Anyone else feeling the "UK Tax Drag"? High earners (£350k+ combined) but ChubbyFIRE feels miles away.
My partner and I are in our mid-to-late 30s working in demanding corporate roles (finance and law). Combined, we bring in somewhere around £350k–£400k. By all standard metrics and statistics, we are easily in the top few percent of UK households.
Our current situation:
Net Worth: ~£700k split across ISAs and Pensions.
Property: Homeowners with around £200k+ in equity, but carrying a heavy mortgage balance (approx. £750k).
Savings Rate: We aggressively save around £125k a year by completely maxing out our ISAs and dumping the rest into pensions to mitigate tax.
Here is my reality check / sanity check: Even if we maintain this intense pace for another 10 years, true "ChubbyFIRE" feels incredibly far out of reach. When you actually sit down with a compounding calculator and factor in the reality of UK fiscal drag, the 45% top tax bracket, and the tapering of pension allowances, it feels like we are running through mud.
Is this just the standard reality for high earners in the UK now? It feels like the system is designed to keep you firmly in the "high earner, not rich yet" (HENRY) bracket forever, because taxes eat up over half of every extra pound earned.
Would love to hear from others in a similar wealth bracket. Are you just accepting a longer timeline, adjusting your FIRE targets downward, or looking at leaving the UK entirely?