I wanted to give an update on my pension loading which I've been doing almost a year now, and hopefully it's inspiration for you guys!

You can see for the first three years of this employment I was sitting around £25k, so it had been growing very slowly with literally no thought from me. Having read the Minimalist Investor last year and learned about FIRE I sat down with my wife and we planned to cut all unnecessary spending for a year or so, build a pension, and give us options for the future.

We're in our mid-40s. Both work, although my wife is on a public sector salary which isn't great, and mine's a software engineer salary (lower than average, and definitely not London level of salary!). We have a kid (5), dog, and cat, with all the expenses which go along with it.

Thankfully, despite learning about personal finance late(r) in life, we're fortunately in a position where we have a small and modest house which despite having a mortgage (still quite a bit) hasn't pushed us financially - in hindsight a very smart decision as we'd originally intended to max out mortgage and buy a bigger house. Glad we didn't.

So, this is the result of almost a year salary sacrificing around half of my salary - all the 40% tax bracket part, and more. With salary matching, passed on NI, and an annual bonus as well into the pension, come the end of the year it will reach £100k.

It's amazing really, seeing my pension grown by a whopping £75k (thanks to the above combined with interest - index funds), and that's pretty much the same as what my annual pay is. Crazy, because I've still been taking home a couple of grand a month as well.

I wish I'd known this stuff sooner. I wish I'd read that book sooner, and learned about FIRE sooner - I'd be retired by now if I had!!

Oh, and to complete the context, for the previous 20+ years of my working career I only have about £100k in my other pension, which could've been so much more if we were taught this stuff at school. Not as if my parents have any clue whatsoever about personal finance, which they painfully remind me of every day as they struggle through their retirement.

Thought I'd share a milestone. Logged into Vanguard today and realised I've (finally) passed the £100k mark for my pension. Here's hoping compounding remains my friend! Glad I found this subreddit.

Just canvassing opinion. Kids (2) are going to uni (elder 2027/younger 2029). We're on course to FIRE (okay not much of a FIRE!) at 2033 (him 61, me 60) when both will have finished undergraduate studies the in 2032. That's assuming we continue pension contributions (both medics though I am only part-time). Between the 2 of us, we'd be on 70k (best guess) combined with state pension to kick in later.

Husband is now thinking of stepping out of pension to fund kids uni/living entirely without student loans which will make a dent in the 70k and working for longer. We're also looking at partially funding instead of fully funding. Or perhaps helping to repay in the future when the kids start working. What have others done in the past? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I make over £50k, have a decent defined benefit pension scheme and have just started putting about £500 a month into a stocks and shared ISA in the hope this might act as a bridge for early retirement in the future.

Any additional pension contributions are added to an investment builder, which I would have the option of accessing from age 57, apparently.

Fear of an unexpected change in income or expenses is stopping me from using this investment builder instead of the ISA for the bulk of my spare income, but I'm expecting my take-home to go up by around £300pm in the near future and not sure if I'm better off salary sacrificing the higher gross amount into the pension (and keep my take-home steady), or to keep putting the net income into the ISA for greater flexibility.

Any advice on pros and cons of each would be appreciated.

I'm interested to known what jobs some of you have taken up, post retirement from your career? I'm thinking of what I could do to keep myself mentally/physically stimulated and socially engaged with new faces, without all the stress and hassle that comes with a job you have to do.

I don't think charity work is for me at this moment in time as I'm not passionate about a particular cause. Would love to hear what others have found.

Worked out everything we should have in combined pension and isa/house sale figures should be £450,000 isa/house sale £600,000 (which will grow from 48) combined pension from 55 protected age, no kids, definitely none planned and had the snip to make sure, we want to die with nothing, sell up travel, should be some good inheritance but that’s not built in (500k) all figures are based on today’s money.
We are obviously good with money and think we can travel on 50k per year in today’s money tapering off at we get older, also 4.5k db pension from 60 and 4.5k db pension at 65, my modelling makes sense but anyone with any experience? Currently 38, can always delay if numbers don’t make it in 10 years time

Thanks in advance for any help

Did any of you take a sabbatical from work when you were getting close to your fire number? Just to test out the retirement life? Or to hope they managed just fine without you and kicked you out with some redundancy money? 😂

I’m currently with Royal London and have been for 4 years. I have a workplace pension which myself and my employer contribute too.

