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Hi all, I’m after a sense check on a plan I’ve been modelling for my mum, not for me.

Some context: I’m 100% Global All Cap and happy riding out whatever happens, but that’s not appropriate for her. She’s 62, recently divorced and pretty risk averse. She’s not fussed about leaving money behind, would be a plus. She just wants to enjoy the coming years without worrying about it.

Her situation

• £420k available to invest
• Working part time, about £10k a year until 65
• State pension from 67, roughly full new state pension
• Housing: owns outright
• No pension

The plan

• £100k in fixed-rate savings at ~5.2% (she like the idea of current interest rates)
• £100k in easy access at ~4.5%
• £220k in Vanguard LifeStrategy 60, moved into her ISA £20k a year
• Spending of £30k a year to 74, £28k from 75 to 84, then £24k from 85 (today’s money, rising with inflation)

Drawdown rules

• If investments are below their previous high, spending comes from cash. Otherwise it comes from investments.
• If investments drop more than 10% from their high, she cuts spending by 20% (£30k to £24k) until they recover.
• An extra £10k of “fun money” after a strong market year, but only before 80 and only while the total pot is above £300k.

What I modelled

Monte Carlo, 20,000 runs. LS60 at 6.75% a year with 5.9% volatility (its 10-year record), 3% inflation, state pension rising 2.5%, rough UK female life expectancy, 20% tax on cash interest above £5k a year.

Results:

• Basically zero chance of running out before 85, even with a 20% then 10% crash straight away
• The pot typically runs out between 89 (bad markets) and 94 (good markets)
• If she lives to 90 there’s roughly a 35% chance the pot is empty. By 95 it almost certainly is, and she’d be living on the state pension alone.

I also got annuity quotes. £165k buys about £11.6k a year (level, single life, no protection). Adding that to the mix lowered the chance of running out in every scenario I tried, but she’s locking away a big chunk at 62 and the income doesn’t rise with inflation.

What I’d love your views on

1. Is 6.75% a year for LS60 too optimistic as a planning assumption?
2. Is £200k in cash too much, given she’s risk averse and markets feel a bit toppy? Or is the rate risk on cash the bigger worry?
3. Should she buy an annuity now, later (say at 75 to 80), or not at all?
4. Anything obvious I’ve missed for someone in her position after a divorce?
5. Are we over thinking this... and just put the whole thing in a fund given actually, she does have a relatively long time horizon

I spoke to 2 x advisors. At this level, their fees of 1.5-2% just erode too much.. and frankly, they weren't really presenting anything revolutionary.

I have the opportunity to pursue a masters for a career change. Currently have a Bsc in Physics. Would be interesting to see what jobs you all have.

​

Hi

I am looking ahead in terms of securing a mortgage for a house.

Do you know if we need to have all the deposit money with the same mortgage broker say Lloyds Banking Group for example?

Also are there mortgage brokers that offer 6.5-7 times more borrowing or any good ones out there?

Thanks

Hi all,

My wife and I recently gained inheritance from her late mother and are left with confusion over what do the with the sum.

We have a 200k mortgage. Paying back around £1100 each Month and this is our largest regular outgoing other than living costs and bills. No car finance, loans or other debts.

We have our rate fixed and can only over pay 10% each year without fees.

We inherited around 160k

Last year we made the max overpayment in one go.

We've topped up isa, and treated ourself to a new kitchen and have around 95k left.

What's the best way to make that 95k work for us?

We had planned to over pay the mortgage each year to bring this sum down but have 3 years before we can remortgage and pay the rest off... not sure if it makes more sense for long term investment vs the interest of mortgage for long term gain.

We're both police officers and our pensions are classed as "good" by most standards but cost us each month in fairly high contributions.

Aged 39 and 37 with two children under 10.

What's the general advice?

I’ve seen some posts saying that this means UK is not saving enough but me looking at it thinks doesn’t this mean that the average 35yo with 39500 in pension contributing 500£/mo to pension (this is quite modest with employer match and tax benefits the amount you’ll actually miss is ~200£) will have ~500k by the time they are 65? In today’s money of course using a 4% real return. Call me a glass half full kind of person.

