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Writer's pictureDavid @iRetiredYoung

Early retirement costs & targets - January 2022


It's only January, just one month into the year's costs, and not much time to have got my teeth into my 2022 targets. How much can have gone right or wrong in 31 days?


Early Retirement Costs


The big news is that our grocery costs are low for once. Yippee! If I think about it, we did do a shop on 31 December, which filled the cupboards on last month's bill, and our week's holiday in Finland didn't need any groceries. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story? I'm going to ignore those things and enjoy the rarity of the grocery line not having a great big number against it!

Early Retirement Costs - January 2022

Oh yeah, back on groceries, I should probably say that I'm putting the cat's food and litter on the pets line this year. Before, it was included in groceries, so this change will help the grocery line look better #fulldisclosure


What else on the money side? We paid our French credit card annual fees. I still can't get used to this, plus we pay a monthly bank change for our French current account. Over the past 36 years, I've held bank accounts in six different countries, and France is the only one that charges. I should probably look for an alternative.


Sally and I both bought a new ski base layer (Sally's cost much less than mine!) and some gloves, there were various extra costs for our Finland trip, Covid test, parking, airport snacks, hotel drinks etc, and Sally paid for accommodation for her trip to Spain with her sisters in August.


The cost that I don't like in the month is the upkeep and maintenance of the hot tub. I just don't get it, you're supposed to shower before you get in, spend 20-30 minutes in it, and shower again when you get out. That's too much faff for me. But Sally likes it, and given how many pairs of running shoes I bought last year, I can't really complain too much if she spends some money on the hot tub.


It's surprising how quickly the costs add up, but I don't think there was much bad spending this month.


Early Retirement Targets


At the start of the year, I'm focussing on ensuring my targets that require a year long effort are starting on the right track i.e. my exercise, blog and learning French targets. Exercise and blogging are on doing fine but French learning hasn't yet left the start line, just like last year...as we'd say, "it's déjà vu"😜


My second area of focus is starting to think/plan how I can accomplish my other targets. Here are some initial thoughts:


Running: I've identified a trail running event in Samoëns in June, Les Gets in July (both quite close to where I live), I'm already signed up for the Mauerweglauf in Berlin in August and I'm going to enter Berlin Marathon in September. I should be able to do all of them with friends.


Medical: I'm wondering about having the health check up done in Asia, perhaps Thailand or the Phillipines. We could have the health check, the flights and maybe even some accommodation for the same as the health check alone would cost in Europe.


Barcelona & Auschwitz: I'm thinking that we could take the campervan to Barcelona in April, and I could perhaps travel to Auschwitz after my running event in Berlin in August.


Climb a mountain: My friends have suggested Monta Rosa. At 4,634m, it's the second highest mountain in Western Europe (after Mont Blanc) which sounds quite impressive. From some initial reading, the climb and descent would be over three days, and is described as strenuous but not technically difficult.

My early retirement target tracker - January 2022

Final thought...it's only early February, but I'm already realising that I probably won't have enough time to fit in all the things that I want to do. That must be a sign that early retirement continues to go well!

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annedawso2
Feb 09, 2022

Just found your site and really enjoying it. I am 55 and hoping to retire in next 12 months. Love reading how much you are enjoying retirement but a bit frightened at how much more organised than me you are!!! Saying that 80% of our income will be DB pots so hopefully should be easier to plan for. I am a very slow runner who never seems to do more than 8K, but love running and weight training and the good endorphins from it. Will be interested to see about your holiday medical and what you get for your money.

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It's exciting that you plan to retire in the next 12 months, and nice for you that you have mostly a DB pension, lucky you!

I don't necessarily think of myself as being organised, but I guess I probably am. I feel comfortable with lists and targets, I suppose I have carried the aspects across from my work life that I find useful and mix these with the time freedom and flexibility of my early retirement. I'm not a naturally adventurous person, but one thing I like about my early retirement is the change of mindset that has come with it, something that is pushing me to try to be a bit more adventurous even if it isn't always easy…

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michelle
michelle
Feb 05, 2022

Interesting to see you think about Thailand for your health check up, something we've considered too. Nothing to do with all the delicious food and amazing culture, honest...🤣 Totally agree btw - far better to have more ideas / plans than time allows - even when retired early!

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Hi Michelle, I'm not sure what got me thinking about having the health check elsewhere, but it does seem to have some pros. The first challenge is to figure out what health check makes sense, it's quite confusing. I need to find someone who understands a bit more than I do to help me choose in exchange for a few cups of coffee☕ The idea of The Philippines is because I've never been there. I might check out whether Malaysia could be an option to, as I've not been beyond KL. But Thailand is still tempting. Decisions, decisions.

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tr9500
Feb 04, 2022

Moving pet food out of groceries is a policy change. You know what that means... ;) ... restatement of prior year.

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Haha, I've transitioned to my new accounting concept of inconsistency!🤣

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shesfired
Feb 04, 2022

Auschwitz is quite close to Krakow, which we LOVED. Since you don't have to go back to work, I recommend spending at least a few days there. Your plans for the year sound great!

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Thanks for the tip, I would never have thought of that...I really should be more clued up about Europe...as that's where I'm from!

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