I’m looking for some opinions on a decision I’m considering and would be interested to hear what others would do in my situation.

My current position

Outstanding mortgage: £95,028. Planned to be paid off in 9 years
Current mortgage interest rate: 4.41%
Monthly mortgage payment: £1,004
Currently contributing £1,111 a month into pension
Pension pot of approximately £600,000.
Planning to retire in 2 years at age 62.
My pension investments have an assumed/target long-term growth rate of around 6% per year
I am a 40% tax-rate taxpayer, so pension contributions can benefit from 40% tax relief

Looking at options 

A) Take the £95k tax-free pension cash now, crystallising £380k, clear the mortgage, then invest the £1,004/month into the pension which will also benefit from additional 40% = increased investment of £1,673 to invest £2,784 a month into the pension

B) Leave the mortgage at 4.41%, continue paying £1,004/month, and keep the pension invested and contributions as is. 

C) Do something completely different?

I’ve run a simulation on both and appears option A works out as £20k better off. I’d be particularly interested in hearing opinions on these options and seeing the maths behind people’s reasoning.

Hi all

I am currently 20 years old and as the reddit suggests im looking to have financial independence and retire early and would like some help and guidance towards that goal.

I am currently investing £1000 a month into the S&P 500. I work a retail job but i have good career prospects in front of me and i look to increase that to 2-3 thousand when i become a higher earner.

Does anybody have any other tips on other things i can invest in to help me achieve my goal or resources that will educate me on the topic and help me become more financially literate.

My family has invested in residential property so i will likely get into that later down the line but i have also heard people suggest stocks and shares isas and don’t know if that is something i should research and look into

Any help is welcome and thank you :)

Currently using Scottish widows as my broker and trying to buy the new VALL ETF. Vanguard lists the charges as 0.07% however Scottish widows is showing it as 0.87% which makes no sense.

Why is there a discrepancy in charges?
I don’t want to be paying 4 figure fees!

Has anyone else had this experience switching to VALL?

Thanks

Afaik vanguard SIPPs don’t have a protected retirement age? But InvestEngine said they were told by vanguard that it does?

If I want 60k/year is my fire number actually 1.5m or is it higher to account for taxes?

Are there any good calculators that consider taxes across pension/gia?

What strategies are people employing regarding taxes during the drawdown period?

Has anyone here transferred their ISA/SIPP from HL to Vanguard? I'd like to do a partial transfer if that's possible, moving my funds to Vanguard for lower fees, but keeping my "gamble" stocks in HL. Is this possible? If so, is it straightforward? Thanks in advance for any info.

I’m currently 40.5, single, no kids (and not planning any), and thinking of FIREing in my early/mid-40s.

I’m interested in how people would think about the tail risks of a potentially 50+ year retirement, particularly sequence-of-returns risk, permanent renting and possible long-term-care costs.

My target spending would be around £40k a year in today’s money, which would equate to an initial withdrawal rate of roughly 2% from the accessible portfolio, before taking my pension into account.

I estimate around £20-–25k of that is genuinely essential spending. The remainder would be discretionary - nicer accommodation, more travel, purchases, etc. - so in a bad market I could potentially reduce spending significantly rather than blindly increasing £40k with inflation every year.

The basic plan

I’m considering selling my house when I FIRE and investing the proceeds rather than buying another property. My original assumption had always been that I would sell my home here, retire abroad and buy my home there outright with no debt (original target FIRE number was £2mm with a paid off home, excluding pensions). I’ve seen a lot of people on FIRE forums who seem to think along similar lines with regards to having a paid off home. However, I’m considering moving to SEA where rent is cheaper which led me to ask myself if renting indefinitely would be a better option, but for some reason the idea of renting for the rest of my life makes me quite uncomfortable, even though I recognise that financially it could make sense. Buying would tie up a substantial amount of capital in a non-income-producing asset, whereas renting would leave the full portfolio invested and give me more geographical flexibility.

In round numbers, if I sell my house next year I think the accessible investment portfolio might be somewhere around £2m (at current equity market levels, obviously this could change quite a lot in a short space of time), excluding pensions. I also currently have around £450k in a SIPP/workplace pension, invested 100% in equities. I’m 40.5 now and should be able to access that from age 57. I’ve excluded the UK State Pension entirely because I’m not certain what I’ll ultimately be entitled to and would rather have the plan work without relying on it.

