My Path to FIRE. Thoughts?
Hey guys, I’ve been following FIREUK for a few years as I’ve always been interested in this concept / idea
Context:
I am currently 23 years old, just graduated from uni and going into my Grad Role while living at home with my parents. I wanted some thoughts on my current situation and whether I am in a good position / what else would you do?
I have been investing into my Stocks and Shares ISA since I was 18 years old. Over the years I have managed to build a portfolio of £55,000. (Portfolio ATH was £69,000 a few months ago!)
I have also been maximising my allowance for the Lifetime ISA for my first house. In this account I have £26,900. I live in the East Midlands so property prices here are much less than the 450k limit.
In terms of cash I have roughly £2,000 because I’ve been enjoying my graduation summer being on holiday etc! One thing I can take away from this subreddit is to make sure I’m experiencing life as well as investing for the future - maintaining a stable balance
Summary:
S&S ISA: £55,000
LISA: £26,900
Cash: £2,000
Pension: £5,000
I will be working from September as an engineer. Yearly Income of £36,000 and progresses every 2 years. Within 5 years I suspect I will be on £47,000
This is my salary breakdown:
£1,000 a month into my S&S ISA
£333 a month into LISA
Maximise pension contribution (5% from me will trigger 10% company contribution)
£200 to my parents
£500 to live off - may not need all of this, if so it’ll go towards my holiday money pot
Company gives a yearly bonus of 10% of the salary (+ department / individual performance multipliers)
My parents have always supported me and shown me love over the years. So whilst this isn’t the best financial decision, I would like to give mum and dad £100 each for either their own spending or towards their mortgage
I also tutor as a side hustle, used to bring me in a lot of money during uni but as of now it brings in £150 a month - enough money to pay for my monthly fuel allowance!
This is probably a lot to take in with a lot of unusual cases for example living at home etc so please feel free to ask any questions!
There’s a lot of tough thinking to do here but maybe you guys can help me out.
I can’t help to think that while I’m at home, I will be able to secure a good future / save and invest a lot
I plan to at least live at home for another 2 years while I’m on my grad scheme. After the grad scheme I will be on surplus £42,000 + 10% yearly bonus
In terms of my first property, i would like to avoid using my S&S ISA as I believe this compounding over the years will bring greater returns than using it for my first house
Any advice or guidance would be great. I’m aware that I’m young and have a lot to learn so I’m relying on this great subreddit to help me navigate what is the best way to secure FIRE :)