Some photo’s from our holiday;

Cascais: 1,2,3

Obidos: 4,5,6

Lisbon: 7

View from apartment: 8

Today I’m delighted to have a guest post from one of my favourite bloggers Betsy Talbot, who in less than 100 days is leaving, with her husband Warren, on a 3+ year round the world trip;

Take the First Step

Goal setting is pretty common. Anyone can do it, and almost everyone does. What is not so common is actually reaching the goal.

There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is that people don’t plan beyond just listing the goal. We’re a dreamy sort of bunch, aren’t we?

• “I want to lose 20 pounds.”
• “I want a promotion at work.”
• “I want to write a book.”

Just wanting to lose 20 pounds will not make it happen (believe me, I’ve tried). Wanting a promotion and feeling like you deserve a promotion will not actually get you one. And you’ll never write a book just by wishing it.

Making a plan and immediately taking a step in the right direction is the key to actually reaching your goal. It is not one big move, an overnight success, or an unexpected inheritance that will allow you to fulfil your dream. It is the small steps that you take every single day that will get you there.

• “I’m going to stop drinking soda and eating junk food and will walk for 2 miles every day to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year.”
• “I’m going to volunteer to lead a new project at work and let my boss know I’m interested in a promotion within the next year.”
• “I’m going to get up an hour earlier every day to write my novel and plan to write 500 words a day.”

We started planning our trip around the world 2 years ago after a few years of downsizing. This has been a multi-year process, and we are now less than 100 days from our departure date for 3+ year trip. How did that happen? Well, much the same as you read about on this blog. We had a plan, we had an accountability system, and we stuck to it.

• We did the research online to find out how much a trip like this would cost (US$100/day)
• We decided on a departure date (October 1, 2010)
• We set up a budget to fit our timeline (25 months of extreme saving added to our current savings account)
• We planned out how to continue downsizing in stages before our departure (Craigslist, selling the house, etc.)
• Most importantly, we told people (in person and through our blog)

The key to reaching your goal, whether you want to lose weight or move to a foreign country, is to have a plan, make it public, and take the first step.

Do you have a goal without a plan?

BIO:  Betsy Talbot writes about carving the lifestyle you want out of the life you already have. When she’s not writing, she’s paring down, saving up, and getting ready to travel the world with her husband Warren. Read more about their adventures at Married with Luggage

{photo credit: kjpm}

A couple of weeks ago hubby and I were very lucky to spend two days and two nights in Paris. I’ve not been for over twenty years and hubby has never been, but we both loved it; here’s a quick rundown of our trip.

We stayed in the Trocadero area, with the Eiffel Tower was just around the corner; we didn’t get to go up it, but did get to see it lots; it looks beautiful when it’s lit up in the evenings. {It’s a this point that people who can take a good photo would be showing you, but….}  We tried to visit the Pompidou Centre, but as soon as we approached the entrance, after queuing for 90 minutes, it was closed due to a bomb scare, d’oh; we took ourselves off to the Louvre instead, which was lovely, and much bigger than I realised!

We did lots and lots of walking, especially around Le Marais, my favourite area, and Monmartre, which was very busy, but worth it for the beautiful view and Sacre Coeur.

Transport wise we found the Paris Metro easy to use and fairly cheap compared to London, although in general I did find Paris very expensive; I probably should have done a little more research before going!

All in all it was a lovely trip and we will definitely be returning in the future; two full days was nowhere near enough time.

{photo credit: move to portugal}

After finding this free printable download for a Life List over at SeeJaneFly {courtesy of LobotoME} I was inspired to revisit our bucket list.

So last week hubby and I spent some time discussing things that we REALLY want to experience over the next few years and came up with the following:-

1. Live in Portugal
2. Go to California/Santa Monica
3. Go to Paris
4. Tour North Carolina
5. Tour New England
6. Go to Vancouver
7. Spend four continuous weeks in New York
8. Attend an NFL game in the US
9. Take Amtrak from Seattle to San Francisco

Most of them are travel related, as we expected they would be – now we just need to save the money to pay for them all!  :-)

What’s on your bucket list?

 {photo credit: jek in the box}

I make no secret of how much I love New York. I just love it there.

My dream is to have an extended stay there; you know that dream that you have, that you put off and put off due to various reasons, but is always there in the back of your mind, well that’s mine. I’m thinking about a month, so that I have enough time to relax and not be rushing around trying to fit everything in.

Now getting a month off work would be quite difficult for hubby at the moment, but in 2012 during our transition time there might be an opportunity, so I’m planning and saving for it in an ING account.  

We use ING for all our short term saving.

Short Term Savings Goals:

We keep our long term emergency savings in ISA’s, hopefully we don’t have to use them, and for short term savings we use ING.

ING lets you have up to ten sub accounts, we currently use five, which you can name as you like; we named ours after our savings goals, which we fund every month {Simple Mom has a good explanation of how she uses her families here} Ours are used as below:

1. Savings: Portugal Costs
2. Savings: Laura EF
3. Savings: Big Trip 2012
4. Savings: House Repairs
5. Savings: Christmas

Being able to view these accounts every morning and see how they are growing is motivating – it’s visual proof that we’re moving further towards our goals.

