Anyone doing FIRE? How's it going?

[BigTittyLife]

I'm aiming for a fat FIRE at 48. We're 38.
We're hoping to have a £1m pot by that age spread across different investments - some accessible at 48, others tied up until later on. On top of those investments, we have a house worth about £340K which we've paid off. We also have shares in a company which may or may not sell for a decent price at some point.

I wouldn't say we're particularly frugal and we certainly don't go to the extents of some FIRE people. I guess our biggest savings compared to others are that we don't go on holiday at the moment because of our elderly dog, and that we don't have housing costs because we live in a modest house that we've fully paid off.

We're currently putting away about 79% of our income without trying too hard.

We're invested mostly in shares-based retirement tracker funds. We're dabbling in higher risk investments but only amounts that we can afford to lose. We have private pension pots but we don't put a huge amount into those. We both have decent-ish workplace pensions which will give an income of some size at some point.

Is anyone else doing FIRE? I'm on some FIRE forums but they're quite US-dominated and can be a bit weird. I'm wondering if any MNers are FIRE-ing?

@KeirSpoutsTwaddle

Anyone with a low income, you need to maximise income and minimise spending.

This is interesting. I work with colleagues who are all earning over 75k each. I'm on half that. And yet they have no savings to speak of. They max out their budget - they'll go for expensive meals, after-work drinks, etc etc. They go on expensive holidays. A lot of them don't apply any FIRE wisdom to their salaries at all - it baffles me because here I am, on a much lower salary with 66K in the bank and a little bit of earnings from the interest (ok not much, only £250 per month) but it just goes to show that unless you have the right behaviour and mindset, salary counts for nothing

£66k and growing just in ordinary in savings is a lot. The current high interest rates won't last, so your income.from.that is likely to drop considerably. Why not invest some in your pension or a stocks and shares ISA?

DH manages ours so I can’t give detail, but various wrappers do the stocks and share bit for you.

Interest rates haven’t been good enough for saving- it just doesn’t grow fast enough, against inflation. You can do stocks and shares through ‘systems’ that don’t require expertise. You get a tracker, or a this, or a that, and it’s all managed together by someone else. You can choose the level of risk. If you have a long way to go, higher risk works well as you can afford to wait for an upturn. If you need it sooner then you choose a low risk one. Literally labelled low risk.

I am a big believer in hedging your bets. DH will ponder what to do, and I’ll tell him to do a bit of both. Put one here and some there and you’ll always win a bit and lose a bit.

@NoBinturongsHereMate

Why not invest some in your pension or a stocks and shares ISA?

I think I probably should NoBin, but I wouldn't know where to start. I need to read up on how S&S ISA's work and the limits on how much you can put in, as I think I saw somewhere that you can only put in 20K per annum? Definitely need to give it some serious thought because I could potentially put a large chunk of my savings away for 10+ years, so long-term investments.

Ah I see @KeirSpoutsTwaddle has answered some of my queries! Thanks

Sounds just like mine. He started using his pocket money and savings to buy limited edition hobby stuff that he sold on. Sometimes splitting packs, sometimes just waiting till it sold out and then offering it for more.

Now he will investigate making spares for board games, or hobby items, and sell those on.

He did that alongside school, Uni and now work.

He manages his own investments, and generally pays attention. He has brain to spare mind- just a very bright, open minded lad.

I'd start saving into S&S ISAs instead of regular savings accounts. Obviously there is risk involved but over the long term the reward should be better. Are you using ISAs for your savings? In the long term the tax free aspect becomes more important.

Is it a private pension with a specified age of 55? In general, the age you can start drawing on a pension is going up to 57 for your age group (might change again in the next 16 years). There are exceptions though, built into some scheme terms.

It sounds like you are doing very well though and the effect of compounding on your savings should serve you well.

Good places to start:

Books:
The Meaningful Money Handbook - Pete Matthew
The Simple Path To Wealth - JL Collins

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/@rebeldonegans
They currently have a 10 part series on and week 6, 7, and 8 are about investing.

