Thinking of selling

[Katic1972]

For me the real value in owning a Tesla is the charging network. Sadly though, we can’t even get the wipers to work properly and in the uk (Scotland at least), the cameras are regularly weather blocked from November to February, the chances of fsd being working any time soon in the uk therefore would seem slender.

Given my life change recently I don’t need this main selling point now hence one of the reasons I have selling in mind. That said, I’ve taken the hit now and I’m probably not going to stomach a significant downgrade.

I’ve always had nice cars don’t really plan on that changing. Perhaps leasing might be a good option from this point.

 

[Doudeau]

I retired a couple of years ago at 55 and found that I don’t have the same need to keep current with material goods (I no longer have the latest iPhone and don’t care like I did when I was in an office environment). The same goes for my car - despite not realising I’d have that mindset change when I made the leap.

I’m now going to do what I haven’t done before and take my chances with a car indefinitely. The latest video by RSymons was reassuring on how cheap it’s been for them to run a M3 for 100k miles - for example, how many cars can survive that long on the original brake pads? I had to replace all the discs and pads on a 2 year old Cayman .

As far as retiring early is concerned, I appreciated the reassurance from watching videos from this financial planner who finds people believe they are going to live longer than they are likely to live and therefore believe they need more money to retire than they actually do. I coincidentally bumped into him in Dubai a couple of weeks ago and got to thank him.

I don’t just watch YouTube videos now I’ve retired - even though the above may suggest so .

 

[WannabeOwner]

how are you retiring so early?

Reading of folk here supporting kids at school in their 60's ... maybe the advice should be to marry (HAVE married!) your childhood sweetheart from High School and have 2 kids 9 months apart, and be rid of them by the time you are 40 !

Ermmm ... I failed to follow that advice!

 

[gangzoom]

Obviously slightly off topic but how are you retiring so early?

At early 40s some of the ages mentioned here for retirement is not far off where I'll be in a few years, but retirement is something that hasn't crossed my mind once.

This was my calendar for the week just gone by, I'm the SRO on about 4 different projects at the moment, a whole load of management duties, and skirting around/passing on the really 'difficult' decisions to the big boss .

Whilst driving home last night after an unexpected outing, my thoughts were:

1: How 'as new' did our soon to be 7 years old X with 76k feel to drive now compared to when we picked it up back in 2017.

2: Do I really want the responsibility of the big boss when they decides to move on their next role in a couple of years time? All the RAG ratings and scoring matrix still essentially comes down to someone having to make a tough call, and than been accountable for that decision. With the potential of decades later, having to sit in a dock been quizzed by lawyers on national TV.

Having accepted I'll never own a brand new Porsche, my personal retirement aim wouldn't be car related, I'll be quite happy to drive our X till retirement and beyond. But having got the house building bug, centerliver and internal atrium are two things (in addition to valuted celling and full height glazing) I want to tick off before departing life .

 

[Js1977]

Reading of folk here support kids at school in their 60's ... maybe the advice should be to marry (HAVE married!) your childhood sweetheart from High school and have 2 kids 9 months apart, and be rid of them by the time you are 40 !

Ermmm ... I failed to follow that advice!

At 47 my kids are now 23 and 24 and still with us. It's a culmination of nannying them a bit to much and the costs of living unlike me at 16 already living in a different country all together, renting a room somewhere and eager to explore.

At least we are free to go places etc and they are making their own money these days (certainly have much more money and assets than we had at their age) and have no other debt than to me which Ive made sure of so that their money doesn't get eaten away but I digress... looking back, having them early was definitely the way to go for a better management of the later years.

 

[Betelgeused]

I also have a Mercedes v class that is used as a dog lugger and camping etc. this does have a car loan associated with it. My plan was to sell the Tesla and pay the merc car loan off and buy a used golf or an i3 as my second car. No point in paying off the zero percent loan.

We have an i3 too, cracking cars - much better for local trips/city driving than the Tesla.

We have the tiny 60ah battery, but never experienced range anxiety because it has the range extender too. It's now nearly 9 years old, has been exceptionally reliable, and a car we both forged a genuine bond with.

 

[Katic1972]

We have an i3 too, cracking cars - much better for local trips/city driving than the Tesla.

We have the tiny 60ah battery, but never experienced range anxiety because it has the range extender too. It's now nearly 9 years old, has been exceptionally reliable, and a car we both forged a genuine bond with.

Agreed re the i3. I had a i3s before the M3. Loved it, crazy they stopped developing it. Seemed the almost perfect town runabout. Mine was completely bev and therefore I had to rely on the vagaries of the public charging network for longer journeys, the ranger extender would make a difference though.

When I sold it, I moved it on via motorway and a dealer from south of Newcastle collected the car. Despite me giving him full instructions with a 100% charge and how to drive it and where to top up, the poor guy was still on the road some 7 hours later!! I could track his whereabouts on the app and in doing so could clearly feel his pain.

