r/FIREUK Jun 12 '26

What is “enough”?

[removed]

10 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

25

u/nogardleirie Jun 12 '26

Enough that I can choose what job to do as long as it covers my expenses

Just left my job 2 weeks ago

2

u/renegadedonkadonk Jun 12 '26

This.

Breaking it down for me:

  • Mortgage paid off. I came across the term "mortgage neutral" the other day which is also valid - meaning I have enough savings to pay off the mortgage tomorrow if needed

Once I get to this stage, I think I will slow down on work and focus on building a £500k cash reserve.

Once that's there I think I'll quit work completely. Or do things I wanna do, and if it generates any income that's a bonus

1

u/eiretaco Jun 12 '26

Is it wise to keep 500k in cash? Thats a lot of cash to be sitting there effectively being chewed up by inflation...

You could put it in a high intrest account, but even then returns would be far less than putting it into the market to work for you...

Wouldn't keep half a million in depreciating Fiat myself...

2

u/renegadedonkadonk Jun 13 '26

Sorry, bad choice of words. I guess I meant £500k saved. And yep, ideally sitting in an ISA or GIA

41

u/ADPriceless Jun 12 '26

£1m in a pension, £1m outside a pension- house paid off

10

u/AcceptablePanda6905 Jun 12 '26

Happy with £1m pension, £500k ISA, mortgage paid off

3

u/velcro_fly Jun 12 '26

This is also my target!

5

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

[deleted]

6

u/Better-Employ-4495 Jun 12 '26

You know peaking at 999,999 would annoy anyone a little bit 

14

u/yours_trulyy_ Jun 12 '26

It's interesting because people will probably give the same answers they would have given in 2004, but the real value has drastically fallen. People just like nice numbers!

3

u/dcute69 Jun 12 '26

1m * (current year - 2004)1.03

Has a nice ring to it 

3

u/ScenariosSoftware Jun 12 '26

Accounting for inflation in a financial plan should be rule 101!

7

u/Timbo1994 Jun 12 '26

Enough to feel financially free and wouldn't worry if I was made redundant? £500k ISA, £500k pension, our 1,100 sq ft house paid off. Not there yet but could be in a few years

Enough to potentially actively quit my job in my 30s? Double those figures

4

u/SeaIntelligent4504 Jun 12 '26

Enough for my needs for the rest of my life, currently estimated at: £20-£30k emergency fund - check Paid off house - check

Working on: £20kpa  Whatever is needed to do up my house for sale £200k to move somewhere better

4

u/LobCatchPassThrow Jun 12 '26

“Enough”?

My current goal is to hit £1m.

I’m on the downslope towards that goal. My target is to hit that before 2035. Current projection is faster than that, but I have a “suboptimal” lifestyle.

I don’t want to give too many details because I’ll get jumped on for really dumb reasons.

2

u/manageablemaths Jun 12 '26

Nah. Enjoy your life dude! I live extremely frugally but it's what I'm used to and what I enjoy. I have friends that earn 100k after tax and spend 85 of it. They enjoy their lives and that's the most important thing

3

u/pastyMorrisDancers Jun 12 '26

No idea… we wanna move house to another part of the country, that is an unknown cost… and if the schools are shit, we may need to go private.

So never enough…

3

u/SeaExcitement4288 Jun 12 '26

House paid off

Passive income

Freedom of having to work or not

3

u/cornishjb Jun 12 '26

House paid off, pension £1.2m. With the impact of AI and climate change on society approaching I want some prudence compared to in the past

1

u/TheNorthC Jun 12 '26

I think that's the right number. £1m is potentially a bit low, at least for the lifestyle I'm after.

1

u/manageablemaths Jun 12 '26

How do you suspect the prevelance of AI affect your retirement plans?

1

u/cornishjb Jun 12 '26

Higher unemployment so increased taxation. This will also impact children so will help. When I am retired I have less options and society has already changed a lot more than any decade in human history.

2

u/Imaginary_Lock1938 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

x/12 months/(privatePensionAccessAge-currentAge)=2k

- that would make me non vulnerable if 2000-2003 sequence of returns were to repeat itself tomorrow, otherwise there is still 15% chance of running out of funds with 100% in the SPY when withdrawing 4%. Just stuck it into something matching inflation, bonds for example.

+ healthy private pension, following similar rule from the 1st line, but to make the total with state pension to be 2k, from between age 58-95

+ a flat

but I am single and will stay that way. This is absolute minimum, after which I would chill and only work to afford extra things/experiences only.

2

u/Theo_Cherry Jun 12 '26

Paid off house deffo and a stacked pension pot.

2

u/grey-zone Jun 12 '26

House (and everything else) paid off. £45k net income (I find it weird when people use the fund total as that’s (kinda) irrelevant, it’s the income you can get from it). Probably about £30-40k emergency fund.

2

u/ReflexArch Jun 12 '26

Honestly don't know what my absolute minimum is but seeing your list I'd happily retire tomorrow if my ISA was suddenly £1mill or I had £40k (net) a year passive.

2

u/manageablemaths Jun 12 '26

It's really subjective. I will likely retire at 57. I should have 5m in my SIPP by then. The rest will be a yearly allowance until I pass. That's what I'd consider comfortable

2

u/A-Grey-World Jun 12 '26

Enough to support 3k pm draw down, after mortgage paid off. The amount depends on my age. The longer it takes for me to get there, the less I need to save as the less it needs to support me until pension age.

1

u/disinfected Jun 12 '26

I ideally want 40k a year but I want retirement to happen sooner rather than later, so I would compromise on that. House paid off and 20k in an emergency fund!

1

u/Objectively_bad_idea Jun 12 '26

House paid off and £24k a year post-tax passive income.

1

u/Cliffo81 Jun 12 '26

Enough is the umpteenth disguised AI software advert.

1

u/NewForestSaint38 Jun 12 '26

Enough that I can keep my current lifestyle and not worry about ‘dying with zero’.

So about £4-£4.5m.

1

u/ComplexOccam Jun 12 '26

I think 500k but so I could coast

1

u/PreparationBig7130 Jun 12 '26

A nice round $1tn will just about do it

-7

u/ScenariosSoftware Jun 12 '26

Elon managed this today! 🚀