The proposed accessible portfolio would broadly be:

• 80% global equities
• 20% short-duration fixed income MMFs / government bond ladder (split 50:50), expected to be funded with ~55-60% of the estimated sale proceeds of the house
• no debt/leverage
• The pension would remain 100% equities and compound separately until it becomes accessible.
• Monte Carlo modelling

I initially built a normal spreadsheet using constant annual returns, but that didn’t seem very realistic for a 50-year retirement since it ignores sequence-of-returns risk so I started experimenting with Monte Carlo modelling using 1000s of 50-year return sequences. The assumptions I’m currently using are:

• Equity volatility: 15%
• Fixed-income volatility: 5%
• Equity/fixed-income correlation: 10%
• 50-year planning horizon
• Spending rises with inflation at 4%
• £20k real annual essential-spending floor
• Pension compounds untouched until age 57
• Deliberately conservative tax assumption whereby money actually spent/remitted for living costs is taxed

I tested three long-run real-return assumptions:

Low/stress case

• Equities: 2% real
• Fixed income: 0% real

Middle case

• Equities: 3% real
• Fixed income: 1% real

Higher case

• Equities: 4% real
• Fixed income: 2% real

I also tested different spending policies. Under the most flexible policy, if the real value of the portfolio declines sufficiently, spending progressively falls from the £40k target towards the £20k real essential floor, and then rises again if the portfolio recovers.

For a roughly £2m accessible portfolio plus the £450k pension, assuming £40k initial spending but allowing discretionary spending to be cut progressively towards a £20k real floor during poor market periods, the approximate 50-year survival rates were:

• Low 2% / 0% case: ~87%
• Middle 3% / 1% case: ~95%
• Higher 4% / 2% case: ~98%

The low-return result is what I’m struggling to interpret. On the one hand, 87% sounds quite low for something as important as not running out of money. On the other hand, this assumes equities only return 2% above inflation and fixed income returns nothing above inflation over an extremely long period, while also allowing for unlucky sequencing of returns. The failures also appear to happen relatively late rather than in the first couple of decades. So I’d particularly appreciate views from people who understand Monte Carlo analysis better than I do:

1. Are these real-return and volatility assumptions reasonable for a 50-year FIRE plan? Is 2% real equity / 0% real fixed income a sensible downside case, or is it excessively pessimistic over half a century?
2. What Monte Carlo success rate would you personally want before FIREing in your early 40s? Would you consider ~95% under a middle-case assumption adequate where spending is genuinely flexible? Would you want 99%+? Or does trying to make a portfolio survive essentially every conceivable 50-year return sequence just lead to massive over-saving?
3. How should I interpret the ~87% stress-case result? Would you see that as evidence the portfolio isn’t large enough, or is it reasonably reassuring that the plan still works in the large majority of simulations despite assuming extremely weak real returns for 50 years?
4. How much value would you place on spending flexibility? My thinking is that £40k is the desired lifestyle rather than an unavoidable annual liability. If markets were terrible, I could progressively cut discretionary spending towards £20k real rather than continuing to withdraw £40k + inflation. Does that seem like a reasonable way to manage sequence risk?

Renting indefinitely

I’m also interested in hearing from people who have FIRE’d while renting. If you had an approximately 2% initial withdrawal rate and a separate pension, would you be comfortable renting indefinitely in SEA, or would you still strongly prefer to ring-fence a significant amount of capital to buy a home outright? For anyone who chose to rent long term after FIRE:

• Did the lack of housing security bother you?
• Did that feeling disappear over time?
• Do you regret not buying?
• How do you think about rent inflation or potentially having to move later in life?

I suspect some of my discomfort is psychological rather than financial, but I’m interested in whether there are risks I’m underestimating.

Long-term care

The other thing I have difficulty incorporating is long-term care. I don’t know whether either of my parents will eventually require significant care, how much I might want or need to contribute financially if they do, or whether I myself might need expensive care later in life. It seems like an unusually difficult FIRE expense because the answer could be £0 or a very substantial six-figure amount.

