For context: Husband and I both in the public sector, earning roughly £110k combined each year. We want to move overseas soon for a better quality of life (New Zealand), as we have a young daughter and are tired of our quality of life in the UK (time away from home/eachother due to work, high stress roles, the location we are forced to live in due to work is not desirable, etc). However, the promise of semi-retirement by age 40 is making the decision hard.

Here are our choices:

1. Move overseas in 2029:

• With £200k for a house deposit
• With £50k saved for moving costs/getting there/safety net
• Child aged 5
• Would need to both work full time once in the new country, as soon as possible, and we would both take a substantial salary cut due to the fact that our current roles and skills in the UK are not directly transferable to the place we are planning to move to. Most likely, we will have to start on low wage jobs, like construction for my husband and financial admin for me.
• We would be living in the country we want, with the lower stress and laid back lifestyle that we want for our family. We would likely have a small, but manageable, mortgage. Disposable income would not be plentiful - but my husband wouldn't have to be away from home nearly as much (currently he's away approx 3-4 months every year), our daughter would be growing up in safer country, and the lifestyle would be 10x better simply due to the location.
• We would both would be in our mid 30s.

2. Move overseas in 2033:

• £375k for house (enough to buy outright in cash based on where we are planning to move to)
• £100k saved to settle in / for safety net / get ourselves over there / perhaps enjoy an extended holiday on our way over there
• £700 paid into our account every month from the UK role we will have left, until pensionable age
• Child age 9, so still in primary
• The option to work part time / reduced hours, due to the fact that a mortgage would not be part of our fixed expenses.

I hope this post does not come across as tone-deaf or braggy - we have worked really hard for many years to get to a point we are now, and now faced with the choice of breaking free earlier vs. the idea of being able to be semi-retired in our 40s, we are struggling to decide what is best. Financial freedom is very important to us, but we are very aware that we will never get these years back, our child is only young once, and tomorrow is never promised. On the other hand, I don't want to be looking back when Im 40 thinking 'we could have a paid off house now, £700 extra a month and be working part time'.

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated - we flip flop between the two options on a daily basis.

Edit: Added country name

Hi, long time lurker and first time poster. Really sorry if this comes off as out of touch, I know that I'm incredibly fortunate to be in this position.

I stumbled on this forum a few years ago and it completely transformed how I viewed personal finance. Thanks to all of your insights I've managed to cross the £100k NW milestone.

For the last 2/3 years, having a £100k NW has been the goal, but now that I've met this target, I feel rather low as I reflect on the other areas of life that I've neglected along the way.

I don't have a particular age in mind to FIRE, but it's dawned on me that I could end up being a dull person if I continue prioritising financial goals from 25. I also don't care for my job much either which is compounding this feeling of inadequacy/unfulfillment.

I suppose my question is, where do I go from here? Do I slow down temporarily while I figure life out, or try to reach a new target which could enable me to coast? I travel frequently, and would love to go travelling for an extended period but basically halting any FIRE related progress is a concern.

It's worth mentioning that I'm fortunate to live at home currently which is helping me to save/invest aggressively.

Any thoughts or reflections would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Here is my financial breakdown also:

- Salary: c.54k

- Pension: 40.6k

- S&S ISA: 49.9k

- Medium-term bank account: 7.5k

- Cash/Emergency fund: 4k (drained this with life expenses but will grow again)

We’ve had a wealth management company look after our investments since 2014. Realising they’re going to get expensive the further along we go.

The decision has been made. We’re moving. Besides, they’re not really providing much value as we only have annual reviews and really, we’re making all the decisions.

But where do we move our money to? Thinking about II or Vanguard. Two SIPPs, two ISAs (stocks and shares). Thanks for any advice!

Hi all,

So after a long and expensive divorce, I am back on my feet and looking to improve my financial situation so I thought I'd consult the collective wisdom here.

I am late 40s, earning £75k gross. Only my income in the household.

• Mortgage £185k outstanding on my new place, 20 years left (ouch)
• Monthly mortgage payment of £1,419 inc a £250 monthly overpay
• Two small pensions, one £49k (private), and one at £74k (employer) which I contribute 5% and employer contributes 5%
• Just started a stocks and shares ISA, currently putting in £350 p/month
• After all the above and all monthly bills, I have around £1k left over each month
• At the moment I have £30k in the current account, so it doesn't all need to be in there - I want to keep a buffer for unexpected bills etc, but can use some of this to invest

So here are my questions:

• Should I put more monthly into the bigger pension (employer)?
• Or increase monthly payments into the private pension - or combine them?
• Should I over pay more on the mortgage monthly?
  • 2 year fix comes to an end in July 2027 and rates haven't come down as previously projected (thanks Donald)
• If I wanted to take, say, £15k from my current account, how should I split that into investments?
• (I do want to spend about £5k on improvements, decoration etc to my place)

Other than that, I'm pretty frugal - I drive an old, fully paid off car. Don't smoke, don't regularly go out boozing, no other debts, no subscriptions like Netflix, Prime, Spotify etc.

