FIRE Girls Pension Diary - Aim High & Dream Big

jimi_man

enthusiasticsaver said:

jimi_man said:

Well done on all the progress so far. However, unless I’ve missed it which is eminently possible - you don’t seem to say how much you need or want to live on. I.e what your Number is. Having a £million for retirement is a great achievement but if your outgoings are £100k a year then it’s not going to last you long. Equally if you are as frugal as Seashell then you may have worked too long! 

Tbh a good starting point is what you spend now, after removing monthly savings, loans (mortgage). 

I think @Firegirl said on page 1 of the thread that she still needs to work out her "Number".  Good point though as a £1million retirement fund could last for completely different number of years depending on lifestyle. We worked out when to retire based on affordability and when projected income in retirement hit normal expenditure plus a bit of a buffer. That plus getting to the point we did not enjoy work anymore. 

Absolutely. The essence of any pension planning (and she clearly has a plan which is great) is to establish certain criteria and then work out how to achieve it. A bit like fuelling an aircraft. No point in filling it up to the brim if you’re only going from London to Jersey equally, if you’re going to New Zealand then you may need to think again. 

Personally speaking, that’s the best bit of these threads. Seeing how the plans stack up with real world figures, which is why Sea_Shell’s thread us so good. Also GamblerUK has another great one and there is another one by Barondale which is also good. Just an aspirational target figure needs more context. 

I’m sure (hope) these details will come out in the fullness of time so I’ll follow with interest. 

Sea_Shell

SeaShell still worries occasionally that the wheels might come off! 😉

It all seems to good to be true.   

Have I miss counted a few zeros somewhere? 

enthusiasticsaver

Sea_Shell said:

SeaShell still worries occasionally that the wheels might come off! 😉

It all seems to good to be true.   

Have I miss counted a few zeros somewhere? 

I very much doubt it.  You seem to have a handle on it

Firegirl

I really do need to work out the number.  Not sure why I’m procrastinating on that. It’s more of a childhood dream to be a millionaire rather than practicality’s are my motivation and to save as much as possible to give me choices as early as possible. Love the fuelling aircraft analogy!

Sea_Shell

To work out where you're going, first you need to work out where you are.

Or something like that 😉

michaels

Sea_Shell said:

To work out where you're going, first you need to work out where you are.

Or something like that 😉

No point planning your route in detail until you know the destination?!

jimi_man

Firegirl said:

I really do need to work out the number.  Not sure why I’m procrastinating on that. It’s more of a childhood dream to be a millionaire rather than practicality’s are my motivation and to save as much as possible to give me choices as early as possible. Love the fuelling aircraft analogy!

Not suggesting you’re in this bracket but it can be because people are afraid of the answer. That even with the aspirational figure it might not be enough. 

Firegirl

I don’t think I’m afraid of the answer but was really was going to be lazy and just down load my account at the end of this year but you’ve inspired me to try and work it out earlier.  I’ll go and find the numbers thread to get ideas!

I think actually I’m more afraid I’ll work out my answer wrong.  

jimi_man

Firegirl said:

I don’t think I’m afraid of the answer but was really was going to be lazy and just down load my account at the end of this year but you’ve inspired me to try and work it out earlier.  I’ll go and find the numbers thread to get ideas!

I think actually I’m more afraid I’ll work out my answer wrong.  

I’m just speaking from personal experience. It never felt real or even sensible until I had an idea of how much I was going to need. Then I really had a goal to work towards. In my case I don’t have a large pot but a large DB pension and a small pot to top up till SPA but the principle was the same. 

enthusiasticsaver

Do you not have a spending app tracker on your bank mobile app?  Do you budget monthly or just wing it? I know when you earn a lot it is tempting not to bother but you may find it interesting.  There has been all sorts of research into the different levels of retirement but there are different levels within that. 

A few things you need to ask yourself.  

Do you have expensive hobbies like golf and do you want a gym/country club membership etc
Will you be running a car (or two) and will you need to build in costs for replacing this every 5-10 years or sooner
How often will you be eating out and at what type of restaurant/pub
How big a house will you be running and maintaining. Build in costs of home improvement projects, white good replacement etc. 
Travel is a big one and can range from a  few weekends away to several long haul holidays a year.