How do people generally deal with this? Do you maintain a separate long-term-care reserve, rely on having a substantial portfolio remaining later in life, assume other spending declines significantly at advanced ages, buy insurance where available, model a large one-off expense, or simply accept it as an unquantifiable tail risk?

I’d particularly welcome criticism of the assumptions/plan rather than reassurance. I’m trying to work out what I might be missing or what assumptions may be wrong before making the jump.

I'm thinking about retiring in 2 years from now, and am contemplating building a linker ladder (ie a ladder of index-linked UK Gilts) to cover my expenses in my bridge period, ie the ladder starts at my retirement date and lasts 12 years (at which point I'll be able to access my DC pension), with me holding each rung to maturity.

I currently have disposable (and not ISA sheltered) cash-like savings that can fund around half the needed value of the linker ladder. The current pricing of linkers looks attractive, and so I'm wondering which of these different approaches would be the most sensible to do now? Any advice from the hive mind here would be greatly appreciated.

1) Fully-funding just the 6 rungs that mature soonest?

2) Fully-funding just the 6 rungs that mature furthest away (ie closer to pension access age)?

3) Fully funding just alternate rungs?

4) Half-funding all rungs?

5) Something else?

I could fully-fund the ladder now by making use of my tax-sheltered investments (ie S&S ISA, which is currently mostly invested in an all-world ETF), but my gut feel is that it makes more sense to try to build the linker ladder from non-tax-sheltered savings (and make use of the low coupon / no capital gains advantage when holding to maturity), leaving the ISA for equities...?

Hello everyone.

Am I correct in my thinking that it's time to stop growing my pension & commit to a bridge fund. Just want to make sure I'm not missing anything?

Currently 40 years old £350 000 in my pension.

Earn currently £54 000 a year.
Not including bonus & OT.

This year I will be making around £70 000

Therefore £20K will be salary sacrificed into my pension due to tax savings.

From next year onwards I will be putting the minimum amount into my pension to gain company match. Me 6% company 12%.

But I will increase it if needed to stay at £50 000 yearly income so I don't hit the 40% tax threshold.

The rest of my money from now on i will be putting into my S&S ISA & if maxed out my GIA. Aiming for £20K a year but that's ambitious & probably unlikely TBH.

Currently have a £28K emergency fund. S&S ISA 14K.

I think my pension will look after itself now from my basic use of a compound interest calculator at 5% interest per year.

But I need a bridge if I want to retire before 58.

I ideally want to fire or coast fire at 50.

I'm not confident I will get there but at this point in time I don't see the point throwing too much more into my pension if I want to FIRE before 58. I need a bridge fund.

Our pension is doing well ATM. I think it's averaged 12% (7% deducting RPI inflation roughly) return per year averaged over the last 10 years.

Minimum outgoings ATM are.

£1140.28 mortgage & utilities a month. £400 food a month.

£18483.36 a year currently split between two.

I think I could comfortably live on £36000 net & cover my half or even the whole amount for a time plus have a bit of fun.

Ideally I want to grow my pension so I could withdraw £50000 a year from 58.

Thanks for reading .

Hello friendly fire folks, I thought I'd to a late year progress check on my current status.

Background: 49M, London, 2 kids and wife. Target FIRE at 55.

Income: Gross 156k (125k base. Rest bonus+RSU). Net 105k.

Pension Contributions: 60k (max out)/year

S&S ISA: 20k (max out)/year

Savings:

Outgoings:

Target Income: 50k/annum (after tax)

Current projection: 8% YoY on investment growth leads to 1.8m at 55 meeting target. Currently yielding approximately 15% YoY growth.

Key questions:

• Is maxing out pension, mainly driven by the need to reduce taxable income the right choice?
• Should I overpay mortgage?
• Should I look at tax optimizations?
• What else should I be doing that I'm not currently doing?

I'm curious how people here decide what is "enough" to actually stop working.

We're a couple in our late 30s with one young child, living in London. We're fortunate to have a high household income at the moment and are saving/investing quite aggressively, mainly through ISAs, pensions and a taxable investment account.

We own our home with a mortgage and also have some property income, which should cover at least part of our basic living costs later in life.

At the moment I've loosely set £2m in today's money as the target for our total investment portfolio. The rough plan would be around £1m in pensions and another £1m across ISAs and taxable investments, although obviously I'm hoping it ends up higher than that.

