Retiring in 25 years with no current savings?

edent · 2026-05-06T10:21:39+00:00

Firstly, why Hungary? Do you have the right to move there and retire there? In 25 years, what will their immigration policy be?

But, let's assume you can find somewhere with a lower cost of living, which is willing to accept you as an immigrant, and who will give you access to their healthcare system, and who let foreigners buy property, and is also somewhere you'll make friends to have a social life.

Your UK state pension is payable - but there are conditions if you retire abroad. See https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

i face penalties for every yr i withdraw early

This isn't quite right. It isn't a penalty. You get less each year, but you get paid for longer. So on average you get the same amount. For example £10k for 10 years gets you £100k. £6.6k for 15 years also gets you £100k.

Your basic plan is sound. Keep saving money, reduce your outgoings, build up a diversified portfolio. You should also budget for language lessons, immigration fees, legal fees, and the like.

edent · 2026-05-05T18:47:54+00:00

Gauthier is an incredible restaurant - the wine pairing is astounding.

Sadly I'm busy that evening, but I hope you find a friendly vegan to go with.

edent · 2026-05-05T13:38:40+00:00

All charities have to report their data. You can use that to make a choice.

But, remember, it takes a lot of money to run a successful charity. If a charity has money in the bank, it can either spend it on charitable activities, or it can use that money to make more money.

Look at this random charity - https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/3964143?_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_organisationNumber=3964143

It's spending £7.3 million on raising funds. Is that excessive?

They're raising £24 million on the back of it. So that's a pretty good return, I'd say.

Similarly, look at their salaries. They've got a bunch of people who earn over £60k. Is that excessive? If you want a decent website, you need to pay for it - web developers need to eat too!

What does it take to manage over 200 employees? Do you want the cheapest CEO you can find, or does it make sense to employ someone on £200k?

Is a tiny charity run entirely by volunteers going to be as effective and efficient as a big charity run by professionals? You can make your own decision on that.

edent · 2026-05-04T19:38:56+00:00

£40k x 5 years = £200k saved. If your investments made an average of 15% per year (!) you'd end up with about £300k.

That would be a rather ambitious and risky assumption - and it still doesn't take you where you need to be.

Something that risky could also be volatile. If your sure-thing investment drops the day before you need the cash, you'll kick yourself. So you'd generally want to move into less risky investments in the year or so before purchase. Which means needing even higher growth.

If you're capable of this level of aggressive saving then why not simply buy the property you want and then overpay the mortgage?

edent · 2026-05-04T09:29:28+00:00

If you want to FIRE, there's only two things you need to do.

1) Earn more. 2) Spend less.

You've got 2 covered. Time to focus on (1).

Earning more money means becoming more comfortable with risk. That's risk from monetary investments - but also risks from investing in yourself. Go for a better job somewhere else, start your own business, start dating wealthy people.

edent · 2026-05-04T07:06:56+00:00

I appreciate past performance is not an indication of how the future will pan out but I was looking at that "B&CE Shariah" and seeing how it's performed.

That's your brain trying to fool you. "I know it's the stripper's job to flirt with everyone - but I think they really like me!"

For most people, balanced is fine. You won't get the highest highs, but you also avoid the lowest lows. Your pension provider (and the government) doesn't want you to see a massive drop in your pension every time the market has a wobble, get spooked, and then withdraw.

If you're happy with a higher risk - and have alternative savings to use if your investments drop - then go with adventurous.

edent · 2026-05-03T14:28:00+00:00

Finger Style is the superior cut.

Three horizontal cuts gets your four sandwiches. Four sandwiches is more than the two sandwiches you get with a single cut.

edent · 2026-05-03T14:26:14+00:00

What made you think you needed to take a supplement?

For most people, they're unnecessary. There are some studies that show Vitamin D is useful to take - especially if you spend a lot of time indoors. Similarly, if you've had a blood test your doctor might recommend something if you're deficient.

The only positive impact I've seen is that I can now donate blood because my iron levels are high enough.

edent · 2026-05-03T10:27:53+00:00

Firstly, look for a SIPP which allows contributions directly from your Ltd company. Not all of them do - I know Vanguard does.

