Have I saved enough money...

413x said:
Contracting.

To be honest this is the aim. I've even had a few calls and chats within the last month with recruiters, people I know who do it. Trying to see if the reality is what I hope.

But at same time my conservative side

But I don't see another alternative. I do know a friend who works at a company with unlimited leave. Obviously it's not unlimited. But he does have far far more time off than me
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Contracting is not as it once was. It's okay if you live in an area with lots of contract work. I was a freelancer/contractor for many years and spent a lot of timing having to work away. With IR35, it would make it very difficult to do that now especially in the public sector where you might not be able to claim any expenses at all, such as overnight stay costs. If you fear being out of work also, it might be suitable. If you hit the market at the wrong time then you can be out of work for months. And if inside IR35, which is not easy to escape now, you will pay more tax than an employee if they were earning the same amount due to having to pay the employer's NI and umbrella co fee, apprenticeship scheme contributions.

I think the best days of contracting are over unless you have very niche skills that there's good demand for.
I hated being an employee personally so it suited me well. I also like change so was always quite excited when a contract came to an end unlike the 'permie-contractors' as I called them, which are contractors who have a permanent employee mindset. They would start panicking, stressing etc.

Of course there are still plenty of good things about contracting/freelancing also and I would still do that myself rather than being an employee, if I decide I've had enough of early retirement although unlikely as have to help elderly parents also.

Another thing to mention about contracting is the additional risks. I know a few who lost £10k+ some years ago when the agency they were working through went bust.Rare, but it can happen.

During the golden days of contracting you could even have an interview with a client on Friday and start on Monday. That doesn't happen now, at least that's my experience. There's a load of compliance stuff that takes 3 to 4 weeks. That's my experience anyway in recent years.
 
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DarrenM343 said:
Contracting is not as it once was. It's okay if you live in an area with lots of contract work. I was a freelancer/contractor for many years and spent a lot of timing having to work away. With IR35, it would make it very difficult to do that now especially in the public sector where you might not be able to claim any expenses at all, such as overnight stay costs. If you fear being out of work also, I might be suitable. If you hit the market at the wrong time then you can be out of work for months. And if inside IR35, which is not easy to escape now, you will pay more tax than an employee if they were earning the same amount due to having to pay the employer's NI and umbrella co fee's, apprenticeship scheme contributions.

I think the best days of contracting are over unless you have very niche skills that there's good demand for.
I hated being an employee personally so it suited me well. I also like change so was always quite excited when a contract came to an end unlike the 'permie-contractors' as I called them, which are contractors who have a permanent employee mindset. They would start panicking, stressing etc.

Of course there are still plenty of good things about contracting/freelancing also and I would still do that myself rather than being an employee, if I decide I've had enough of early retirement although that'd be difficult to do for a while as I have to help elderly parents.

Another thing to mention about contracting is the additional risks. I know a few who lost £10k+ some years ago when the agency they were working through went bust.
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Yeah I've been reading up /talking in person and tbh the sensible thing for me is to not do it.

My skills aren't niche enough. The pay isn't good enough (most seem to say X2 your current salary is worth it) in most people's eyes to lose
-security
-pension contribution
-healthcare
-extra unpaid work (tax returns, constant job hunting, and etc)

I've also heard direct and indirect same. It's not what it once was. And also that perm to contract is not as hard as contract to perm.

This is kind of what I mean about part of me (the risk adverse side) holding me back.

Anything inside ir35 is not great. And outside ir35 is rarer and rarer.
 
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Money doesn't make you happy but the lack of it certainly helps to make you miserable, stressed and poorer because you can't make smart financial decisions and your money doesn't work for you. There is always a balance to be had but the best advice I can give is to enjoy your life as you go through it. Don't think "when i'm 50, when I retire etc". By that time you will be so set in your ways that things won't change and you will have wasted your best years.

Being happy doesn't mean ******* money away because that doesn't make you happy. Happiness to me is doing more of what I want. Currently I have young children so they give me a lot of my happiness but outside of that its my hobbies.

People put too much stock in "I could die tomorrow" when thats unlikely and its far more likely that you will live to your mid-late 70s or older and if you have no money you will probably have a miserable last 20 years of life.

Don't work too much and enjoy the things in life you enjoy.
 