But the more I think about it, the less certain I am that this number actually means anything.

Our current spending is relatively high because we're in London, have a mortgage and childcare costs, but a lot of those costs should disappear eventually. We're not particularly interested in an ultra-luxury retirement either. We'd like to travel, eat out, help our child and generally not have to think too much about money, but we're not trying to spend £150k+ a year forever.

So I'm interested in how others here think about the point where you would actually say:

"That's enough. I don't need to accumulate any more and I'm comfortable giving up my salary."

For those aiming to retire around 55–60, what portfolio size are you targeting?

And for anyone already close to or past that point, what number eventually made you feel financially secure enough to stop working?

I'm especially interested in whether people think in terms of:

• a fixed portfolio number,
• expected annual spending,
• a particular withdrawal rate, (Im thinking of Guyton-Klinger strategy)
• or simply reaching a level where additional saving no longer meaningfully improves your lifestyle.

I realise everyone's circumstances are different, but I'd be interested to hear what people consider a realistically "enough" UK retirement pot for a comfortable/affluent retirement in London rather than a bare-bones FIRE lifestyle.

Does £2m total invested assets plus some property income sound like the sort of level where most people would seriously consider stopping, or would you personally want significantly more before walking away from a well-paid career?

Hey guys, first time posting here so please be nice! The other considerations, is although I like the idea of FIRE, I also like work. So my goal isn’t to retire at 45 or whatever, but to be able to finish work whenever I want to and not to have to keep on working!

I(29M) am in an okay financial position. I earn about £70,000 a year as a basic and with bonus could be up to £120,000 (caveat that I work on provision that I won’t earn it.) Partner and I got married last year so a lot of our savings went on that, but she works and earns £50,000. So a joint net income of about £7,000 a month.

Started this job about 9 months ago from a self employed contracting position that paid me about the £120,000 but without the guarantee hence changing.

Currently pay £1,300 a month into my pension with work match, they only match up to 6%. With current pension around £40,000. Partner pays £400 a month with pot about £22,000 (29F.)

My grandparents passed away earlier this year and have left their estate equally between their grandchildren. Meaning we are all set to inherit circa £60,000-£80,000.

My question is what is the best use of this?

Other considerations. I have about £12,000 in a stocks and shares ISA (pay in £700 a month) only reason so low is paying for wedding.

Mortgage is about £202,000 with house about £280,000, but truthfully we would both like to move in the next 2-5 years as we would like a family in the that time frame and this is very much a first house and not really space for a family.
Mortgage is 29 years, fixed at 2.43% and about £810 a month. (Coming to end of 5 year fixed in September 2027….) but if we stay in house payment only goes up to about £1000.

Have £20,000 as emergency fund as well.

Is it pension and get the higher rate tax relief?
Is it max ISAs until a lot invested?
Pay down the mortgage, but thinking of moving and what if we donn’t get what we want for the house.

Thanks for all the help in advance and please do let me know if I have missed anything!

Next year the government is making your private pension as part of your estate which will be subject to inheritance tax.

This is disgusting we work all of our lives to enjoy retirement and pass some money onto family members after we pass.

The government gets enough of peoples money. I was wondering does this change your Fire goals?

Another point the government keep moving the age you can draw your private pension out but us at risk of not even reaching the age.

Pots:

Premium Bonds: £50k

GIA: £330k (80% short dated Gilts, 13% Global Equity, 7% cash)

ISA: £495k (65% Global Equity, 35% cash)

SIPP: £885k (60% Global Equity, 40% cash)

Total: £1.76m (50% Global Equity, 15% Gilts, 35% cash)

Positioning:

Appreciate I'm cash heavy, just feel equities are overvalued so keeping some powder dry - this is under constant review.

Background:

My partner and I are both 47 and her savings are negligible. I'm burning out on the rat race and dreaming of retiring abroad. My mortgage is paid off and I'm hoping to sell up and buy a little apartment somewhere warm and spend around £50k to £60k a year between us.

The Plan:

Keep PB as emergency pot

Run the GIA down by about £60k a year

After 5 years, assume GIA is zero and at 2% real growth in the ISA should be £546k and same for SIPP so £977k.

I'd then run the ISA down for 5 years, leaving approx £200k in the ISA and £1.07m in the SIPP at 58.

