debt. We have everything we need, and most of what we want.

We are working on living on about £2k per month, but there is more in the budget if needed. If more is needed, then I will go back to work, but I want to anyway as I need 6 years more NI for my 35 years contribution for a state pension.

If no housing costs were in the equation I think to continue as we are I would need £25k per year. But I am a single parent with three sons and I'd like to be able to support them in some way through higher education if they are minded (hope they will be) so its hard to say what that might mean. Luckily they wont overlap.

We have 2k per month from my DH’s police pension and about 350K+ equity if we sold up.
There must be somewhere naice we can go and live a stress free easier life.

We have said when he gets to 55 we will review things but his job is so hideously stressful now that I worry about the effect on his long term health , physically and mentally.

I never thought he could be in a Job that was more stressful than the met police..... 🤯

Factoring in at age 30 my pension is worth a grand total of fuck all...and if I wasn't working it wouldn't be increasing...

50k would have us mortgage free, bills I reckon £750 including shopping, disposable we could do on £100 a week each (including putting some for hols etc)

I reckon a million would do it reasonably comfortably without taking into account any income from the capital.

A lump sum of £30K would pay off all our debts and we'd be £600 a month better off.

Another £120K would buy us a nice house in our local area and we'd then have no mortgage and save the £450 a month we currently pay in rent.

£50K would be a nice amount to have as a fallback so we could dip into if/when needed for occasional holidays and birthday/Christmas celebrations.

Another £120K would give dh & I a decent enough pension for when we're older.

All in all then, £320K. Half a million at most really. I'm not greedy. If we had all that, our outgoings would be so minimal that we'd be able to survive quite happily on 2 part-time jobs doing something we both enjoy and not have to live our current existence, scraping by each month wondering how we're going to pay the bills or put food on the table. We'd be able to put the heating on! Imagine that?!

I’m in my 50s so I’d need to top up the pension and pay off the rest of the mortgage.
An extra £130,000 would be doable. £200,000 would be much more comfortable.

What I would need is maybe £500k equity for house and car etc.
Then, maybe £25k a year each for a nice lifestyle. Less I living very simply and going out much?

Alaska is a completely tax free state. Plus it pays you to live there ($1600 per person per year) If I won the lottery I would live there and build a self sufficient homestead so wouldn’t need much money ($500 a month maybe)

Land, equipment, cabin etc. I think I could get set up with $300,000

That’s the dream, the reality is more like $750k to pay off mortgage on the house, the mortgage on the patch of wilderness we bought, build a house, set up a homestead etc.

bit cold though Redneck

ihatethecold

Nowhere’s perfect. But I don’t mind the the cold.

I left a well paid but loathsome job a while back. I earn about £12k a year now and don’t have a mortgage. I eat out and go to gigs several times a week. I go on quite a few holidays. I basically do what the fuck I want at all times. It’s great. It’s surprising how little money you need to get by.

@SemiAquaticEggLayingMammal I totally agree, a few days of saying to yourself "well if it's the winning ticket I won't take this crap anymore" or thinking "you'll be a soooo sorry if I'm sitting with the winning lottery ticket in my bag" when ppl annoy you. Definately worth a couple of quid!

Wow, you're all very minimal. I'd want a million minimum in a pension fund for each DH and me. Then if I'm not working I want several properties around the world for holidays (since I'm no longer working) so that's another million minimum again.

In real life I intend to keep working at least part time until I'm not fit enough. I have a fascinating job and don't think being retired is that attractive without the kind of pension my parents had that allows you to enjoy your free time by fillingvit with travel and hobbies.

I would want £2m to pay off mortgages and live off til we die.

But I quite like the rat race so am in no rush to run for the hills just yet.

Growingboys

I could happily live in the woods with DH and DC and never interact with society ever again

I'd want enough money to have a property in the UK and one abroad somewhere that's always warm. And then enough to still have holidays and fly between everywhere when I fancied. A million would be a good starting point.

But where would you all want to live?

Within your budget....

I would like to ideally live on Florida's Gulf coast. I'd be happy with a small apartment if it was near the sea. not fussed about big houses. more to clean and maintain in my view.

How about a small flat in the U.K. and then a cheap apartment abroad? You or your husband could do Agency work for a few months, say from March - August to bring in an income then go abroad somewhere warmer/cheaper for the winter months. Agency work is good as if you don't line the job then you can leave easily.

We are planning on doing this ( but will have a motor home rather than an apartment).

I'd like £100000
Spend £30k or so on a narrow boat, leave £70k in bank, travel the canals living cheaply and doing odd-jobs where I can in exchange for other goods and services.

We are going back to our house in Cornwall, which will be mortgage free by the time we go back.

Lovely little city centre flat in London and then a small bungalow in Ilkley.

Easy connection to Leeds and a good community with amazing nature door step and then the London flat so we could see shows and stop over whenever we want.

Laughing at wanting to live in Ilkley. That's where I grew up - if money were no object I would live somewhere a lot more exciting than that!