When I was 29 I bought my first house, quit my job to go freelance, spent a month in Australia and proposed to my wife. It was hell of a year. :o

I could only do all of that because I had the savings buffer to a) put down the deposit on the house and b) cover my costs until the freelancing started to match my previous income.

It was a risk but I’m glad I took it. You’ll feel worse about the choices you don’t make than the ones you went for but it didn’t work out for whatever reason.
 
fez said:
Money doesn't make you happy but the lack of it certainly helps to make you miserable, stressed and poorer because you can't make smart financial decisions and your money doesn't work for you. There is always a balance to be had but the best advice I can give is to enjoy your life as you go through it. Don't think "when i'm 50, when I retire etc". By that time you will be so set in your ways that things won't change and you will have wasted your best years.

Being happy doesn't mean ******* money away because that doesn't make you happy. Happiness to me is doing more of what I want. Currently I have young children so they give me a lot of my happiness but outside of that its my hobbies.

People put too much stock in "I could die tomorrow" when thats unlikely and its far more likely that you will live to your mid-late 70s or older and if you have no money you will probably have a miserable last 20 years of life.

Don't work too much and enjoy the things in life you enjoy.
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Yeah very much this.
My salary increased rapidly over 3-4 years. So much so I can remember saving hard for house. Being. Super stingy with money etc.
And then all of a sudden.. Money wasn't the issue. It felt like that happened somewhere in the upper 30k mark.
 
dlockers said:
Use an online calc it isn't that much better
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Most of the roles I've been looking at are 75 in 85 out (If I remember). And I assumed that was assuming equivalent days of work to perm.

So to get more days (ie 25 days holiday to 3 months) would be a pay cut.

I am happy with that. But it's not a clear cut.. This will be awesome.. Choice.
 
I'll spell it out. You need a purpose that transcends yourself, your individual experiences and material possessions. Hiking and holidays ain't gonna cut it my brother. You know this because you've run that experiment and you are still left with a hole in your soul that you can't stand.

You need children. You don't want them (yet) but you sure as hell need them. Almost everyone does. It's not your fault that it's difficult to come to terms with this, you have been programmed to think that they're optional, when they really aren't for the vast, vast majority. What will be your fault, is if you continue to ignore the blaring "meaning" alarm bells that your soul is sounding, continue to attempt to fill the hole inside you with frankly hollow items, only to end up feeling the same a couple more decades down the line. Older, lonelier, with less energy and less options. Yes, you may not believe yourself to be "fit" for it as you are, and this will mean you will have to change. This is the entire point. Think about the kind of person you will have to become to be a good parent. Truly, the greatest value in life is not in what you possess, it is in what you become.
 
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413x said:
Ah but it does.
If you have no one relying on you, you also have no one to rely on.
As much as I'd love to truely blow it all. I know realistically I will need to pay out for care probably at some point.

I feel spending it all is a bit to "YOLO".
I mean I've saved up to be independent.
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I think you got the wrong end of the stick - you said you are bored, but you have money, so use it to not be bored, but don't worry too much as I doubt you'll ever be poor with your mindset.

Or go all in on Bitcoin, then in 5 years you'll either have enough to retire, or be back to square one?
 
Zefan said:
I'll spell it out. You need a purpose that transcends yourself, your individual experiences and material possessions. Hiking and holidays ain't gonna cut it my brother. You know this because you've run that experiment and you are still left with a hole in your soul that you can't stand.

You need children. You don't want them (yet) but you sure as hell need them. Almost everyone does. It's not your fault that it's difficult to come to terms with this, you have been programmed to think that they're optional, when they really aren't for the vast, vast majority. What will be your fault, is if you continue to ignore the blaring "meaning" alarm bells that your soul is sounding, continue to attempt to fill the hole inside you with frankly hollow items, only to end up feeling the same a couple more decades down the line. Older, lonelier, with less energy and less options. Yes, you may not believe yourself to be "fit" for it as you are, and this will mean you will have to change. This is the entire point. Think about the kind of person you will have to become to be a good parent. Truly, the greatest value in life is not in what you get, it is what you become.
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I have a goal in life, and that is to pass on what wealth I have to my daughter who can maybe live in that 4 bed house that I can’t afford.
 
