Packed lunch = retired with £1m by 40.

[Allschoolsareartschools]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgdn3qqg7po
AIBU to say I've had a packed lunch for nearly 40 years but I dont have £1m & I'm not retired yet!
Am I doing something wrong?
Seriously how out of touch is this article? Good luck to them but its nothing to do with packed lunches.

Totally agree but even multi-millionaires have to choose how to prioritise spending. They usually can’t have the villa in Monaco and the yacht and the (OK lower division) football club at once. When I think ‘oh it’s only a few pounds here and there’ for the small incidentals eg coffees, sandwich lunch, trip to Boots etc, I have chewed through £100 in a week before I blink. If the coffee, skincare and lunch massively improve my life, then they stay eg Skin&Me subscription which is a bit extravagant but does help my skin…

'Lifestyle creep' is just childfree code for 'having children'. I have a larger house and car and more expensive holidays and bills than I did age 30 purely because I have 3DC. I spend much less on myself and DH. If I'd not had the DC I'd have more in my pension, would probably be more senior at work, would still be living in our old house (which was lovely but we outgrew).

Just to agree with everyone life is for living, I'm mid 50s, no desire to retire, but I'm now getting arthritis in my fingers and even something as small as that has made me think about my ability to live my life the way I want going forward. Things you take for granted disappear before you know it. Never mind the big stuff like cancer.

But there are limits and nuances to everything. That's not any more meaningful a statement than "eat packed lunches to save £1m".

If I budget £100 a month for clothes but I absolutely love a gorgeous high-quality jacket that will last me decades that costs £200, then I will "deprive" myself of buying some flimsy dress or shoes for two months, and buy the £200 jacket.

(Before anyone pounces, I'm more of a Vinted gal spending probably £200 total on clothes a year...)

You will absolutely deprive yourself in some ways. Because being miserable tomorrow isn't any more fun than being miserable today.

Some of the basic principles of FIRE are sound and helpful but I think some of the bloggers take it to an extreme that it a bit joyless.

However, the general approach of invest early, think about value of spending and try to give yourself some options later are sensible. I don’t think it’s feasible or desirable for most people with children to retire at 40. Most people want some fun and to have some work flexibility with small kids. When mine were small, we were spending a fortune on nursery fees. I do not even want to see what that might be worth at 50 if I’d invested the equivalent sum!

I've been trying to follow them on YouTube as well, they run free finance videos. I'm trying to learn a bit about investing so I can put money away for my children.
We were we got a bit of the child trust fund payments were invested which I added to which has really helped them.
I want to know more about S &S ISAs, LISAs, pensions etc so I can start putting away for them.
Agree finance should be taught in schools.

I don't think the Donegans have children which has obviously helped. They are currently in California I think, travelling about.
They appear to genuinely want to help people, there are also supportive Facebook and WhatsApp groups.

I think this is a common misconception. A conservative drawdown rate is 4%, meaning 40k per year. I expect a lot of this is in ISA's and so they would pay minimal tax- this would mean a joint income of about 3.5k per month- not loads but plenty of people survive on less and then it will increase once they hit 67 and can draw their state pension. If I end up with a 1 million pension pot I'll be very very happy.

It baffles me where the world went wrong since I was a child & inflation got where it is now.
I am 79 left school at 15 in 1962 my first job was with an agricultural machinery engineering firm, for 40 hours work I received £2-12-6d you cant buy a coffee for that nowadays, the skilled man I worked with earned £15 for his 40 hours. Two cheese sandwiches saw me through my days for many years so frugal living became the norm for me & it’s difficult for me to grasp how expensive everything has become without thinking of how it used to be, a 2 mile bus ride was 3d for an adult & busses were always full with maximum amount standing. I no longer need for anything money wise with more than enough income to feel safe for the future, It’s the young generation I feel sorry for with very little industry or jobs for the average uk school leavers the way my work life panned out as a school leaver with no qualifications.

There are versions of FIRE that include giving it your all in the career you hate for a few years before using the passive investment income to top up a career move.

