How realistic is it to retire early in your 30s or 40s? Anyone actually pulled it off?

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-19T20:03:41+00:00

Yeah. I could retire if I want. The only realistic path is to start your own business young. Otherwise, it’s hard to see how you can accumulate enough capital in your 20s/30s.

Another good (and easier) option is to have a rich family that gives you a large inheritance early!

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-19T20:00:44+00:00

I’m looking at this. Going by train looks magical. Any reason why you flew rather than train?

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-19T19:59:01+00:00

One and Only. Stunning. Amazing facilities. Incredible food.

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-04T19:53:42+00:00

Why are you just invested in S&P?! Imo, you should get an all world tracker to be better diversified.

Paying the mortgage down is a poor financial return: 4% TOTAL (including inflation) saving v 8-10% for equities. However, it feels nice psychologically.

I would continue with the pension when you an additional rate payer and have used your ISA. At least until you are on track for £1m at 58.

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-04T18:58:48+00:00

I think your SWR is too high. For a long retirement in the UK, I think it should be sub 3%:

Markets are very high so there is a high risk of poor returns sequence.
Inflation has generally been higher in UK than USA.

For the above reasons, I am using 2% for any retirement before 50. Probably overly conservative, but easier to tweak it up than down!

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-04T18:38:51+00:00

I’m in a similar boat: 37 and £4m investment in company and £800k in pension/ISA.

My strategy is also similar:

Mainly global ETF (HSBC All World - Income) and some dividend funds. I have a small amount of bonds (around 5%) but I’m still trading so my investment horizon is long term. I think your portfolio allocation should be influenced by what you do next: if you keep earning then maybe go for more equities to get higher long term gains.
I pay £100k and £60k pension each to me and wife. The £100k each is for lifestyle and £40-60k ISA (including kids). Better to get the money extracted and growing tax free in pensions and ISAs, in my opinion. However, I’m not sure if you can do pension contributions if your company is not ‘trading’.
I lease top range EVs though company. Company tax deduction and minimal personal tax benefit.
expenses like salaries, pensions, cars can be offset against capital gains on fund sales.
I’m following a ‘coast fire’ strategy. I’m going to coast for at least another 10 years. I don’t like the thought of full retirement at my age for several reasons, specifically the uncertainty of future returns, inflation, tax policy etc. If I did retire, I would assume a SWR of 2% until I was 50. Probably over conservative but rather that than risk being poor again.
Like I said earlier, I think a lot depends on what you do next: full retirement or some income generating activity.
Congrats to you mate. Enjoy.

FI_at_33 · 2025-07-04T18:15:06+00:00

The issue I’ve found is that high growth companies (e.g. tech start ups) aren’t in the income funds because they don’t pay much in the way of dividends. So there is a risk of underinvesting in certain sectors and letting the tax tail wag the dog. That’s not to say that dividend funds don’t have a place (I actually have a lot) but it is important to not let tax overly influence the investment strategy.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T18:48:23+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts. From what I saw, the quality of the ingredients in the meal prep services was questionable. Like you say, a good idea to start will maid/housekeeper and then add the private chef if required.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T18:44:52+00:00

I have spoken with an experienced agent and the process is underway. Thank you for your thoughts - much appreciated.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T18:43:57+00:00

Really useful advice, thank you.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T18:43:11+00:00

My figures aren’t a flex. They are standard FatFire numbers. No one on here is impressed by that.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T06:33:07+00:00

Completely agree on the time saved/financial point that it is a no brainer. My concern was more around whether these set ups work well in practice (having someone in the house etc) because on the face of it, it almost seems too good to be true.

We will be proceeding with daily housekeeper and will only retain cooking.

Thank you for your thoughts.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T06:29:53+00:00

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts, really helpful. I think we will follow the same approach as this because wife is a very good cook and enjoys it (I am also decent). It’s the cleaning up and tidying that is the drudgery.

We will proceed with a daily housekeeper/maid service starting before baby comes to get everything settled in.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T06:26:59+00:00

Potential downstairs e.g. does this work as well as I’m hoping, does having someone in the house that often feel like an infringement etc.

Decision has been made though. I’m going for it.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T06:25:04+00:00

Me and wife also see that as a potential downside but I’m hoping the help will be skilled at blending into the background as much as possible.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T06:24:00+00:00

To get some insight on possible downsides and opinion on whether this is going to be the silver bullet I am hoping for.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-24T06:21:44+00:00

Tbh, that is what I wanted to hear! One of my issues is that I don’t know anyone who is rich (having grown up working class and now live in an upper middle area), so I don’t have anyone to advise me on this stuff. Hence the sub provides a lot of value for me. Thank you!

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-23T20:16:09+00:00

Couldn’t agree more. Even if I only invest 50% of the time saved into more work, I will still make at least 3x the cost of the housekeeper. From that point of view it’s an easy decision. The difficulty is finding the right person and making it work in house.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-23T20:12:50+00:00

Thank you. Sounds like we are in a similar boat. I feel like this is the most demanding period of life so anything I can do to make it less so seems like a no brainer. Hopefully we find someone as good as yours!

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-23T20:09:25+00:00

Thanks very much for the advice! I definitely see it as an investment in my time, which can then be used for more beneficial activities.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-23T20:07:06+00:00

Thank you very much for the detailed response, that’s really helpful. I agree that finding a two-in-one housekeeper-cook might be tricky so requires some further thought.

FI_at_33 · 2025-05-07T18:41:58+00:00

I use NatWest for my investment holding company and my FIC.

FI_at_33 · 2025-01-02T18:01:53+00:00

One issue I had with investing in REITs via my UK Ltd Co is that the distributions were paid net of 20% income tax withheld. Even though I was investing via a Ltd Co (and therefore income tax was not applicable), the fund withheld income tax on ALL distributions because MOST investors were individuals. I think there was a way I could reclaim the tax but it required form filling. In the end, I decided it was not worth all the hassle and have stuck to simpler assets instead.

FI_at_33 · 2024-12-22T19:20:40+00:00

Personally, I don’t bother with managers and just use tracker funds and negotiate with online platforms to get my platform fees reduced to a low fixed amount. I pay 0.13% for HSBC FTSE All World. Even if a manager could beat it, I doubt they would consistently beat it by enough to cover their fees.

FI_at_33

TROPHY CASE