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First day of FIRE

Including Financial Independence and Retiring Early (FIRE)
Quint
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First day of FIRE

#121264

Postby Quint » March 1st, 2018, 10:31 am

What a day it is - snowed in by the Beast from The East. Do we care, no.

After the years of planning, researching, discussing etc it is no longer theory it is real.

Waiting now for the both our dc pensions to transfer across to the SIPPs to finish setting up our portfolios which I will then post back here.

Let's see how it works.

Updates as and when.

Quint

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121275

Postby kempiejon » March 1st, 2018, 10:57 am

Woo-Hoo. Well done, I explained to someone the other day that winning was not having to turn the hours in at the coal mine any more. You've won.

Dod101
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Re: First day of FIRE

#121294

Postby Dod101 » March 1st, 2018, 11:23 am

Well done, Quint, I am sure it will all work out. I am not sure though that years of planning etc really help all that much. I was given early retirement at the age of 53, and three months notice and had not really thought much about it until then. To get me through the early months I talked to an IFA whom I knew I could trust and he helped me with asset allocation, the most important thing I think until you get say five years of actual experience under your belt.

In retrospect I then muddled through rather (I did not have a pension but a lump sum from being an old fashioned expat for most of my working life) until the tech crisis of 2000/2001 and that was a sobering experience. it was then that I found a system that suited me, largely what is known here as a HYP.

20 odd years later I am still here to tell the tale so it works!

Good luck

Dod

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121327

Postby Gostevie » March 1st, 2018, 12:42 pm

Very well done! I very much look forward to reading your updates.

Quint
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Re: First day of FIRE

#121357

Postby Quint » March 1st, 2018, 1:57 pm

Dod101 wrote:Well done, Quint, I am sure it will all work out. I am not sure though that years of planning etc really help all that much. I was given early retirement at the age of 53, and three months notice and had not really thought much about it until then. To get me through the early months I talked to an IFA whom I knew I could trust and he helped me with asset allocation, the most important thing I think until you get say five years of actual experience under your belt.

In retrospect I then muddled through rather (I did not have a pension but a lump sum from being an old fashioned expat for most of my working life) until the tech crisis of 2000/2001 and that was a sobering experience. it was then that I found a system that suited me, largely what is known here as a HYP.

20 odd years later I am still here to tell the tale so it works!

Good luck

Dod


Cheers Dod,

You are one of a number of people on here that i pay a lot of attention to. Those walking the walk. You can come up with a system and back test it to the dawn of man, produce a million charts and graphs but there is nothing better than somebody saying this is what i have done and it has worked.

We have our plan and have the confidence to put it to the test but we are not past the point of no return. A lot of what we look for from life now is not something you can easily put a price on.

Today we put on the walking boots and snow crampons and went our for an hour - because we can. How good does that feel, better than driving a 40 grand car :D

OLTB
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Re: First day of FIRE

#121413

Postby OLTB » March 1st, 2018, 5:00 pm

Quint wrote:
Today we put on the walking boots and snow crampons and went our for an hour - because we can. How good does that feel, better than driving a 40 grand car :D


What a fabulous attitude and so right - God willing (and dividend willing) I shall be in your position in the next decade or so. Not perhaps FIRE, but FIR(slightly)E.

Cheers, OLTB.

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121432

Postby Dod101 » March 1st, 2018, 5:47 pm

Quint wrote:Today we put on the walking boots and snow crampons and went our for an hour - because we can. How good does that feel, better than driving a 40 grand car :D


Thanks for your kind personal comments and it is great to get out walking. I do it most days although not today with a foot of snow and a wind that feels like early January! Anyway in time I hope you have the confidence to go walking and drive a 40 grand car!

Dod

Quint
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Re: First day of FIRE

#121459

Postby Quint » March 1st, 2018, 7:55 pm

Dod101 wrote:
Quint wrote:Today we put on the walking boots and snow crampons and went our for an hour - because we can. How good does that feel, better than driving a 40 grand car :D


Thanks for your kind personal comments and it is great to get out walking. I do it most days although not today with a foot of snow and a wind that feels like early January! Anyway in time I hope you have the confidence to go walking and drive a 40 grand car!

Dod


The thing is, if I could afford a 40 grand car I still would not buy one, which is maybe why I am where I am. Also the Mrs has been driving a smart car for the last 14 years.

I would however use the money to spend even more time diving in the Caribbean and travelling in general. So much world still to see.

Quint

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121642

Postby vrdiver » March 2nd, 2018, 1:40 pm

Quint wrote:The thing is, if I could afford a 40 grand car I still would not buy one, which is maybe why I am where I am. Also the Mrs has been driving a smart car for the last 14 years.

I would however use the money to spend even more time diving in the Caribbean and travelling in general. So much world still to see.

Quint

I retired towards the end of 2014 - having turned 50. Just over three years on and I have to say it was a great decision!

I'm with you on the car front: it's not the £40k on the car, it's the attitude of not spending just because you can, but rather keeping the money to create choice. Choice, and time to enact those choices.

