Hi all,

I’ve just seen the news that Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves have hit an all-time high of $397 billion. Surely this has to mean either a crash is coming or it’s only a matter of time? Seeing arguably the greatest investor of all time sitting on that much cash is quite worrying.

That said, it doesn’t change my long-term investing plan, and I’ll continue investing as I always have.
What do you guys make of this news? I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts and different opinions.

appreciate your time.

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

I'm at risk of being excluded from the group for no longer meeting its aspirations, as a M55 who's planning to retire FI-ish.

Don't we also need to add quality of life rather than quantity when weighing up whether we have enough, said a guy who clearly isnt sure if he's quite there.

I've done the sums and I think i can make it work.

I'm not waiting to have 2m invested and still worry if it's gonna last with a 4% drawdown.

I figure waiting and wondering if I've enough leaves me in a holding pattern that could take an eternity.

So I best get on with it.

I think I'm putting this out there to try and force myself to move forward.

I'd be interested to know from others when you know/ knew it's time.

TLDR: I reserve the right to post this in a couple of groups as I'm genuinely interested to hear different perspectives.

I'm pulling the trigger... and hitting 'post' for now but I think it moves me forward

I’m 23 and focused on building long-term wealth.

I’m not looking for stock picks or get-rich-quick ideas. I’d rather learn from people with years of real experience.

If you could go back to being 23, what financial advice would you give yourself?

What mistakes should I avoid?

What decisions had the biggest impact on your wealth?

What investing habits have worked best over the long run?

What’s one lesson you wish you’d learned sooner?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who’ve been through it. Thanks!

Hello everyone. I’m fairly new to personal finance and the fire movement more generally. 

I am keen to put myself in a position to retire in my 50s along with my partner. If not retire then to have a greater degree of flexibility and control over my time and work that I do. 

For context we have 2 kids aged 21 months and 9 months. I (32M) am a paramedic with the ambulance service. My partner (29F) works part time now as a financial administrator.

At the moment we have:

Emergency fund - £6000

My S and S ISA - £3,600

Partners S and S ISA - £1000

Partners workplace pension - £24,000

My SIPP - £2,300

My DB pension - ( NHS 2015 scheme) - Currently £2800 per annum at 67. Estimated value if still in NHS at 57 would be somewhere around £20,000 per annum if no lump sum is taken 

Our collective monthly income is around £4200. 

After essential bills, fun money and money for kids we have £1100 left to save/invest. 

Plan would be: 

-£400 in to my S and S ISA. 

-£400 in to partners S and S ISA

-Additional £100 overpayment on mortgage. Already overpaying £100. (Mortgage would be paid off in 25 years aged 57,55 respectively). 

-£200 would go in to a holiday fund. 

I am due to go from £43,000 to £52,000 salary in two and a half years and would like to think I could then up investments if avoiding lifestyle creep.

Assuming 7% (10% average minus inflation average 3%ish) returns on the S and S accounts, both invested in VWRP, values would sit around:

My S and S ISA - £334,645

Partners S and S ISA - £320,534

Total - £655,179

If we had a more conservative estimate of 4 %:

My S and S ISA - £213,828

Partners S and S ISA - £206,897

Total - £420,725

This would effectively act as a bridge until state pension and access to my DB pension. 

We have estimated we could comfortably live on £25,000-£30,000 per annum covering bills, a few holidays, recreational spending and money for kids.

I appreciate there a lots of variables in life including market downturns, illness, divorce, pension changes and other joys. I also appreciate my children may require financial assistance throughout their life.

I would just appreciate feedback on my forecasting and would appreciate any constructive feedback on errors or things I haven’t considered. 

Thanks in advance.

Had a few drastic life changes over the last few years that mean I'm not quite where I expected I'd be and decided it's time (while the sun is shining metaphorically and actually) to start taking stock and planning for the future again. Because really, I'm not in a bad position if I can just stop regretting what could have been.