I'm retired now. I retired at 56. I put my savings into btl properties. I've got 11 but some are in a limited company. I've got some shares and I paid not only into my Teachers Pension but also into a second SIPP. When I retired I turned my SIPP into an annuity that lasts for 11 years, so until my State Pension kicks in. I'll get a full State Pension as rules currently stand. I get about £60k a year to live on. Mortgage is paid off and I have a holiday home in France with no mortgage. I could choose to rent it out but I have not so far. I have not drawn down any dividends from my Ltd company instead choosing to leave profits to build up. DH finished work at the end of March. He will officially get his CS pension in September when he is 60. He also has a second private pension he's taking as an annuity over 7 years. He will get a full State Pension at 67 unless RR changes the rules. His pension will be £24k pa plus a few thousand from the annuity. He also has a couple of btl properties he will get a small income from too. Now we can have 2 nice holidays each year as well as stay in the French house. We can eat out 2 or 3 times a week. We can have weekends away too. We do the gifting my DC money each year. We were frugal in our late 40's to 50's choosing to contribute to 2 private pensions each and to save up deposits for buying btl properties. It was worth it because now we can have a nice lifestyle as well as helping out DC.

I've found that buying property to let out 17 years ago has helped massively. Some of the first houses we bought have over doubled in value as well as having years of rents coming in from them. That allowed us to start with 2 btl properties 17 years ago and profits we made we ploughed into buying another btl. We bought another one 3 out of 4 years. Through our retirement we can choose to sell off a rental property and even though we'll have to pay CG tax we'll still get back a lump sum if we need it for anything.

We'remore of a FI than the RE part. We both like our jobs so don't see any point in fully retiring. Currently putting away an extra 500 pounds in a S&S ISA focusing on dividend stocks and other bluechips. Should end the year with a forecast dividend of 1500 pounds for 2025 growing at about 300 per year( so 1800 2026 2100 2027 . . .) so when we are actually at retirement age should be an extra 10k on top without touching the capital, which hopefully should get passed down to the kids to set them up to do similar and hopefully instilling similar outlooks in them, to pass down etc. etc. building a better society blah blah.

@NoBinturongsHereMate niche question but do you happen to know if the 1995 Section NHS Pension is one that will still be able to be accessed from 55? I joined in 2007 (I know the age was protected before April 2006). I can't find any information on the website.

Also thank you to this thread for introducing me to the Rebel Finance School - absolutely amazing. The videos for catch up are all on YouTube and I've been bingeing them.

Yes, the 1995 and 2008 both have protected ages, but the 2015 doesn't- that is expected to rise to 57 minimim access age in 2028 and then stay 10 years behind whatever the state pe sion ages is.

So in the 1995 you can take it (with reductions) at 50.or 55 depending when you joined, in full at 55 if you have special class status, and in full at 60 for everyone else.

Unlike the 2008 and.2015 there are no late retirement factors, and no backpay if.you take the 1995 late unless.you are a deferred member. So if you're still working in the NHS it's very important to take it at 60, no later - unless you're just about to get a massive payrise, in which case it might be worth a small delay to get the best final salary calculation.

Thanks so much @NoBinturongsHereMate

(love a good binturong btw)

Hi there, just marking my place on this thread. I'm doing the Rebel Finance course and have started to plan my financial independence.

Ideally I'd like to be in a position to retire age 55, which is in 10 years time.

What I like about the FIRE movement is having a goal and a plan. I knew investing was recommended etc, but I didn't know what specifically I was aiming towards. But with FIRE I feel a bit clearer generally, and I can put my other wants and needs into a bigger perspective.

My big one is an ongoing quandary about renovating my house. Right now I can't weigh up if I want to make the improvements necessary for a better quality of life. Or focus my money more strategically on growing my wealth in order to safeguard my future.

I'm going to work through the course, get all my numbers and projections together, then make an informed decision.

Hi everyone who's joined, contributed and place-marked.

I've signed up for the Rebel course but I've not found time to keep up with it. I might need to re-engage next time around, and be more realistic about when I can do it.

