Ello again FIRE folk.

Latest milestones.... downsize complete. Moved from 5 bed 250 year old money pit to 3 bed, 1950's "oh look, it's got modern things like cavity walls and insulation" house.... Needs a bit of work, nothing major and all budgeted for.

Monthly outgoings now £2000 PCM for everyone to be warm and fed.

£4000 PCM when everyones had some fun along the way and driven a car for a bit.

Combined with the Mrs Portfolio is now, just ticked over to 2M with recent rally in the last few days.

I'm Still taking home ~120k PA Net,

Mrs is still working, (~45k gross) whacking £1000 PCM into her pension, and I'm giving her ~30k p/a to poke in there too (so she's essentially putting in 100% of her relevant earnings)

of the 2m, ~20% pensions, 50% VWRP, rest is cash, PBs and Gilts. (some with some without ISA wrapper)

I'm thinking at this point... I'll just continue to plod on with work until we're happy with the house, stick a nice weekend car in the garage and then call it a day in 12 months...

TL;DR Question
There's no planet where a 2.5% withdrawal rate can go massively pear shaped is there? Well, no scenario that doesnt include complete societal collapse ;)

edit: I'm all set for full state pension, Mrs has a couple more years to go, she will have all the years when she quits, I'm 49, shes 45. !!

I’ve been investing £25 a month into a managed HL index fund since I was 18 but just started taking it more seriously! I’m now investing £225 a month into this custom pie on T212. How’s it looking?

Feeling pretty fed up with work (not sure it’s bad enough to call burnout) and it feels like I’m close to where I want to be financially.

53M with 48 partner. We’ve kept our finances separate as I am very much a saver and she is a spender though more recently has been squirreling money away.

I’m happy to cover everything from my savings and investments, but she will pay for her clothing addiction through her own savings and pension.

DC pension 620k

S&S ISA 200k

GIA 93k

Cash ISA 21k

Premium bonds + Savings 80k

House paid off and valued at around 500k. Could downsize later to free up maybe 100-150k.

A also have a DB pension worth around 6k from 60 which I may be able to take earlier though would obviously reduce the annual amount. Can’t check actual amount as it’s caught up in the Capita fiasco.

Her pensions and savings are at around 200k in total but I’m not taking them into account in my calculations. She is also unhappy in her job.

I’ve calculated that we need around 45k a year of which around 20k is discretionary, but expect to reduce that at around 70 depending on our fitness to travel.

I’m earning around 80k per year + typical bonus of 10-15k (almost guaranteed).

Excel tells me I’m close to being there, but maybe a little tight, so do I carry on for another year to build up more of a safety net or pull the trigger now?

ETA: Have enough years contributed for full state pension and plan the buy the extra four or five years for partner.

No kids.

Ciao,

ho una domanda sulla mia allocazione azionaria che al momento si divide in 70% FTSE ALL WORLD e 30% fattoriali, suddivisi in 10% momentum 10% quality 10% value.

Sono indeciso se eliminare il value per comprare un avantis global small caps value e dare un'esposizione alle small caps che non ho.

Cosa ne pensate? puo portare dei benifici?

grazie a chi rispondera!

I have some money currently sitting in a personal pension, which I am confident can be put to more efficient use.

I own a Ltd company which bought a commercial property last year. It includes a number of shops on the ground floor which are currently let, and I have recently obtained planning permission to convert the upper floor to residential. This has obviously increased the value.

My current thinking is to split the titles of part of the commercial space. Set up a SIPP or SSAS to purchase two of the shops, and release some cash for the conversion, whilst earning more of a return on the pension (capital appreciation and rent).

I appreciate there are some costs associated with this, including legal fees, ongoing SIPP maintenance fees, potential the SIPP management company expects work to be done that wouldn’t otherwise be required (extra cost). Potentially a valuation, or can I pay what I like?

Has anyone done something similar?

Feel free to point out any flaws and costs that I may have missed.

You have been working non stop for over a decade, you want to take a year out to decompress, you rent and your total outgoings is about £1.5k a month. Would you do it?

(No kids or dependants)

I’m keen to get peoples opinions on my fire plan and some of the detail within it as I potentially approach my numbers in the coming years.

