Target achieved, age 44

kimwp

BlackKnightMonty said:

daveyjp said:

£120k annual income 'not mega bucks'?  Its a significant amount.

It isn’t.

average wages have languished for +15 years. However niche, high expertise, professional roles have continued to grow; £100k roles are quite common in London and beyond.

Well done to the OP, that’s a great achievement!

Hopefully these well paid people understand the difference between common and significant. 

BlackKnightMonty

kimwp said:

BlackKnightMonty said:

daveyjp said:

£120k annual income 'not mega bucks'?  Its a significant amount.

It isn’t.

average wages have languished for +15 years. However niche, high expertise, professional roles have continued to grow; £100k roles are quite common in London and beyond.

Well done to the OP, that’s a great achievement!

Hopefully these well paid people understand the difference between common and significant. 

These well paid people includes me (£130k pa).

Bonne nuit !

kimwp

BlackKnightMonty said:

kimwp said:

BlackKnightMonty said:

daveyjp said:

£120k annual income 'not mega bucks'?  Its a significant amount.

It isn’t.

average wages have languished for +15 years. However niche, high expertise, professional roles have continued to grow; £100k roles are quite common in London and beyond.

Well done to the OP, that’s a great achievement!

Hopefully these well paid people understand the difference between common and significant. 

These well paid people includes me (£130k pa).

Bonne nuit !

That was pretty obvious from your previous post.

Getting sidetracked into common rather than significant, but nonetheless -

https://ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/where_do_you_fit_in

Bostonerimus1

BlackKnightMonty said:

kimwp said:

BlackKnightMonty said:

daveyjp said:

£120k annual income 'not mega bucks'?  Its a significant amount.

It isn’t.

average wages have languished for +15 years. However niche, high expertise, professional roles have continued to grow; £100k roles are quite common in London and beyond.

Well done to the OP, that’s a great achievement!

Hopefully these well paid people understand the difference between common and significant. 

These well paid people includes me (£130k pa).

Bonne nuit !

If you earn 130k and spend 130k you'll end up poor. Income is on one side of the equation and spending is on the other side. The OP has obviously accumulated a sizable pension pot and they now have to make it work for them.

I was well paid when I was working, but not that much above average as I was in university and government jobs. I've benefitted from compounding over 30 plus years of fairly aggressive investing and being frugal I was able to invest a large portion of my wages. The OP is doing similar things and is on a similar financial path. Right now I'm retired and have an income below average for where I live, but I don't have a mortgage or any other debt so my living costs are lower than average. If you look at my net worth I'd be considered wealthy.

At 44 and with a net worth over 1M the OP is far better off than most, but they need to be sensible as market reversals and uncontrolled or unexpected spending could quickly eat into the pot.

BlackKnightMonty

Bostonerimus1 said:

BlackKnightMonty said:

kimwp said:

BlackKnightMonty said:

daveyjp said:

£120k annual income 'not mega bucks'?  Its a significant amount.

It isn’t.

average wages have languished for +15 years. However niche, high expertise, professional roles have continued to grow; £100k roles are quite common in London and beyond.

Well done to the OP, that’s a great achievement!

Hopefully these well paid people understand the difference between common and significant. 

These well paid people includes me (£130k pa).

Bonne nuit !

If you earn 130k and spend 130k you'll end up poor. Income is on one side of the equation and spending is on the other side. The OP has obviously accumulated a sizable pension pot and they now have to make it work for them.

I was well paid when I was working, but not that much above average as I was in university and government jobs. I've benefitted from compounding over 30 plus years of fairly aggressive investing and being frugal I was able to invest a large portion of my wages. The OP is doing similar things and is on a similar financial path. Right now I'm retired and have an income below average for where I live, but I don't have a mortgage or any other debt so my living costs are lower than average. If you look at my net worth I'd be considered wealthy.

At 44 and with a net worth over 1M the OP is far better off than most, but they need to be sensible as market reversals and uncontrolled or unexpected spending could quickly eat into the pot.

Absolutely. I have no where near that as a pension pot. He’s done exceptionally well. Sounds like you have too.

bownyboy

I echo others and reccomend going down to 4 days a week. It makes a massive difference.

Also, I would be inclinded to dial back the savings and start enjoying spending by having those family holidays and experiences you have maybe been putting off.

The biggest turning point for me was realising I didn't have to get stressed about stuff anymore. Being FI was like a superpower. I no longer cared about all the silly stuff and shrugged off all the work dramas and politics.

Paying mortgage down is personal choice. I'm FIRE'd but have a mortgage. It's 1.44% and not too big so have no issues leaving it to run its course to leave investments to grow.

michaels

Another vote for a 4 day (or less) week - think of it as taking some of your retirement early (that does make sense).  Highlight of my weeks are the afternoons watching my kids school football matches/recitals/plays/etc or even just being around to help with revision, homework etc and these are definitely things I could never get back if I missed them.

On the finance side, once the pension pots reach a size that (together with state pension) you might be paying 40% on the way out then they are big enough and lisa/isa should take up the slack - perhaps think about leaving headroom to keep taxable income below 100k going forward (via pension or shorter working week) and putting everything else into isa/lisa/wife's pension (given you share money might be worth looking at taking whatever steps to balance provision between you and DW to the point where she can utilise the full personal allowance - something we have failed to do).

