u/bforsyth927

I see so many milestone posts in this subreddit and I don't have anybody I can really share this with in real life so I reckoned I would throw my hat in. For context, I recently 27 making £90k, thought I would do some life admin and assess my financial position - end up contributing around £1215 into pension every month between myself and employer.

Pension - £128k

GIA - £93K (I'm a dual US UK citizen so I can't use ISAs, which is really unfortunate)

Cash - £35K

Various other investments / assets totalling around £6k, and £60K flat equity in London (big mortgage of around £310K which I'm overpaying slightly, will clear at age 52)

Currently around £322K including flat equity which I know some people don't count - I'm hoping to be able to at least cut down on work in my mid-40s. Working since 19 and built the pension and cash myself - the GIA is from an inheritance of £16K back in 2016 that I just left invested and never looked at again. I am looking at it now lol

The goal I'm aiming for is to (assuming nothing in my personal life changes drastically, which is foolish I admit) be able to look to retire in my early 40s.

I'm 26 years old, earning £90k in London with a mortgage and no dependents.

Current status:

Pension - £120k (£1200 per month contribution between myself and employer)

US Investment Account - £100k

Cash - £33k (emergency fund)

Flat Equity - £58500 (mortgage outstanding - £369400)

Various other things which add up to a few grand but nothing major.

My idea was this - could I continue working until my early 40s, contributing to pension, and then stop and let it coast - use the investment account (which hopefully will have grown) + any inheritance to pay off the mortgage on a monthly basis and live off of. Take some time to travel / live a little and then work again if I really need to. The more I think about this the more I think it won't be enough of a bridge until I'm 60 and can take my pension. Perhaps 50 is more realistic.

I hope the inheritance is a long, long way off, I'm not expecting anything, and I'm planning as if it won't happen.

Up until this point I haven't been given any money directly by my parents - but I did get very lucky with a US government scheme (which my parents were some of the last ones to enter back in '99) which paid for my university, so I don't have any student loans. I realise I got very lucky on this one.

Any thoughts / advice appreciated - I'm a dual US/UK citizen so sadly I can't use ISAs for tax reasons... lived here since I was 10 years old but them's the rules. I've racked my brain for any other ways to optimise this but I'm coming up short.