@Blending123 Is there a middle ground with your house? I mean where you can do it up to improve your quality of life but not go 'all out' and spend tons. Or spending just what you'd get back when you come to sell.
I really don't think you should sacrifice too much of today's QoL for the potential of money and RE later on. I say this as someone who absolutely did go 'all out' on house renovations though 😬

Ah thanks for your perspective @BigTittyLife, yes I go around feeling ok in my little house, then whenever I visit a friend or family member feel terrible fomo at not making the improvements necessary for my house.

I think once I get all my numbers together I can make some plans of what I'm comfortable doing.

Just thought I'd post here to pat myself on the back, as I'm really impressed with the progress I've made in the space of a month.

I've renegotiated my mobile (and kid's mobile) and broadband package to save approx £100 per month. I've cancelled the cleaner to save £160 per month.

I've tracked down and logged into 7(!!!) legacy pensions!!! Biggest achievement.

I've cancelled:
Disney plus
Amazon prime
Google storage
Work expense subscription that I should never have been paying for.
All saving well over £100 per month

Tracked down and claimed back old share save scheme dating back 15 years.

Refunded train tickets, British Gas subscription, and clothes, all of which I'd normally have forgotten about.

I'm really impressed with myself.

Also used this data to work out my net worth.

I've also done annual and monthly budget and horrified at how much I was wasting all over the place.

Also cancelled one counsellor and cancelling one tomorrow. I think I was so in need of counselling as my mind was so fragmented that I was just constantly overwhelmed. But now with the principals of frugality I feel a bit more in control of my life.

I am horrified at how low my pension is though. I've been working since age 13, never stopped working (had 2 maternity leaves but never been not employed) my pensions total £70k and I'm 45.

Shocking when you think I went to top university and have 2 degrees plus professional qualification and been in permanent employment in professional job.

I feel the issue is no one talks about the importance of investing- and when you are aware of it, it's hard to know what to do about it.

Wow you’ve made a ton of progress @BigTittyLife that’s amazing how much you’re now able to save having cancelled those unnecessary services. It sounds like you’ve found an extra £360/month “down the back of the sofa”! Or £4.3K/year! Staggering!

I completely agree that we need to start talking more about investments at a younger age. My kids are just getting started in life and already understand the importance of a pension and investing for the future, as both me and STBXH have been banging on about it at them. Luckily workplace pensions are now mandatory, which they weren’t when I was starting out, and that put me at a disadvantage. I wish somebody had spoken to me about it all when I was in my early 20s, it all seemed such a long way off back then, but time flies and here I am at 50. I feel like I wasted a lot of time and will have to work for longer as a result.

Congratulations @Blending123, those are amazing achievements! And I hear you about not needing a counsellor once you get these matters under control. I was the same.

That's great blending. With the saved cash, are you going to start a monthly DD to an ISA or savings account? That amount in a S&S ISA would grow very nicely in 10/15 years.

Re: home reno FOMO, I don't feel it, I am happier not working and having an older kitchen for e.g. & that's my conscious choice. Our home is well looked after though, DH is handy and repairs / repaints / replaces as soon as one of us spots a need and of course, we have the time to look after it! Similarly, our cars are getting on a bit but look and run like new as are regularly cleaned inside and out (again by DH!) and well maintained. That's more important to me than a regular flashy new car (which again, I would need to work for!).

@Blending123 sorry, I meant to tag you in my post instead of OP.

Wowzerz Blending, that's so impressive!! Even aside from the monetary gains (as PP said, investing that in an S&S ISA would be a very good move), the clarity and control must feel wonderful 😊

The other day I worked out our current yearly outgoings - £14.5K. That'll change over time but it's nice to take exactly stock. It's good for thinking about realistic but also stretch targets for yearly savings. But it's also good because I work in HE where there's lots of redundancy talks so it's nice to know I can weather that storm if it comes.

Me! And very been following Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps for many years...currently FI but not retiring just yet (I'm 56)...think I'll do another year while DS finishes school and then RE.

@Blending123 Frugality as a form of therapy? I think you're onto something there.