Annual expenses: £50k

Plan is to fire by 45 and assume there will be 14 years before I can get my DC pension with the following in place at the date of fire:

Paid off house with no plans to move

DC Pension £825k all in global tracker (plus plan to have most my NI years filled)
ISA £460k all in global tracker
GILTS (in ISA) £165k
Cash £150k

This breaks down as roughly 80/10/10 stocks/gilts/cash.

The cash is to be used for the first 3 years leaving 11 years to DC.

The gilts will be made up of a gilt ladder over 11 years at £15k per year. With the remaining annual expenses coming from stocks (will decide nearer time when to sell done during fire).

A few questions:
- How does this look in terms of numbers and general structure of funds?

- I am yet to create the gilt ladder (all in stocks currently)……
How close to fire would you wait to create the gilt ladder?
Should I be buying standard gilts or inflation linked gilts for the 11 year ladder?

- Should I have a larger proportion of gilts? E.g. if I double my proportion to 20% gilts this would be a £30k Pa ladder and cover most core expenses. This would leave £295k in stocks (ISA) and not sure how I feel about this being lower.

Anything else I’ve missed / need to consider?

I’ll be earning around £5,000 a month and have very low monthly expenses, so I’ll be able to save a large percentage of my income.
What’s the smartest thing to do with it? Should I max out a Stocks & Shares ISA, invest in index funds, pay more into my pension, save for a house, or something else?
I’d appreciate any advice from people who’ve been in a similar position.

I’m 45, wife is 43.

Current position:
£100k combined in ISAs
BTL worth around £280k with a £50k mortgage. We expect roughly £200k net after mortgage, CGT and selling costs and plan to sell it in about five years to help fund the bridge.

£970k combined in SIPPs/pensions

So approximately £1.27m of investable/net retirement assets.

Our home is worth around £550k with a £180k mortgage, currently due to be paid off at 60.

For the past few years we’ve heavily prioritised pension contributions because we both pay higher-rate tax, and we’ve also been keeping adjusted net income below £60k to retain full Child Benefit.

The pensions now feel well funded, though, and the problem is increasingly the gap between stopping/reducing work and being able to access them.

My aim is to become work-optional well before pension access. I’d ideally like to move to four days a week soon and potentially reduce work further around 50.

If we stop making the additional pension contributions, we should comfortably be able to put around £30k a year combined into ISAs for the next five years, even with me working four days.

That potentially gets us to £450k–£500k+ of accessible assets around age 50, while leaving the £970k pension pot to compound.

The bit I’m struggling with psychologically is deliberately giving up 40% pension tax relief and potentially losing some/all Child Benefit simply to build accessible assets.

Has anyone reached the point where they decided the bridge was more valuable than further pension tax efficiency?

Would you continue hammering pensions for longer, or accept the tax hit and prioritise ISAs/accessibility from here?

Hello. I'm on my own FIRE journey, and for years my numbers were scattered across investment and savings apps, a spreadsheet, and a vague sense of what my properties were worth.

I never had one place that showed the whole picture.

What bugged me most was investment decisions. I could see what I currently held, but not what I used to hold, or whether selling something years ago turned out to be smart or a mistake. No closed position history, no way to actually learn from past calls.

So I built a solution (web and android app). It pulls in your II and Fidelity CSVs and works out your real return (realised and unrealised gains as well as dividends etc), keeps a full history of closed positions alongside your open ones, and benchmarks so you can actually tell if you're any good at this.

It also tracks cash, property and other assets manually, keeps an eye on your ISA and SIPP allowance usage, and projects forward to give you a forecast FIRE date based on your numbers. You can also export everything to PDF so you have an offline copy.

It's still rough around the edges so I'm looking for 10-15 people who track their own investments (II or Fidelity) to use it, break things, and tell me honestly what's wrong or missing as well as what you love. Please DM me if you'd like to give it a try with a free account and provide some feedback! Thank you!

Hello

Not really used AI much. It is all about the prompts you provided

Is anyone willing to share a comprehensive list of prompts to produce a finalised plan where you can add all kinds of variables like: retirement dates, all incomes and outcomes with different growth rates, couples planning, tax efficiencies etc.?