From 58, I'd start withdrawing 45k from SIPP and £20k from ISA until 68

At 68, we'd both get full state pension and I should have approx. £868k left in the SIPP and zero in the ISA. Taking £40k per year the SIPP should then last around 28 years.

The Questions:

Do these numbers look ok on a conservative basis?

Do I need another couple of years?

Any other considerations?

I've scribbled all of this down without much thought tbh as I've not yet properly thought everything through, so any other pointers/advice would be appreciated.

Cross posting to FIREUK as it might be more relevant here. (FIREd, but renting). Got a few useful replies on /uklandlords but none (yet) on /ukhousing. Been a few months since RRA and want to know if any FIREd folks wanting to rent are facing problems. I had posted earlier several months ago. Now that RRA is here, want to hear any actual stories.

Thanks

https://www.reddit.com/r/uklandlords/comments/1w5gc8q/renting_experiences_no_employment_pension_income/

https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/comments/1w5gc2o/renting_experiences_no_employment_pension_income/

I noticed my current portfolio has heavy tech & AI exposure. While this is currently doing relatively well, I would like to diversify my portfolio to some other tickets.

I was thinking about dividend-yielding stocks... I have found this site showing current dividend yields for the:

• FTSE 100
• FTSE 250
• Investment Trusts
• ETFs

Is diversifying into dividend-yielding stocks a good idea? Is anyone investing in any of dividend-yielding stocks, and what would your pick be?

Just by arranging columns, I sort of set my eyes on Legal & General (LGEN), British American Tobacco (BATS), London Metric Property (LMP), and Aviva (AV). Ideally, I would like to pick one (max two) and just do monthly investments to get some cash back. Any other suggestions on the stocks or ways of diversifying would me much appreciated.

I’m not sure if I need a financial sanity check, general  reassurance or a life coach, but am I’m currently contemplating FIRE.  Current family situation: I (M53) am married (F49) with two kids (M9, M12) at good state schools (ie no private fees to pay).

I’m currently contracting (pharma industry, inside IR35 ; approx. £1100/day) but am not enjoying work any more.  The drive has gone and it feels very contractual, getting money for the hours I work with few other benefits. Wife works in NHS but future employment is uncertain.

Financial position as follows:

• SIPP:  £675k
• Direct benefit pension paying at £12k/yr at 67
• Full state pension at 67
• S&S ISA £244k
• GIA £232k
• Single company stocks £125k
• Cash (high interest, short notice) £114k
• Second property valued approx. £260k ; currently rented out to sister in law with minimal returns
• Total net worth of above: £1.64 Mn, plus DB and state pensions

Joint investments with wife:

• main property valued approx. £1Mn, remaining mortgage £44k, intend to leave this to children
• GIA £115k
• JISAs for kids: currently at £9k each
• …also, wife has own ISA and NHS pension

My key question is both can I and should I FIRE? Our outgoings are currently relatively modest (£60k per year net) so financially I think we could make it work. But then again, M9 will be at school and home for another 9 years so it’s not as if I can jet off round the world if I retire tomorrow.  Also, how much should I set aside for children’s Uni fees, first home deposit etc? What happens if my wife has to give up work within the next few years?

Options as I see them:

• Retire now, living off the £1.64 Mn, spending more time with the family and building up hobbies
• Reduce work to 4 days a week, tapering further to 3 in a couple of years, then retire once I’ve hit a target (~ £2 Mn?)
• Continue working, building up children’s Uni funds and continuing to build considerable pension, ISA and GIA pots, with greater safety nets in case of market crashes, wife stopping work, children being more expensive that anticipated etc

I've just hit my £200k net worth milestone this month, working in law. It took me 31 months to reach £100k and 11 months after that to reach £200k.

Tax Strategy: I salary sacrifice all income above £100k into my pension, which leaves me with around £70k after tax and national insurance. I then place £20k into ISAs and spend or save the remaining £50k.

Investment Strategy: I invest primarily in US index funds (the S&P 500 and NASDAQ) and global equities. I have small holdings in individual equities as well, but these have so far underperformed index funds.

