So I'm now a mere nine years away from retirement I, when I can claim my teacher's pension, not retirement II, when I can claim my state pension, that's another 8 years after that.
Nine years feels just around the corner, 17 years is a time frame which doesn't really bare thinking about!
But that's OK because by the time I get to age 60, when the Teachers Pension kicks in (I'm reasonably certain they can't touch THAT!) I'm pretty much sorted because, for me, with my relatively minimalist lifestyle, and no housing costs, then that's me ALMOST sorted for most of my outgoings....
The only thing in the meantime is to not lose the plot in the next nine years and keep the income flowing....
And a starting point in the name of realism is to round up my retirement date to nine years, it's actually eight something, but let's plan for nine, or, hell, even 10 in the table below...
Breakdown of current, 5 and 10 year income from different sources....
2024 (Present)
ATM I'm doing OK out of the main blog, and this still makes up around 40% of my income, but being realistic I need to slightly more than this to come from 'regular work' - ATM that's caseworking and interviewing and teaching, I mix it up, it's OK.
On top of this I'm happy to draw down around £100 from the Hive and SL ecosystem a month, not much, more of a hedge against the whole crypto ecosphere going tits up, it could happen.
2029 (mid way)
By this point I anticipate my blog earnings have gone down a bit, AI and all that, but I can make some of this up by tuition, online, I've figured in only £200 a month for this, that covers a good old blast during the 2 months of revision before the exams, I could increase this I think throughout the year, so even if the passive income goes down there is capacity to increase the tuition.
I've kept the regular work income level, that's equivalent to 3 days a week BTW, so not too arduous!
I've also added in a bit more crypto draw down, I figure by 2029 I should have a decent amount of crypto I've sold gradually into stables, that's what I'll be drawing down, but until that point it can stay in HBDs and accumulate interest.
NB I do earn around £100 a month in HBD interest, so even by cashing out £100 a month, and then probably double that by 2029, my crypto-capital isn't actually decreasing.
The side hustle - I've yet to decide what that is! I'm feeling maybe an online shop of some sort, specialising in garden products maybe, not sure, something along those lines, or maybe some kind of writing for other organisations.
I've kept the amount low to reflect the fact that this is going to be at the level of a hobby!
2029....
By this point I'll be getting half of what I need from my Teacher's Pension, and I'll probably still work say 1-2 days a week, that would cover me.
Then there will be some dribs and drabs probably still coming from the blog and then crypto yields and maybe that side hustle.
I mean by this point I might be doing something completely different to what I'm doing now: in a van, living on some eone else's land, working a couple days a week for rent and then doing sweet FA, who knows... travelling around, maybe even a regular 9-5.
One other thing is that my 2029 I've got no mortgage left, so I've actually got around £600 a month to play with - the just over £2K a month figure is what I need WITH mortgage costs, but I'm projecting based on that figure as you know how it is, there's ALWAYS something that crops up!
NB the sources change a lot over the years, projected, and get more diverse!
Income projections final thoughts...
I'm settled on having to do some regular work for a while, but that's OK, if I can keep it to three days a week then that's a nice balance, and actually my current role as a caseworker is quite interesting, and I feel useful, and the pay is OK.
So far, so good!