FIRE Girls Pension Diary - Aim High & Dream Big

Firegirl

10 year targets are set and I'm aiming high and dreaming big.  

A bit of background. When I was young I grew up with a family of 4 children, Dad worked and Mum stayed at home.  We had very little material things or new clothes and I remember I was always dreaming of how I could possibly become a millionaire.  So why not give it a go!  I know some people will understand, and many won’t.  I know how fortunate I am to have a well paid job which allows me to dream of the possibilities of the calculations below.  I write this because for some reason I always feel a bit embarrassed like because I’ve done well I’ve forgotten what it’s really like and have now a warrped reality.  Strange feelings stay with you. I still find it difficult to buy things for myself and am wracked with guilt if I do……any way let’s get to it!

I started off this journey as a mortgage free wanna be.  I started a diary similar to this with high hopes and ridiculously high aims.  If my journey from the start is of interest look at this thread ‘FIRE Through The Mortgage - MF by 55 - Latest’.

There are a lot of things that can get in the way but you don’t know unless you try. Let’s list a few barriers.

Barrier 1 - I have a well paid job contracting at the moment which allows me to save 3k a month.  This is unlikely to be the case for 10 years but you just never know. Make hay while the sun shines

Barrier 2 - I have a long term health condition which could take me out of action at any point, but equally it might not!

Barrier 3 - my husband has a stressful job and I want my him to have the flexibility to quit at any point. Life’s to short and it’s just not worth it. He’s happy at the moment. And loves his job so not likely that will change

Barrier 4 - Children are getting older and I’m hoping cheaper, but I hear this isn’t always the case

Im not taking any barriers into account and Im going to ‘Aim High and Dream Big’. Targets  are set so let’s goooooool!!!! 

TYE TARGETS

Start point £311,500

Age 45- 2024 - £311,500

Age 46 - 2025 - £364,427

Age 47 - 2026 - £420,061

Age 48 - 2027 - £478, 542

Age 49 - 2028 - £540,015

Age 50 - 2029 - £604,633

Age 51 - 2030 - £672,557

Age 52 - 2031 - £743,956

Age 53- 2032 - £819,008

Age 54- 2033 - £897,900

Age 55- 2034 - £980,828

Age 56- 2035 - £1,067,999

Note: figures based on saving £3000 a month and 5% interest

Next task is to update my signature with new targets.

Firegirl

TYE ACTUAL FIGURES 

I will update this comment every year at TYE to compare progress.  The figures will be the total of 3 x pensions and a stocks and shares ISA

Start point £311,500

Interm Target = £800,000 (see comment 24/01/24)

Aim High Dream Big Target = £1,000,000

Age 45- 2024 - Target £311,500/ Actual £329,500

Age 46 - 2025 - Target £420,061/ Actual £419,500

Age 47 - 2026 - £

Age 48 - 2027 - £

Age 49 - 2028 - £

Age 50 - 2029 - £

Age 51 - 2030 - £

Age 52 - 2031 - £

Age 53- 2032 - £

Age 54- 2033 - £

Age 55- 2034 - £

Age 56- 2035 - £

QrizB

Good luck and I look forward to seeing this thread grow along with your investments

barnstar2077

Ha, that is funny.  I am hoping to retire, in just over eight years, at 55 with £300k total.  Which is less than your current starting point! :  )

I should reach financial independence by the age of 50/51.  Meaning, I will at that point have enough in an ISA to cover my bills until I can access my pension at 57.  I will continue on until at least 55 though, so I can do the things that I want to be able to do in retirement without having to worry.

I too am eager to see your progress.  May we both achieve our goals and realise our dreams!

Firegirl

QrizB said:

Good luck and I look forward to seeing this thread grow along with your investments

Let’s hope!

