Got capital in my house, so could spend £150,000 and be mortgage free.
Kids are doing or coming up to exams so I can’t really move them.
I’m giving up my business, I’m self employed and a limited company is taking over. I will be a shareholder, though in a business not currently worth much.

Would like to move to somewhere rural and seriously downsize. Don’t want new cars or exotic holidays just a simple job, to sleep at night and walk/ride from my door. The wife feels the same.

Considering buying a ‘project’ or derilict to do over the next few years, so at least I have a goal.

I can’t be the only person feeling like this.

Your just fantasising about Felicity Kendal a al The Good Life aren’t you?

In all seriousness, if you can do it, go for it.

Have you considered being a tramp?

They pay isn’t great, but you’re your own boss and there are no mortgage payments to worry about.

Just do it. There is always a reason why not so unless you “just do it” you never will

I disagree you dont need another house . . . where as exotic holidays are ace. more seriously have you thought about one of those wooden kit jobs like a big shed you and your mates could put up chuck in some ikea/habitat jet wash for your bikes, you need not even live there just a retreat. you’d need some land though.

oldgit im in the exact same boat as you. i work at ITV yorkshire and although i still have my job at the present its not looking too good for the future. i just need to make the decsion to jump or be pushed. both the missus & I want to move out of a big city to somewhere in the borders but its the worst time in the last 10 years to plan this. if you can at all make this happen then you should. every day spent in your new life is another happier day.

Sell your house, rent our spare room and see how you like it for a while.

I’ve been thinking about this for ages. I hate work, hate the lack of a life, hate not having time to do what I want. But then I see old people living in poverty and really, really having a crap time of it and realise that I’d hate that even more because I’d not be young enough to change it. So I just sit here and carry on as I was like an impotent mouse with no guts. I’ll probably die before then anyway so it’ll have been in vain.

Unless there is actually a god in which case the bugger will no doubt make my pension collapse and then force me to still live a life of misery, depression and poverty before finally taking my worthless soul after an unhappy and pointless existence. I’ll be found dead on the toilet with cardboard in my stomach. There will be cat poo in my lap.

And then I’ll find there is actually a heaven and to get in it was the god ‘Verminus’ that we were all supposed to be worshipping so I’ll go to hell or more likely just end up spending eternity in a waiting room filled with civil servants.

Come and teach! It was my lifestyle change, used to work 80-100 hour weeks as a plasterer, took the decision to do something else, 6 years down the line, best decision I ever made.

My sister was a hippy for a while. She knew loads and loads of people who were poor but didn’t work and were happy. A lot of them were benefit scroungers, but a lot weren’t. Make a bit of money here and there selling, buying or making. Or doing a bit of building or farm work. Cash poor but rich nonetheless. It can be done, and it can be done a load easier if you have £150k in the bank as backup.

I like the sound of no mortgage. If you can get a house thats in not too bad an area and find a job that pays the bills ok then I would go for it. I suppose some people cant do with out there holiday in Benidorm twice a year and a BMW 3 series once a year though. Me personally I would rather have a 1970 Landrover and go to Wales and live with as little bills as possible. You only have to take a look at whats going on at the monent to realise all this bigger and better never satisfied with anything ethos to life

[chuckles ruefully at samuri]

If one were serious about giving up everything it is hard to see how lack of funds would be an issue. You appear to be confusing “giving up everything” with “retiring to live off your capital”, which admittedly should be postponed until you have enough capital.

The people I hate most of all, more even than genocidaires, torturers and kitten-microwavers are those **** pseudo-buddhists who rock up to you in the street with a clipboard like chuggers and demand that you “sponsor” them to live free from care, toil and financial worries according to the dictates of some dubious religion which requires them to live on cannabis and spend their time having uninhibited, animal sex with american backpackers. Cocks.

🙂

I hate work, hate the lack of a life, hate not having time to do what I want. But then I see old people living in poverty and really, really having a crap time of it and realise that I’d hate that even more

I don’t think you should predicate your current life on the future. Pensions are just money begging to be stolen or inflated into nothingness. Enjoy your money now while you have a sound mind and body to make the most of it, and let the shrivelled carcass take care of itself later 🙂

I don’t think you should predicate your current life on the future. Pensions are just money begging to be stolen or inflated into nothingness. Enjoy your money now while you have a sound mind and body to make the most of it, and let the shrivelled carcass take care of itself later

My dad does a lot of work for the likes of Shell and BP. The average time for which their executives draw their pensions is three years. That’s scary; work 100 hour weeks to build up a stupidly big pension pot, then pop your clogs after three years of using it.

Btw, I plan to drop out for a good long while at some point. If our house hadn’t bombed in value and the street wasn’t full of repos, I’d have sold it by now and be typing this from a cabin by a lake in central Finland.

Have you read ‘On the Road’? Also ‘Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads’ by Richard Grant would be worth a look.

My dad does a lot of work for the likes of Shell and BP. The average time for which their executives draw their pensions is three years. That’s scary; work 100 hour weeks to build up a stupidly big pension pot, then pop your clogs after three years of using it.

