Well, here I am with a fresh new blog… a little about me..
About 7 years ago life was much more complicated. After a family crisis, job losses and a long period of ill health we found ourselves in debt to the tune of $72,000.
It wasn’t debt from spending lavishly on ‘stuff’- most of it was debt accrued in trying keep our family afloat during a really horrible, incredibly stressful few years.
I discovered Dave Ramsay and personal finance blogs which kept the wolf from the door as I followed his advice on keeping the four walls, managing creditors and getting started on our debt snowball.
About 4 months after discovering Dave I found a well paying full time job and hubby also found employment. We set about rebuilding our finances. By 2012 we had paid off $102,000 in credit card debt and student loans
After paying off debt we changed our focus on investments, given our age and my good income we wanted to take advantage of tax deductions and invest in real estate. We bought two units, one was chosen for us to downsize into and the other is in a university town several hours away. Hubby maxed out his superannuation ( retirement) salary sacrifice and we started paying extra on our mortgage. Despite a higher income, we continued to live simply, aiming to live off one income and save the other most months.
A few years later and it’s clear the real estate investments were the right way for us to go. We have had only one weeks vacancy with out tenants and no problems. Both units have gone up significantly in value – much more than what we could have saved on the mortgage or earned on savings. The research we did before purchasing paid off!
The other decision we made after paying off debt was to travel. Life is short. We’ve seen too many friends and colleagues suddenly get ill and all the dreams they had for ‘retirement’ will never happen. So we take a good trip each year and really enjoy it! We’ve been very focused on paying down the mortgage as well as building retirement savings for the last few years.
We have now made the decision that we’d like to retire in five years – the end of 2022 – I’ll be 60, hubby a few years older. We might then work part time but my job is very stressful and it does take a toll on my health, so I think five more years is well and truly enough! Setting a day has really helped us focus and its exciting to feel there is an ‘end’ date to work.
I decided to start blogging to help me keep accountable to our financial goals and also to just enjoy meeting other bloggers with similar interests and goals. I’m excited to think about ‘life after work’. I love the work I do but its becoming more and more difficult as government policies keep hacking away at the welfare sector and services keep getting cut. I’ve just had 12 months off on paid leave and go back in a few weeks.
So I guess my blog will be about the day to day ‘stuff’ of life as we save, declutter, downsize, simplify and move towards our goals. When not working I love sewing, curling up with a good book or going walking.
welcome!
I will have to look up Scott Papes! I love your plan and wish you the best on you retirement goals.
thanks Lisa 🙂