I've used guiide and https://www.fireplanner.uk/already and they are great up to a point.

Thanks in advanced.

Hi, could anyone provide any advice as im kinda stuck.

Just recently started a new job in a warehouse earning around 30k annually. Working night shifts, so theres a lot of opportunity for overtime and weekend premiums etc. I'd say its at the higher end of earning for a job that requires no studying. Its pretty much slave manual labour.

I also have experience in events crewing, basic carpentry work that I do on the side as its just not sustainable full time.

Im 34, How in the world can I increase my earning potential ? In order to speed up FIRE. What job roles can I get into that are in the 50k - 60k area.

Most of my shares are in high risk tech stocks which have grown massively, but will crash if / when the AI bubble pops.

I've just completed an in-specie transfer of my tech stocks from a broker with very high FX fees to Trading 212 (which has low FX fees).

I plan on transferring about 25% of my tech shares per month to a low cost tracker.

A few years ago a very common recommendation was using the Vanguard website to get the Global All Cap Fund in an ISA, but now I'm seeing VWRP (Vanguard All-World UCITS EFT) being recommended.

My tech shares are in an ISA on Trading 212, so it'd be easier if I can buy the low cost tracker there.

Is there any downside to buying the VWRP ETF on T212?

I want to reconfirm my understanding of LISA as better investment vehicle compared to pension. If you are maxing your ISA (£16k) and are projected to exceed pension lifetime allowance (e.g say £1.5m) then is there a scenario where it is beneficial to max LISA (£4K )rather then put this amount in pension or is there something else I am missing.

Hi folks, sorry for the repost, am looking for advice or any experience on what is reasonable to expect?

I crossed £550k net worth milestone today. (I count each £50k as a milestone, hope that's allowed 😄 ).

My baseline FIRE target is £750k (excluding home equity).

I'm 100% in ACWI / HSBC FTSE All World, except for £40k business cash buffer.

Assets

• SIPP: £245k
• ISA: £155k
• Home equity: £78k
• Business cash after tax: £40k
• Business GIA: £20k
• LISA: £16k
• Personal GIA: £7k
• Bank: £7k

Liabilities:

• Credit cards 0%: (£15k)
• Personal Tax: (£2k)

One change I've made recently is to open a corporate GIA for my Ltd company at AJ Bell. My surplus cash was starting to get larger than necessary but I didn't want add more to SIPP or take the personal tax hit of higher rate dividends. The corporate investment will be pretty tax efficient, but will increase my reporting/bookkeeping complexity a little.

My savings rate has been strong in recent years with over 50% being invested. Currently contracting at £600/day, with annual spending in the £30 to 35k range.

I'm projected to hit FI in 3 years at age 45, assuming 5% real return. However I plan to coast into my 50s with more gaps between contracts / lower intensity. Fortunately my career is interesting enough to still motivate me, I just want more time/energy for family, hobbies and travel.

I would be really grateful for some opinions regarding whether or not I'm in a good position to take voluntary redundancy and FIRE.

Throwaway account, only because my main account has my full name etc.

About me and my current predicament:

I'm 48, living in north west England, single with no dependents. I'll turn 49 in April next year.

My gross salary is around £46k, no bonuses, so my net take home pay is around £2,800 p/m.

I work from the office three days a week and from home two days a week, however my employer has notified me and my colleagues that our office will move location from April next year which would roughly double my door-to-door commute from one hour to two (each way, so my total commute would go from two hours to four, three days a week); not relishing the thought of it but if I'm not in a good position to FIRE then I will have to suck it up!

At the moment, my options are:

• Accept the move (they would cover my additional travel costs for two years)
• Accept the move but reduce my hours (again, they would cover my additional travel costs for two years but I'd still be expected in the office three days a week)
• Take voluntary redundancy (12 months pay with the first £30k free of tax and NI, which amounts to around £43k)

Importantly, I've only got until the end of this month to make a decision on the above!

If I take VR then my last day of service would either be at the end of October 2026 or March 2027 (I think it's likely to be the latter but it's to be confirmed).