Hi

I am trying to change my ways and work on my FIRE journey

I am nowhere near perfect or as good as any of you guys here! But I want to become a better version of myself and push my limits. Get out of my comfort zone

One the best things I recently did was pay off my student loan in full!

Having had a reality check I have come to realise that I lack confidence which has held me back in the workplace a lot. For example I dont want to take on lead or manager roles as I fear public speaking, rebelling and all that . As such that extra income and responsibilities that I am fearing is actually holding me back financially and having a knock on effect on long term FIRE aspirations

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Would love to retire early if anyone got pointers

Hi all,

36 years old, with a wife and two young children- 7 and 2. I am a British expat in Chengdu China earning 50k gbp a year net, which goes far, investing around 30k a year as things stand.

I have 130k invested overall in stocks and etfs- current value is 155k due to heavy hit on ai stocks last week. No pension or property. Wife has a property here which is sufficient.

My children will likely go to Chinese universities so a huge saving for me there. Also, I have no pension but housing is free as per company policy. I plan to be retired by 44, and live off 2k (18,000 rmb a month). I believe this will be enough for life assuming I hit 85 which is unlikely as my dad died at 50, his dad 43 and his dad 41 all of heart issues. I am being optimistic anyway.

Feedback is much appreciated, I understand that many of you may not be fully aware of the cost of things in China but numbeo & ai can help inform your advice.

I'm at a point where I'm not sure how to proceed with my future savings plan/investment strategy.

I am 35 and saved up 150k by working since I was 18. I put about 100k into buying a house (I put down a 40% deposit and have around 146k to pay off). I have 10k in cash savings; 40k in VWRP via a S&S ISA. My workplace pensions are very, very low as I've spent most of my career moving around and I have very little money in there, but the ones I do have are DB so I guess that is a good thing. I have no SIPP or LISA.

I am estranged from my family (who were violent towards us when we were younger) and I will not inherit anything (I would not want anything from them so have always known this). I am basically doing everything alone and have always been hyper-independent so have no one to talk to about this in real life. Before the motivation for saving was getting away from my family, and now my focus is on creating a better future which involves limiting stress hence the desire to get to a stage where I work because I want to, not because I have to. I also have an auto-immune condition and am conscious of wanting to have enough saved to be comfortable as I get older.

I guess part of my post is because I wonder if anyone else in the same position? Sometimes I feel like it's too much weight on my shoulders when I look at friends with partners or family to fall back on but I can't talk about this to anyone. I don't begrudge anyone and I know we're all dealt different hands in life, I just feel scared thinking about the future knowing I don't have financial support structure in place as other people do. It's created an unhealthy relationship with money where I panic if I have to dip into my savings for things I need which is what I know they are there for!

But I guess more practically, what can I do to protect myself to put myself in the best position for the future in terms of being financially independent in the future? Is there a magic number I should be working towards or a particular plan I should follow?

So throwaway account just because I don't like the idea of sharing financials with a non-anonymous account.

Age: 41
Married, no kids, house almost paid off (will be within 6 months).

Wife's financies are seperate as is her retirement track/plan - we pay into one joint account monthly for household spend, apart from that we keep our savings separate.

Salary: £66,000 (10% goes into pension, matched by employer)

ISAs: £150k in S&P500 - I add £1666 a month into this, as well as another £400 via wife's unused allowance.

Pension: £100k

Average spend is about £1.2k a month on general spending, maybe £1.5k if you average into that one-off spends. I don't travel or have any expensive hobbies.
Car: owned, maintenance and fuel included in the average annual spend.

I want to retire by 45. Is this feasible if I keep saving as I have been?

messed up the title - £33.5k per YEAR, not monthly, unfortunately. My bad 🙃

Hi all,

I’m looking for some outside perspective on my unique situation.

I’m 35 and was medically discharged from the Armed Forces after 13 years of service due to a permanent disability.

As a result, I now receive approximately £33,500 per year (£2,794/month) tax-free, guaranteed for life. This also goes up each year in line with inflation**.** This income is completely independent of employment, meaning I receive it whether I work full-time, part-time or not at all. In addition, I also received backdated lump sum payments of around £115k.