Wouldn’t say no to another should I decide to leave Tesla. Wouldnt get the i3s though, harsher ride and less range even if it did look a little sexier.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Reading of folk here supporting kids at school in their 60's ... maybe the advice should be to marry (HAVE married!) your childhood sweetheart from High School and have 2 kids 9 months apart, and be rid of them by the time you are 40 !

Ermmm ... I failed to follow that advice!

Well at 45, mine both have birthdays next month making them 22 and 17. I find most people in my field are surprised by this. Some in late 30’s have kids just a few years old which seems more common than my situation.

I think some say live it up when you are in 20’s before having kids but I didn’t have much money in my 20’s to do anything of the sort. Now in 40’s as you progress through your career that’s changed completely.

Seeing so many here retired early, makes me think I need to relook at all of this. We had planned to move one more time to get a nice dream house (not that our house is bad now) a bit more north but maybe that’s not the way and pay this one’s mortgage off.

 

[gangzoom]

We had planned to move one more time to get a nice dream house (not that our house is bad now) a bit more north but maybe that’s not the way and pay this one’s mortgage off.

There is not such thing as ‘dream house’ unless you build one to your spec .

Though is gets very close to what I want to live in post retirement….but ditch the plunge pool for a cantilever of some kind . It’s now one of my main motivations to work harder till retirement, I suspect you are looking at £4000+/square meter for this kind of design/architecture!

Pink concrete covers "fun house" on English coast by RX Architects

British studio RX Architects referenced Mediterranean beach houses when designing Seabreeze, a coastal holiday home in East Sussex that is covered in smooth pink concrete.

www.dezeen.com

 

[aq42]

Reading of folk here supporting kids at school in their 60's ... maybe the advice should be to marry (HAVE married!) your childhood sweetheart from High School and have 2 kids 9 months apart, and be rid of them by the time you are 40 !

Ermmm ... I failed to follow that advice!

Didn't really have a childhood sweetheart - we were three boys and those were the days when a lot of secondary schools (including mine) were single sex. Then I did science at university which was about 90% male. A combination of that and an early change of career with retraining meant that I didn't manage to get properly established and meet the good lady until I was 36. A disastrous year soon after in which I was made redundant and she came to the end of a non-renewable project contract meant three years getting back on our feet and so we didn't marry until I was 42. Then it took three years to get the first started and another two and half for the second.

And that's how I have a child still at school when I'm past state pension age.

 

[Katic1972]

in as far as retiring early is concerned it certainly does no harm, at least to one’s wallet, to NOT going through a d.i.v.o.r.c.e.

Has to be some upside I suppose ;-p

 

[FastLaneJB]

There is not such thing as ‘dream house’ unless you build one to your spec .

Though is gets very close to what I want to live in post retirement….but ditch the plunge pool for a cantilever of some kind . It’s now one of my main motivations to work harder till retirement, I suspect you are looking at £4000+/square meter for this kind of design/architecture!

Pink concrete covers "fun house" on English coast by RX Architects

British studio RX Architects referenced Mediterranean beach houses when designing Seabreeze, a coastal holiday home in East Sussex that is covered in smooth pink concrete.

www.dezeen.com

Well building one would be my dream but seeing as they make it so damn hard to get a plot of land you can actually build on, not sure I can be dealing with the hassle but we'll see.

Some peoples visions on their houses are good though so there's been some pre-built that could hit that dream house view for us also. We shall see.

 

[FastLaneJB]

Didn't really have a childhood sweetheart - we were three boys and those were the days when a lot of secondary schools (including mine) were single sex. Then I did science at university which was about 90% male. A combination of that and an early change of career with retraining meant that I didn't manage to get properly established and meet the good lady until I was 36. A disastrous year soon after in which I was made redundant and she came to the end of a non-renewable project contract meant three years getting back on our feet and so we didn't marry until I was 42. Then it took three years to get the first started and another two and half for the second.

And that's how I have a child still at school when I'm past state pension age.

With the best planning will in the world, there's also a lot of luck and random chance involved.

 

[Dilly]

Met at 14 & 19 years old, married at 19 & 24, no kids just dogs, 47th anniversary coming up…

Word of warning. Because I retired very early at 45, when I was ready to claim state pension I was invited by DWP to pay £2.5K to top up missing NI payments. I rang DWP to confirm some details and they told me I could make the payment as per the invite but it would not increase my pension!!!
Perhaps I should have kept NI going when I stopped working. Haven’t been worried by it.

My wife is one the one of the WASPI women hoping for some clawback from HMG.

 

[Katic1972]

Met at 14 & 19 years old, married at 19 & 24, no kids just dogs, 47th anniversary coming up…

Word of warning. Because I retired very early at 45, when I was ready to claim state pension I was invited by DWP to pay £2.5K to top up missing NI payments. I rang DWP to confirm some details and they told me I could make the payment as per the invite but it would not increase my pension!!!
Perhaps I should have kept NI going when I stopped working. Haven’t been worried by it.

