FIRECalc

I'm too old to FIRE but the one thing reading about it did do was focus my mind on making work optional which it just about is.

They'll probably carry me out in a box but knowing I have the choice is the main thing IMO.

Also the obvious mindset thing of just buying less pointless "stuff".

He says having just come back from the bathroom showroom with a BoM for a new bathroom.

I agree that it can apply to anyone and in many different forms, Coast/FAT/Barista etc cover these I guess. I only really found out about such things about 3.5 years ago when my wife and I were early 30's, what it has done is change the mindset and know there is 'another way'. While I am learning everyday (annoyingly if I knew what I know now, I'd have done things VERY differently when we bought our current house a while back, hey ho), reading further into the topic has given me much more knowledge and understanding of the options that exist. This has been invaluable, I'd go as far as saying this will be a generational change for my kids and their kids. All thanks to reading up on FIRE.

I like to think of it a bit like what I knew at 25 vs 15 about 'work and careers' - when you're 15 you get told about the 10 different career types you could have, they're very generic and top line 'Fireman, Police, Doctor, IT, Lawyer etc' - when you are 25 you realise the amount of nuance and depth of some of those categories and have a far greater understanding of where to pitch yourself and what options you have - you wish you knew most of it before you did a degree in many cases. That is what FIRE has done for me with money.

I note there is a lot of binary thinking on the subject, I see it on Reddit a lot, especially around children's schooling etc "save it into an ISA, much more useful than any paid school" type comments, or people forcing themselves to live in grim places because they're cheap. I saw condi's note on page 1 and I do think he has a point about 'some' of the FIRE community, it is utterly depressing to read of someone who is 21 on Reddit looking for the fastest possible way to exit life, its super naive for one, but also missing the point of existence in a big way - are these people going to bumble on as single people and then retire at 36 living in some LCOL sthole and do nothing for the rest of their lives apart fromwatch the Global All Cap chart? Maybe, sounds horrid.

We haven't come up with any number yet mostly because our outgoings are so high now on things that will not exist once we've chosen to retire, it makes modelling it a bit of a headache, but we're also not desperate to quit yet. However, our saving and spending has certainly changed in the face of learning that we really could pack it all in fairly early (thanks to those lovely tech jobs the article above mentions, in part) - but I do think you can live a decent life and do things, go places, treat your kids, help them with tuition/houses, AND still be aiming at FIRE. Sure you'll cost yourself a year or two but I think it's a worthwhile trade off to make, personally.

The one undeniable truth of FIRE IMO is that it does hugely skew to higher earners, but even modest earners can create real wealth if they start early. But as we see on this forum, the allure of silly bets on single stocks/getting rich quick will mean most of the UK public are incapable of staying the course. I know of many of my mates who invested in various things only to cash out at a loss when it crashed. Or worse are the ones that have no real knowledge or plan and are rapidly entering into their 40's, a big shock coming down the line there.

We haven't come up with any number yet mostly because our outgoings are so high now on things that will not exist once we've chosen to retire, it makes modelling it a bit of a headache, but we're also not desperate to quit yet. However, our saving and spending has certainly changed in the face of learning that we really could pack it all in fairly early (thanks to those lovely tech jobs the article above mentions, in part) - but I do think you can live a decent life and do things, go places, treat your kids, help them with tuition/houses, AND still be aiming at FIRE. Sure you'll cost yourself a year or two but I think it's a worthwhile trade off to make, personally.

The one undeniable truth of FIRE IMO is that it does hugely skew to higher earners, but even modest earners can create real wealth if they start early. But as we see on this forum, the allure of silly bets on single stocks/getting rich quick will mean most of the UK public are incapable of staying the course. I know of many of my mates who invested in various things only to cash out at a loss when it crashed. Or worse are the ones that have no real knowledge or plan and are rapidly entering into their 40's, a big shock coming down the line there.

I've been experimenting by jacking up salary sacrifice pension contributions progressively each couple of months (e.g. 20-30-40-50%) to see how little I can comfortably survive on.

But you'd be amazed how much you are being robbed in income tax and NICs, so the hit to your take home pay is often a lot less than you might think.
It's even better if your employer chucks in some of the employer NICs they've saved - but this really does vary from employer to employer.
If you are not planning on FIREing before 55 anyway it is a no brainer to use an SS pension over ISAs, unless you can afford to max out both.

I think keeping a lid on lifestyle inflation as your career earnings increase is the key thing, without necessarily going down into beans on toast level scrimping or living in crapholes

I think keeping a lid on lifestyle inflation as your career earnings increase is the key thing, without necessarily going down into beans on toast level scrimping or living in crapholes.

Once the mortgage is paid off it gives you a clearer idea of how much you need. I've been experimenting by jacking up salary sacrifice pension contributions progressively each couple of months (e.g. 20-30-40-50%) to see how little I can comfortably survive on.

When it gets too unbearable, or going into overdraft seems certain each month even when no big/unexpected bills hit, then time to row things back.
I may have just hit that point and have to drop back 5 or 10%.
But you'd be amazed how much you are being robbed in income tax and NICs, so the hit to your take home pay is often a lot less than you might think.
It's even better if your employer chucks in some of the employer NICs they've saved - but this really does vary from employer to employer.
If you are not planning on FIREing before 55 anyway it is a no brainer to use an SS pension over ISAs, unless you can afford to max out both.

My wife and I both are into tapered allowance territory on pensions - so they’ll likely not be as attractive for us as other things sadly. But you are right - strip out school fees/mortgage/savings and suddenly the number isn’t actually that much.

We are aiming to get to the chubby/fat fire end of the spectrum if possible but we may have started a little too late in the day.

I know this is PH, but if you're both into tapered allowance territory then that's a heck of a lot to go at. There's something wrong if your biggest worry isn't potential IHT bills for your kids.

You still need to accumulate wealth though. And given there’s not as many tax efficient ways to do so it still takes time. Also houses expensive etc.

Will worry about IHT later, only 36!