Is that because they die extremely young or retire extremely late? Seems an unlikely statistic to me.

You’ve got a mortgage on your own home. Don’t you know how lucky you are?

I would like to imagine it is because their aged hearts cannot stand the strain of all the frenzied acrobatic sex with nymphomaniac eastern-european triplets a man with a gigantic pension gets to have. But it’s probably something to do with golf being dull. 🙂

I know I’d always need a home, so I will look at land plus ‘kit house’

The biggest problems are having teenage kids tied into school and the fact that land here in Buckinghamshire aint cheap.

A self build kit house on purchased land would be great somewhere up north.
This is actually something we have wanted to do for years. 16 years ago we nearly settled in Gardenstown in Scotland but bottled it. So it’s not just a whim. And to put it into perspective my wife would rather live on a canal boat now.

the strain of all the frenzied acrobatic sex with nymphomaniac eastern-european triplets a man with a gigantic pension gets to have.

probably I’m very dull but I’d rather do it with someone who fancies me, and not bear the guilt of riches

probably I’m very dull but I’d rather do it with someone who fancies me, and not bear the guilt of riches

That was a joke, Barnes.

Btw oldgit – I am liking the houseboat idea myself. Possibly the Great Lakes.

I think BigDummy needs to take a cold shower – or get some frenzied animalistic sex

hmmm, I’m looking at starting up a “retreat” in central Spain, basically building up an old farm up in the mountains to accommodate disgruntled mountain bikers/photographers/musicians/artists/craftsmen

although its getting dangerously close to becoming operation “build a cult” 😆

We looked into buying up somewhere with a bit of land and potential for other buildings to be turned into holiday accommodation. I know people who’ve done this with an old farm in Wales and it seems to have worked out well for them, plenty of bookings, just busy a couple of days a week turning around the guests. The trouble is they bought years ago and now land/property prices have gone up so much that even with the equity in our house we couldn’t make the sums add up 🙁

We are giving up a very well paid job and an OK paid job, big mortgage and all the benefits of a city, to move to rural Scotland.

My new job is half my current wage. They rent a house for us (just heard at lunch they have a nice new-build sorted for us in the village). Wife has no job as yet, and jobs will be few and far between.

Plan is to get settled, buy some land and build a couple of off-grid holiday cottages for ourselves. New job has lots of holiday time, and lovely employer (I have worked for them before) Oh, and enjoy ourselves and family life some more, in a place where the ‘hot’ discussion is the amount of dog sh*t and how the ‘safari supper’ is going to be organised….

I am officially, pant-fillingly worried, and her family think I am mad/wrong to be making the move.

BRING IT ON!

Nice one Matt.

Seems that every man and his dog is opening up holiday accomodation somewhere rural tho…

you have no funds???????

for 150k you could buy a canal boat, a decent motor home and a little holiday cottage in france!!!!

Oldgit – you are not alone. Matt_outandabout – way to go!! Can I ask what you do?? I wouldn’t worry about the competition given how hard to is to find anywhere vaguely decent/ affordable to stay sometimes.

Make a plan, that’s what I’m doing. If the sums don’t add up, we may just jump anyhow. Increasingly my philosophy is to stop dreaming it and start doing something to make it happen, worst case scenario is it doesn’t work out and you have to do something else.

“Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes”

The trouble with holiday accommodation isn’t filling it, it’s that it costs so much to buy in the first place that the rental yield doesn’t cover the mortgage and your living costs. What you need is a whacking great deposit or access to a very cheap loan. I guess the low interest rates might help but how easy would it be to find the loan…

Are you going to Firbush Matt?

A guy I know and his girlfriend have been WOOFing (Working on Organic Farms) in Spain for the last 7/8 months, getting board and lodgings (and possibly some small payment) and cycling round the country between the different farms.

It sounded a wonderful way to spend some quality time away from working at no cost and might open up some more permanent opportunities.

You should think about doing a season in the mountains somewhere. It would cost you very little out of your capital, let you ride every day and clear your head, and maybe open your eyes a bit to the tourist industry which can be great work for some people, but doesn’t suit everyone.

I say this because you seem to be sure that you want a break, but unsure of your next step. If you’ve raised your kids and can afford to do it, a couple of months away and some time for reflection will help you make a better long term decision.

just think of the possibilities….

Click

Me – Ardeonaig for Abernethy, chief instructor.

Land – I already know some cheap plots up there (yes they do exist, you just need someone to introduce you to the right farmers / forrester.
I also work in sustainable construction, and know how to build a 1 to 3 bed, off-grid building for about £60-70k 🙂

I’m still going to build my underground house one day.

Sounds good – I stayed at Firbush a couple of times and enjoyed it. Nice part of the world.

Good luck.

have a read of this for some inspiration

Matt – nice location, looks good. I work in sustainable development, albeit policy stuff – but can seek what’s possible. Sounds like you have a good plan. 🙂

How worrying that I have come across that plot in D&G post up and resisted that book too…