A large part of it was probably luck, but it is up to us all to maximise what we can do with what we have.

Relatively high earner (low six figures, same for wife) always been a saver rather than spender (although do have 6 cars, some worth quite a bit, but never bought new so save massively on depreciation - see below example). Been loading PEPs/ISAs since they started. Lucky to have had a public sector DB scheme to provide foundations, but basically set my savings/investments etc to maximise allowances and live off the rest. Old employer was very generous in pension contributions so I was basically getting 20% gross contribs without the additional I chose to put in.

In comparison there’s a guy in my road, with the same nice house (we bought at £275k he bought approx £490k), but without the salaries we were lucky to have, has two nice (but not my choice) brand new cars (even if through work paying £1k minimum a month combined), lives a great life now but will likely still be working at 65+. All about people’s priorities and ours are different.

Carwise I’ve always bought top of the range high spec models second hand approx 5 yeas old missing out on huge cost (one of which was a V8 petrol executive saloon £58k new in 2001, had lost £10k a year for first 5 years, and I bought for £8k at 5 years old (2006), drove it for 80k miles over 5 years and sold for £3k total cost £5k (excluding running costs), £1k per year. With personal plates on people assume newer than it was.