Onwards to freedom!

SuperSecretSquirrel

Thanks for posting everyone

That's a good point ElmoR, and the answer is a bit of yes and a bit of no... Do I pay directly into OH's pension? No. Have I always tried to ensure that OH has free money available to pay into her pension if she so chooses? Yes.

OH has always worked until fairly recently, I've always earned a bit more, and I've always paid a bigger share of our costs. We still run two cars, and CB is paid to OH so she is getting full SP credits while off work. As for personal pensions, unfortunately we are stuck with basic DC ones. I did pay quite a lot into mine a while back, OH far less so. I now pay the minimum and am focusing on my ISA instead. I'm the one that wants to achieve financial independence, OH is happy as long as there is enough cashflow to tick over comfortably from one month to the next. I expect to keep on working in some capacity until I'm at least 55, but I like the idea of not having to (I almost certainly still will, "not having to" is the important bit). OH wants to keep on working until she is at least 55, and doesn't particularly like the idea of not doing so. We're quite different in some ways, but quite similar in others - I guess we're both fairly sensible with money, we just have different intended paths to retirement.

We've only been in the current situation where OH is a SAHM for a relatively short while, and it doesn't look like it will be for much longer either (she has her first job interview on Monday ). In that time I've covered all the household bills and essentials etc but OH steadfastly refuses to accept an "allowance", preferring to spend her savings on any "wants" instead. The idea of me paying into her pension on her behalf would likely see her throw something at me This setup wouldn't be an option if OH took years out of work - she would have to swallow her pride and accept a change to suit the circumstances, but for the 18 months or so that she will actually have had off work, it's a workable situation.

The "Selfishly FI" target is a bit tongue in cheek... The real targets are "Household FI (minimal)", and "Household FI (comfortable)". Although in theory I have enough saved to cover half of our outgoings, that's just not how things work in reality. I'll keep on working, and keep on saving, probably until I have enough saved to cover all our outgoings. That way, should something happen to force a change in OH's plans, we'll still be covered. I guess this is a bit like me saving for her pension on her behalf just in case we're thrown a curveball, but without the low flying objects aimed at my head. If OH continues working for a great many more years as she hopes, all will be well, we'll just have more money than strictly needed. If OH doesn't continue working as long as she would like, all will be well, we'll have enough money to cover our needs. I think of this as pretty much a built in few extra "one more years". Same goes for not building the SP into our calculations - I'd rather see us overshoot than come up short, it's a nicer and much easier problem to deal with

SuperSecretSquirrel

OH got the job

There's still some admin to run through (identity checks, etc), but they expect her to have started work by the first week of August It's very part time, and quite a low wage, but it's exactly what OH wanted for at least the next year or two. We're all very happy about it

We can start shifting the balance a bit more towards "normality" now. I'll keep covering all our household spends until OH offers/insists - this should give her a chance to replenish her savings a little and enjoy the fruits of her labour for a while I'm strangely looking forward to doing a bit more of my share around the house... The children can't wait to see what kind of dinners I'll be serving up

South_coast

Congratulations to OH 😀😀😀! Sounds like excellent times ahead for the SSS household 👍

edinburgher

@SuperSecretSquirrel - ideal!

SuperSecretSquirrel

Another quarter has flown by, and it's time for another update...

OH is settled at work, and we're all much happier with our new routine. The children and I love a bit of "just the three of us" time every few days, and they were pleasantly surprised by my culinary abilities in the kitchen! 😃 I've also reacquainted myself with the hoover, dusters, and washing up bowl 😊 OH is enjoying the return to normality and a higher level of independence. She also very much appreciates the opportunity to spend time with a few more people she doesn't actually live with and/or is related to - it's too easy to undervalue the socialising element of work. Anyway, the new circumstances are working well for us.

OH is about to start paying about a fifth of her income into the joint account, and I'll be doing the same. Her income is variable, but so far fairly steady (and higher than originally expected!). If this remains the case, we'll be paying in enough between us to cover all the regular household bills, plus a little extra in anticipation of bumper price rises. If there are occasions where we fall short I'll be topping up from my "short term savings" as and when required.

What OH has left each month I'm keeping out of… If she asks for assistance with pension decisions and the like, I'll be more than happy to step in, but for now I don't want to stamp all over her burgeoning independence. She has plenty left to split between spending, short term saving, and long term saving - but how she decides to allocate to each category remains to be seen.

