To consider selling our house and travelling the world with two toddlers?

[travellingwithtoddlers]

DH have been discussing the possibility of doing this for a while. DH is incredibly unhappy with his job at the moment and is considering quitting and having a break to de-stress. I am a SAHM and we have two toddlers aged 1 and 3.5.

We don’t need to sell our house to use the money to travel (we have savings we could use). We are considering selling our house, lots of our possessions and our cars in order to reduce our responsibilities here at home and putting things that we want to keep into storage.

Ideally we would spend some time in SE Asia, Australia, the Middle East and perhaps return home after 12-18 months. We would then look to buy a house again upon our return.

Is this idea great or am I just swept up with the excitement of planning the trip? We can afford to support ourselves for the trip, but it would use all of our savings. We would be returning purely to a deposit for a house (from the sale of our current house) which would be approx 40% of the value of the sort of house we would like to buy (if this makes any difference!).

Also - does anyone have any tips on places to visit?!

This

I did not say I did. Frankly I wouldn't want to to be your mate.

Meh, you clearly can't conceive that other people do things differently. Saying the OP doesn't care for her children is pretty nasty...says more about you than I bet you'd like.

Do it!
Life is too short.
Its easier with toddlers than with older kids or teenagers.

OP has a mortgage at the moment and sounds like she's planning to go back to having one. That's the only part of this that I can't square with the rest of the post.
What you did sounds great for you, but do you think it's realistic for OP to sell her house and then buy another when she gets back?

We have approx £150k saved up that we would use.

We have approx £600k equity in our house. We would come home, rent in the UK (whether that be a long term air b&b or a rental), DH would find a job and after a few months of pay slips, we would then buy a house with our £600k deposit plus a mortgage.

Hey, I haven't judged anybody. I have clearly said it's different strokes for different folks.

We have NO support system. DH is an only, both parents passed away, I haven't lived in the same country as my parents for 25 years.

My much loved and cherished children are happy and well adjusted. We stopped taking trips longer than 8 weeks when they started school. They are open minded, responsible, kind people. It takes all sorts.

@travellingwithkidds

So you’ll literally make £600K cash in hand when you sell the house (minus stamp duty)? That makes a huge difference, of course you can buy a new house when you return.

I think most of us assumed that you were going to make a fraction of that on the sale. You should’ve told us that earlier, we’d have given less cautious advice!

No, I said as much in my first post. We rented our home out when we travelled for a year. We sold it immediately on returning, having decided to emigrate. Having said that, we are now renters by choice. I have no desire to own property. Appreciate that I am in the minority though.

Hey, I haven't judged anybody. I have clearly said it's different strokes for different folks.

Ha!

From what you are saying - ie that you have a considerable amount of financial security and, it seems, you DH is in a profession where he could easily find another job in 18m without having to update skills/legal knowledge, plus the skills to take on homeschooling if you need to (I’ve done that too) - then I think if it’s what you both want to do, you should. I would only caveat that in terms of the fact that you need to understand you are doing this for you, not your DCs.

We travelled a lot with our children when they were small (cheap flights for them!) and when we’ve gone through photo albums since - they are 16/19 now - they remember not a single thing before either of them were approx 7. Not Disney, not Italy/Cypress/Spain with the grandparents, not Jamaica or anywhere, really. We don’t regret taking them as it ensured that DH and I didn’t put our wanderlust on hold and they were cheap to travel with, but they got nothing out of it personally. They love travel now and do take it in their stride, but that’s because we have always made sure we do 4 weeks abroad most years and sent them on any school trips that have come up, so it’s recent travel experiences that have shaped them.

We would use the £600k to pay for the stamp duty on the next house. So £600k minus the stamp duty.

Sorry, I didn’t want to go into too much detail with money specifics but I suppose it is needed for context!

50k is £1000 per week. Accommodation doesn't cost anything like that in se Asia. Plus what is 20k living expenses that doesn't include travel or accommodation?

ah, ok, you have a lot more money than I imagined! Presumably you are looking at your DH walking back into a job paying around 200k if you are using your 600k as a 40% deposit.
If that's all likely then I would do it.
Are you planning for your kids to go to private schools? I imagine you could get a place sorted before you leave in that case.

@ChiefEverythingOfficer I didn't say that you were judging!

I was just curious, it sounds as if your situation when you had young children was somewhat similar to ours, but you had a higher risk threshold. I’m more laid back now mine are older. DD(19) is at university a 3-hour plane ride away and it doesn’t worry me at all, she can handle herself!

Just because children don't remember things in detail doesn't mean they got nothing out of it. Otherwise you may as well stick them in a cupboard for 7 years.

@travellingwithtoddlers

Yes, it does make a big difference having that amount of capital from the house sale. You can definitely rent a airbnb for several months and/or buy somewhere smaller and cheaper as a stop-gap, for example while your DH gets sorted out.

Sorry, I misunderstood. You are right - it's all about what we are comfortable with.

So many variables with children. Then structured school starts and that's limiting.

Yes that’s about right.

Currently, I don’t think we will be considering private schools for primary.

Out outgoings have rocketed over the past few years (as has everyone’s!), and it is one of the reasons for wanting to up and go for a while. We have no debt other than the mortgage, but it feels like we are living month to month at the moment. I think we could do with a bit of a “reset”. We both feel like a fresh slate to come back to would be good.

Children adapt to what they experience. Their neural pathways are still forming. It's adults who can't imagine things outside their experience (evidenced by this thread!).

Consider children growing up in other places around the world, in nomadic tribes for example. Or gypsies. As long as they have stable adults in their lives they can adapt to most situations.

The OP is clearly very wealthy so they won't be homeless when they get back and can afford to pay for healthcare, specific foods, whatever else the children may need.

Personally I'd wait until the youngest is 3.5 and might consider moving somewhere to live for a year rather than travel constantly, but I think on balance the OP's idea is likely to be beneficial for the children.

I’d forget Australia & UAE, but definitely do SE Asia.

Except we don’t stick them in a cupboard do we? We take them to nursery, rugby tots, playball , Music with Mummy, birthday parties [insert other developmental support activities with same-age peers] often with NCT and other mum friends so that they learn to build relationships, how to navigate the world socially and to develop language skills with other native speakers of their mother tongue. They also, at nursery, start learning phonics and letter making and follow an early years curriculum that prepares them for reception/year 1.

You don’t do this when sequestered in a nuclear family unit moving every few months from one country to another. So, OP needs to be aware of this as it may be a significant factor in how older DC settles into school in a setting where other children have been socialised together and already have established friendship circles.

Not saying don’t do it, but needs to be realistic.

Ah, once again a man-child can’t deal with life and responsibilities in the adult world! Because of this he chucks everything in and uproots his family, to chase after a dream that is so damn attractive because it is completely devoid of drudgery.

Not in my area. Falling birth rates mean that out of 4 primary schools in our town, only 1 is full for reception sept 2024. There are about 25 places available across the other 3 (one rated excellent the other 2 good). It varies but I expect many areas are similar. More than half of babies born in the UK now are to non UK born parents, so it's likely only in areas with lots of immigrants that schools will be full. You might not have quite as much choice but if you can choose where to move to that won't be an issue.

Okay OP you have a lot more money to play with than I imagined.
I would still budget carefully for re-entry, it is expensive.
Also in a high earning job allow more time to find another one.
But renting a long term Airb&b isn't going to be a financial stretch for you when you return.

I would still be concerned about your DH running away from his problems rather than dealing with them but at least you currently have the finances to cushion this behavior.

Do it. But as others have said, rent your home out then sell up.