Spending: See my last post for my spending breakdown: https://www.reddit.com/r/FIREUK/comments/1s935ju/ . In the previous tax year, I spent £51.5k. Headline items included £13.0k on rent (living with roommates), £8.6k on restaurants, £6.7k on hobbies, £6.0k on trips, £4.0k on shopping, £1.6k on groceries, £1.4k on the company canteen, and £1.3k on travel.

Net Worth: £213k (28.8% towards my goal of US$1m by 2030)

• Cash: 4%
• Pension: 61%
• Lifetime ISA: 15%
• Stocks & Shares ISA: 7%
• Taxable Account: 11%
• Crypto: 2%

Net Capital Gains: £32k

Investment Allocation

• S&P 500: 71%
• Global Equities: 19%
• Individual Stocks: 6%
• Nasdaq-100: 3%
• Crypto: 2%

I’m turning 25 in less than two months and have recently started reconsidering some of my current saving/investment decisions, particularly with the goal of becoming financially independent (FI) in the future.

A bit of background:

1. Income

I recently started a new job which brings my salary up to around £30k. This is outside London and is pretty good for the area I live in.

I take home roughly £2k/month after tax, NI, student loan and pension contributions.

2. Outgoings

I currently live at home, so my expenses are very low:

• £100/month rent
• ~£200/month food
• ~£50/month transport

I currently use buses, but I’m hoping to get a car once I pass my test, so I expect my monthly expenses to increase fairly significantly once that happens.

3. Current savings/investments

• ~£32k LISA
• ~£2k S&S ISA
• ~£5k current/emergency fund

I know I’m in an extremely fortunate position with being able to live at home and having such low housing costs, so over the past few years I’ve been able to focus heavily on saving. I have been at uni for both an Undergrad and Masters (both living out and Masters paid out-of-pocket), hence why savings are certainly lower than they could be.

Most of my savings have gone into my LISA during this time, which is now maxed out for the current tax year.

Going forward, I’m thinking of putting most of my additional savings into my S&S ISA, as I recognise that £2k is relatively low compared with my LISA and want to start heavily focusing on retirement/ FI.

The bit I’m unsure about:

For the past few years I’ve been investing through Halifax. With the recent changes to the Halifax brand, Lloyds have notified me that my investments will be moved over and, as I understand it, may initially be held in cash before I have to reinvest through their portfolio.

Because of this, I’m wondering whether now might be a good opportunity to move my S&S ISA to a completely different platform.

I’ve seen Vanguard mentioned a lot on here and am wondering whether moving there would make sense. On the other hand, Lloyds have said I wouldn’t have to pay fees until I’m 27, which is obviously quite a big draw given my age.

So I’m a bit stuck between taking advantage of the fee-free period with Lloyds or using this as an opportunity to move elsewhere.

What would you do in my position?

• Is Vanguard a good option for someone in my position, or are there better alternatives?
• Would you stay with Lloyds until 27 to take advantage of the lack of fees?
• Am I overlooking anything else I should be considering at 24/25?

I’m mainly looking for perspectives from people who have been in a similar position, particularly those who have had their Halifax investments moved over to Lloyds.

Those paying 40% income tax, how do you overcome the frustration that to add £580 in cash savings you must first hand over £420 to the taxman? I want a cash buffer, but instead I put as much as I can afford into my pension.

I'm aware I'll need to give back 20% on the way out when I receive the pension - maybe more if I overshoot on pension contributions, which is a genuine risk.

Age: 42
Salary: £80k
Mortgage plus service charge: £2.2k a month
Pension £120k
Cash savings: £0
I live alone in London.

EDIT: I don't plan on retiring particularly early - I am much more FI than RE.

I think I want to stop working or at least drastically slow down. I love what I do but I work too much and have a hard time saying no to interesting work - I’m freelance and am offered more work than I can realistically do. And it’s hard on me physically (a lot of time on trains and on a sofabed when working in London, and on planes as well).

I know by many standards we are very well off, but I want a friction free retirement. Until we moved back to the UK we always had to scrimp in order to save. I’m happy we did but I’m done scrimping!! And I don’t know that we are there yet to allow that. I can’t figure out what calculations I need to run to establish when I can stop.

Current circs:

Couple -
61F working freelance and earning about £160-260k per year if I want. I am guessing £190k for the current tax year based on what I’ve accepted so far (I worked too much in 2025).