I guess the only other question as has been mentioned above - what is the long term plan - early retirement?  career break? shift to a sector that might be less lucrative but more socially beneficial?

zagubov

Totally agree with all the posters. Time’s a better reward than money. I went to four days. 

Discussed it with loads of people who went to four days and got good advice about how to make the week feel better.

I started using the French system of having Thursdays off to make Wednesdays feel more like Fridays.

After three years, started taking Mondays off to make Tuesdays into a gentler Monday, AFAIK you’re entitled to TOIL for Bank holidays that fall during your days off.

Never more than two days away from a day off, plus three-day weekends mean cheaper weekends away.

Next step, take Tuesdays off. Start the week on “hump day” and after a day off, finish on Friday. Result! 

Kernowshep

Firstly, well done.

I'd be upping your cash savings, because it seems low considering everything else. E.g. need a replacement car, boiler, new bathroom/kitchen and it could be gone.

I'd leave the mortgage and keep saving and investing to offset the cost (unless the mortgage interest rate was really high).  If I were you I'd be tempted to take the mortgage up to retirement age, knowing I had the ability to pay it off at will by using saving/investments I'd built up (e.g. your pension tax free lump sums could do it now if you were old enough).

I'd avoid the marginal rate at £100k with your pension but not any more than that (unless there was a large matching percentage or possibly if it was via salary sacrifice with employer NI added).

I'd make sure I was doing some memory making experiential stuff with the kids, whether that be activities or holidays (you may be doing this already).

Derisking your investments risks losing out to inflation which is a risk in itself.  The safest long term investment would probably be buying more pension in the LGPS, but you probably wouldn't actually need it by the time she could take it without actuarial reduction.

If you haven't already, it's worth considering (even if you discount it) adding AVCs to her pension because it can be taken tax free up to the usual limits when taken at the same time as the LGPS pension (especially if it can be done via salary sacrifice with the addition of employer NI).
Her LGPS pension doesn't appear in your number list so you may have even more when retirement time comes! 

As others have said reducing a working day would make a big difference (if it actually means working less, not catching up in your own time).

We've chosen not do the kids JISAs or SIPPs but have earmarked amounts within our own investments. They'll get the amounts and more back at some point, maybe a car, or support at uni, or potentially once they are earning we might subsidise their income to enable them to add to their own pensions/tax efficient savings, or provide a lump sum to help with a house deposit. I think mine will have more use for the money a long time before they can access a SIPP. We may get inheritance, which depending on if, or when it comes, may skip to them.

We're not where you are yet regarding our number (so plowing money into pensions still makes sense for us), but we might be in a few years, or if we sold up and bought something half the price (not likely).  We currently have less in pension/LISA, more in S&S ISA, but a much bigger mortgage.

BlackKnightMonty

Kernowshep said:

Firstly, well done.

I'd be upping your cash savings, because it seems low considering everything else. E.g. need a replacement car, boiler, new bathroom/kitchen and it could be gone.

I'd leave the mortgage and keep saving and investing to offset the cost (unless the mortgage interest rate was really high).  If I were you I'd be tempted to take the mortgage up to retirement age, knowing I had the ability to pay it off at will by using saving/investments I'd built up (e.g. your pension tax free lump sums could do it now if you were old enough).

I'd avoid the marginal rate at £100k with your pension but not any more than that (unless there was a large matching percentage or possibly if it was via salary sacrifice with employer NI added).

I'd make sure I was doing some memory making experiential stuff with the kids, whether that be activities or holidays (you may be doing this already).

Derisking your investments risks losing out to inflation which is a risk in itself.  The safest long term investment would probably be buying more pension in the LGPS, but you probably wouldn't actually need it by the time she could take it without actuarial reduction.

If you haven't already, it's worth considering (even if you discount it) adding AVCs to her pension because it can be taken tax free up to the usual limits when taken at the same time as the LGPS pension (especially if it can be done via salary sacrifice with the addition of employer NI).
Her LGPS pension doesn't appear in your number list so you may have even more when retirement time comes! 

As others have said reducing a working day would make a big difference (if it actually means working less, not catching up in your own time).

We've chosen not do the kids JISAs or SIPPs but have earmarked amounts within our own investments. They'll get the amounts and more back at some point, maybe a car, or support at uni, or potentially once they are earning we might subsidise their income to enable them to add to their own pensions/tax efficient savings, or provide a lump sum to help with a house deposit. I think mine will have more use for the money a long time before they can access a SIPP. We may get inheritance, which depending on if, or when it comes, may skip to them.

We're not where you are yet regarding our number (so plowing money into pensions still makes sense for us), but we might be in a few years, or if we sold up and bought something half the price (not likely).  We currently have less in pension/LISA, more in S&S ISA, but a much bigger mortgage.

Your kids will absolutely appreciate help when starting out; deposit for renting a flat, buying a car, deposit for a house, etc. I would be wary about planning for any inheritance.