I do like the Caribbean for diving, but find the Red Sea easier and more colourful. Mrs VRD and I also dive all around the UK - being retired we can go off without worrying about how much holiday we have left!

(Just booked our motorhome into a campsite near Tralee for some Scottish loch diving - always beautiful this time of year, and usually diveable, no matter the weather.)

Speaking of weather, time to take the dog for her afternoon amble through the woods...

VRD

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121658

Postby Dod101 » March 2nd, 2018, 2:29 pm

vrdiver wrote:(Just booked our motorhome into a campsite near Tralee for some Scottish loch diving - always beautiful this time of year, and usually diveable, no matter the weather.)


If I wanted some Scottish loch diving I do not think I would be going to Tralee....................

Dod

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121754

Postby mickeypops » March 2nd, 2018, 8:51 pm

Well done Quint. Me and Mrs MP are two months behind you, retiring at the end of April.

I’ll have the same job, moving our DC pensions into our SIPPs, where I’m invested mostly in income producing ITs. The plan is to live off the dividends, in addition to some deferred DB pensions we will both pick up.

Looking forward to your updates.

MP

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121779

Postby vrdiver » March 2nd, 2018, 11:14 pm

Dod101 wrote:If I wanted some Scottish loch diving I do not think I would be going to Tralee....................

Dod

I recommend it! http://tralee.com/


(but yes, there could be some confusion with the other Tralee...)

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121798

Postby Dod101 » March 3rd, 2018, 7:46 am

Well well. I did not know that there was a Tralee in Scotland, although in my defence my interest in the west coast lies further north around Torridon, Gairloch and Inverewe. My apologies. Looks great.

The only thing I knew about Tralee was that certain rose from there!

Dod

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121804

Postby Dod101 » March 3rd, 2018, 8:57 am

vrd

I am intrigued. I see it is at Benderloch which I know quite well. Is Tralee Beach an invention by some Irish immigrant or has been called that for a long time? It has nothing Scottish Gaelic about it which the other 'native' names around there do.

Certainly most Googling of the name brings up the Irish Tralee from where cam that Rose I mentioned earlier.

Dod

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121851

Postby Quint » March 3rd, 2018, 12:35 pm

vrdiver wrote:
Quint wrote:The thing is, if I could afford a 40 grand car I still would not buy one, which is maybe why I am where I am. Also the Mrs has been driving a smart car for the last 14 years.

I would however use the money to spend even more time diving in the Caribbean and travelling in general. So much world still to see.

Quint

I retired towards the end of 2014 - having turned 50. Just over three years on and I have to say it was a great decision!

I'm with you on the car front: it's not the £40k on the car, it's the attitude of not spending just because you can, but rather keeping the money to create choice. Choice, and time to enact those choices.

I do like the Caribbean for diving, but find the Red Sea easier and more colourful. Mrs VRD and I also dive all around the UK - being retired we can go off without worrying about how much holiday we have left!

(Just booked our motorhome into a campsite near Tralee for some Scottish loch diving - always beautiful this time of year, and usually diveable, no matter the weather.)

Speaking of weather, time to take the dog for her afternoon amble through the woods...

VRD


Hello VRD,

We did a good few trips to the Red Sea a few years ago but mostly liveaboard. I did not find Egypt or the flights to get there much fun.

I still do UK diving, mostly out of Eyemouth, both scenic and the deeper offshore wrecks. I hope to get back to Portland and Plymouth as well as have not been down that way for a while. Mrs Quint has stopped UK diving at the moment as she now finds drysuit diving a pain especially as she does have bad circulation and suffers from cold hands even with dry gloves. She may try a bit if we get down Cornwall way in the summer where the water is a lot warmer.

Also I did a solo trip to Scapa Flow last year diving off Jean Elaine skippered by Andy Cuthbertson which I hope to do again. This was also a part pilgrimage to see one of the places my grandfather was based for a while during the second world war when he was in the Royal Navy.

An overnight in Inverness on the way up and a couple of nights on the way back when Mrs Quint flew up to meet me really hit home just how much beauty there is there to see in the highlands. In fact a return trip and a few nights camping in Ullapool is booked in for May.

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121938

Postby vrdiver » March 3rd, 2018, 6:58 pm

Dod101 wrote:I am intrigued. I see it is at Benderloch which I know quite well. Is Tralee Beach an invention by some Irish immigrant or has been called that for a long time? It has nothing Scottish Gaelic about it which the other 'native' names around there do.
Dod

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that. It's been Tralee for the last 20 years or so that we've been visiting, but it could easily have been named after an Irishman's home town at some point in the relatively recent past.

We base ourselves there a couple of times year and then dive the local lochs (Yeoman's Quarry, just down the road towards Oban from Benderloch, is the site of a beautiful Serpulid worm reef - https://www.flickr.com/photos/159946694 ... ed-public/ (if you ever want to understand the true meaning of humiliation, try taking a photo of these critters - they react to the electronics in the camera and I am frequently left with a shot of just their tube, no fronds: outwitted by a marine worm, 9 times out of ten!)

