34 yrs to go

[TheRightStuff]

... to retirement. Oh f*%K

[chicane]

Real contractors always intend to retire within the next 10 years.

[TheRightStuff]

first of all, within the 1st ten yrs of what?
Secondly dream on. Kids, wife not working, increase in living costs etc.
Get in the real world

P.S your not a real contractor. Doesn't look like you post a lot so you must be busy. That is not a real contractor.

[threaded]

I retired years ago, but clients keep offering me more and more money to do just another little job for them.

[Cliphead]

I intend to retire within ten years.

[xoggoth]

I AM retired. SNEER SNEER. And I am only 32.

[chicane]

first of all, within the 1st ten yrs of what?
Secondly dream on. Kids, wife not working, increase in living costs etc.
Get in the real world

Very much the point I was trying to make myself ... the day rate makes it look feasible to retire within 10 years, but the trappings of real life always get in the way.

Threaded aside of course.

[GreenerGrass]

Very much the point I was trying to make myself ... the day rate makes it look feasible to retire within 10 years, but the trappings of real life always get in the way.

How very true, it is possible but you need tremendous willpower not to fall into the classic trap of increasing your expenses and liabilities in line with your earnings - having no children helps, although maybe not an option forever.
It is also beneficial not to have an interest in fast cars, other expensive hobbies, and brilliant market timing.

Like many the plan is to start implementing a plan B in 5 to 10 years time, moving away from the south east to realise a hideous discrepancy in house prices due to regional distortions. Then look back on an IT career with a welcome sense of being rid of the tedium, but grateful for the opportunities it has given you over the average Joe.

I think this is the real reason the taxman is after us, he doesn't want us to "make it" and escape the rat race. This is because once our property is paid off and we have a decent pile of (hopefully) tax-sheltered assets, we are unlikely to provide much tax revenue afterwards. Permies however will have to work to 67, or until they drop dead.

How many of the forum have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Kiyosaki's other stuff?

[IR35 Avoider]

I'm kind of retired, if you ignore the fact that I'm working five days a week until the end of the year.

I can afford to maintain my current (modest but satisfactory) lifestyle indefinitely even if no more money comes in. Having worked part time for a few years, I have exhausted most of the ideas for what I thought I was going to do with my free time, so do not feel to guilty that I am wasting my life by accepting more work at former client.

I regard all new earnings as an capital rather than income, i.e. the spending of it is to be spread as evenly as possible over the rest of my life. During the past week I've even be wondering if I should have targets for spending, just to ensure I don't waste any money by failing to spend it before I die. It's going to be very hard for me to break my financial habits in that way. For example, I was calculating the financial cost of owning a Mercedes CLS, which costs 43K when new, but concluded that owning it would bring me hardly any more happiness than my current car, which cost 7K second-hand and is probably good for another 7 to 10 years.

With any big optional purchase I can't help thinking in terms of how many hours work it would cost to earn an equivalent amount of money, and usually conclude it's not worth it.

Children: I don't have any, but if the wife realise her ambitions then no doubt my "problem" will be solved, with a vengeance.

[GreenerGrass]

For example, I was calculating the financial cost of owning a Mercedes CLS, which costs 43K when new, but concluded that owning it would bring me hardly any more happiness than my current car

No, but a 997 Carrera S would.