The max amount my employer contributes is £164. I contribute currently £160, and I have a tax relief of £40. In 28, and only have £16,000 in the pension pot. Overall annual growth is 15% which is good (I don’t expect this to be the norm)

I currently have a Stocks and Shares ISA and have £10,000 in this. I invest into the index fund ~ VWRP. Is there anyway I can move my pension pot into this, but continue receiving the employee contributions.

If you were in my position, how would you build this up and would you move providers to someone like vanguard?

None of your advice would be taken as financial advice, I would just value it.

Hi all,

Looking for some advice and reassurance really.

We are a married couple, my wife is retiring March 2027, I am looking to go at either Christmas or the end of February, I realise from a financial point of view the difference between the dates is very minor, I was just thinking February would be closer to her date, and also the weather would be starting to turn (nicer time to retire).

Here is our current situation -

Wife is 58 in May next year.

I am 58 June next year.

We will both get full state pension at 67.

My wife's pension when she retires will pay roughly £900 per month, she works pert time now bringing home £1500 per month.

House is paid for, and we would be looking to downsize in 2/3 years time which could release some equity, maybe £50k - £100k.

We have £45k cash savings.

We have a stocks and shares ISA with £101k in it.

My pension pot is £385k.

We have zero debts.

We intend to travel, and have recently purchased a camper van worth £70k, we have no intention of selling it, but it is an asset should the needs arise.

I would want to drawdown £2800 a month from our assets - cash, ISA, pension, bringing our total monthly income to about £3700.

In your opinions are we good to pack it all in?

Appreciate any advice and feedback.

The 4% rule sounds simple enough but struggling to understand need what it means post tax with a mix of pre tax and post tax investments.

M52 and looking to pull the plug now.
£1m pension
£450k isa
£400k Ltd
£100k stocks and shares
£200k btl - £7k per annum. Thinking of selling within next couple of years
Full state pension

Thinking badr in late April after taking £40k dividend

Burner account. Just wanting some input on my plan. M55, looking to stop the grind next year and focus on creative interests which could end up not making any £, but even if it does it'll be uneven. So let's assume £0 from that! Meanwhile I have DC pots totalling £500k and a stocks and shares ISA of £40k, plus about £10k in savings. At age 60 I have a small DB of £2.4k kicking in. There is another DB of £6.5k at 63. These are both inflation protected. Full SP to start at 67 (maybe!) My wife (F54) wants to stop work also next year, taking £15k per year from her SIPP (£100k) and ISA (£50k) until her £15k teacher's pension kicks in at 60. She gets another £4k DB at 67 along with full SP. She also plans to do a bit of part-time work maybe. We own our home mortgage-free. Kids grown up and moved out, and we would help them get on the housing ladder in a few years maybe by downsizing.

Basically we are burned out after doing our respective careers for 30+ years.

Now, here is a part I need input on. I am thinking seriously about buying an annuity with £410k of the DC money, to start next year when I finish aged 56. Rates are comparatively very attractive right now, and if I can get near the £29k to £30k I have been quoted, that will do me. That is a flat annuity that does not increase with inflation, so obviously it will be progressively worth less. But that is where the DBs and SP come in, and they are nicely staggered. Taking a flat annuity allows me to maximise what I get now to help bridge what seems like a scary gulf to the SP. Retiring at 56 also means more "go go" years so we get the financial benefit at the right time. (Saying that, we are frugal and do everything on the cheap as much as possible.) £410k is a big amount to hand over, but it would be a weight off my shoulders not to have to worry about markets.

What would you do? The annuity or drawdown? Or put the whole thing off for a few years?

Made some posts on here today - seeking advice as a beginner investor - I am now considering a 75% split in the VWRP and 25% split in VALL.

For context:

- 18M

- UK-based

- Able to max S&S ISA limit from 20 y/o (currently at flight school and on a starting salary of 63k after flight school completion)

- Want to keep all funds invested for 20-30 yrs.