But the marriage and divorce really did a number on me financially over quite a long period, so I know I'm behind the curve for my age, and I know I'll never be a millionaire, but I'd like to make the best of what I do have - so any input would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

Hi guys,

I wondered what your thoughts were on the following :-

Im 37 and not a high earner my base salary is £43,000 and Ive currently got a vanguard ftse global all cap stocks and shares portfolio worth £197,000 currently. This is split £103,000 in isa and £94,000 in GIA. Im shifting £20,000 across from gia to isa every new tax year.

I currently pay 6% to get my employer 12% match into workplace pension with a minimum £645 a month going in. Ive started put all overtime and small yearly bonus in to pension via salary sacrifice aswell.

Pension is invested in standard life overseas tracker fund and is currently worth £77,000

Ive got £20,000 emergency fund to one side and modest mortage free home and 0 debt.

Should i stop contributing £500 to the GIA and increase my basic % workplace pension contribution and aim for increased tax efficiency?

Im just looking to fine tune my plan and wondered if anyone else has done similar.

Thanks.

Lots of people post on here saying they have accumulated multiple 100s of thousands in S&S ISAs, and sometimes GIAs if they are saving more than the ISA limit per year.

What do people do regarding the FCA compensation limit (£120k)? Do you all have multiple accounts to spread it around? How does that fit with different pricing structures etc., i.e. does it mean later-opened accounts end up with less favourable fees as the good ones are already on the limit?

As a second follow up question, does anyone know if a child's account under my control has a separate £120k ceiling, as per joint accounts, or would it be included in mine?

I'm looking for honest perspectives from people who have left secure, well-paid careers to pursue property full time, or another business, here in the UK.
A bit about me.
I have a degree in Estate Management & Facility Management and spent around 10 years working in commercial real estate before moving into financial regulatory compliance about four years ago.
The move into compliance was largely motivated by the money. Financially, it's been a great decision, but professionally I've realised it just isn't work I enjoy or find meaningful. The role itself isn't the issue—it's simply not something I can see myself doing for the next 20 years.
Outside of work, property has always been where my interest lies. We've also run an Airbnb in the past, which performed well before we sold the property because it became increasingly tax inefficient to hold it personally. Alongside property, I've also started a clothing brand, although that's very much a longer-term project rather than something I'd rely on financially.
My wife and I have been quite deliberate with our finances. We earn similar salaries and have structured our household so that all of our essential bills can comfortably be covered by either one of our incomes. If one of us stopped working tomorrow, we'd need to make some lifestyle adjustments, but nothing too dramatic.
Our current financial position is roughly:
£68k in ISAs

£74k in instant access savings

£15k invested in a venture capital fund

Our home is worth around £480k with a £354k mortgage

I'm now seriously considering leaving compliance to return to property full time, focusing on residential development and investment.
The reasons are fairly straightforward:
I already have a decade of experience in the property industry.

I genuinely enjoy property and building businesses.

The corporate environment has become increasingly stressful, with continual restructures and redundancy rounds.

The job has reached the point where it's having a noticeable impact on my mental wellbeing.

That said, I'm very conscious that this could simply be burnout talking. I have no illusions that running my own business is easier—if anything, I expect it to be significantly harder. The difference is that I'd rather work hard building something I genuinely care about than continue in a career that I no longer enjoy.
The biggest concern for me isn't the hard work; it's the opportunity cost. Walking away from a good salary could delay our long-term financial goals if things don't go to plan. On the other hand, staying in employment isn't entirely risk-free either, given how common restructures and redundancies have become.
So I'd really value hearing from people who've actually made the jump.
Did you leave a secure career to pursue property or another business?
Looking back, was it the right decision?
What did you underestimate before making the leap? If you could go back, what would you have wanted in place before handing in your notice?
I'd really appreciate hearing both the success stories and the cautionary tales.

Update - I have decided to invest 50k tomorrow in index fund, and invest 50k 1st of every month for 5 months until December. I will use a world index fund. I am using the scottish widows platform which used to be iweb. Any last bit of extra advice appreciated!

Throw away account for obvious reasons.

Plan to FIRE at 50, needing a bit of a sense check to make sure this is achievable.

Am currently 39, feeling like I need an end game goal to my/my husband’s career. Starting at the ‘almost’ bottom.

