Doing it RIT

In case you missed it, Retirement Investing Today has resurfaced after a almost year and a half hiatus, still down under and again, proving the way for us to follow.

For those of you who don’t know who retirement investing today is , he’s the grandfather of fire blogs. His latest post here talks about his life after early retirement and personal struggles and the joys of coast-fire.

I don’t remember when I’ve first found RIT, but it was soon after I started working in my 1st job as a young graduate. I could tell by the sad grey heads in my office that I did not want to be working for longer than my follicles.

RIT provided sensible sounding board for ideas for ideas that I had. I credit him with turning me towards FIRE, something that seems obvious. In retrospect, he made it seem clear:

Save hard, invest wisely, retire early.

For me I had twin fears of:

Firstly of all being unemployable because of getting old and passed it.

Secondly of having to work, which was even worse.

I saw divorcees in my office working away working away earning good money but keeping virtually none of it. I didn’t want the same for me.

Except now thanks to covid. I have a great situation of full time work from home. No travel, no commute. I earn more now in 2 days than I did in a week in then I did in a week in previous jobs. That’s something that RIT has as well.

Coast FIRE?

I never spent much time learning about the different types of FIRE: barista FIRE, fat FIRE, thin FIRE, coast FIRE, boast FIRE, ghost FIRE, SAHD FIRE and so on…

But maybe I’m in a situation where I don’t technically need to work to make ends meet. The money’s nice. I work on what I want to work on, and I like it. But I don’t have to if i don’t want to. It’s financial freedom.

I like RIT, can earn 2 days what the average Australian earns in a week. Make that one and a bit sats for the average Brit. (Since the UK has got lower incomes. Thanks for exit and poor productivity).

So RIT quit the UK. Tried it a bit of Cyprus, tried a bit of travelling around and ended up settled in Oz. RIT did RIT. My much pondered flight from the UK is still just hot air. I’m putting up with life in one of Scotland’s less glat morous cities. It is LCOL but not exactly high quality of life – but hey, at least houses are cheap here!

Have I made my bed and I am sleeping it? No escape from Scotland and brexit Britain? One thing to RIT credit was that his finances were simple and superb. Our finances are such that I wouldn’t want to leave the country. For fear of high taxes and the mess that comes with changing jurisdictions.

Ups and Downs

Anyway, it’s good to hear that RIT is still alive and well. He mentioned the upside the downsides of early retirement, and that’s reassuring because we all have our ups and Downs.

The Lady certainly has to put up with me morning noon and night, which is one of the challenges of both people working from home in a relationship.

I’m sure she sometimes “goes to the office” just to get away from me.

Kids

One thing RIT does not have to my knowledge and hes knowledge and hes never hinted towards them is having kids.

Can you ever be financially independent when you have dependents?

I have to think not so much of my own well-being, financial or otherwise, but the well-being of my children.

It’s staying somewhere that isn’t perfect for me but gives them everything they need; stability, friend, a 15-minute neighbourhood, a sense of community, supportive parents, and reliable adults. Is that better than for us to travel somewhere else and start all over again?

I think we’re doing it right. Maybe not doing it RIT, but we’re doing it right.

Mission Purpose

One thing the lady and I both lack is a belief in some sort of over arching mission that we have in our lives a purpose a goal something were striving towards.

I’ve invented these for myself in the past; sometimes from work, sometimes personal. But no, I don’t want anything for myself right now. I don’t want career enhancement. I don’t particularly want to pay rise. I don’t want a bigger house faster car. All of my basic needs have been met. What I would like is the ability to eat what I want to eat, drink what I want to drink, without any consequences, but we all know there are consequences to our choices in life.

More time with the kids, of course, which I can do. But it isn’t going to interfere with work too much. I could balance that thanks to working from home and Covid.

So, to wrap it up, I’d say go have a look at RIT‘s website. He’s got a catalogue of blog posts detailing his life over the years. He didn’t do anything that you can’t do. He’s an inspiration and worth following. Even if he’s a lot more frugal, then I can ever manage.

That’s maybe why he’s in the sun in Australia, getting a big housebuilt for him and properly living his best life while I’m stuck in drizly Scotland.

Thanks, GFF

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