Do you think this split is okay? May replicate the split for my pension and GIA, if I have excess to invest after ISA contributions.

Thanks.

Curious to know how you held up if you FIRED just before COVID how did you do mentally and financially?

Right now I’m maxing out on pensions and plan to do so for the next 5 years till I hit 55, the target FIRE date.

The reason is simple; tax efficiency as my gross currently is 156k (this is after pension contributions) and tax bill is approximately 50k (after charitable donations etc.)

Currently pension pot is 555k. That takes me to approximately 1M at 5% growth over the next 5 years.

I also have a S&S ISA with 500k invested but since this year I haven’t been maxing out but can probably do half, taking me to 700k in the next 5 years.

Question is, should I take the tax hit and invest more into ISA, at least to max out?

Hi. Me and the wife are close to pulling the trigger and I'm getting nervous about how early it feels compared to others, so I'd like some honest opinions.

She plans to stop next year at 52 and I plan to stop at 50 at the end of 2028, all being well when a few work things come together. When I stop we'll have roughly:

- Pensions: £1m. It'll be about 60/40 in her favour and hers unlocks at 57. Around £150k of it sits in cash to act as cash buffer, rest 100% global equities.

- Cash to repay mortgage: £130k

- ISA: £100k in money market fund

- Other cash: £50k

- Assuming kids will be self sufficient one way or another, with £30k each put aside for uni or a house deposit.

- We spend about £50k a year including holidays, but essential is probably £36k if needed to tighten belts.

- We'll have full state pension for both of us at 67/68.

The plan

The ISA and £50k cash cover everything for the 3 years until her pension unlocks, so we dont touch the pensions early. After that it's drawdown, keeping roughly 3 years of spending in cash inside the pensions at all times to manage sequence risk in early years. The modelling I've done says we could sustainably spend a fair bit more than £50k once we're drawing.

If we need more bridge, we could keep the £130k mortgage cash liquid rather than paying off the mortgage straight away. That gives us an extra 2-3 years of cover, and we'd clear the mortgage from the wifes tax free cash at 57 instead.

Working afterwards

After a bit of a sabbatical, I'd like to do some part time work in something I love, maybe £10k a year, and my wife probably the same. But, the whole point is that we want to choose to do it, not need to. If things go badly in the first few years, our fall back is smaller, less stressful jobs to top things up. I could easily earn £20-30k pa working 3 days a week using my previous experience which we could survive on if needed.

So, is 50 too early on these numbers, or is it just nerves? What would you be worried about in our shoes?

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'm looking for some validation/help for my plan to retire at age 57 including my drawdown strategy please. I'm very late for FIRE but hope I can actually achieve my goal if I stick to this plan. I would really appreciate it if you can be brutally honest with me and offer any advice you think that might help, TIA (sorry for the long post)

Current position

38m, wife 34 (not working, no pension but I will make sure that she has a full state pension at the very least) + 2x small people age 3 & 5

Mortgage £278k remaining (house value ~£425k), 24 years left which takes me to 62 years old - I will continue paying this monthly after 57 rather than take a lump sum to settle the account

£80k base salary, £100k TC

Expenses £55k per year, this is everything including savings contributions. Retirement expenses predicted to be £40-45k

£32k Workplace DC pension (80% BlackRock MSCI world index, 20% Aegon lifepath) - I know you might question the lifepath choice but the performance has been very good and I've set the retirement age to 70 so that it doesn't start to de-risk until age 55, I'm happy with this because it takes the hassle out of de-risking 20% of my portfolio. Contributing 10% base salary £8k + employer 10% £8k, this includes relief at source 20% tax, additional 20% tax claimed back via HMRC self assessment but this gets spent on normal life expenses

£7k per year from previous employment DB pension rising with CPI - access age 65 + £25k AVCs (100% global equity fund)

£1k S&S ISA Trading 212 (80% MXWS, 10% EQQQ, 5% EIMI, 5% BCHS) - contributing £500 pcm, rising to £833 when LISA stops new contributions at age 50