My wife is one the one of the WASPI women hoping for some clawback from HMG.

It’s quite easy to check this. For anyone who doesn’t know, you do it online via the HMRC web site. Thankfully I was all paid up.

 

[kuruma]

Well I and the wife retired from full time work at 49 and 48 respectively ostensibly to become respite foster carers.

The first two kids through the door were meant to be here for a weekend in 2021. They're still here. We adopted them last year when they were both under the age of 7.

Being retired means we can be here for the boys more than we ever could when we needed to with full time. And they really need that. We do bits and pieces here and there to supplement our investment income and one of us will pick up a decent pension at 55. Our state pensions are nearly fully paid up through voluntary contributions while we've been overseas.

It also helped that after deciding to retire and adopt, a relative left us over £300k to add to the pot. Perfect timing.

We'll probably update our 2019 M3 SR to a post 2022 LR in the next year or so.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Interesting reading folk's financial journeys.

Didn't really have a childhood sweetheart

Would that I was that age knowing what I know now!

a cantilever of some kind

My guess is that insulation of those "awkward shape" buildings is a nightmare. Best thermal efficiency is a Square Box, two storey - not bungalow - minimum surface area to volume (and then make it look interesting with "protrusions" / whatever).

We had planned to move one more time to get a nice dream house

Oft stated my experiences re: Passive Haus here. Scotland legislating to bring that in (this year, mandated from 2025 I think). No idea if the builders are ready for that! but I think its similar to EV - just gotta be done to solve the Fossil Fuel consumption problems.

So my advice would be that that is what you should be dreaming of

so damn hard to get a plot of land you can actually build on

Befriend the most successful Estate Agent in your area and get looking

Brownfield within town / village (likely to be a large plot, which would mean being able to build multiple houses and use that to fund yours, but the total finance will probably be out of reach unless you can collaborate).

I think the other "good" route is a probate plot. A house (probably with a decent sized garden, back-in-those-days), where the owners have done nothing for "ever", dreadful, poorly insulated, house that has just been allowed to dilapidate. Builders will only be prepared to pay "market rate" so they can make a profit, a self builder can pay close to twice that (i.e. for "land value") - don't need any profit on build, just "evens" at the end. Only contest is with another self-builder.

 

[UkNorthampton]

That hardware is not just meant for FSD.

Also meant for AP/TACC/safety/security.

Teslas are also the least stolen vehicles and ranked among the safest. To me, that’s worth something.

Just had a bunch of cars stolen around here. Not sure of models as haven't talked first hand with neighbours yet. I'm assuming Range Rovers & Porsche Macans, but could be anything without Pin To Drive. Both of these are near uninsurable & worthless now.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Obviously slightly off topic but how are you retiring so early? When I play with the pension slider on my work site I feel like I need to work until I’m 100

Guess have to just lower living style I guess. Large pension pot, downsize house and live off beans on toast while keeping the heating off? How you doing it?

Semi-retired for a while now. Still do projects, consultancy - but not much.

Saved some money into ISA/TESSA (not much), had tiny pensions (eaten by commissions/charges). Let others control/influence investments, mostly UK dividend stocks where I didn't know much about the company itself. I've been running down my ISA for over 10 years, just to cover living expenses, not contributing at all for many years before that.

Then had an epiphany after watching videos commenting on Peter Lynch's approach & Dave Lee's awesome videos (Dave was a huge presence on this site - TMC). Epiphany was triggered by desire to shift everything away from UK investments some time after 2016. Too much risk in my opinion, both work income and investments concentrated too much.

Dedicated loads of time to research and saw investment opportunities in areas where I feel I had a knowledge edge (work/hobby interests). Sold everything in ISA, moved as many small pensions into a SIPP and self-invested (ISA & SIPP) into companies I thought I understood better than average or institutional investors.

One pension was a slightly too big Defined Benefit pension that I couldn't transfer without seemingly expensive/hard signoff by Independent Financial Advisor.

This approach needs time spent on investments (company research) - hard when juggling work, family life.

Eventually, I'll move it gradually to index trackers (probably USA - S&P 500 as fees are low) for truly passive income. This may be the right approach from day 1 for vast majority of UK people.

Advice to my younger self - Peter Lynch style and/or USA index trackers on lowest fee platforms.

Not investment advice for others, just in case I time travel...

=========================

To OP, I would keep Tesla, cheap motoring from here on in. Also, only cars that improve over time (maybe even wipers...)

 

[Katic1972]

Wish my financial situation was anywhere near as interesting. As for the most part of my career I’ve been a paye middle manager in the corporate world. My pensions until recently combine were a handful of small shitty pensions together with two relatively decent final salary pensions.

From 21-26 I was more interested in cars and girls (still am, just don’t tell the wife!) and thought pensions were for old people. As a result, stupidly, I missed a few important years of contributions which would make my situation that much more palatable.

It flies in, Tesla dad speaking, so any of you young uns take heed, especially if youre working for larger organisations, get yourselves into a pension as early as you can.