FIRE - Financial Independence Retire Early

You probably need to start from a base with no student debt and have no kids to do it that early. Salaries in the USA are crazy compared to the UK obviously

My initial reactions are a) what are you retiring from? If you can afford to work less, why don't you find something you enjoy doing to start with?

and b) 60 years is a long time to commit to surviving on a low income. A lot can happen in that time.

Again,

It's a choice, one I didn't make but I do not blame others for making.

The only choices I find offensive are large car or appliances finance schemes from folks who then complain they cannot pay the bills, or the mortgage or they moan about how small their pension is.

I'm not annoyed by it, if people can manage and are happy with a more frugal lifestyle then so be it. Reducing consumption is an environmental bonus too.

I suspect that you'll get a load of lifestyle guru/lifestyle coach types promoting it with unrealistic numbers - i would find them annoying but I'm unlikely to meet them anyway.

I am a little confused by the couple who say they couldn't afford a house on their dual income so invested their money instead - where did they live pre retirement then? They also say they were spending 20,000 a year in the first 5 years of retirement so based on needing 25 times that, they would need to have saved 1/2 million? I can't imagine being able to do that in 10 years of working in a 'normal' wage job unless I was living rent free somehow - in the UK that would be pretty much your entire after tax salary if you earned £75k wouldn't it?

I suspect that some of these people were really quite well paid, or have some other source of income/savings (some still to be working freelance in their 'retirement') but you still have to decide to live well below your means for a while to save the lump sum.

ok, now I understand more your frustrations.

It should be down the 'press' to push them for actual statistics, but I suspect they (the press) are not that bothered, as they would rather just get a short 8 minute video out there with an attention grabbing strapline.

I've not delved into it at all, never heard of it before this video, but presumably this video is not wholly representative of every fire man or woman, and some people must have some stats and figures up as to how they have achieved it?

They are talking about retiring in their 30s Ugo. One guy states 7-10 years working to save for retirement at 30 I think.

As for the house, my first flat increased by 40% in the few years I lived in it. Some of that is pure luck of course but it has contributed significantly to my 'wealth', if I were to sell up and retire early, its mostly the house gains that would pay for it.

I'm not going to because I have a job and family commitments.

If i did want to though, in a smaller house not in the commuter belt, somehere very cheap and quite remote I guess. I think a lot of people near me in London/commuter belt could probably release £500k of equity by moving out to 'the regions' and downsizing

If you're retiring early, remote isn't a concern for a while. It's also relative, when we lived in london, my wife thought that 15 minutes walk from the tube was remote 😄 I was thinking more remote from large towns/cities not necessarily remote from humanity.

As I said, it's not an option I'm looking to explore myself.

I think Daniel_b nailed it when he said that their 'refusal' was more down to editorial decisions made within the article than elusiveness of the participants.

Pete aka Mr Money Mustache has blogged more specific details if this would help sooth your outrage: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/

He also got divorced a few years later, but that's his business. Actually, no, he blogged about that too:

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/12/31/divorce/

Retiring in your 30s is significantly more problematic financially and to be honest, I don't see a good reason why you would want to do that. The idea of being unproductive for a further 40 to 50 years doesn't sound particularly appealing to be honest.

If you want to retire at 35, you probably need a 500k pot and no housing costs, more realistically double that if you also want to make the most of your retirement rather than just survive. The younger you retire, the bigger your expectations about retirement will be.

I can't see how you can rack up a million pounds out of paid employment in 10 years. I think 45 is probably the youngest you can get away with, with very careful planning. In the days people used to take big jobs in Dubai with paid accommodation and travel expenses to do that, is it still the case?

Specifically in relation to retiring in 30's/40's with a large lump sum. Sounds great in principle, but being younger they are unlikely to be factoring in old age, care requirements etc. I suspect you could end up needing far more, should such a scenario occur.

For me the whole point of retiring early would be to enjoy life. I would guess (just for me and no mortgage to pay) closer to £25k of actual spending money but £20k could possibly do it, obviously need to then allow for inflation every year as £20k after 20 years of retirement is unlikely to be enough. Of course, you could just choose to live off grid in a wooden hut and live off the land for a fraction of that but I think I'd rather continue working than that.

of course, luckily my pension fund is triple locked.

The main issue for me is being able to move somewhere nice. There are no Departments which would require my expertise located in decent places… arguably Leeds is close enough to nice places, but otherwise only places I would not want to live in. Therefore some form of retirement seems the only viable option… might end up starting a wheels business or trade espresso on a cargo bike… don’t really see myself going on cruises or wine sampling trips

A small sample of one but I'm living off £25k with 3 holidays. My wife has a very small pension and state pension total of circa £13k. Her money covers rates, groceries and treats for the grandchildren. I cover everything else. If I was solo then £25k would easily be enough. As a couple £38k appears to be enough but we are mortgage and debt free.

Inflation will be covered by the following heading my way over the next 10 years, (very) long term endowment, state pension and (unfortunately) inheritance.

Bottom line is that on a wealth fund (not including property) of £470k I am wealthier this year than last which means I have been too conservative as my intention is for the fund to taper off downwards towards 90 years of age.

I've just done my calculations and excluding savings, pension payments and mortgage costs we are spending £26k a year over the past 4 years.

This includes all bills, food, nursery fees and holidays but doesn't include my partners personal spending nor any bike bits I've bought via cyclescheme vouchers.

So i'd need to have paid of the mortgage (£300k) and saved ~£650k to retire according to FIRE if I wanted to stay where I am and live how I'm currently living. I guess I won't be retiring any time soon.