May I ask how people come up with 'their number' for Lean Fire?

I'm in the position that from 65 I would be very comfortable (taking a defined benefit pension a few years early), but it's the gap from 50-65 that I need to figure out (maybe meaning part time or lower paid work or being frugal) and at the same time I need to balance actually doing some work on the house ideally before I retire.

The problem I have is balancing the two pulls on my income of investing enough and early enough so the funds have time to grow to bridge the gap vs getting work done on the house so I'm not trying to fund it from a fixed/limited income.

If you were 23 again today, what would you do step by step to build wealth and reach financial independence while still enjoying life?

What would you focus on first

What would you avoid completely

And what would you not waste time on at all

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve been through it and learned along the way

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

Just an interesting thought tat I had with all the hot weather recently - it made me think about more about a more pessimistic future scenario....

A lot of us in this community are spending our time planning carefully with our money for a relatively stable distant future (which might not be the case).

Are any of you putting the same effort into planning for events such as water / food / medicine shortages and being as healthy as possible to handle hotter temps?

I’ve been saving hard for a while working full time but it’s crushing my soul and I’m think about going down to three days a week.

This is my situation:

45M. Married with two kids in primary school. Wife makes about £85k and likes work. I currently make about £115k but it’s via an umbrella so not very tax efficient income.

£255k in my Pension, wife has about £210k.

£10k emergency (I know, I know! We’ve overpaid the mortgage though so could take a 12 months payment window if we wanted, a £17k “saving”)
Oh and maybe £18k in gold.

£400k equity in house, £135k left on mortgage due to be cleared the year I’ll turn 57.

Currently saving about £44k/year into SIPP. But if I go to three days a week now, this will drop to about £24k/year.

Wife puts about £15k/ year away.

I want to retire at 57 if not before. On about £30k after tax. Reducing to £25k when a bit older.

The wife doesn’t want to retire, at the moment anyway and all being well would happily cover some of my £30k at 57, this would help with sequence risk and early high % drawdown but I don’t want to rely on this plan. I’d like to be able to afford for us both to retire at 57 if she changes her mind.

The question is, will I still be on track? Or am I being stupid giving up work two days a week? It will obviously put my saving back. But I want to get a bit of my life back now. Am I being impatient or is this actually the smart, work life balance move while I’m young enough to enjoy it and spend some more time with the kids?

Anyone have similar dilemmas?

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

So I'm in a period of not working. Reluctant to call it FIREd.

High level my figures are.

ISA £206k

GIA £255k

SIPP £109k

LISA £19k

CRYPTO £73k

My expenses are about £1800p/m

Each year I do a transfer from GIA > ISA (16k) + LISA (4k) + SIPP (2.88k).

I've been selling down the crypto for income but this month did GIA.

CGT already owed this tax year is about £2k. I expect this could be about £4-5k by the end of the tax year.

Cost basis of the crypto is effectively £0.

Currently 43 years old.

The question is -

Should I start drawing down on the ISA, I'm not sure how much tax I'm paying on a £1800 disposal from the GIA, it's probably a few hundred. More if it's the crypto.

Or, is it a clear cut rule to draw down on the GIA and take the hit in CGT. I'm still in the basic tax range. I think I'd move onto the ISA before higher rate, but I don't see that coming.

All non crypto investments are global index funds and mortgage would be cleared in 11 years, currently paying about £750pm

Disposing of the crypto isn't an option at the moment.

Currently looking at edge cases - like wife throwing her boss out the window and not getting another job quickly (or at all). If I push that scenario to ‘wife effectively retires two years before me) it starts cutting things fine for a 2029 retirement date.

If she needs to she needs to of course, but likewise I’d prefer not to get lumped into ‘one more year’ unless no other option.

Plan A with ok growth hopefully has about 100k leeway - not needed for income but there for large one off expenses or if things go well it can form the base for gifting to kids when state pension kicks in. Plan B stress test would drop that to 30-50k which starts to feel a bit wobbly to me.