Emergency fund = £10,500. Cash element of S&S ISA, currently 3.80% interest var

S&S ISA = £11,400. Contributing £30 per day/£913 per month. Global index. If I have enough cash I will top up to 20k ISA allowance per year.

Workplace Pension = £16,268. Contributing £792 per month (inc employer cont). Likely to gain £10,000 bonus next April, via sal sac with 14% NI saving uplift.

Recently promoted and went full time to £49,000 salary, likely to get a £2k boost by end of year. Also receive £420 DLA for my daughter for the next 3 years. I plan to stay under the high rate tax by sal sac if I have any further pay rises.

My outgoings are £1,000 - £1,500 per month, for food and household items/clothes etc. Plus £40 in phone/life insurance. £200 per month into separate savings for family holidays.

Husband’s finances are a bit further along. 40 years old. Salary £120,000, sal sacs into pension down to £98,000 (an old medical benefit keeps popping up as a benefit, so he keeps it a couple k under to compensate so HMRC don’t change tax code).

Emergency Fund: £11,500. In a current account with 2.10% interest.

S&S ISA: current have £72k. Contributing £1666 per month

Pension: Various funds, currently £192k, contributing £28k per year.

Outgoings: 

Average Monthly spend before bills: £1,600

Mortgage £114,000 remaining, fixed 2.09% until 06/29. 10y 9m remaining, £994 pm payment.

Household bills: £486 car finance for family car, £314 council tax, £28 internet, £183 energy, £10 phone.

Subscriptions: we recently trimmed these down, to £22 Spotify, £2.99 Apple cloud space, £10.99 Xbox pass.

Thanks in advance everyone!

I’m a recent university graduate (22) and have been fortunate enough to have received a few offers in and around my field of study (civil engineering).

I am very interested in FIRE and from what I can gather the earlier you can get started the better.

My current dilemma is that I have been offered a few different roles in different industries. Some of which require me to relocate.

Currently living at home with around ~£40k saved due to being able to keep expenses minimal. However, one of the roles which I am required to relocate for is a slightly better package (£44k) than what I am currently offered living at home (£32k + company car).

Is it worth relocating, or should I tough it out a few more years at home aggressively saving?

Hello. I’m a Canadian in the UK. After moving here, I transferred my RRSP (registered retirement savings plan) and DCPP (defined contribution pension plan) in Canada to another provider in Canada. The transfers were done as transfers in cash. Would this generate a capital gains tax in the UK? If so what is the capital gains amount based on?

38 (wife 40), two kids aged 8 and 6. Aiming to FIRE around 48–49, when the kids hit university. Saving ~£6k/month consistently. Current expenses around 8k pcm.

---

Net Worth

Real Estate (net) | £595,000 | 40% |

Pension | £235,000 | 16% |

Global ETFs | £211,000 | 14% |

Individual Stocks | £87,000 | 6% |

Equities/Other Investments | £150,000 | 10% |

Cash | £75,000 | 5% |

Crypto | £11,000 | 1% |

Total - £1,480,000

---

I feel like we are on track although liquidity is poor and I know I need to get rid of some RE and move to VWRA or so. Thoughts?

Secondly, I am nervous kids' university costs in 10 yesrs or so will be ridiculous.

Now the tricky part is - we are currently residing abroad in the middle east. So trying to save and invest into vwra when possible. This stint has made us realise that there is so much life to be lived when moving out of the UK, so we are thinking retirement life is probably going to be a mix of a UK base + abroad.

I know this is for much later but does anyone know what the best options and tax efficient ways are to withdraw pension if we are living abroad, say, in a 0 tax country? Do we still have to pay tax in the UK?

Thanks!

Appreciate a lot of people here are trying to achieve fire with a salary of 100k mid 20s

But I would love to hear more about people on lower salaries. I saw a post once before by someone on a lower salary achieving it and I found it really inspiring and interesting how they made it work (in contrast to the more cookie cutter massive salary and sacrificing into my pension story)

Is anyone going for fire in a salary 20-40k?

Good afternoon, I am 38 male uk. I have 300k wrapped in stock and shares isa but its just sitting there not invested. I have my own house paid for and will have another 200k to live on. I have been holding back for years incase I time it wrong, I feel its now or never. I have been looking at drip feeding maybe 20k a month into lifestrategy 100 and just leave it and see what it does. Is this good plan and is now bad time to do this? Any advice appreciated

I am 45M and recently made a loss of 60k from a failed side business venture which is now closed.

I want advice on how to invest so the loss is recovered quickly via other alternative investment means.

Current income from day job is 115k (incl employer pension) plus 10% year end bonus. Partner earns 60k plus 20% bonus.