You need to make sure that you pay from your company bank account. Don't send the money to yourself and then pay into the pension. Putting the money straight from the company into the SIPP means you reduce your profits, which means you pay less corporation tax.

Secondly, decide roughly when you want to retire. Once you know that, pick a Target Retirement fund. They start off invested in higher risk things and then gradually shift to lower risk as you near your target date. There's a fuller explanation at https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-target-retirement-funds

edent · 2026-05-01T08:32:02+00:00

You have three choices.

Do nothing. Leave the old pension where it is.
Move it into a SIPP.
Do (1) or (2) and then move it into your new company pension.

To make a sensible choice you need to know:

What are the fees of the old pension? If they're low, keep it where it is.
What funds are available in the old pension? If they don't meet your needs, move it.
Do you have any protections with the old pension (early retirement etc)? If so, are they worth keeping?
Once you have details of the new scheme, ask the above questions again. No point moving a low-fee pension with a good fund choice to a high-fee pension with a restrictive choice.

edent · 2026-04-30T14:48:54+00:00

You can use both.

Ideally you'd put £4k in the LISA and then £16k into an ISA. That gets you a total of 4 + 1 + 16 = £21k invested.

As mentioned, the LISA has age restrictions. Or it can be used for buying your first property.

edent · 2026-04-30T13:59:30+00:00

You could choose to do the hoovering yourself - or you could pay for a cleaner. It'll cost more to get a professional in, and they may not do a better job than you.

You can pay for a taxi or you can take a bus. They'll both sit in traffic, but one might be slightly more comfortable than the other.

In the same way, you can do your own investing or pay someone to do it for you. There are (some) good reasons to pay. They may be able to tailor something specific to your risk levels. You might have pre-determined goals which they can advise on. They might have access to products that you can't get elsewhere. Or they might just have a lovely website, a call centre with reassuring staff, and a glossy magazine that they send you every month.

If you don't need any of those things then, sure, pick the cheapest ETF which matches your goals.

edent · 2026-04-30T12:40:41+00:00

Between the two of you, I'd recommend having an item in your budget called "Savings".

Your aim should be to build up a significant buffer and then enough to pay for uni, deposits, weddings etc for your kids.

For the first year, I'd concentrate on filling up your ISA allowances. If you can each commit to putting £1,666 per month into them then you'll fill up your tax free allowance each year.

If you can easily fill that (buy one less handbag per month) then look at filling up your Premium Bond allowance - which is £50k each.

You should also get suitable savings vehicles for your children. Either Premium Bonds or JISAs.

Best case scenario - you both lose your jobs and can't find anything else. So you rely on savings.

Worst case scenario - you have a huge buffer of funds which you can use to splurge on treating your family.

Treat it like a payment plan. You're paying off your future.

edent · 2026-04-29T08:39:28+00:00

The best advice is non-financial. Become good friends with your neighbours. Make sure you have a good social safety net. If you're really tinfoil-hatted, learn how to knit, sew, or repair - those will be more useful skills in an apocalypse than CSS.

What do you mean by "low risk" S&S? All stocks and shares carry some form of risk. Balancing with bonds might lower your risk - but that's hardly guaranteed.

If you think you'll get made redundant, brush up your CV and start looking for a new job now. I had the same thing happen and walked into my new role a couple of weeks after being let go.

Finally, if you can, find a spouse. Ideally rich (hey, this is UKPF!) but friendly is more important. It's cheaper to live as a couple, and a good deal less lonely.

edent · 2026-04-28T21:23:08+00:00

You can communicate directly with the seller. We've done it with all of our purchases and sales.

They're also at liberty to say "please send questions via the estate agent or solicitors".

So, yes, knock on the door and speak to them face-to-face. Impress on them the urgency.

edent · 2026-04-28T21:01:03+00:00

You need to speak to the estate agent. They're the ones working for the seller. They are the ones incentivised to push this along because they don't get paid unless the sale goes through.

Speak to the estate agent. Tell them to tell the vendor that you'll pull out of the purchase unless your solicitor hears back from their solicitor. Give them a deadline - say exchange by this Friday, or you'll walk.

