Semi retirement, working and travelling
 

Hello just popped in for a quick pint here ok, quick question to folk who are 55 and over.

I'm 55 next March and have a private pension that I could cash in. It's not big enough to draw a weekly/monthly sum from so if I am to go travelling then I will have to use the lump sum as a starting point. I have prepped my work life accordingly over last several years so I can drop straight back into my current role working through agencies. I can't afford to fully retire hence the title 'semi retire' and so the plan is to travel/work/travel/work and so on.
Is there anyone else that has adopted this routine and how is it working out...???
I have work for 2018 and would like to set off the following year starting with the TCAT east to west then down the west coast heading for central and southern A. I'm figuring on travel time scales of between 12 to 18 months at a time before returning back for work stints of approx. 6 to 8 months. Obviously these are just loose plans and I would love to hear any experiences of anyone that has done this.


Mez & Sue

I am doing just that and it works well for me, there was not enough in my fund to make much difference to my post state retirement age income but enough to mean I do not have to work too hard between 55 and then.

If u cash in ur pension there are tax implications potentially re any lump sum u take . The nearer u r to fifty generally means a bigger lump sum then if u take it nearer to fifty five , go over that and again there are potential tax implications . Am assuming u own ur own house ?? That could b an avenue to explore re short term rentals ..... Def worth getting good financial advice , u will have to pay for it but u may b very surprised , in a good way when the sums r done .... Best of luck fella

I retired 2 years at 60, and pension from work is around 40% of my salary. I have my own personal pension, but I didn't want to touch that. My wife has a pension from work, but she's too young to get anything before 2021. She too has herplan own personal pension, but she still too young to touch that too. Beside that we have no saving, and my credit card is loaded.

But I had a plan and it worked. I knew that I will quit my work the first day of availality. I knew that I wanted to leave the city of Montreal to go back picking fruits in the Okanagan Valley. I got rid of everything, went to buy the best riding gears available ini town, we loaded the cases of my 300 cc scooter and 8 days later we made it to the Okanagan. It was quite a chalenge for my wife, the longest ride she did with me was 400km.

We found work very quickly, bought a class B camper, paid it off quickly, and once the harvest over, we flew to Colombia where another 300cc scooter was waiting for me. But we had to live on my credit card.

This past summer we work at a Holiday In, we quickly paid the credit card, bought a class A motorhome. We paid it off too. We are not rich, but we cleared the credit card. We are in Mexico right now and we love it here. Though we have no saving, but we can make it with my pension.

I had it very clear since the 1980's what I wanted to do and it worked. I knew it would work. We still have to work like that until 2021.

In 2021 we are heading a around the world tour when my wife become eligible to cash her pensions and me my personal pension plan.

I have been waiting that day for so long, in fact since 1981. It was so cristal clear. Our coworkers laugh at us when I decided to quit my work and get rid of everything.

I have worked with the objective to realize my dream for so long. My children were very happy and they told me for it.

Like the OP I semi retired at 5 years ago and now swap between work and travel. When I started I was very uncertain how it would work financially but I've been very lucky and find I can work back at my old employer on projects. On average I work about 4 months and travel about 8 months of the year. This works for me; it covers my costs, I enjoy both and neither become stale in that time, I'm not away so long family and friends (or my employer) forgets me. Good luck with your plans I'm sure you can make them work.

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If you need to leave your vehicle for 6 to 8 months at a time you will need to research your options carefully as most countries won't allow that long in storage, and some won't allow you to leave your vehicle behind at all.