The honeymoon is over

2 months back at work and it's over. It's not for me. I want out.

The thing is, I don't mind the work, my workplace is fine, but I just don't want to do it any more. I guess the magic has gone, it doesn't feel like a vocation, just a job.

And I desperately want to go travelling again. What to do?

Next year I hit the big half century (my baby face is at last showing its age) and I'd long decided that I wanted to retire then. But I didn't have the cash to do so, and I'm in alot of debt. Which got me all depressed. Staring down the barrel of doing a job you no longer love for another 10-15 years was causing me alot of grief.

The trouble is I can't just work more, save more and retire sooner either, because I'm a complete train wreck as far as coping with full time work. I know this, my friends know this, my employer knows this, you get the picture....

But, the shining light in all this is my money tree. It's time to chop it down and reap the rewards.

Many years ago I turned 30. Before that particular event I had a fantasy. It involved meeting a man, falling in love, settling down together, buying a house, making babies and living happily ever after. Not a very original fantasy but it was one I'd had in my head right through my stormy teens and 20s. And then I turned 30, took a good long look at that fantasy and threw it in the bin.

I realised that I couldn't rely on a man/partner to provide me with financial security, I needed to do it myself. So I turned 30 and immediately began looking for real estate. 2 weeks later I'd bought my first house. And it wasn't just a house, it was a money tree!

I was lucky. I bought a house in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, before real estate prices skyrocketed.  It's now worth 4 times my purchase price. I've managed to purchase other property using the equity in that original property and expand my portfolio to minimise my tax and grow my future. But if the day job goes, then the money tree has to be forfeited to clear the debt. I can't have it both ways.

When I've been number crunching over the last few months I've been loathe to consider selling the money tree, because it keeps on giving. Not only is it worth a fortune, it also brings me in a very good income with minimal costs. My other investment properties have depreciated in value (meaning selling them won't remove my debt) and don't bring me in as good an income, only because you can't command those sorts of  astronomical rents outside of Sydney! But by going debt free the income they'll provide (along with renting out my beach house) is definitely enough to finance my type of low budget travel, and even allow me to keep contributing towards my superannuation.

It's like an incredible weight has lifted off me. What I thought was going to be impossible is now probable. I can now start realistically planning for that ginormous overseas trip. I really can do it after all!

Now I just have to hear back from the accountant about the fine print. Capital Gains Tax. Ouch!!