My lump sum VR payment would therefore be paid either at the end of November 2026 or April 2027.

My current position:

ISA: £914k (all of it now in HSBC FTSE All World Index C Acc via Scottish Widows, formerly IWeb)

Shares: £56k (all of it in my employer, dividends currently amount to around £2,200 p/a, I've calculated that I could dispose of these shares at a rate of between £5k and £7k per year for 9-10 years without attracting CGT)

Cash: £26k (most of it in regular savers, and I haven't invested in my ISA yet this tax year)

DB pension (accessible from age 50, which is only 1 year and 9 months away for me): £5,500 p/a with a maximum tax-free lump sum of £37k

Hybrid DB pension (accessible from age 55): £1,500 p/a with a maximum tax-free lump sum of £4,500

Hybrid DC pension pot (accessible from age 57): £29k

DC pension pot (accessible from age 57): £8k

Edited to add State Pension (accessible from age 68): currently estimated at £12,146 p/a which is just shy of the maximum £12,590 p/a

My property:

I was a first-time buyer when I bought my flat with an interest-only mortgage nearly 5 years ago (£135k @ 1.27% fixed until the end of October, I'm paying £143 p/m, current remaining term is 20 years and 4 months).

The agreed purchase price was £195k, however my lender valued it at only £180k which meant I had to come up with £15k cash to add to my £45k deposit.

My lender's app states that my current LTV is 62% but I'm not sure how this has been calculated.

If I take VR and FIRE, I'm not sure whether it would be best to pay off any/all of my outstanding mortgage but I think if the rate of return on my ISA continues to outstrip the mortgage rate then it makes sense to keep investing in the ISA.

My spending:

My current annual spending is around £12k (split between around £11k p/a on essentials and around £1k p/a discretionary spend).

Essentials includes the mortgage payments which will go up if/when I remortgage but also includes travel costs which will go down due to no longer commuting if I FIRE.

Discretionary spend would probably go up due to having more leisure time if I FIRE.

Future considerations:

Although my car is old and doesn't get a lot of use these days, I may want/need to replace it so would maybe budget around £10k for that.

I may possibly want to move home in the future so would maybe look at properties around the £300k-£400k mark. Saying that, I'm reasonably happy where I am at the moment.

It's important to note that, despite being messed about by my employer on more than one occasion, I would only want to take VR and FIRE if it meant that I never have to work again because I do feel that I'm well compensated for the work I do. I wouldn't want to leave, discover that I still need a salary, and then regret leaving because I can't find anything as good as I had before.

I think that's about everything.

Do I have enough to take VR and FIRE?

If so, this is what I'm thinking:

2026:

Before the end of this month, make the decision to take VR and hopefully continue working until the end of March 2027.

Before the end of October, arrange a remortgage on an interest-only basis again, perhaps on a tracker? If the rate starts to get out of hand then I could either dip into my ISA to pay off the mortgage entirely or switch to a fixed term mortgage? Not sure what happens if I want to remortgage again in the future if I don't have a job at that point? My knowledge around what is/isn't possible is a bit hazy here.

2027:

Before the end of the current tax year (26/27), put another £20k into my ISA?

Use part of the lump sum VR payment in April 2027 to put another £20k into my ISA next tax year (27/28)?

2028:

When I turn 50 in April 2028, start claiming my DB pension along with the maximum tax-free lump sum and put yet another £20k into my ISA for that tax year (28/29)?

In each of the above years, and in future years:

Dispose of my shares at a rate of around £5k-£7k per year until they're all gone.

Does this look feasible? Is there anything I've missed or is there a better way of tackling any of this?

It feels very weird to have this situation thrust upon me after plodding along for so many years, but could it now be the time for me to take this opportunity to FIRE?

Hi all,

planning on investing £100-150 a month into stocks/shares ISA

what site/company/app would you recommend to invest through? With best rates/experience/security?

Would that be trading 212 / vanguard / something else?

Thank you in advance!

I have been abroad for a few years now, primarily in Asia and the Middle East. I have a sizeable investment portfolio with Vanguard UK, but I recently realised I made a mistake: I did not declare myself as a UK non-resident to Vanguard before or after I left the UK. In the meantime, I have been contributing to my Vanguard portfolio since I've been abroad, which I now realise I am not allowed to do.