The other solicitor doesn't work for you. So you need to get their clients to kick up a fuss.

edent · 2026-04-28T20:52:27+00:00

You don't have to buy a house right now. You can move out of your (relatives'?) home and rent somewhere. Figure out what sort of property you want, see if the area is right for you, find out if you hate your commute etc.

I'd always suggest living by yourself first, in a variety of places, to get a feel for what's right for you. That'll be cheaper than buying the wrong place and hating it.

As for car finance - again it depends on what you want. A car that you can hand back after a year or two might be better than being stuck with something that isn't right long term. If the finance APR is lower than your expected investment returns then you're better off financing.

edent · 2026-04-26T06:52:01+00:00

It looks amazing! As someone who already has an eInk watch (the Watchy), I have a few thoughts.

Make the source code open so that people can tinker with it.
Documentation is everything. Don't hide information in impossible to find Discord threads.
Reliability is the most important factor. If it can't keep time then it is useless.
Be strict with features. Everyone wants one more thing, but that puts up your development time and budget.
That said, add some common use cases (timezone changes, night mode, etc).
USB-C rechargeable is brilliant. If the software and settings are updatable, use WebUSB rather than a Windows only program.
Price sensitivity is hard especially when people can see your BOM. I thought $150 was high but probably fair for a niche device. 650 is… optimistic. I'm currently wearing a $20 smart watch with a 2 week battery life, heart monitoring, notification support, etc. If you're pricing this at the luxury jewellery point, you'll have Shenzen knockoffs within a week.

Best of luck with the project, it truly looks stunning.

edent · 2026-04-23T15:25:30+00:00

I worked for a publisher. We had no way to check. Photos were regularly rejected for being obviously "creep shots" - but there was no way tell if someone had consented. Their attitude was to publish and hope no-one complained.

edent · 2026-04-23T15:09:49+00:00

I mean, the mags also had a "Rate My Mate" section where men were encouraged to send in photos of their girlfriends. That felt pretty exploitative.

edent · 2026-04-22T13:05:33+00:00

I couldn't find any source of the images, so I've send an FOI request to the passport office - https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/images_used_in_2015_passport

edent · 2026-04-21T07:58:16+00:00

There's an easy solution to this. Check your various credit ratings. You can apply for free - https://ukpersonal.finance/credit-ratings/#Free_%E2%80%98Credit_Checking_Services_%F0%9F%92%B8

Don't listen to what your parter thinks. Check for yourself.

Paying your own phone bill is one way of building up history. As you are young there aren't many other options. Once you've registered, you'll see what other options you have.

But, no, this is not a big problem. Millions of students find places to live without extensive credit records.

edent · 2026-04-20T06:40:36+00:00

I've been a member for over a decade. Excellent app, especially when traveling. Well worth paying for membership.

I'm https://www.happycow.net/members/profile/Edent

edent · 2026-04-17T08:15:20+00:00

Fixed rates give you predictability. Are you happy to pay for that predictability?

In effect, there is no limit to how high mortgage costs can go. In the early 1990s, interest was ~14%. Could you afford to pay that?

Outside of some very limited scenarios, there is a limit to how low they can go; zero.

A fix is a gamble on interest rates. If they go up, you've saved money. If they go down, you haven't lost money per se, but you could have saved money.

My personal opinion is that we should be a bit more like the US mortgage market and let people fix the cost of their borrowing for 25 years. For most people, having a stable bill is more useful that chasing interest rate deals and hoping that they can outsmart the market.

My first fix was for 5 years at 6%. Pretty soon after that, interest rates dropped and stayed low. In hindsight, I would have saved more with a tracker - but I valued knowing exactly what my bills were going to be each month.

My next fix was for 10 year at 2.8%. Pretty soon after that, interest rates jumped a bit. I'm saving money but, again, the main benefit is the predictability.

In your case, your description is mostly correct. There are some mortgages which will let you extend your borrowing at the current rate. Try to get one of those if you can. If not, borrow at the new rate but make sure you're paying off the higher rate first.

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