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FIRE - how low could you go

Hey all,

My BF and I are in our early 30s and getting interested in the FIRE movement. 

We have a nice but modest home and have a low mortgage as 60% LTV. 

Our combined take home pay is 5000 per month ( we both contribute a lot to workplace pensions as get a high match so this is after workplace pensions) this includes health insurance. 

I think we could get our household outgoings to between 1.5k to 2k per month, leaving us 3k per month to spend/save/invest.

we are planning to invest 2k per month and have 1k left for socialising/hols/Xmas/gifts/savings for future children (trying to save about 500 per month for this) 

Our rough outgoings as below, does this seem like a decent plan. Any thoughts or things we haven’t calculated for?

mortgage - 400
council tax - 130
Bills (elec/gas/water) - 150
food inc pet food  - 300
Subscriptions Netflix/TV etc - 35
Petrol 150
Car Insurance (2 cars) 100
pet insurance 45
internet 25
rac 20
car tax 25
phones 70
Home insurance 30
cleaner 110 

This is not ‘lean’ per se, and we could save more of course by cutting subscriptions, cleaning ourselves, not spending much on fun money etc. 

How much have you restricted yourself to do FIRE? How much would you? 



«13456

Comments

  • LV_426
    LV_426 Posts: 507 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    I've always spent less than I earned and never had debts, apart from the mortgage. But I really shocked myself this year when I realised I could technically retire at the end of the year. I never had the intention of retiring early, it's just that by happy coincidence, I managed to build a good combination of DC + DB pension assets.
    I wouldn't say I ever consciously restricted myself, because I don't have an extravagant lifestyle with expensive tastes. 
    I suppose I've always had an aversion to spending money :) I'm overcoming that now though and have recently indulged in buying a new caravan.

  • MallyGirl
    MallyGirl Posts: 7,326 Senior Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Sea_Shell is your lady for this - see the squirrelled nuts thread.
    I am not the restricting type :)

    You could save a fair bit by changing from RAC to one of the cheaper providers though.
    I’m a Senior Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning, Loans
    & Credit Cards boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • Alexland
    Alexland Posts: 10,208 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Kids change everything. It's not just the reduction in earnings and/or childcare but also the everyday cost of keeping them occupied giving them a happy childhood and making provision to help them with expenses that are likely to happen in late teens and early adulthood. It probably added at least 5 years onto our working life but we are still aiming to retire nice and early. If you don't have time to do your own cleaning how do you expect to find the masses of time that kids require?
  • LV_426
    LV_426 Posts: 507 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Alexland said:
    Kids change everything. It's not just the reduction in earnings and/or childcare but also the everyday cost of keeping them occupied giving them a happy childhood and making provision to help them with expenses that are likely to happen in late teens and early adulthood. It probably added at least 5 years onto our working life but we are still aiming to retire nice and early. If you don't have time to do your own cleaning how do you expect to find the masses of time that kids require?

    Agree with that. We've sacrificed an entire income for the kids. The Mrs has not worked for 20 years, and is full time educator to our younger daughter. 

  • MallyGirl
    MallyGirl Posts: 7,326 Senior Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 1 December 2021 at 6:05PM
    ajfielden said:
    Alexland said:
    Kids change everything. It's not just the reduction in earnings and/or childcare but also the everyday cost of keeping them occupied giving them a happy childhood and making provision to help them with expenses that are likely to happen in late teens and early adulthood. It probably added at least 5 years onto our working life but we are still aiming to retire nice and early. If you don't have time to do your own cleaning how do you expect to find the masses of time that kids require?

    Agree with that. We've sacrificed an entire income for the kids. The Mrs has not worked for 20 years, and is full time educator to our younger daughter. 
    I tip my hat to her - a hard job.
    We lost income as I took a year off then returned part time, then got made redundant for being awkward and refusing to travel any more, stayed part time for some years and have never got back to the earning levels I had before kids. I wouldn't change a thing but I wasn't expecting quite that financial impact.
    I’m a Senior Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning, Loans
    & Credit Cards boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • af1963
    af1963 Posts: 425 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Apart from kids, another thing that isn't in these monthly figures is fixing and replacing stuff.  ( e.g. ongoing house repairs, two cars, household equipment). And holidays/entertainment ?
  • Albermarle
    Albermarle Posts: 28,965 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Name Dropper
    How much have you restricted yourself to do FIRE? How much would you? 

    It is probably fair to say that most of the regular posters on here are not really FIRE advocates as such . In fact FIRE was not really around as a specific movement  until relatively recently.
    It is a big generalisation but most on this forum have just been relatively careful with money , made sure they put a decent amount into pensions , with a general intention  to not having to work until 65, or even 60.
    Some have found themselves being able to retire as early as 55 but not many much earlier than that . The last ten years of good investment returns have helped .
    There are other forums more dedicated to FIRE/retiring very early, like Mr Money Mustache.

    To be honest seems a bit odd to me to be thinking about early retirement , before even having children .

  • k_man
    k_man Posts: 1,636 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    KattoNS said:
    Hey all,

    My BF and I are in our early 30s and getting interested in the FIRE movement. 

    We have a nice but modest home and have a low mortgage as 60% LTV. 

    Our combined take home pay is 5000 per month ( we both contribute a lot to workplace pensions as get a high match so this is after workplace pensions) this includes health insurance. 

    I think we could get our household outgoings to between 1.5k to 2k per month, leaving us 3k per month to spend/save/invest.

    we are planning to invest 2k per month and have 1k left for socialising/hols/Xmas/gifts/savings for future children (trying to save about 500 per month for this) 

    Our rough outgoings as below, does this seem like a decent plan. Any thoughts or things we haven’t calculated for?

    mortgage - 400
    council tax - 130
    Bills (elec/gas/water) - 150
    food inc pet food  - 300
    Subscriptions Netflix/TV etc - 35
    Petrol 150
    Car Insurance (2 cars) 100
    pet insurance 45
    internet 25
    rac 20
    car tax 25
    phones 70
    Home insurance 30
    cleaner 110 

    This is not ‘lean’ per se, and we could save more of course by cutting subscriptions, cleaning ourselves, not spending much on fun money etc. 

    How much have you restricted yourself to do FIRE? How much would you? 



    Have you included the cost of the cars themselves (or replacements)?
  • Dansmam
    Dansmam Posts: 677 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    With your £1k buffer you can do this - I'd give it a shot for a year maybe and see how much of the £1k can be diverted to savings. That's what you would have for childcare if you both continue working as you are. Work v. stay at home is a whole nother debate but I worked full time with 3 kids and they seem to be doing ok. Though one of them wishes I had been around more. Given another lifetime I might do many things differently but then I'd have got different things wrong 🙄
    I have borrowed from my future self
    The banks are not our friends
  • LV_426
    LV_426 Posts: 507 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    How much have you restricted yourself to do FIRE? How much would you? 

    It is probably fair to say that most of the regular posters on here are not really FIRE advocates as such . In fact FIRE was not really around as a specific movement  until relatively recently.
    It is a big generalisation but most on this forum have just been relatively careful with money , made sure they put a decent amount into pensions , with a general intention  to not having to work until 65, or even 60.
    Some have found themselves being able to retire as early as 55 but not many much earlier than that . The last ten years of good investment returns have helped .
    There are other forums more dedicated to FIRE/retiring very early, like Mr Money Mustache.

    To be honest seems a bit odd to me to be thinking about early retirement , before even having children .


    I would agree with all that. And can I add that the reason my retirement is not so imminent is because I want to preserve a lot of my pension assets for my kids. I got a few good financial breaks, so I want to pass wealth on to them.

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