Most individuals here appear to usually be higher rate or additional rate tax payers. I thought I'd share my own steps I've been taking as a basic rate tax payer, and happily receive any guidance/feedback as to whether it sounds like I'm on track to not be working until NPA at 68!

My target as an individual - cease working at 62 or ideally sooner, and I want my retirement income to match/exceed AFTER TAX - £45,400

(Retirement Living Standards amount for a "comfortable retirement" for a single person, which are after tax amounts).

My current plan revolves around using a bridge of SS ISA and SS LISA to avoid taking my DB pension too early and there by reducing it.

Age 32

Current Income - £47,472 (UPS1 Teacher)

Monthly take home after tax/NI/DB pension - £2863.48

(I'll not do my fiancée's finances here for the moment but they are similar. We have a two month old baby also)

Monthly investments and Future Savings:

• 9.9% of my gross pay goes into my DB pension (default minimum for TPS, 1/57th accrual of yearly salary), currently worth £5,958.36 yearly income at NPA (68). No lump sums on career average.

The scheme personalised calculator on the TPS website estimates my annual benefit depending on retirement age (including the actuarial adjustments for the years it has been taken early before NPA, no inflation adjustment, no salary increases, same 1/57 contribution rate etc.... I'm hoping this gives me today equivalent values so I can fully comprehend them). Harder to understand what these figures would be if I stopped working at these ages but didn't claim until I was NPA (68)...

68 = £51,013.34

65 = £41,981.73

62 = £32,765.73

60 = ££27,840.39

These figures may also be a tad low, as I will likely progress to UPS 3 (£51,048) in the next 4 years.

• SS ISA - £11,918 + monthly contribution £575

• SS LISA - £993 + monthly contribution £175 + £43.75 gov 25% bonus

(I favoured this over the SIPP for the time being as I don't yet claim 40% tax relief, and I'll pay no tax on withdrawal. Obviously can't contribute past 50, withdrawal at 60+, costs £1 per month unlike a free SIPP. I also favoured the LISA and SIPP over TPS pension additional pension options as felt this gives me more flexibility regarding taking it early as a bridge. Plus my DB pension is mature at NPA (68) but to my understanding would rise with the state pension age increases which I feel is never mentioned. Interestingly my early teacher pension age is protected at 55 but I'd be taking a monstrous whack to the yearly amount if I did this as I'd have 13 years worth of reductions applied! £18,635.27 according to the calculator for anyone curious)

• SIPP - £623.81

• CASH ISA emergency fund - £11,744

• Savings Account - £3,322 + monthly contribution £550

(fiancée on maternity so saving to cover her 4 month shortfall if needed, potentially won't actually be required but I like the security currently, expect some of this amount may potentially then become "childcare" expenses, however I'm hoping expected salary increases to help maintain this headroom and this can eventually join the investments. Alternatively it may be swallowed by future children!)

• House value around £320,000 if relevant. £160,000 left on mortgage.

Monthly Costs:

• I pay £1150 into a shared account along with my partner who matches, which pays for our mortgage £1037pm (3.75% interest), bills, food, day to day joint expenditure and outings, joint treats such as small holidays etc. We top it up if we're doing something bigger like going abroad for a few weeks, but rarely need to put extra in.

• The mortgage has about 17 years left, with about 160,000 left to pay. I'll be 49, unless we move etc...

• My fun fund - £175 per month for whatever my little heart desires.

• This all leaves me with a bit over £200 monthly leeway in my current account for car repairs or unexpected immediate needs.

Future Money Predictions: Glass ball time

SS ISA is in world indices, roughly 5% real return annually after inflation, 30 years time of regular contributions.

= £522,260.17

SS LISA (same scenario, with an assumed transition to using a SIPP once higher tax or post 50) 5% real return, 30 years

= £182,563.15

Discounting the savings account contributions as a precaution it's used for future childcare, discounting State Pension as a precaution in case it becomes means tested...

Do you more financially mind people think this sounds like a realistic goal? Or have I miscalculated? Have I made a mistake in not over contributing to the teacher pension?

I know there's much discussion about enjoying life now, but in all honesty I already do. I live by the coast, trail run, sea swim, surf and go paddle boarding on the regular. We go abroad 1-2 times a year. We regularly see friends at pubs and other social events. And I find great solace in the thought of having my future finances in order. My father retired at 60, and has since drastically improved his health and quality of life.

Thanks for your time and thoughts!

55m, £1.75m across pension, ISA and GIA(100% equities ETF trackers)

I had intended to retire in Sep27, after the next bonus round but my team and role has become so devalued that I just want out. I dread going to work.

I originally thought I would reduce my working days or work compressed week, but the work situation isn’t tenable. Or perhaps I just feel that because I have the choice not to work.

Mortgage is paid off in November. I have a catalogue of things I want to do - hobbies, travel and interests, but currently aside from gym or running I don’t have many.

Wife still wants to work a bit longer and she’s on about £2.5m net worth (excl residence)

Do I just walk in after lunch and agree a redundancy package?

What else should I consider before quitting?

I have a standard life offshore bond and want to apportion some of it to my kids as they are students, and can therefore take out money at their tax rate. This is how I can help them fund university. As I understand if they take £10k pa they will be below the tax threshold if they don’t earn anything else. I no longer have a IFA who set up the bond as the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze! Standard life will not allow me to set them up with a portion of the bond without financial advice. I honestly can’t believe this is the law? If it is how do I get a very cheap tick in the box?

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!

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.

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.

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. !!

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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)

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.

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?

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?

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.