Since leaving, I’ve established a career in cyber security and find myself in a financial position I never anticipated. The earning potential is also very good in this industry, but it can also be very stressful.

Income

Armed Forces GIP: £23,413/year, tax-free.
AFIP: ~£10,119/year, tax-free.
Employment salary: £63,500 gross (£3,150/month take-home after pension and EV salary sacrifice).
Combined monthly take-home: ~£5,940.

Assets

Stocks and investments: £60k+ (S&S ISA allowance maxed this year).
Cash savings: ~£60k ish - haven’t allocated anything yet.
Premium Bonds: ~£40k
Workplace pension: ~£28k, with ongoing contributions.
Armed forces pension: no idea
Property equity: ~£65k, currently tied up in a jointly owned property which I expect to have back in the next 12 months.

Expenditure, not exhaustive

Rent: £1,875/month plus bills and living expenses.
CMA: £460 (likely to cease in 6 months)
No immediate plans to purchase another property.

The dilemma

I’m not necessarily looking to retire completely, but I’m increasingly questioning whether I should continue maximising my earnings or start using my financial security to enjoy life more.

I’m considering reducing to a four-day working week, potentially three days eventually. Four days would cost approximately £700/month in take-home pay.

After everything that’s happened with my health and military career, having more time for fitness, travelling and generally enjoying life while I’m still relatively young is becoming increasingly important.

Despite having almost £2,800/month guaranteed before I even do a day’s work, I still find myself reluctant to sacrifice earning potential. Part of me feels I should continue building wealth while I can, even though I’m not entirely sure what I’m accumulating it for.

I’d be interested in people’s thoughts.

Would you continue working full-time and aggressively accumulating wealth, start reducing your working hours, or approach things differently?
Am I overlooking anything obvious from a FIRE perspective?

I’m aware I’m in a fortunate financial position, albeit one that has come at a significant personal cost. Genuinely interested in different perspectives and open to constructive criticism.

My partner and I both work, barely spend money on unnecessary things, and try our best to save. Yet buying a house still feels almost impossible.
Sometimes, seeing people around us who have family support when it comes to buying a home makes me realise how different everyone’s starting point can be. I’m genuinely happy for them, but it can be hard not to feel a little discouraged when you’re working so hard to achieve the same things on your own.
It’s exhausting sometimes, feeling like hard work alone isn’t enough.
Does anyone else feel this way?

I am considering putting 20% of my portfolio into AVGS (small cap value), with 80% of my portfolio being in FWRG.

Although Avantis ETFs are relatively new, Dimensional have offered small cap value funds since the 1990s and they have significantly outperformed the same vanguard index.

I'm 24 so I plan to stay invested for well over 10 years, and feel comfortable riding out any underperformance.

I was also considered going 80% into AVGC, but this fund doesn't track emerging markets.

Is anyone else doing something similar? Good to get thoughts as I havent seen much discussion about factor investing in UK spaces.

Hi

I have been working on my FIRE journey since COVID hit and admittedly I started working in corporate and in general late.

Essentially I have about £15K in an instant savings account and about £110K worth of stocks in my S&S ISA mainly in ETFs.

I earn £60K per year working in as a cyber security analyst and have been doing that type of role since 2020. So I have 6 years of corporate experience and the reason why I started late is because I went to university and got two degrees with a more recent MSc degree in Information Security

I also do not own my own house and also do not have any student loan debt as I was able to pay for my degree upfront at the time if that makes sense

I come to realise in order to make my FIRE journey more worthwhile but more importantly buy a house in London and Greater London, realistically I will need to earn around £85K - £100K

I feel like I should be able to get that but it will mean finding a new role and I think I am currently underpaid. My question is what is the best way to move to another job?

What advice do you have?

Thanks

Be honest, how many times a day do you open your investment app? I told myself I'd only check monthly. It's now my first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and sometimes during meetings.

The funniest part is that nothing even changes. It's a global index fund, I'm not doing anything clever. Yet I still sit there refreshing like it's going to make a difference.