I'm a little bit more regimented in my approach (no surprises there!). I'm automatically investing over half my income each month in a S&S ISA. This is a dual purpose FIRE and extreme emergency fund (I also have 50k in PBs serving the same purpose). There's the aforementioned fifth-ish to the joint account to cover household bills, and the quarter-ish that's left I somewhat artificially split between current spending and short term saving…

I'm allowing myself more slack now than I have done for years… My high level aims are to keep cash (mostly PBs) relatively steady at 50-60k-ish, and to grow the S&S ISA (a lot) and Pensions (a little). So there's no need to "long term save" anything over and above the monthly standing orders. That means that a quarter of my monthly income is split between day to day spending (the mundane - household groceries and fuel, and the fun - small day trips and small gifts and treats etc), and short term savings. The short term savings are still there to be spent, just not mindlessly. I force a day to day "scarcity mindset" by shifting money out of my debit card enabled current account to a separate savings account on payday, but if I ever need to I can move this money back out to cover bigger/lumpier expenses. Again this is split between the mundane - annual car costs, home maintenance/improvement, and replacing large appliances etc, and the fun - trips away, hobbies, Christmas, etc.

I'm essentially giving myself "permission" to spend a little more freely now. So long as I'm shovelling at least half my income into the FIRE fund, I'm happy that all is well and we can bob along contentedly.

On an unrelated note… I've avoided changing the value of our home on my spreadsheets for many years. It's getting to the point now where it's frankly ridiculous to leave it at 125k. A few very similar houses have sold recently, practically identical to ours, so I can say with some confidence that the current value of our home is in the 165k-170k region. 165k is a nice conservative figure for the spreadsheet. Other than that, no major changes. Our house doesn't figure in the FIRE calculations, so it's value being updated doesn't affect my tracking/goals at all.

Having totted up all the figures - our combined IAA (cash+s&s+pension) balance is now over 255k, and we are 85.2% of the way to our "lean" household FI target, and 56.8% of the way to our "comfortable" household FI target. All good! 😃

Until next time, take care! 😊

South_coast

Always love reading your updates SSS!

LadyWithAPlan

Have been reading your whole diary over the last few weeks and what a journey. Well done, your focus and learning is amazing.

You have inspired me to start thinking about specific number for FI even though it will of course be finger in the air, especially as I have not bought a flat as yet. Off to do another tab on the spreadsheet

Karmacat

85% and 56% to respective FI targets!  That's great news.  And I get a real sense of confidence, almost relaxation, about the finances - a sense of "this is real, achievable, keep going and it *will* happen".  Brilliant.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Thanks for posting @edinburgher, @LadyWithAPlan, @Karmacat, and @South_coast x2 🙂

Thanks for reading the whole thing LadyWithAPlan 🙂 I tend to reread it from the start every few years to remind myself how far we've come. I've been reading your thread too, it's interesting to see the other side of things (high earnings and a high cost of living area)! 🙂

KC, the relaxation and shift to autopilot mode is real 🙂 I think it's partly the realisation that this is not some pie in the sky idea (it's really quite achievable having made a certain amount of progress), and partly that I'm enjoying my work so much more these days that the need to be able to stop as early as possible has eased massively.

Your diary got me thinking a little while ago SC… Back in September you posted about jumping from one goal to the next, never really taking time to enjoy the fact that a goal has been met. I've behaved somewhat similarly. I can't remember celebrating the mortgage neutral milestone back in March 2015, a post on here, maybe a meal out or something, but then straight on to the mortgage free target. We did reduce our working hours when we became mortgage free back in January 2018, that was a nice reward, but then it was straight on to the FI targets. Along the way we've settled our student loans in full, I've hit selfish lean FI, and selfish comfortable FI, and we're not a million miles off lean household FI, probably already household coast FI, etc, but no marking of these occasions. Of course not spending lavishly on rewards does help the bigger picture progress, but we could do a better job of celebrating the milestones! I can see this "and now onto the next thing" mentality in myself in the MFiT challenges too - by the time we get to the last couple of updates I've already pretty much stopped caring about the active challenge and am busy formulating a plan for the next three years. This has held us in good stead financially, but obsessing about the future to the detriment of the present can't be healthy. I don't have any answers, but I'm aware of the behaviour so I guess that's the first step to improvement.

A mini update from me:

£100 PB win last month - my third best ever win! Unfortunately the #1 and #2 spots were also three digit numbers starting with a "1"... I live in hope of a chunky 50k+ win one day - someone has to win big, it may as well be me 😃 Another £50 this month. Maybe next month for the big win... It's ok, I can wait 😆

I'll have the fun of trying to factor in OHs shiny new DB pension into my figures soon… The value is very low at the moment (it's very early days), so I can just ignore it for a little while. I'll need to include it soon though, especially if she opts to transfer in her existing DC pot. She has already submitted the paperwork to see what transfer value they'll offer, and now we wait... If the transfer value is as generous as the contributions/accrual, I'm giving serious thought to shifting to a public sector role in a few years myself - purely for the pension benefit!

South_coast

Awareness is definitely a good start, SSS! I think my problem is that I have a fixed end point that I'm aiming at, so the mid-points along the way are just that. I'm exactly the same on a long car journey - I want to reach my destination and have a glass of wine, not luxuriate in the motorway services 🤣! Maybe I need to find the FIRE equivalent of a quick sandwich and a stroll round the car park to stretch my legs to mark the mid-points, rather than the usual loo break and get back on the road 🤔🤣?