Nobody wants to work do they?
As I touched on while writing a recent blog, I’d sat down and put together what I’ve come to call “The Master Plan”. It came about after years of not quite knowing where I see myself career wise, not having the discipline to save affectively and generally getting a bit frustrated with myself. One evening whilst out walking our two Cavapoos (Poppy and Maisie), I had a bit of an epiphany! Now the one thing I’ve always told my wife when we’ve discussed our respective future careers is “I’d love to be a full time investor”. So why not make this my ambition? I mean, why not PROPERLY make this my ambition?! Let’s be honest, very few of us actually want to work for a living do we?
Planning early retirement!
What next then I hear you ask? It’s all well and good simply saying “I’d love to be a full time investor”. But how do you go about actually becoming a full time investor? I put together a bullet pointed document answering the following questions…
Once I had these questions laid out it was time to get the calculator out and begin answering!
Now this all may appear pretty simplistic but this is done on purpose. As with most things in life people can often overcomplicate the most simplest of tasks.
Set yourself a goal, figure out how you get there, and then work at it! Work at it every day to achieve it!
Keeping a sense of realism.
I’m not going to give you all of my answer to the above but I fully intend on keeping you up to date with how I’m getting on with it. As things stand today (mid September ’17), I am very, very early into this plan. My ISA is currently on target to meet my year end valuation, though I have yet to make a mortgage overpayment. This isn’t an issue however as I made all my original calculations from my 35th birthday in January.
This is a massive ask of myself, of this I am under absolutely no illusions as to the size and scale of the task I’m taking on.
Now as you may have gathered from the title and URL of the website, I’m not the greatest at buying and selling shares! Particularly when you look at my Trades page! I am however acutely aware of my current failings and have actually picked out some very good shares (if I do say so myself!!). This is all a learning process and mistakes will be made as I progress but I’m confident that I keep my losses to a minimum. At least if I’m able to keep this site regularly updated, and I’m as honest with you guys as I can be, then I feel this will help to give me the focus I need.
Please please please don’t take the above as a blueprint to early retirement. There are many, way more intelligent and qualified people out there who can give you much better advice than me! There are also far more intelligent and qualified people who make better investing decisions than I ever will! Please take this on board, I would never ever dream of telling my closest friends “invest in xyz stock as I really think it’s going places”, and I would never tell you guys the same either. Every decision I take is off my own back drawing on what little knowledge I have!
As I touched on while writing a recent blog, I’d sat down and put together what I’ve come to call “The Master Plan”. It came about after years of not quite knowing where I see myself career wise, not having the discipline to save affectively and generally getting a bit frustrated with myself. One evening whilst out walking our two Cavapoos (Poppy and Maisie), I had a bit of an epiphany! Now the one thing I’ve always told my wife when we’ve discussed our respective future careers is “I’d love to be a full time investor”. So why not make this my ambition? I mean, why not PROPERLY make this my ambition?! Let’s be honest, very few of us actually want to work for a living do we?
Planning early retirement!
What next then I hear you ask? It’s all well and good simply saying “I’d love to be a full time investor”. But how do you go about actually becoming a full time investor? I put together a bullet pointed document answering the following questions…
- What age do I want to quit full time work?
- How much cash do I need per year to live on?
- How big a portfolio do I require and what percentage gains per annum to achieve this level of income?
- How much do I need to save per month to give me a portfolio big enough to meet the above answers?
- How much per month do I need to overpay on my mortgage to clear it by the time I’ll quit work?
Once I had these questions laid out it was time to get the calculator out and begin answering!
Now this all may appear pretty simplistic but this is done on purpose. As with most things in life people can often overcomplicate the most simplest of tasks.
Set yourself a goal, figure out how you get there, and then work at it! Work at it every day to achieve it!
Keeping a sense of realism.
I’m not going to give you all of my answer to the above but I fully intend on keeping you up to date with how I’m getting on with it. As things stand today (mid September ’17), I am very, very early into this plan. My ISA is currently on target to meet my year end valuation, though I have yet to make a mortgage overpayment. This isn’t an issue however as I made all my original calculations from my 35th birthday in January.
This is a massive ask of myself, of this I am under absolutely no illusions as to the size and scale of the task I’m taking on.
Now as you may have gathered from the title and URL of the website, I’m not the greatest at buying and selling shares! Particularly when you look at my Trades page! I am however acutely aware of my current failings and have actually picked out some very good shares (if I do say so myself!!). This is all a learning process and mistakes will be made as I progress but I’m confident that I keep my losses to a minimum. At least if I’m able to keep this site regularly updated, and I’m as honest with you guys as I can be, then I feel this will help to give me the focus I need.
Please please please don’t take the above as a blueprint to early retirement. There are many, way more intelligent and qualified people out there who can give you much better advice than me! There are also far more intelligent and qualified people who make better investing decisions than I ever will! Please take this on board, I would never ever dream of telling my closest friends “invest in xyz stock as I really think it’s going places”, and I would never tell you guys the same either. Every decision I take is off my own back drawing on what little knowledge I have!