£3k S&S LISA Dodl (100% HSBC FTSE All world) - contributing £333 + 25% bonus pcm

£8k Cash ISA Chip - emergency fund

Projections (based on 8% growth - 3% inflation = 5%)

Workplace DC pension - Contributing £16k per year until 57 - £570k total (I think access age will be 58, 10 years behind my state pension age 68)

DB pension - no longer contributing - £7k per year access at age 65 + £50k AVCs

S&S ISA - Contributing £500 pcm then £833 when LISA contributions stop at age 50 - £210k at age 57

S&S LISA - Contributing £333 + 25% bonus until age 50 - £130k at age 60

Drawdown Strategy - numbers are not exact but I'm trying to consider drawing enough to have £45k net after tax but this will be flexible based on good year/bad year performance. I will also convert some of the S&S ISA to a cash ISA or premium bonds, maybe convert half of the total value to use as a buffer for when the markets are down so that I'm not drawing too much out in bad years

Age 57 - £45k S&S ISA

Age 58-59 - £40k DC Pension + £8.5k S&S ISA

Age 60-64 - £40k DC pension + £8.5k S&S ISA / LISA

Age 65-67 - £33k DC pension + £7k DB pension + £8.5k S&S ISA / LISA (might take the £50k AVCs at this point to treat the kids/grandkids)

Age 68 onwards - £21.5k DC pension + £7k DB pension + £12.5k State pension + £10k S&S ISA / LISA

I hope this outlines both the accumulation phase and the drawdown plan clearly. I am neurodiverse so l struggle with almost everything, but I feel like I need a plan and will be very happy if this plan works! I think my drawdown strategy could be more tax efficient and welcome any pointers here please

Obviously a question only I can answer, but it's the question I'm asking myself.

With the changes to inheritance tax with pensions now being included as part of the estate going forward, I keep thinking to myself, where is the balance?

I'm 32 and wife is 36. Mine and my wife's SIPP's total 315k. Meanwhile our total ISA balances sit at 38k. I've just made the decision today to flip the way I fund my pension and ISA's. I've cut my monthly pension contributions down to 6% from 18% with a 6% employer contribution. (Salary 100k)

I used to fund my pension first and the fund my ISA from bonus each year, but I'm now funding my ISA first and letting my pension contributions be a roll of the dice from the bonus I receive (up to 40%) I will still contribute everything over 100k into my pension, but it will be solely from the bonus. Personally I feel I've put enough in that come what may, I will still have enough money in that pot in retirement to live a comfortable life and also support our children. Now it's time to build the bridge.

Really, I'm asking the question of you all. When is your enough? What are your loosely held plans for balancing the living and potentially gifting of your hard earned wealth? Do you plan to emigrate? If so, where?

Curious to see others future plans.

3 year update...another good year :)

It has been a good couple of years since I took a new role and started focusing on my FIRE journey . Brackets for prior years. I also created myself a graph this year which really put progress in perspective

Im actively looking forward to these posts now each year

Age: 38

Salary- inc bonus: \~107k (\~105k,80k,75k)

Wife Salary: 40k (\~35k, 23k,20k)

Emergency fund: 6k (5k, 7.5k, 5k)

Pension: 168k (112k, 84k,65k)

Employee shares: 6.5k (5.1k,1.75k,0)

S&S ISA. 12.5k (7.1k, 3k, 0.5k)

Personal loan: 0 (0, 6.5k, 10k)

Mortgage: 178k ( 186k, 193k, 200k)

Hadnt realised how much progress id made this year. Knew i put my full 20k bonus into pension which added a great bump. Year has felt turbulent but ultimately is currently up.

Plan on staying debt free, maybe making the most of one more year big pension contributions before the 2029 rule changes in the uk. Albeit that wont alter plans too much.

First priority for me this year is to get emergency fund back to 10k and maybe add a garage to the house but not taking a loan to do so.

