FIRE Girls Pension Diary - Aim High & Dream Big

Firegirl

Thanks so much for all your ideas for my kid who just turned 18❤️.  I read them all with care and have come up with a plan. I’ve decided to give him 1k for his LISA and 1K for a stocks and shares ISA.  He knows he can’t take the money out of either and it will be good learning for him to ride through a dip when it comes.  Also I’m hoping he’ll save a bit each month into them but I’ll leave that up to him.

He’s already set up a savings account with decent interest rate and put all his birthday money in there so that’s a good start.

@cfw1994 - I asked my son your question ‘would you rather have a million pounds today or a penny doubled every day for a month?”  He got the answer straight away and said everyone’s seen that on TikTok. 🤣 It sounds like it would be great if you did a blog or maybe you could set up a TikTok! I did try this but quickly decided I didn’t want to be a creator! More effort than it looks!  I like doing this anon😊

@Kernowshep thanks for this list….I've ticked off all them in general chat with him.

@hugheskevi I took on board you comments about pension. Yeh I think that was a bad idea unless he can get company matching. I’ll tackle that subject later. Also LISA, sure he doesn’t even know for sure if he’d want to live in the UK yet really. The world is your oyster at that age! Where we live a first property would be well below £450k.  Financial traps - he hates debt so I’ve no worries there. I’ve got that on a list for general chat later though.

@LL_USSwhat a great idea to get your child to run your mortgage for 2 years! Uni accommodation is so expensive. My son currently wants to stay at home if he goes to Uni next year and him and his friends have it all planned out so they can go on lots of holidays with earnings from PT jobs.

@DT2001 good idea to ask him what he needs help understanding as he is very savy already as I’ve chatted to him so much over the years and even my sister told him to listen to what I have to say because it will make a massive difference to him. He was like oh yeh definitely, I know🤣

Hope you are all keeping well into these winter months.  I will be back soon to update you on my progress later in the week as I’m about to hit another exciting milestone on my journey!

michaels

Mine would have the best intentions but would spend from both an ISA and even a Lisa because for example a mate had suggested a great joint holiday idea.  

They had child trust funds of about 800 which I didn't top up as giving kids money at 18 always sounded like a bad idea and sure enough it all went on holidays, 'body art' and nights out within a few months.

QrizB

michaels said:

Mine would have the best intentions ...
They had child trust funds of about 800 which I didn't top up.

You know your kids, I'm sure.

We topped up our CTFs over the years to almost £10k each, which (as far as I'm aware) they both still have invested as SSISAs.

Firegirl

@michaels exactly like me…I never topped up the trust fund.  I particularly interested to see what he will do with that money.  He’s agreed to keep the money i give him in the LISA and ISA and not take it out. He has a job and earns enough to go on his holidays and run his car.  This is my way to get him started in the hope he adds to these himself and gets in good habits. At the end of the day it’s out of our hands really.  I trust him enough not to have too tight control but I won’t give him anything else for a while until I see that he leaves it where it is.  

You know they are young, holidays and nights out are no bad thing but you wouldn’t want 10k to go on that!  I know someone’s child who spent their trust fund on a new kitchen in a rented property and moved out a year later😳

@QrizB I’m sure your kids funds are still in the ISA….there’d be signs🤣

Firegirl

I have an exciting update to report!  I have passed the 500k mark which puts me well ahead of my targets on the first post. 

Pension 1-£278, 500 (No more to be added)
Pension 2-£66, 000 (No more to be added)
Pension 3-£35, 000 (Current work pension)
ISA-£118, 500
Money Owed - £10. 000

Total- £508,000

chrisw2k

Congratulations @firegirl ! Ive been following this thread since you started it and always meant to join in but only just getting around to it now!! Your numbers are weirdly similar to my own - 45, saving about £3k a month and also aiming for the £1m by 55.  My pot has also just passed that 500k mark so Im very, very happy with that as I'm sure you are  It now feels like a serious amount of money doesnt it...

Firegirl

@chrisw2k thanks for dropping by! Congratulations to you on becoming a half millionaire! It’s totally insane. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be at this point.  It’s a long time since I was doing car boot sales to make ends meet! I’m very grateful as I’m sure you are too!

Watty1

Fabulous achievement.   Well done!

Firegirl

Thanks @Watty1 and you were here for my MFW journey so you know the road has been long😆

Firegirl

Oh this milestone has made me struggle to be motivated in work this week. Can’t stop thinking what I’d like to do when I have financial freedom!

Also trying to work out what my true goal is to get there.  Has anyone else retired very early and did you factor in a percentage for price hikes, inflation?🤔. Council tax rises and energy bills come to mind!