Time to pull the pin from the rat-race???
My wife & I are both in our early 50s, both with recent redundancies and trying to weigh up the possibility of pulling the pin entirely on our professional lives as we are yet to return to the workforce. I've included an assets chart, broken down by asset classes. The only debt we have is a Margin Loan for share trading of around $40K.
Few things worth noting; kids are all in primary school & will be in secondary education in a couple of years and our preference is for private schooling. That would cost around $65K per year in total. Only other major costs for consideration are holidays (usually head overseas once a year and interstate once a year - $25K) and some running repairs / minor renovations on the house (maybe $150K - $200K)
There's a high likelihood of property & funds via inheritance coming our way soon, which is another factor for consideration, though I'm not wanting to place too much reliance on that for now.
My preference is for both of us to do some sort of work in new fields but something less demanding and stressful. I've actually applied for a seasonal role with Oz Post as part of their XMas ramp up, just to fill some time and get a few dollars too.
So, question is, based on the above, what would you do? Any advice or tips from anyone that's been in a similar position would be great too! Thanks.
Edit: Some additional information for context.
Assets – The assets table was to illustrate everything we own. I’m aware not everything produces income, however their value (in particular, savings, super & property) will factor into decision making in years to come. Cars & motorbikes are relatively new, so there’s no plan to replace or upgrade in the next few years.
Property – The plan is to sell our PPR once the kids finish secondary schooling (last year would be 2035) and downsize (likely to regional Victoria). Based on today’s numbers, this would net us around $2m.
Shares – I will likely sell my shares this tax year due to impending CGT changes and being in a low income tax year. This will net approx. $25K and clear my Margin Loan in full.
Super – I will be able to access my Super in around 6-years. Based on long term returns, our Super should be at around $2.75m (based on compounding returns alone and no contributions). Add average contributions and this figure will be around $3m.
Savings / Spending – In the event we don’t return to any work at all, our current savings (coupled with passive income of around $35K per annum) would last us around 7-years. Our general living expenses are around $80K - $90K per annum.
Work / Income – as stated in my original post, my main question centres on whether 1/ we return to our grinding roles (pays well but have had enough) or 2/ something low stress that covers our living expenses for the next few years, so we don’t eat into our savings too much. Option 2 is looking more & more favourable. Was interested to hear from others that have followed this path.
Kids – whilst private schooling is our preference, we are not committed to anything as yet and open to local government schools, of which we have some good ones. So this is one thing that remains undecided for now & driven most by any inheritance, however the timing is the big unknown.
Lastly, absolutely not interested in engaging with a Financial Adviser. Heard of too many horror stories and built up enough financial literacy to get to this point.