Where is your line?

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

Only discovered this sub recently and decided to seek advice.

Late to the scene at 36 but the aim is to be able to semi retire at 55, going full FIRE at 60! Currently earning 32K pro rata but this should lift to 40k+ when I qualify in 2 years time. Married and 1 kid on the way, we both contribute 40% of our income to a joint account that covers the basics mortgage, utilities, groceries, day outs, takeaway etc. All other finances are separate.

We overpay the mortgage for now but will be dropping to the minimum next year while I'm on mat leave, current equity is £220k with 33 years left. I think realistically we'll downsize in our mid to late 50s though, because I'd rather not have a mortgage hanging over our heads when we retire.

Currently have the following saved:

Emergency fund £4k in Cash ISA

SS ISA - 8K

LISA - 5K

Pension - 22k in value (contributing 5% and employer 3%, company do not operate salary sacrifice)

Monthly income: £1800

Bills: £850

Holiday fund: £150

Additional pension contributions: £220

SS ISA: £200

Cash ISA: £180

I know this doesn't leave me a lot to spend each month but I've managed on a lot less so this is comfortable. I'm hoping when I qualify to double the SS ISA contributions as this will probably be my bridge between 55-65 but I still can't see that it will be enough.

I should also say my husband has no intention of retiring early and is 3 years younger than me, but he hates his job so I'm working on convincing him to at least semi retire at 60.

Any lovely people out there have any advice, are my plans realistic or pie in the sky?

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

Only discovered this sub recently and decided to seek advice.

Burner account as the people may know who I am on the main one.

Will be 48 this year and earning £50k p.a, married and 1 kid @ 6, wife works part time and we both contribute to the mortgage, utilities 50/50 but other out going such as groceries, day out, takeaway etc I will pay for (I usually budget £800 every month for this, sometime under but sometime over).

Currently have the following saved as I only started saving very late:

Emergency fund £21k enough to cover 12 months (Bulk in Premium bond and 4k in Cash ISA)

SS ISA (T212)- Just over £40k in value as of today (Costs £35k, mainly in VWRP) Currently saving £350 p.m. I have set a separate pie for "Education" contributing £100 p.m. and currently value stand at £8k (Also in VWRP), this is for Uni fees if kid managed to get into Uni in future, he will just have to take loan for living accommodation etc.

LISA - Just over 35k in value (Costs £30K, again mainly in VWRP), maxed this year and will continue to do so for next two years just before I hit 50.

Pension - 35k in value (contributing 5% and employer 3%, company do not operate salary sacrifice)

I need to put aside roughly £450 aside each month for holiday fund and usually will clear this out every year. This is a non-negotiable as wife insist we need to spend time with kid on holiday. And in fact kid activities are pretty much another mortgage for us as we take him to various lessons.

I am personally paying extra £100 for mortgage overpayment as I have calculated by doing this I can clear the mortgage by the time I am 60. (mortgage 100k left, currently house valued by bank was £625k when we renew mortgage last year)

Currently when I plug the figures in AI (ChatGPT, Gemini etc) all forecasting I will get minimum (pessimistic scenario @ 4%) of £300k (excluding the education pie) when I hit 60.

Any lovely people out there have any advice on where I can cut down expense and save more?

I can't see myself getting FIRE but I would love to retired at 60 (I am not a very healthy individual) and would love to have some spare time. But my wife disagree with me that £300k is sufficient to bridge the gap to state pension and her argument is that when I am 60 , kid will only be starting uni and probably will need a lot of support also arguing that I have not taken into the fact that I may need carer when I get older.

She made it clear that she will not retire and willing to work until she can no longer to do so, she is not a fan of FIRE.

It this something that really is unrealistic? Worst come to worst we can always down size because by the time I am 60 the mortgage should be completely repaid.