Further along are the Falls of Laura; a high energy dive site for those with good local knowledge (the water forms whirlpools when in full flow). There are also slate workings (up towards Glen Coe) and natural rock formations all carpeted with life. The choice of dive sites is prolific, with each site stunning for its diversity. Only recently (IIRC) a bed of rare flame shell clams was discovered around the area.

Diving the beach at Tralee bay is a bit of an acquired taste: if you are an avid seaweed geek, it's fascinating, but otherwise I'd suggest other sites would be higher priority. Mrs VRD is into her seaweeds, so we do dive it now and again, but I'd have to say it makes a better walk with the dog than it does a dive.

VRD

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121940

Postby vrdiver » March 3rd, 2018, 7:03 pm

Quint wrote:
We did a good few trips to the Red Sea a few years ago but mostly liveaboard. I did not find Egypt or the flights to get there much fun.
Liveaboards. Yes. That's how we do the Red Sea too.

I still do UK diving, mostly out of Eyemouth, both scenic and the deeper offshore wrecks. I hope to get back to Portland and Plymouth as well as have not been down that way for a while. Mrs Quint has stopped UK diving at the moment as she now finds drysuit diving a pain especially as she does have bad circulation and suffers from cold hands even with dry gloves. She may try a bit if we get down Cornwall way in the summer where the water is a lot warmer. Hope she gets to enjoy it. Cold is never fun...

Also I did a solo trip to Scapa Flow last year diving off Jean Elaine skippered by Andy Cuthbertson which I hope to do again. This was also a part pilgrimage to see one of the places my grandfather was based for a while during the second world war when he was in the Royal Navy.
Keep a lookout for Mr Ian Pickering on boards like HYP, he has (relatively) recently moved to Orkney - we should persuade him to go diving!


An overnight in Inverness on the way up and a couple of nights on the way back when Mrs Quint flew up to meet me really hit home just how much beauty there is there to see in the highlands. In fact a return trip and a few nights camping in Ullapool is booked in for May. Enjoy:
let me know how the midges are behaving :)

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Re: First day of FIRE

#121944

Postby Dod101 » March 3rd, 2018, 7:27 pm

I am assuredly not into diving or water for that matter although my son is keen and wanted to join the RN until they discovered he was colour blind!

There used to be slate quarries at Ballachulish which would account for your reference to them but I go further north at least twice a year to Inverewe where I am spoiled by a great hotel and go hill walking. Thanks for your post. Very interesting.

Subject to the weather I am just about off to Hong Kong, Melbourne and Singapore. Being retired is not at all boring provided of course that you are well enough insulated against the financial climate. I use my State Pension as my travel fund.

So Quint, enjoy!

Dod

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Re: First day of FIRE

#122017

Postby Quint » March 4th, 2018, 8:51 am

vrdiver wrote:
Quint wrote:
Also I did a solo trip to Scapa Flow last year diving off Jean Elaine skippered by Andy Cuthbertson which I hope to do again. This was also a part pilgrimage to see one of the places my grandfather was based for a while during the second world war when he was in the Royal Navy.
Keep a lookout for Mr Ian Pickering on boards like HYP, he has (relatively) recently moved to Orkney - we should persuade him to go diving!


An overnight in Inverness on the way up and a couple of nights on the way back when Mrs Quint flew up to meet me really hit home just how much beauty there is there to see in the highlands. In fact a return trip and a few nights camping in Ullapool is booked in for May. Enjoy:
let me know how the midges are behaving :)


I follow the HYP boards and was aware Ian had moved to Orkney, I think last year. That must have been a big change in lifestyle. I found it alternated between beautiful and grim sometimes during the same day, multiple times. That said I would love to visit again.

I would have loved to see it when my grandfather was there and the home fleet was at anchor, what a wonderful site that must have been.

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Re: First day of FIRE

#122101

Postby spiderbill » March 4th, 2018, 3:59 pm

Tralee Bay near Oban/Benderloch was certainly called that when I first went there over 40 years ago, first with my dad and later with my ex-wife. One of the many lovely little nooks and crannies along that stretch of coastline. (I've also visited the Irish version when I was touring with a band and would like to have spent more time there. ) Don't recall reading anything about the history of it although I used to assiduously collect local guidebooks, but I wonder if the two names are simply a coincidence caused by incorrect translations by the first Ordnance Survey surveyors - quite a common occurance with Gaelic and Norse names. Used to visit the Oban area often and the Falls of Lora hotel was a regular haunt until divorce and later Slovenian house purchase meant all my holidays were over there. Must try and get back up there sometime.

Quite jealous of the diving stories as it was something I wanted to do as a teenager but it never happened for various reasons. But as much as I love Orkney the cold of Scapa Flow would be a bit too much!

Good luck with your FIRE Quint, I'm not far behind you. I'm sure the weather will improve sometime ;-)


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