413x said:
Yeah very much this.
My salary increased rapidly over 3-4 years. So much so I can remember saving hard for house. Being. Super stingy with money etc.
And then all of a sudden.. Money wasn't the issue. It felt like that happened somewhere in the upper 30k mark.
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Do the calculations, as to how much money you need to never work again.

We can discuss what these involve separately.

Now once you've hit that, what you do is randomly go where you are interested to go with zero care of any kind about "what if it doesnt work out"
 
Zefan said:
I'll spell it out. You need a purpose that transcends yourself, your individual experiences and material possessions. Hiking and holidays ain't gonna cut it my brother. You know this because you've run that experiment and you are still left with a hole in your soul that you can't stand.

You need children. You don't want them (yet) but you sure as hell need them. Almost everyone does. It's not your fault that it's difficult to come to terms with this, you have been programmed to think that they're optional, when they really aren't for the vast, vast majority. What will be your fault, is if you continue to ignore the blaring "meaning" alarm bells that your soul is sounding, continue to attempt to fill the hole inside you with frankly hollow items, only to end up feeling the same a couple more decades down the line. Older, lonelier, with less energy and less options. Yes, you may not believe yourself to be "fit" for it as you are, and this will mean you will have to change. This is the entire point. Think about the kind of person you will have to become to be a good parent. Truly, the greatest value in life is not in what you possess, it is in what you become.
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Having children does change most people (it certainly did me) and gives them a purpose they didn't know they had. There are still plenty of people who have them and it doesn't change them one bit or make them "grow" as a person. Some people just aren't wired in the right way to raise them and can end up resentful, becoming one of those angry and bitter parents who secretly wish they never had them.

If they were the magic cure that everyone needed, why are there so many deadbeat parents? Even if you don't count those who were deadbeats before they had them, there are still an awful lot of parents who aren't fit to raise children and won't change their ways.

Also, I'm sure 413x said that his partner doesn't want children either because of her health problems. So that would mean dumping her and finding someone who does, but then you'd want to spend a couple of years with that person before even thinking about having children with them?

It looks more like a mental health issue and he's mentioned it a few times that it runs in the family, so I would suggest seeing a psychologist before having a child and hoping that takes care of everything.
 
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Ayahuasca said:
Having children does change most people (it certainly did me) and gives them a purpose they didn't know they had. There are still plenty of people who have them and it doesn't change them one bit or make them "grow" as a person. Some people just aren't wired in the right way to raise them and can end up resentful, becoming one of those angry and bitter parents who secretly wish they never had them.

If they were the magic cure that everyone needed, why are there so many deadbeat parents? Even if you don't count those who were deadbeats before they had them, there are still an awful lot of parents who aren't fit to raise children and won't change their ways.

Also, I'm sure 413x said that his partner doesn't want children either because of her health problems. So that would mean dumping her and finding someone who does, but then you'd want to spend a couple of years with that person before even thinking about having children with them?
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I didn't say they were a magic cure. I said he needed them, specific advice for a specific person, although I do think it applies to the majority of cases. I don't mean to shrink anyone's head too much but if you pay any attention you'll see that for OP not having kids is something of a personality trait. It's far from a small deal, it's at the front of his mind. Something about it itches, and I think ignoring that is likely a mistake.

Of course there are parents of varying quality, but I don't think "deadbeat" parents are conservative, searching for meaning, self reflecting and looking to change. In terms of "but it doesn't fix for some", I suppose we shouldn't advise most people to eat right and exercise because some end up with bosh dysmorphia and eating disorders? See where this line of "not all though!" thought goes? Ultimately people are kind to a fault nowadays, erring on the wide of confrontation avoidance vs hard conversations, allowing people to just float about in their own heads. I'm afraid someone, sometimes, needs to say these things.

Not aware of the health issues but ref: not wanting to do something because of risks, yeah that's a perspefte, but sometimes an ommision is a greater risk than an act. Only individuals can know that really. My point of negative emotion aversion from the "buying decisions" thread applies here.
 
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Have you tried writing a list of what you want? Do you know?

Do you know why you like travel so much? I mean, really know? Is it having the free time, seeing new places, or being on your own (sorry, but it's a valid question)? Or something else?

Could you take an extended sabbatical and see how time on your hands suits you?

Best wishes- I really do hope you can resolve this one, as this seems to be a fairly regular topic of yours.
 
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