Current savings (combined)-

Pension- 400k

ISA- 100k

House equity- 200k

Extras- 10k + 50k soon

Current total pension fund contribution including employer contribition is roughly 5200 per month combined for both me and partner. (Increased contributions recently)

I will soon be unlocking some 50k from an asset sale.

Need to know how to invest this 50k plus roughly 2k per month that we can spare each month towards savings.

What was supposed to be a side hustle turned into a disaster and need to know the best and quickest way (low to medium risk) to recover 60k losses over time.

(Casino is not an option!)

My thoughts on FIRE, for what it's worth.
People get caught up in the pursuit of saving and investing and forget to live. They promise themselves a life in a far flung part of their life. The trouble is to build up well, to continually forgo things - creates a mindset, a mindset that isn't easy to change when you reach the promised land and decide to down tools and stop working.

I'd said make sure you have a lifelong balance between saving and spending, I've only just really realised this myself, as it became apparent to me as I turned a couple of things down based on costs if not now, when?

Hi everyone. We're new to this forum and this concept after finally deciding to pull our socks up and get serious about our retirement. Hopefully it's not too late.

We're both 47. Run our own limited companies and have a decent combined income. Roughly £65K each in dividends every year. And we have a salary of £10k each.

Firstly, I'll say we've been a bit daft with our cash over the years. As in, had a bloody brilliant life. Travelled the world. Invested in a camper van. Had nice clothes. Shopped at decent supermarkets. Had Mindful Chef a lot. Eaten out. Wasted money by spending whatever we liked. I don't need lectures on all that. But yikes, 47 came up fast. And with AI and recent health issues (nothing life-threatening), we reckon it's time we put our foot down.

We only began saving in 2014, and we know we've not yet got enough, but we have the following:

• House worth around £600k, £260k left on the mortgage at 3.89%
• £100k in ISAs between us
• £190k in pensions so far

The plan we've pulled together:

• £3k/month overpaying the mortgage (unlimited overpayments, checked). Dead in under five years, when we're 52
• £3k/month into pensions as employer contributions through the companies
• £600/month into ISAs (bridge is already covered)
• Once the mortgage dies, the whole £5k-ish redirects into ISAs

We're happy to retire on £30k a year between us and be mortgage-free. But that's if we stop at 55. And so we'll probably semi-retire and crack on for a bit. We enjoy what we do. It would just be nice to reduce the days we work.

We've got options – we could downsize on the house later. Inheritance is potential, but we're not relying on it.

And that's it. All written by my fair hand from a small dining table in southern France on one of our month-long camper van / Airbnb adventure/hybird work trips. A non-negotiable, given the recent health scare that made me housebound for an entire year. A year when my husband was an absolute legend, helping me get dressed in those first few months. Dear God, it was awful. But I never stopped working.

Anyway, any advice is welcome. Thanks so much!

Partner and I 49 TY. London based Have a 7 yr old. Key expenses - Private schooling + mortgage.

All financials for both hubby and I combined as unit below:

Pensions - £900k.

GIA/ ISA mix - £120k.

BTL 1 - £725k equity post tax/ cost of sales (£34k rent covers repayment mortgage, tax - no real income).

BTL 2 - £1m equity post tax/costs of sale (£54k rent cover tax, repayment and makes decent income - enough to cover half of private school fees- we wish to keep this house for daughter).

No inheritance to come as self made. Hence, keen to pass a good start to daughter.
Own home £745k mortgage + £500k equity. But needs work and needing £200k for it.

I do worry. Hubby works enough to cover our living. But we don't take holidays and livr a v tight life on the salary. So we can carry on repayments on properties.

I am trying to convince husband we need to sell BTL 1 to reduce mortgage burden and add to pensions / ISA/ gia. He says keep.

Any advice? Thanks

edited for all spell checks that made text read poorly

I have £1m liquid rn all generated from tax free gains in an ISA. How much of a buffer should I have or do you think I can retire ? House is paid off within few years (max 5)- wife works so she is helping pay that too. We could live off £50k (tax free since from ISA) pretty comfortably. Wife woukd stop working after house is paid off.

Hypothetically if we assume i invest this Into an All world index. Ànd want to live on £50k p.a for rest of my life. How much of a buffer should I get before I retire ? I.e extra £200k would get me 4 years runway during a bad market. Or do you think it’s fine to just assume 10% return on average ànd à 50k withdraw and retire now. My aim is to never withdraw if it makes me go under my principal amount of £1m.

Pension is just a couple k per year pretty irrelevant. No inheritance or anything so this truly would be the only income I have if I retired.

I don’t get a crazy salary ànd just hate working but have been pretty focused on investments so would like to quit asap.