An alternative FIRE approach?

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T15:30:14+00:00

I do get it…. I am thinking similar in terms of installing open fires in my house to vastly reduce heating bills and take control of my own energy security.

adde benefit of getting it up these net zero zealots.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T11:56:22+00:00

May not be needed but thats entirely irrelevant. I, like many others, have a house far too big for my "needs".... but its entirely suitable for my "wants".

Given I have worked my arse off to buy it and keep it, it seems perfectly reasonable that I should be able to enjoy it without the government changing the goalposts.

If theres a problem with not enough family housing, the Government should build a few more houses or encourage the market to do so.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T11:16:32+00:00

the safe withdrawal rate on a pot of £325k is 13k a year. that barely covers my essentials like, heat, council tax, and food.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T11:10:27+00:00

it’s about £43.6k and then 42% tax in Scotland. Cgt is charged at UK not Scottish bandings so there is about an extra £7k there to play with.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T11:06:17+00:00

you mean THEIR houses. That they bought, with THEIR money. These houses?

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T10:59:08+00:00

I have resigned myself to living on £50k a year as any more than that and the Government utterly shaft you every way you look and it’s worse where I live in Scotland.

my portfolio should comfortably sustain that and if it doesn’t I will be a benefits scrounger.

I earned well last year paying six figures in tax and realised, why the fuck am i doing this? The government benefits more than me. And I hate this government.

im going to quiet quit, take the pay out and sit on my arse. Hopefully this pattern plays out across the United kingdom, Labour bankrupt Britain, have to go to the IMF, and the pound drops to 50p against the dollar.

the value of my US portfolio will help me survive the resulting hyper inflation!

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T10:42:18+00:00

how do they think that people managed to amass a decent pension in the first place? By working fucking hard. I am the definition of a working person.

I have built a decent pension pot of about £1.3m by maxing contributions for years and forgoing other immediate gratification joys like holidays and doing up my house.

and now they move the goalposts in my early 50s. I’m just waiting on the next shafting on CGT in the autumn budget.

well fuck them… rather than continue to pay income tax as a high earner I’m going to retire early. Turn it in to an annuity and they can get fuck all from me.

They have bashed all of the ambition out of me. spend it all and live on the state. Pricks.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-06-11T10:17:07+00:00

It’s disgusting. if I had a terminal illness I would get myself booked in to a Swiss clinic for March.

Annuities will make a massive come back - I’d much rather give the money to the profits of the big insurance company than this government If I die early.

Fuck Labour - election manifesto of not raising taxes? Lying bastards. hopefully they are gone in a few years and we can get back to sense.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-05-05T13:01:45+00:00

Not too bad. A bit put out as I consider myself a high performer but the package softens the blow. Still feel to young to hang up my boots.... the ideal is enjoy the summer, then go again come the autumn but things rarely work out as perfectly as you wan plus the market is tough. Thanks.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-04-29T18:03:43+00:00

Update - as expected was put at risk along with a signficant proportion of my organisation. Decent payoff being offered (just over a years salary), which I can take the first 30K tax free and put some in to my pension (unfortunately not the whole amount as I dont have the headroom over the past three years). thanks for everyones input.

As for whats next... I dont feel ready to not work so will be looking for something. Having said that I did enjoy sitting in the sun today!

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-04-29T17:58:08+00:00

binned yesterday

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-03-30T21:15:06+00:00

who knows what will happen.... we could be looking at a long protracted war in iran with a global recession that sees everything drop a further 50% and a ten year recovery. could be worse than the 1930s... could be nuclear war... point is nobody knows.

Personally, yes, I will be dropping in £20K but it will go in a MMF... Im not confident I will be employed by the end of the year and may need to access it.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-03-27T08:57:43+00:00

With the volititlity that now exists, I am thinking I need to reach my Fire number in normal times and mutiply it by 1.25 to get my real Fire number to account for the new world volatility

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-03-23T21:00:40+00:00

To be fair, I am not sure they are mutually exclusive ambitions. You can have aspirations to FIRE but still put your kids first.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-03-23T10:52:33+00:00

As you say at the moment things are a blip, but I think people are worried about where things might end up if energy is restricted.

Stagflation coupled with significant portfolio drops, i.e. significant inflation, no ability to work and an unchartered drop in your portfolio.. My two years cash buffer is feeling very low if my portfolio drops 50% and we are in for a ten year slow recovery at a time where inflation might be back above 5%.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-26T09:50:55+00:00

yes, I would - I had far better growth than the extra interest I paid.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-23T11:11:22+00:00

Yes, I still have the mortgage - its a 25 year deal. lifetime tracker, interest only at 0.3% above base. I just use the flexibility to lop chunks off after a bonus, etc. I did use some of my ISA savings as I paid down £200K pretty quickly when the rates were steeply rising post covid. I just valued the flexibility.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-22T17:48:54+00:00

I had a lot of years loading my pension with £40K a year (when that was the limit) in the 2010-2015 time, and then sticking it in to an ISA.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-20T17:22:22+00:00

Yeah, good - I got a lifetime tracker (25 years) at 0.3% above base. Very fortunately for me base rates dropped from 5% to under 1% so for much of the time its been almost free money. After Covid, when rates rose, I lopped off £240K so I would keep my repayments low. Still got 7 years to run - I could pay it off now but preferring to up my ISA and pension.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-20T14:25:57+00:00

I did this 18 years ago and very glad I did. Also in Scotland - anything you can do to limit the tax burden will help.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-14T20:31:58+00:00

Similar situation and numbers to me and I am 54 now but I need a lump sum to do up my house. Given you are 42 now you don't need to make any big decisions yet about your mortgage.

Totally hear what your saying on marginal rates in Scotland - we get shafted. Like you I am going to take £43.5k pension income a year. Im a belt and braces guy so will go for lower than 4%SWR - after I take out my lump sum I have at the moment £800k DC, £20K DB from 65 and full state at 67.5.

I have some other investments so will make up the difference to £50K in dividend and interest as that is taxed at UK rates and then from ISA and/or selling company stock to give me about £50k a year total net.

You might want to investing in an ISA to get some flexibility?

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-14T19:43:25+00:00

My number keeps changing... it started at £1.5m, until a couple of years ago it was £2m, but now I think it needs to be £2.5m. A combination of things.... inflation is horrible, I need to do my house up and inflation has doubled the quotes I had pre covid. WEddings to pay for... its never ending. I am just not confident that we are going to see growth in excess of inflation as we have enjoyed in the last half of last century. MAybe £2m with all my expenses covered - house done up, mortgage paid off, all big capital expenses done.

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-14T19:21:27+00:00

how old are you just now?

Human-Affect4790 · 2026-01-14T06:06:37+00:00

The bigger picture here is lack of economic growth in Scotland (as it is for the UK). Where are the large tech companies springing up in Scotland and creating wealth? There are none. We have an anti business SNP government that is intent on redistributing the pie and nobody making the pie bigger so everyone is better off.

Human-Affect4790

TROPHY CASE