r/LeanFireUK

Hello everyone. I’m fairly new to personal finance and the fire movement more generally. 

I am keen to put myself in a position to retire in my 50s along with my partner. If not retire then to have a greater degree of flexibility and control over my time and work that I do. 

For context we have 2 kids aged 21 months and 9 months. I (32M) am a paramedic with the ambulance service. My partner (29F) works part time now as a financial administrator.

At the moment we have:

Emergency fund - £6000

My S and S ISA - £3,600

Partners S and S ISA - £1000

Partners workplace pension - £24,000

My SIPP - £2,300

My DB pension - ( NHS 2015 scheme) - Currently £2800 per annum at 67. Estimated value if still in NHS at 57 would be somewhere around £20,000 per annum if no lump sum is taken 

Our collective monthly income is around £4200. 

After essential bills, fun money and money for kids we have £1100 left to save/invest. 

Plan would be: 

-£400 in to my S and S ISA. 

-£400 in to partners S and S ISA

-Additional £100 overpayment on mortgage. Already overpaying £100. (Mortgage would be paid off in 25 years aged 57,55 respectively). 

-£200 would go in to a holiday fund. 

I am due to go from £43,000 to £52,000 salary in two and a half years and would like to think I could then up investments if avoiding lifestyle creep.

Assuming 7% (10% average minus inflation average 3%ish) returns on the S and S accounts, both invested in VWRP, values would sit around:

My S and S ISA - £334,645

Partners S and S ISA - £320,534

Total - £655,179

If we had a more conservative estimate of 4 %:

My S and S ISA - £213,828

Partners S and S ISA - £206,897

Total - £420,725

This would effectively act as a bridge until state pension and access to my DB pension. 

We have estimated we could comfortably live on £25,000-£30,000 per annum covering bills, a few holidays, recreational spending and money for kids.

I appreciate there a lots of variables in life including market downturns, illness, divorce, pension changes and other joys. I also appreciate my children may require financial assistance throughout their life.

I would just appreciate feedback on my forecasting and would appreciate any constructive feedback on errors or things I haven’t considered. 

Thanks in advance.

Had a few drastic life changes over the last few years that mean I'm not quite where I expected I'd be and decided it's time (while the sun is shining metaphorically and actually) to start taking stock and planning for the future again. Because really, I'm not in a bad position if I can just stop regretting what could have been.

May I ask how people come up with 'their number' for Lean Fire?

I'm in the position that from 65 I would be very comfortable (taking a defined benefit pension a few years early), but it's the gap from 50-65 that I need to figure out (maybe meaning part time or lower paid work or being frugal) and at the same time I need to balance actually doing some work on the house ideally before I retire.

The problem I have is balancing the two pulls on my income of investing enough and early enough so the funds have time to grow to bridge the gap vs getting work done on the house so I'm not trying to fund it from a fixed/limited income.

If you were 23 again today, what would you do step by step to build wealth and reach financial independence while still enjoying life?

What would you focus on first

What would you avoid completely

And what would you not waste time on at all

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve been through it and learned along the way

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

https://preview.redd.it/sllzs8w6hvah1.png?width=1234&format=png&auto=webp&s=f3b4657977fcfec09893eccdb737be228388875a

I just hit the one-year mark with my workplace pension, and today I checked the balance for the first time in a while.

It's sitting at £4,312, which honestly surprised me. I know that's not life-changing money, but seeing it grow month after month without me constantly thinking about it has been pretty motivating.

For context, this isn't my main investment portfolio. I also invest separately in index funds and individual stocks, so I treat my pension as the "don't touch it for decades" account while my personal portfolio is where I'm more hands-on.

A year ago, retirement felt so far away that I barely cared about my pension. Now, seeing the compounding start to work (even at this early stage) has completely changed how I look at it.

I'm curious how other people approach this.

Just an interesting thought tat I had with all the hot weather recently - it made me think about more about a more pessimistic future scenario....

A lot of us in this community are spending our time planning carefully with our money for a relatively stable distant future (which might not be the case).

Are any of you putting the same effort into planning for events such as water / food / medicine shortages and being as healthy as possible to handle hotter temps?

I’ve been saving hard for a while working full time but it’s crushing my soul and I’m think about going down to three days a week.

This is my situation:

45M. Married with two kids in primary school. Wife makes about £85k and likes work. I currently make about £115k but it’s via an umbrella so not very tax efficient income.

£255k in my Pension, wife has about £210k.

£10k emergency (I know, I know! We’ve overpaid the mortgage though so could take a 12 months payment window if we wanted, a £17k “saving”)
Oh and maybe £18k in gold.

£400k equity in house, £135k left on mortgage due to be cleared the year I’ll turn 57.

Currently saving about £44k/year into SIPP. But if I go to three days a week now, this will drop to about £24k/year.

Wife puts about £15k/ year away.

I want to retire at 57 if not before. On about £30k after tax. Reducing to £25k when a bit older.

The wife doesn’t want to retire, at the moment anyway and all being well would happily cover some of my £30k at 57, this would help with sequence risk and early high % drawdown but I don’t want to rely on this plan. I’d like to be able to afford for us both to retire at 57 if she changes her mind.

The question is, will I still be on track? Or am I being stupid giving up work two days a week? It will obviously put my saving back. But I want to get a bit of my life back now. Am I being impatient or is this actually the smart, work life balance move while I’m young enough to enjoy it and spend some more time with the kids?

Anyone have similar dilemmas?

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

So I'm in a period of not working. Reluctant to call it FIREd.

High level my figures are.

ISA £206k

GIA £255k

SIPP £109k

LISA £19k

CRYPTO £73k

My expenses are about £1800p/m

Each year I do a transfer from GIA > ISA (16k) + LISA (4k) + SIPP (2.88k).

I've been selling down the crypto for income but this month did GIA.

CGT already owed this tax year is about £2k. I expect this could be about £4-5k by the end of the tax year.

Cost basis of the crypto is effectively £0.

Currently 43 years old.

The question is -

Should I start drawing down on the ISA, I'm not sure how much tax I'm paying on a £1800 disposal from the GIA, it's probably a few hundred. More if it's the crypto.

Or, is it a clear cut rule to draw down on the GIA and take the hit in CGT. I'm still in the basic tax range. I think I'd move onto the ISA before higher rate, but I don't see that coming.

All non crypto investments are global index funds and mortgage would be cleared in 11 years, currently paying about £750pm

Disposing of the crypto isn't an option at the moment.