Firegirl

barnstar2077 said:

Ha, that is funny.  I am hoping to retire, in just over eight years, at 55 with £300k total.  Which is less than your current starting point! :  )

I should reach financial independence by the age of 50/51.  Meaning, I will at that point have enough in an ISA to cover my bills until I can access my pension at 57.  I will continue on until at least 55 though, so I can do the things that I want to be able to do in retirement without having to worry.

I too am eager to see your progress.  May we both achieve our goals and realise our dreams!

Main reason I’m saving so much is cause I just don’t spend it anyway, which is arguably pretty pointless. 300k is a fantastic amount to retire on and financial independence at 50/51 is amazing.

My figures are a dream but when I started my MFW thread I thought I had no chance of making such a dent in my mortgage.  My original aim was really to get to 400k and retire and I likely won’t keep going but it’s more fun to aim high.

Contracting has been life changing. Was funny looking at the start of my MFW thread and knowing how much things have changed. If anyone is reading this and thinking of contracting, go for it!  The trick is not to change your lifestyle when you get the increased pay.

michaels

Just wondering how you have come up with your target.  There is a thread on this board called 'The Number' which is well worth a browse as it gives you some ideas on how to work out how much you need to retire, it might be you discover that with your savings plan you would have enough to retire earlier than 56 in which case you might think about using isas rather than pension for some of your savings for example.

One difference between a mortgage and a pension is that whilst a mortgage is fixed at least in nominal terms (and inflation is your friend if you also get corresponding wage increases), a pension is likely invested in assets that are highly volatile (ups and downs) and not keeping up with inflation is a problem (I do all my modelling in current £ terms as otherwise it is very hard to understand what the numbers mean relative to living costs).  Thus you may find it makes more sense to track inputs rather than balance as the former you control, the latter is at the whim of the markets. (For example 12 months ago I was 'behind' by 100k from where I might have hoped to me but a strong year on the markets now sees me in an apparently much better position).

Good luck

Firegirl

Thanks for this info and I’ll have a look at ‘The number’ thread. Yeh the target is just a dream tbh. Likely I will retire before reaching that as it’s really not necessary for me to live.  I also figure by being organised and putting set amounts to pension and ISA I’ll have a good idea how much I actually spend in a year. But yes you are right I really need to work out ‘the number’ for me.

I plan to spend some time working out what I actually need so maybe I could add a realistic goal when I work that out. Very good point about tracking inputs rather than being at the mercy of the markets.  But then I’d have to do more calcs  Let me think about that. Emmmmm.

I have a stocks and shares ISA with approx 80k.  This is included in the total and will bridge between when I retire and 57 when I can access the pensions.

savingholmes

Good luck on your journey. Will follow with interest. I too dream of being a millionaire but am likely to board the part time/ semi retirement train before I get there. 

Bostonerimus1

Well done, you have every chance of success because you have a plan and are taking action. It's good that you are saving/investing regularly and that you seem to be frugal, but I advise you to keep a detailed budget as this will help you to analyze and control your spending and also come up with "The Number" you'll need to retire. You don't mention your asset allocation in ISA and pensions which you should understand and you should also research some withdrawal strategies so you become comfortable with how to spend your pot once you retire. Also don't forget about annuities, they can form a solid foundation of income if you don't have a DB pension.

As some encouragement I'be been on a similar journey to the one you are starting. I had a 15 year plan to pay off my mortgage and invested lots into retirement funds and this allowed me to retire at 52 and never worry about money again, so FIRE doesn't have to be just a dream.

Firegirl

Thanks for the encouragement. Savingholmes retiring early is the whole point so like you I might well step off the train but it’s fun to have a goal.

Boston.. - Good idea about a detailed budget.  I have done a budget but not in detail. I have 2 accounts and DD/SO are across both of them.  I need to get them moved to 1 and spend only out of that account. Then it will be easier to download the previous years spending.

Great to know you’ve been on a similar journey and happy for you that you reached your goal. Next steps will be to understand ‘The Number’ and withdrawal strategies.  For now I’ll save as much as I can part pension/part ISA.