67M - stay at home dad since age 50. Would love me to be home more, but quite likes the freedom to pursue his hobbies that my income brings.

Assets.

House: £340k, with £165k outstanding on mortgage (taken out at 2.19%, which ends July 27 and I would prefer just to pay off at that point, given that rates are not likely to be that good). We bought a house that made work optional. And we’re perfectly happy in it.

Brokerage c. £800k. Don’t think any is in an ISA simply because we are also US taxpayers and ISAs are not recognized and are taxable.

U.S. IRA (pension pot) Mine c. £1.15M. Husbands c. £80k. Treated the same as UK pension pots for tax purposes. Except no lump sum withdrawal.

Pensions: husband currently drawing £1250 monthly in US state pension
Me - I will receive two years short of UK state pension at 67 (£225 a week ish). And £3000pcm US state pension if I wait to 70 (in today’s money). Or about £2300 if I take it at 67. I could take it next year but the discount is unacceptable. I’m healthy so plan to wait till 70 unless something changes.

Between US and UK pensions, we will have a chunk of our retirement income covered. But the benefits die with us so we need to be prepared for when there’s only one of us left.

UK SIPP recently opened. Currently at £190k. Expect to be at £300k plus growth by 27/28. Can’t take the 25% lump sum until such time as I have sufficient tax credits to offset US taxes due on that lump sum. Being able to withdraw £75k tax free to pay almost half of the mortgage balance appeals as an idea, but it may be a couple of years away. Otherwise I’ll have to cash out stocks.

Other income: when my mother (85 and in poor health) dies I will receive an income of about £12k per annum from a trust. I’m also slated to inherit capital but think it might make more sense to decline and have it go straight to my son - hate to give HMRC two bites at that money.

Future goals:

we want to travel a lot. We are already part way there with at least two family holidays a year but time is the challenge while I’m still working.
We’d like to be sure that our son receives at least £800k net (assuming it doesn’t get eaten in care costs) after all taxes are paid when we’re both gone. We can partially accomplish this by handing him excess income (as we have started to do).

We have done almost all major work to the house. We’ll need a new boiler, windows, and doors in the next year or two but then it should be very low maintenance.

Our car is low mileage and only 4 years old. We might need to buy one more before we stop driving. But maybe not as it’s a Volvo.

We would like an income of £70k net. This covers all living costs plus travel assuming no mortgage.

I am struggling with how to exit work. Not sure I want to entirely. But what income level makes the most sense? What would get us to our goals? Can I just stop at the end of my existing commitments? I really haven’t figured out what calculations I need to run…given my high income level the last three years, my goals for retirement have shifted. I now see the option to have a friction free retirement that didn’t really feel possible three years ago.

Sorry for the length of this!! Any advice on where we stand, and ideas for managing our goals would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I want to be a teacher because I think the job looks well not fun but fulfilling and actually doing something good for the world. The pension scheme is DB and generous-ish at 1/57th of average career salary a year. I am still in school at the moment not uni. I would be happy to move anywhere in the UK so Scotland, rural areas, the northeast to minimise living costs and preserve purchasing power.

My strategy is to max out Stocks and Shares LISA £333,33 monthly (£4k annually). And invest that into vanguard FTSE all world tracker accumulation fund, whilst getting the £1000 pound government bonus a year. And putting the rest of my savings into Stocks and Shares ISA Vanguard FTSE all-world. And than shift more of the portion into bond ETFs as I get older and closer to my FIRE number.

I would prefer to buy a small small flat or tiny house in nowhereville for cash rather than getting a fixed-rate mortgage. I understand LISA doesn't allow you to buy a house without a mortgage so it needs to come out of my ISA pot. I already have 1.4K in my Junior ISA right now, which is a cash ISA earning 3% interest, which I will switch to a S&S JISA now, and add any birthday money or miscellaneous money in there, which should amount to a few hundred pounds a year.

For lifestyle, I don't drink alcohol ever, nor do I eat meat or smoke. I think I should buy all food in bulk and then store it appropriately so it doesn't spoil? I think grains, rice pasta, flour, oats, vegetable oil should be bought in bulk. I don't really have ltos of friends, just like 2. and they are low maintenance friendships. I also don't wear makeup, and I'm vegan so I don't really want deliveroo or fancy groceries.

Thanks for reading!