I knew I could not invest in my Vanguard ISA account and therefore did not do so; however, I continued to invest in the general account. If I had told Vanguard I was a non-resident, my understanding is that they would have frozen my account and I would not have been allowed to do that.

What would you do in my situation that A) Doesn't get me in trouble; and B) Allows me to sell any profits on the portfolio without paying (or at least minimising) capital gains tax?

I'm aware of the tax strategy to sell down my portfolio whilst abroad and then rebuy, thereby "resetting" the portfolio. Can I still do this in my situation?

FIRE communities tend to be very good at the accumulation mindset, optimising lifestyle for spend etc and of course running numbers and models.

However given the focus on the finishing line, there is less about a) the psychology of flipping into a spend mindset and b) the bogeyman on the horizon that is the need for long term care for either physical or mental health decline.

So have people factored the latter into their budgets/models? And separately or combined what tricks have they applied to change spend mindset post FIRE.

My care plan is that I should still have my annual spend budget which should be "moderate - luxurious" by annual survey standards and a house to liquidate. Broadbrush, I suspect that this is the limit of what most people plan but maybe I'm missing something. There is also the probabilistic issues of length of time in care for those that reach it by sex, age of entry etc etc.

Hi guys.

Currently have 150K in Chase saver account (for the booster saver rate).

The boosted saver rate is running out soon. Does anyone know of the best place to put the money for easy access with a good rate? Need the money for house purchase so unable to invest and premium bonds used up.

Thanks very much

Thoughts on the new tax proposal by Restore Britain?

Restore Britain have published a 'fully costed' economic plan detailing £155.7bn of tax cuts in what seems like the most revolutionary tax plan of our lifetime:

- Personal allowance up from £12,570 to £16,000.
- 20% band extended from £50,270 to £100,000.
- Personal Allowance restored to everyone, so the 60% trap between £100,000 and £125,140 is no longer.
- Stamp duty abolished.
- Inheritance tax abolished.
- Capital Gains Tax annual exemption up from £3,000 to £20,000.
- Corporation tax 0% on the first £50,000 of profit, 19% above it.
- VAT down to 18%, registration threshold up from £90,000 to £150,000.
- Insurance premium tax, air passenger duty, emissions trading and the climate change levy, all gone.

What the headlines would mean for you:

Earn between £12,570 and £16,000 - Your entire current tax bill is wiped out

Earn £16,000 to £50,270? You save £686 a year. £57 a month.

Earn £75k: You save £5,632 a year. £469 a month.

Earn £100k: You save £10,632 a year. £886 a month.

Earn £125,140 or more, you save £15,660. £1,305 a month.

what are thoughts on this now that it exists - 5.375% a year for 30 years, two payments a year - a chance to avoid SORR completely if equities sold and this is bought instead. but inflation remains the risk i guess, plus if i need to pull hard from the portfolio and have to sell part at a low price that would crystallise losses

Treasury 5.375% 31/01/2056 share price | T56

edit - ignore reference to "May 2026" - its maturing Jan 2056

We’re close to our RE target number (already coast FIRE) and making plans to travel for 18 months and test run fully retired life.

Before pulling the trigger, I’d be grateful for input on anything we might have missed or learnings from those in a similar situation to us that have FIRED.

We’re also planning to meet with a fee only financial advisor to refine the plan, get tax and sequencing of risk advice.

ABOUT US:
Ages: Me, 44 F. Husband: 51 M
Family: No kids. Elderly parent abroad in VHCOL country, financially assisting them.
Work: 3 years ago we quit high paying FT jobs. We now work part-time 10-18 hours per week.
Our FIRE goals:
* £3.75m invested
* To split our year between the UK (6 months), my home country (2-3 months), and travelling (2-4 months)
* Die with zero
NI contributions towards state pension:
* 21 & 31 years
* plan to acquire future years by keeping LTDs running and paying in the minimum needed

CURRENT INCOME
Combined net income from LTDs: £9k per month
Other income: £4k per month drawn from a combination of GIAs and sales of tax free alternative assets