I made the switch to self-employment a couple of years ago. Then switched back again abruptly because I found out I was pregnant. I took on a FT consultancy role, and now 3y later they took me on as perm. I'll stay until I've moved house and will use savings to facilitate relaunching the self-employment.

I think it's a real pity that people close their minds to even thinking about these questions of what they want and default to "waaaaaah, I already make my sandwiches".

It all sounds like a pretty miserable life.

And you can make all the plans in the world but sometimes life will come along and deal you something you’d not expected and ruin your plans.

Saving for the future is obviously a good idea but if it’s to the extent that your life is joyless and then you die before retirement or just at the point of retirement what even was the point. You have to get some enjoyment out of life!

Good on them for both working hard and saving I guess. That's what I take from it. Do people here not believe in hard work and determination?

I think the response is caused by the way the articles about these people are written, and the lack of comment about things like children and other life choices. Also not recognising that not everyone will have an Oxford maths degree and be able to work as an actuary. There is privilege there that is not recognised. If you are a care leaver and left school at 16, work for minimum wage and pay high rent, is this article going to inspire you or put you off?

FIRE is basically live without any enjoyment until you are 50, then retire and realise you've wasted a lot of years not enjoying yourself, and now you have 35 years + to be as equally frugal and joyless

i sometimes had to skip meals when I was younger so that my child could eat as I was piss poor and put their needs before mine. Didn't have the heating on much for the same reason. Never had much money, life has been a bit of struggle for much of the time so it has always been hard to get by let alone save. As time went by and I earned a bit more I tended to spend it on experiences and getting out there and doing things . Good memories are lovely things to have. I have also made lifelong friends through work, learnt things and in some jobs have felt i made a difference.

This sounds miserable to me.

DH and I have lunch at home (he WFH, I am part time) but I'm not having no heating on with an asthmatic DC and we go abroad once a year for a few days, have weekends away and so on. We will be mortgage free before 50 but that's just because we bought in 2013 when our house was £100k less than current value and we managed to fix the rate for 10 years at 2%. We certainly won't be retiring in our 50s but if I dropped dead at 48 like my grandad did I will not have wasted hours of my life charging my phone in random wall sockets while out and about and picking dirty vouchers off the floor.

I think we should strive and value education first of all. Opening opportunities and exciting careers. And once in the world of work, do the best at what you can do.

Hard work, determination takes you places.

They probably don’t have enough in their weekly budget for parties.

what’s the point in having money if you can’t enjoy it.

hard work and determination gives you the best chances to go places - nothing is guaranteed

There aren't enough vacancies for everyone to have an exciting well-paid career.

I accept this. Thanks

They do, this article is like catnip to the mumsnet crowd that always banging on about topping up your pension pot/ overpaying your mortgage/not doing anything in lieu of a future that may never happen.

The smaller minority don't believe in gloating and smugness, and realise that for some, hard work and determination is still no match for a good start in life and a lot of good fortune.

If not spending and saving really are your top priority above all else, the best decision you can make is not to have children.

@GingerBeverage and the BBC provides a free advert! How marvellous 😂

What a totally joyless existence. They might have dropped dead before age 40.

Even without spending money on gigs, make up and lunches from Gregg's (there was one just across the car park from where I used to work) I wouldn't have been able to save up a million quid. I've seen my favourite band ever four times, went to witch school, and had DS (and even though I don't have much money my heating goes on when it's cold.) Money well spent.

The £1m is an old figure - I think the Donegans now have over £2m. That’s the beauty of compounding. Their investments are growing more quickly than they can spend them. They choose not to own property as they think it’s a costly liability. The live mainly in low cost locations and rent air bnbs. They do have some luxuries like travel and are theme park fans (I think) so don’t live a totally joyless life at all. A joyless life to me is being tied to a corporate job that I hate with massive overheads that trap me in that joyless job. No commuting for them. No long hours unless it’s for a passion project. They travel the world speaking for free at seminars and training people. Sounds a pretty good life.

PS: I have far too many subscriptions to be a FIRE proponent plus living in a high cost location and spending the bulk of my income on education does not make me an adherent of FIRE. But I do spend zero on my hair, nails etc than many of my friends and invest the cash instead. And yes it makes a difference.