What about you, do you have a system for saving towards short term goals?

{photo credit: tomas fano}

This is the first guest post on this site and it’s entirely fitting that it’s written by Tony, a regular reader and commentator who is on a very similar path to our own.

Tony plans to move abroad in 2012, and like us he’s not doing it with millions in the bank. Reading his post highlights just what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

In this guest article I’m going to talk about my plans to retire early to Asia. I first developed the plan a few years ago, after having travelled in Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan. In particular, after one trip to Thailand, I decided to look into the feasibility of early retirement to Thailand. Having researched visas, land ownership regulations and cost of living, I decided it was an idea that was certainly within the realms of possibility. Some of my research was actually done “on the ground” in Thailand – I rented an apartment in Bangkok for a few months, and remote worked. I estimated that I would need around 55,000 Baht per month to live comfortably in Bangkok – at today’s exchange rates that is around £1000 per month. A retirement visa can easily be obtained from age 50 in Thailand, as long as sufficient proof of funds is available. A retirement visa has the advantage of you not having to exit and re-enter the country every 90 days, something that is required with other types of visa. 

Having established the feasibility, and cost, the question arose – how was this income going to be generated? I decided that keeping a house in the UK,  and renting it out, would be the way to go. This not only gave me an income, but an appreciating asset. Property prices in Asia can be unpredictable at best, and tend not to follow the trends we have become used to in the UK. There are also no end of illegal properties, scams, and regulatory issues. It is not legal for foreigners to own land in Thailand for example, although there are several dodgy ways around this, it’s not worth it in my opinion, especially as excellent quality rented accommodation can be had at low cost. My penthouse apartment in Bangkok cost around £300 per month, negotiated down from £500 per month. It had fantastic views over Bangkok, 24-security, two very large swimming pools, balcony, two restaurants, maid service, bar, a mini-mart, a huge gym with saunas, plunge pools, massage, the latest exercise equipment, broadband, and a jazz quartet playing once a week in the lounge bar area! Try getting that for 300 quid a month in the UK!!

It was apparent that in order to maximize my rental income, I would need to pay down as much as possible on my mortgage (the practicalities of that would take another article!). Even so the rental income was projected to be around £700 per month, and more like £400 net, leaving a shortfall. I decided that this shortfall could be made up through an online business, and/or part-time remote working/consulting. Part-time English teaching would also be an option, but it’s poorly paid. OK, so now we were talking semi-retirement, rather than full retirement, but it was better than the alternative of working until I drop dead in the UK! If my online business and remote consulting work could bring in £600 per month I would be comfortable. Anything more would be a bonus. Having already had experience of remote working from Bangkok, I felt this would be the best option, and I would only need to work a couple of days a week to have more than enough income.

So the next question I faced was when to “retire”. I would be 50 in 2012, so that seemed a good target date, as I would qualify for the Thailand retirement visa at that time. In 2012 my outstanding mortgage balance is projected to be £9,000, and savings projected to be £32,000. The capital requirements for a retirement visa are currently around 800,000 Baht, about £14,500. Alternatively, you can demonstrate income of 65,000 Baht. If I was prepared to exit the country and re-enter every 90 days, I could forgo the capital/income requirement. As my fixed interest rate mortgage ends around 2012 I would also have the option of paying off the mortgage completely, giving me a slightly greater monthly rental income. If I delayed by one year I would have a mortgage balance of 0, and projected savings of around £41,000. In subsequent years I’ve calculated I would be able to save at a rate of £18,000 per year (with no mortgage). This would obviously build my capital rapidly. This leads to an interesting dilemma – keep working to build capital, or take time out to enjoy the delights of Thailand – especially the scuba diving? Tricky one. This did beg the question, how long would I need to continue working for, before I was financially independent via rental income and savings interest? I have not yet done that calculation in detail, as current interest rates on savings are far too depressing. However, £100,000 at 4% would be £4,000 per year, or £330 per month. Combined with the rental income that would just about be a live-able income, especially out on one of the islands. It would, however, take me until 2016 to save £100,000. Would the extra 4 years be worth it to become fully-retired, rather than semi-retired?

What I’ve found though are there are almost an infinite number of permutations in the retirement/relocation game. For example, staying in the UK and contract working, and then living (but not working) in Asia for six months of the year is also an option. I’ve already tested this out and it worked well. Also, relocating within Europe and continuing to work would be another option with its own pros and cons. At times it can be confusing, so I think this is where having a concrete idea of when and where you want to go to can really help narrow down the options. Sometimes though it’s like there are too many choices! That is actually a good thing though!