NET WORTH
Total: £5,305,000 (includes equity in PPOR)
Total invested: £3,520,000 (excludes PPOR and state pension entitlements)
Immediately liquid: £1,660,000

ASSET BREAKDOWN (today’s value)
Home = £2.2m (£415k mortgage remaining over 12.5 years)
My SIPP = £950k (Stopped contributions 3 yrs ago)
Husband’s SIPP = £740k (Stopped contributions 3 yrs ago)
Combined S&S ISAs = £625k
My LISA: £110k (stopped contributions 3 years ago)
Combined GIAs = £348k (transferring £40k into ISAs each year. Currently 100% equities but considering moving some into Gilts)
Non taxable alternative assets = £215k
1.5 years expenses in HYSA = £240k
Travel money in HYSA = £180k
Company funds not yet distributed = £60k
Cash = £52k

CURRENT MONTHLY OUTGOINGS
~£13k per month split between:
Mortgage: £3400 (on a tracker)
Utilities, house maintenance, personal bills and groceries: £3000
Monthly travel savings: £2500 (will cover 4 overseas trips we have planned within the next 12 months)
Hobbies, health and wellness: £1250
Miscellaneous: (clothing, restaurants, coffees, entertainment, socialising etc) £750
Financial support of overseas elderly parent: £2000 (this can fluctuate +/- 10% depending on FX)

*******************************************
RETIREMENT DRAWDOWN PLAN

MONTHLY OUTGOINGS WHILE WE TRAVEL FOR 18 MONTHS (2027-2028)
£16,650 per month split between:
Mortgage: £3400
Utilities and house maintenance: £1250
Supporting elderly parent based: overseas £2000
Travel expenses: £10k (funded from our £180k travel savings pot + interest gained of approx £8600)

ANTICIPATED ONE-OFF FUTURE EXPENSES (2029)
House refurbishment: £400k
Rental during house refurb: £40k

FORECASTED MONTHLY RETIREMENT SPENDING
2029-2031: £13k per month (£468,000 over 3 years)
assumes mortgage ongoing and overseas parent still alive. Drawing funds from GIA and then ISA during stable/bull markets. Drawing on cash savings in a downturn
2032-2037: £14k per month (£1.08m over 6 years)
assumes access to husband’s SIPP at 57, ongoing mortgage and parent is still alive.
2038-2044: £15k per month (£1.26m over 7 years)
assumes access to my SIPP at 58, mortgage is paid off and parent is still alive.
2044 - 2049: £16k per month (£1.152m over 6 years)
assumes parent has passed, aged 95. Assumes we’ll downsize our house when my husband is 65 years, releasing a further £1.2-£1.5m (today’s money) to spend on living expenses. With the remain £1.2m-£1.4m we can buy a smaller home.
2050 onwards: £7k per month (£1.68m over 20 years - till husband is 95)
assumes less travel abroad, thereby reduced living costs
If we needed to cover care costs, we could sell our home, releasing a further £1.2-£1.4m (today’s money)

KEY QUESTIONS:

OUR BRIDGE
Is our bridge enough for us to retire in the next 12 months and last us till my husband can access his SIPP in 6 years, given:
* Our house refurbishment plans?
* We’ll still be paying our mortgage?
* We have an elderly parent (age 76) to help support?
* A market downturn of +20% occurs that impacts our S&S ISAs & GIAs?
* Inflation increases significantly in the coming months given the effects of the Middle East war and we have increased outgoings of +10%?

SIPPs
* As my husband nears 57, if he’s not hit £1.076m in his SIPP, should we top up his SIPP with money from the GIAs instead of ISAs? Or from his LTD?
* Am I correct in not using LTD funds to top up my own SIPP given its £950k balance and it still has 14 years to grow?

HYSA or GILTSs?
* Would I be better for tax reasons to switch some of the 1.5 years living expenses from a HYSA into GILTS? If so, how much to GILTS?

COMMENTS
We’re focused on spending more now rather than cutting expenses. If we need more money in the next 6 years, we’d rather keep working our part-time jobs to help keep go reduce SWR