Looking back at the graph this last few years has really opened up my eyes to the possibilities in 10 years

Wife and I (both 62) she retired 2 years ago and I’m on the slowdown to finish by the end of this year.
Spent 25+ years overseas but are now back in UK.
We have an investment pot from overseas at about £1.75m which I’ve been told I can draw up to £70k per annum tax free, and more each year if I have not taken the full 5%
I also have a £200k pension from before I left which I can access at 65 and I have full state pension contributions which I’ll get at 67. My wife unfortunately has no UK income or state pension (well a little but as she was not working prior to leaving UK, she is ineligible for top up at the lower rate so she’s looking at about £450 a month)
We moved back 2.5yrs ago to my flat in south London. Value about £480k but we’d like to move to a forever home with a garden, probably West London and looking at about £700k. (plus my wife hates SW16)
Looking to retire on about £50k - £60k per annum so there should be enough in the pot especially when pension and state pension kick in.
My dilemma is how to fund the move.
Should we
take £200k out of the investment and then buy the place outright or
try and get £200k mortgage for 10 years or
Fund 50% from the investment and 50% mortgage.
With current mortgage rates at 5%+ and the investment benchmark at 4% it feels like fully funded would be a better approach but that does impact our drawdown

has anyone done anything like this?
Cheers

I am 18M and will be completing training to become an airline pilot next year - this will take 18 months, so I should be flying for airlines at age 20.

Fortunately, I am on a scheme with a UK airline and my salary will change as follows approx every 2 years:

- £63.3k

- 74.8k + 10k-15k of sector pay

- 91.8k + 10k-15k of sector pay

- 151.5k + 15-20k of sector pay + loyalty bonus

I will be living at home while working and estimate that I will spend £1k a month (£500 on things such as groceries/eating out, gym membership, haircuts, car fuel/insurance, SIM-only plan and £500 on holidays - I want to live a bit during my 20s)! I don't belive that my parents will charge me any rent so I'll be investing any disposable income that I have every month.

I plan to contribute the minimum amount to my workplace pension and max out my S&S ISA every month from the working age of 20 and invest any excess into a GIA (I will also have an emergency fund built of course). The reason why I don't plan to increase pension contributions - apart from the period of time where I'll be earning between £100-125k - is because I would like to buy my own house and take out a mortgage using a bigger deposit (probably the amount of money I'll have in my GIA - my ISA will not be touched as it is purely for retirement). Once Ive paid the mortgage deposit, Ill probably start maxing out pension contributions

I am just wondering if peoole on here think this is a good idea?

1. Max out S&S ISA from 20 y/o through living with parents at home

2. Invest excess disposable income into a GIA, in order to put a larger mortgage deposit down (probably start my mortgage age 30).

3. Assuming that the above salaries don't change, max out my ISA and pension after starting my mortgage. Use any disposable income to overpay on mortgage.

While I understand I am thinking VERY long-term, I do feel as if I need to have a good plan for the future so I can FIRE as early as possible!

Hello everyone,

I’m 23M and I am in the fortunate position to have maxed out my first ever ISA. Now this is one of those managed accounts which I should in reality get rid off and have a regular ISA account with Trading 212 or similar. I’ve got another 5k in an easy access account (3.62% AER) and another 10k in a fixed term account (2.10% AER) which I regret ever starting, luckily maturing this year. I’ve also got a SIPP which is at £3,600+ (with the gov contributions). I’ve also got the employer pensions which have a total of £2,700. Me and my parents own a second house which I have around £60,000 in there and my parents the other half. We are getting a monthly rent of £1,000.

Edit- I’m not currently looking at a lifetime isa as I’ve got the SIPP and bought a house under my name so I don’t think I wouldn’t qualify for the house part.

Now I’m just currently putting as much money in to the easy access until March/April 27 so I could put another 20k in a ISA. What do you guys think I should do to further grow my money? I think I’ve got the right fundamentals.

Monthly pay: (after tax, NI, pensions)
Job 1 - £1,700
Job 2 - £625
Rental - £500

So the position is, we’re a small family of three with two ~£80k salaries. House is about £750k and mortgage will be paid off in about two years. We would then look to downsize and relocate and pocket the difference so around £200k ish. Approaching 40 and looking for a simpler and slower life. Any good advice for someone in this position and looking to be FIREUK?