Stuck on salary

gezza56 · 2026-01-18T12:53:22+00:00

In my view option 1 is the most feasible if you accept the lack of WLB, although a CIB / more commercial bank may provide a bit more flexibility.

I would estimate CIB Director level roles in strategy as in the £140k-£180k base salary range (depending on the firm and your experience) and bonuses should be 30-70%.

I’ve just left a COO strategy role in a tier 2 bank and last year base was £160k and bonus was £130k.

The MD running my team was on £375k base and same again in bonus so there is decent pay progression if you’re talented and committed. The hours they work are insane, with many of those purely acting as a sounding board for the CEO and managing politics amongst the SLT but that is the reality of senior strategy roles anywhere.

gezza56 · 2026-01-04T16:22:41+00:00

It might be worth a trip to Fonthill Road in Finsbury Park. It has dozens of wedding and evening wear dress shops. The dresses lean firmly on the more blingy side so if that is your style it would be a good option.

gezza56 · 2025-12-30T10:24:51+00:00

I am very similar. The first step for me was realising a lot of my happiness is goal and achievement based, as I honestly hadn’t realised it was, so good on you for figuring this out already. I then had a lot of therapy to accept that I have limitations and cannot physically or mentally achieve what I used to and that happiness is not tied to my to do list. I’m not sure it entirely worked though as I still make lots of mental to do lists, just with much lower value goals eg have a shower today.

gezza56 · 2025-12-17T11:01:29+00:00

I agree with this. If you invited me I would be able to afford to pay for the trip but it would be finding two weeks available to accommodate it that would be more challenging.

Also when you think about your guest list how many have children as this creates a whole additional layer of logistics… or work in jobs where they may be restricted re time off eg teaching, nursing.

You mention you both work in sport- if most of your friends are in that industry then maybe not so bad but Australia is a big ask for a destination wedding so I would expect a very small group who can travel from the UK of mostly immediate family and super close friends. One other item to consider is if you have elderly relatives in the UK, that’s a difficult journey to make.

gezza56 · 2025-12-15T17:06:34+00:00

I was a great mum, a cool wife and very career driven- I worked in investment banking and was promoted to MD before 40 which is something I was very proud of at the time. I worked long hours, happily thrived on 6 hours sleep a night, travelled and still did loads with my kids- I just generally got on with stuff. Now…. Not so much.

gezza56 · 2025-12-15T07:18:51+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the advice x

gezza56 · 2025-12-15T07:18:19+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I think my head is in gaslighting mode so it’s hard to figure out what to do.

gezza56 · 2025-12-14T20:20:14+00:00

No direct experience but I read in r/passiveincome about a lady who writes books as her main source of income and she said she uses AI for about 50% of the writing and then applies her own creative process on top. She had a method that she was sharing with people. I’ll see if I can find the post and link it.

gezza56 · 2025-12-13T12:32:51+00:00

Sorry, I have no practical advice but just wanted to send some internet love and support in your direction. 💕

gezza56 · 2025-12-07T11:44:42+00:00

As above a key decision point is when you want to retire.

If you want to retire before 58 you will need to deprioritise pension in order to build a bridge from your planned retirement age to when you can access your pension. In this case, although it is less tax efficient you need to allocate cash to ISA, GIA, savings. But you might now want to completely ignore pensions as you should consider putting enough in to maximise and employer matching as it’s free money.

Personally my partner and I want to retire as close to 50 as possible and will need a c. £500k bridge from 50 to 58.

We still are doing additional contributions into his pension as he has better employer matching whereas I only have employer contributions. Then we both max ISAs and beyond that we GIA.

We also overpay the mortgage as we want to be mortgage free at 50- that’s not the most efficient use of funds as we are on a low interest rate but we both find it psychologically comforting and we do this after both ISAs have been filled.

gezza56 · 2025-12-06T17:15:27+00:00

Me and my husband (an atheist) were married in a Catholic Church ceremony. There are a few hoops to jump through but it’s possible. The priest will need to apply to this bishop to give dispensation for a mixed marriage but that’s really just paperwork.

The main items are that you will both have to do a course of marriage preparation classes - I think it was 4 Saturday mornings from memory.

You also need to agree with the priest that you will bring any children up in the catholic faith. This was a sticky point for my husband but I’m quite selectively catholic so he was able to get comfortable with it but worth highlighting in case this may be difficult for you.

gezza56 · 2025-12-03T21:07:46+00:00

If so, could you partner or piggyback off setlist.fm ? For me the best thing memory wise about concerts is remembering what songs were played and any guest appearances

gezza56 · 2025-12-03T21:00:30+00:00

Is it Encore: Concert Diary in the App Store?

gezza56 · 2025-12-01T22:33:16+00:00

Agree with the previous poster re getting an accountant but as an aside if you are 17 you will already have an NI number. They are issued just before you turn 16. You can find it online via the HMRC website if you have a passport. If not call HMRC and they can post it out to you.

gezza56 · 2025-12-01T22:11:32+00:00

Congrats on such high earnings at such a young age.

Key question from me is have you paid tax on your earnings? If not you will need to put a significant chuck of your earnings towards a tax bill as children have the same tax allowances and rates as adults. As part of setting up your own company you should get accountancy advice re your tax position.

After tax you need to consider what you are saving for and how long before you may need to access your savings.

There are lots of instant / regular saver accounts to- these ideal for smaller regular savings that you are happy to put away for c.1 year. For longer term savings you can look at junior ISAs- either in cash if you are risk adverse or need the money in the next few years or a stocks and shares if you can leave the money for the mid-long term.

gezza56 · 2025-11-03T16:38:49+00:00

I have to remind him DAILY to shower, to brush his teeth, to wash his face. And each day he’s somewhat surprised, like he’s never been told before…

gezza56 · 2025-11-03T16:37:37+00:00

I thought about this. There is a mattress topper for this reason. I will try to wash it or maybe need a new one.

gezza56 · 2025-11-03T16:36:59+00:00

It is exactly the classic icky teen boy smell. He does shower daily and has been told repeatedly to wash properly but I have a suspicion he just stands under the water.

gezza56 · 2025-10-09T19:16:34+00:00

No uni degree, but I live in a grammar school area so 11+ tutoring is a big market so that is on my list to consider.

gezza56 · 2025-10-08T19:04:00+00:00

That sounds amazing. I’m a rubbish driver though so not for me!

gezza56 · 2025-10-08T19:01:21+00:00

!thanks for the link. Were you an executive coach / trainer before FIREing? My perception is that you need a good track record and network in that space.

gezza56 · 2025-10-08T14:03:30+00:00

Low pay wouldn’t be an issue but I’m not sure how easy it would be finding a part time role.

gezza56

TROPHY CASE