Comments on: How I’m Creating a Life I Don’t Need to Retire From

By: Emma

Emma — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 02:18:29 +0000

In reply to Maddie. Love those lightbulb moments! All the best with it, Maddie.

By: Maddie

Maddie — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 12:01:18 +0000

I relate to this so much Emma. I started with a need to save as much money to work again, then at some point a light bulb moment happened when I realised I could travel and work – the two aren’t mutually exclusive. This is my year of growing my side hustles to support myself and my husband so I’ll look forward to reading about your similar journey.

By: Erith at Cracking Retirement

Erith at Cracking Retirement — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:38:11 +0000

I know I am way late with a response to your blog entry, but I only found it tonight!
I think this works across the generations. My husband ‘retired’ 5 years ago. After a few weeks he got a call from his previous employer to say, would he be prepared to work part-time, in his own time? So he now gets about 50% of his original salary, doing the stuff he loves. (No admin, no boring stuff). He does it in his own time which might be 10pm, 7am, doesn’t matter. He is happy, doing his beloved maths (he’s an engineer…)
So regardless of your age or circumstances, flexible working is the way ahead. In the last year, we have spent 6 weeks in Spain, 2 weeks in Ireland, and about to head off for 4 weeks in New Zealand. He has laptop, wifi and phone, so can work anywhere. No complaints from his boss, except total envy!

By: Christine @ i will get out of debt

Christine @ i will get out of debt — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 21:59:52 +0000

i have one goal right now: to finish paying off my personal loan ($5K to go) and then the daughter and I are saving up for a prepaid trip to Germany. other than that I have no goals as of now. but am happy to have read your post – it offers some guidelines I might embrace and leads for inspiration.

saving up for years on end to retire sounds rather sad (although that is the path i am living). and I have heard many of tales about people dying within month of retiring, too. eek! i started out late in life with trying to build a stable financial path. so retiring early is not quite likely. I like your goal of retiring regularly.

best to you on creating a digital nomad business. looking forward to your ‘Create A Portable Income’ project posts. perhaps you can pick up some freelance work on the problogger job boards?

By: Tiffiney

Tiffiney — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:37:34 +0000

Emma I’m really excited about this new direction you’re taking!!
Don’t mind me, I’m just catching up on the last year of your blog in one setting here : )

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 10:22:49 +0000

In reply to Elizabeth.

Ooh Hello money twin! Ha, I must check out your blog. Also 43% is a fantastic savings rate! Especially if you’re not naturally frugal (I really struggle in that department – I know I need to be better but it’s tough sometimes).

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 05 Mar 2016 23:14:16 +0000

I love this! I followed an eerily similar trajectory in my financial journey, although I’ve yet to have any kiddos. I bought rental property in my 20s and was convinced I’d be set for life by age 30-33, but of course life doesn’t always work out as planned! I used to think early retirement was a big goal. In hindsight I think I just wanted the option to stay home with kids without cash flow being super tight. I actually can’t quite imagine not working at all and simply enjoying a life of leisure for the better part of my life (OK maybe I can imagine it…but it’s not a driving motivator. I get antsy and anxious if I don’t have a goal or routine or reason to get out of bed for more than a week or so).

I’m 32 now and at a crossroads, but I’ve figured out that I don’t want to totally give up working – or earning an income – even if I do have children. I make too much and my job is (currently!) too flexible to justify throwing in the towel in the foreseeable future. But to your point, I also admitted that I am simply not willing to sacrifice that heavily in order to (hope I live long enough to) to “retire early.” We love our nice house and our nice and frequent vacations. We like our semi-luxury cars and not having to think twice if we want to dine out or order another expensive cocktail with friends or colleagues.

Our working lives aren’t so bad and I’m convinced a full on retirement may not be that great anyway. Instead we are working to build lives NOW that we don’t want to retire from. It works for us but of course we are also heavy savers. Sure, we could save even more if we were frugal (which I don’t pretend we are); but we save roughly 43% of our gross pay which is aggressive enough for me. I have a hunch this phase won’t last long, and I want to have all the flexibility I can if/when kids to arrive on the scene.

PS I may just take you up on some website help in the near future!

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 07:59:17 +0000

In reply to Liz. Aww thanks Liz, that's so nice of you to say. Look forward to having you along for the ride :-)

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 00:09:55 +0000

I’ve recently discovered your blog and I LOVE your posts. It’s soooo good to finally find a kiwi blog that I can relate to in terms of strategies! I’ve only just discovered the concept of an early/mini retirements and we’re getting our finances in order. Good luck with your online businesses and I look forward to following your journey 🙂

By: Emma

Emma — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 10:34:15 +0000

In reply to Broke Millennial. Thanks! I've been cursed ever since I read the 4HWW. That book really got to me!