At the moment I’m still sticking with my 2012 retirement date. Back in 2004 I was left with a large debt and no assets due to divorce, so I think going from broke to semi-retired in just 8 years, or to fully-retired in 12 years, is not bad going at all. It’s also worth pointing out I earn a modest salary – I am no high-flier. When I first started really analyzing my finances I was about £100 in the red each month. I have turned that around to the point where I am saving £500 per month and overpaying on the mortgage by £500 per month – on more or less the same salary. I think that shows how much money I was wasting through a combination of a consumer mindset and bad management! If you had told me back in 2004 I could potentially be retired within a decade I would have thought you were mad. It still amazes me how financial situations can be rapidly turned around.

I think having objectives for retirement is important. I have a great interest in diving, so I know that will be part of my retirement. I would also like to get involved in travel writing, photography, and I have a couple of ideas for online businesses that I would like to launch. I’m also a keen swimmer and runner, so keeping fit would also keep me occupied for a good chunk of the day. Having these goals in mind leads to a more rewarding retirement.

Good Luck with your own retirement plans!

Thank you Tony!

{photo credit: IMP1}

Now that I’m over the initial euphoria of quitting my job, my mind has been spinning with all the changes it will bring to our life. We know that our goals for the next few years will need to be adjusted, but this is ok; we are looking forward to having time to breath as a couple, and as a family.

To stop my mind working overtime I’ve started to create a ‘post it note’ to do wall. When I think of something I need to do, I write it on a post it and add it to my wall; it’s stopped the late night insomnia that was creeping back in.

Blogging To Do:

• Update goals page
• Update about page
• Add a budget page
• Fix some minor glitches
• Upload photos to flickr

House To Do:

• Finish all jobs on list
• Clean from top to bottom
• Re arrange furniture/pictures
• Reduce furniture

Financial To Do:

• 2010 budget
• Update our price book

Other To Do:

• Get a part time job
• Do a car boot sale
• Photograph the house
• Look into house swapping for holidays
• Buy all Christmas gifts

That should keep me going for a little while, don’t you think? I know that having less money will mean changes, but we’ll adjust. Our needs, outside of my compulsion to be in NY whenever I can, are very simple.

My husband is in Portugal on a break with a couple friends and my daughter is staying at her friends, so after work tomorrow I’m taking the opportunity to get some quiet alone time. Bliss. What are your plans this weekend?

{photo credit: McNamara}

For some reason I haven’t blogged about our trip to Washington and New York in August, which was one of the best holidays we’ve ever had. Everything about it was great, even the heat in the NY subway, which at times made me look less than attractive!

We went to Washington for 3 days and then onto New York, by Amtrak, for 4 days.

Washington:

It’s the first time we’ve ever been to Washington and we loved it. The people were very friendly and all the main tourist sites lived up to expectation; we especially loved the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building. There are lots of museums to visit and we chose the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on the recommendation of a lovely lady we met on a bus. We walked everywhere during the day and then either took the metro or a bus back to our hotel; both transport systems were easy to use.

New York:

In New York we didn’t do much except walk and take in the atmosphere, although I did finally get to walk the whole of the Brooklyn Bridge. For some reason (laziness) I’ve never done this before, but I’m so glad I did, the views are amazing; standing on the bridge looking back at Manhattan is probably my favourite spot in the world.

Things I realised on this trip;

• I like walking when I’m stimulated by the surroundings
• I eat healthier when away from work*
• Going on holiday and having a limited cash amount to spend daily, really works (no credit card use)
• I need to learn to take better photographs!
• Amtrak makes taking a train a whole different experience to taking one here in the UK

 * I don’t eat a lot of meat however if you’re ever in NY and want a burger, these are the best I’ve ever had.

{photo credit: movetoportugal}

I’ll start off by saying that I love packing, it’s a mixture of holiday excitement and getting to organise a case. When we go on holiday we pack as lightly as possible, taking one case and one piece of hand luggage.

For hand luggage I use my trusty Kipling Messenger. I’ve had it for years and use it as my handbag for the whole trip; I wear it across my body, making me hands free, essential when walking in cities. My hand luggage consists of; travel details, passports etc in a zip up pouch, a camera and spare batteries, my wallet, a book, sunglasses, wipes, a small umbrella, a map and travel guide.

For the suitcase we’re using an old (falling) apart number that has seen better days. I want/need/would like a new one from Muji but it’s not in the budget. When it comes to travel and organising I’m a Muji girl. I love the whole range. (It’s making up my whole Christmas list this year). I’m packing 7 T-shirts, 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs of linen trousers and pj’s. Pants, underwear and flip flops in zip loc bags. Make up and toiletries go in Muji Tarpaulin bags, which are very strong.

I have a general packing list that I keep on my pc, ready to print off when needed. it stops me forgetting anything, hopefully!

What about you, how do you pack?

{photo credit: heather}

As our move to Portugal get a little closer {!} I’m becoming increasingly aware of all the lovely places in the UK that I’ve not visited. I know that once we’ve moved abroad visits back home will be to see our families and not to sight see.

So I’m looking for ideas; places to go for a weekend trip. I already have Edinburgh and Brighton on my list as I’ve never been to either, but what other locations would you recommend?

{photo credit: sho33ys}