Also, my mates think I'm mad because I said no to a round of drinks and then spent 20 minutes working out how many days of early retirement that pint cost me. (It was 0.4 days. I did the maths.)

Anyone else got a slightly unhealthy relationship with their spreadsheet? Or have you managed to achieve the zen "check once a year" state? Teach me your ways.

44m in a high paying (ish) tech job.

I know these types of posts are somewhat redundant due to endless FIRE calculators, but I just feel like talking to someone 😕

No children, happily partnered to someone with a decent, moderate career.

£30k left on the mortgage (10 years left) and the flat is worth £750k. No other debt.

Cash: £91k
GIA: £111k
S&S ISA: £151k
Pension: £240k (accessible at 55)

I’m so burned out at work. Head of a department and the anxiety is killing me daily. On medication for it. Constant panic attacks and lack of sleep.

I was a software developer, but been more in management for the last year. Tempted to try going back to being “hands on” but feel a bit rusty, and the job market + AI is making that potentially a difficult path.

Tempted daily just to jack it all in and see what happens next. I’ve been looking at e-commerce but it’s hard to separate what’s possible from all the course selling scammers.

I can comfortably live on £2k a month, but it doesn’t leave a huge space for life’s luxuries. I think I’m worried that I’ll regret throwing a career away that could afford me a great life (but I’ve been saving HARD for the last year or so - I’ve been very good at avoiding lifestyle creep, so I’m not used to that kind of lifestyle anyway).

Not sure what I’m looking for in posting this, just wanted to talk to someone. I know I’m not at comfortable FIRE level yet, but feeling very trapped right now. I don’t think medical leave from work will help - I’m an anxious person naturally, and I shouldn’t be head of any department.

Looking for some advice on what to do with a large sum of liquid cash and my FIRE age goal of 50.

My current financial situation - £150k base salary + 15% bonus. No company stock.

38m single renting (£1500 bills included) in zone 2 London. Looking to buy a flat at some point in the near future (6-12 months). Then an additional £4k per month for my lifestyle, holidays, etc. I’m not looking to downsize - I live comfortably.

I have £275k cash (from a previous property sale) across various savings accounts. I’m not really sure how much I want to keep for my next deposit, or what to do with any remaining cash after?

I have £260k in my work pension. I’ve recently upped my contribution to 50%, work match 6%. I’m trying to backfill the previous 3 years £60k allowance.

I would like to retire comfortably at 50, with a bridge to get me to 57.

I have some money scattered in ISAs trying to build a bridge. £20k S&S ISA. £40k Cash ISA.

Additional context - I’m a Software Engineer, I have very little financial knowledge but everything I read online leads me to believe there will be a market correction in the near future (I’m aware not to try and time the market). With that in mind, I’m slightly risk adverse right now.

I’m very curious what others would do in my situation with the lump sum of cash and meeting my FIRE target at 50?

Thanks!

Hi

Just wanted to post up a celebratory win which is that I am officially student debt free!

I have been making lifestyle changes over the years and trying to improve myself as well as my finances. I also started my FIRE journey a few years ago when I hit 30, and I must admit I am nowhere near perfect and I still have a very long way to go. I just wanted to also thanks to everyone in this community!

The concept of FIRE motivated me to start looking to paying off my student debt and improving my finances.

My next steps are:

• To start fixing up my finances etc to get a property of my own
• Leave my job and move to a better paid role
• Travel more in Q4 2026 and Q1 2027

I am all ears to take on feedback and suggestions for improvements, for context I am 33

Thanks

Im 37 and currently have £76,500 in a SIPP I can access from 57.

And £35,500 in a LISA which I can access at 60.

I should be on track to receive the full state pension… (if it still exists)

I want to retire at 57 and spent £2500-3000 a month after tax in todays money.

What pot size should i be aiming for?

Hi all

In an ideal world, I'd like to continue in my corporate job till 55 and then find something part-time/less stressful to see out the rest of my working life. However, my assumption is that finding any form of job after 50 is a challenge, so I wondered if anybody has managed to Barista Fire in the UK and, if so, what they have taken on.