There was a lot going on this month – we even got engaged!!! Excluding the engagement ring and the £500 spend on US dollars for our Africa trip this month’s underlying spending was very much in line with our monthly averages. An annual insurance premium increased our usual housing spend slightly but we were broadly in line with our expected totals.
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – July 2019”This month was slightly over our ‘normal’ spending of ~£2,000. We had an annual membership fee to pay, as well as a couple of big outlays for our Africa trip added to the total. See below for more detail!
We break our main expenses down into broad categories starting with the big 3; housing, food and transport. Everything else falls into the entertainment category, with any large inclusions explained in detail.
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – June 2019”This month’s spending is a little different because the balance for our Africa trip was due. As you can see, this meant we shelled out over £6,000 on this alone! We’ll go into more detail on this below.
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – May 2019”In March we produced our first ever monthly spending report. Here is our second!
Despite going away this month we have managed to stay very close to our March spending amount. We’re really happy with this and hope we can keep up the £2000 per month average!
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – April 2019”The 4% rule was created based on historical market returns data. Simply put, it showed that a typical retiree could withdraw 4% of their portfolio while keeping the initial pot intact. The withdrawn amount would increase by inflation each year.
The rule came about from work by Bengen and later, the Trinity study. Both were based on the same data.
This rule of thumb has been widely adopted in the FIRE movement as a way of calculating the required pot to fund early retirement. It is the basis of Mr Money Mustache’s famous article The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement
There have recently been a lot of articles criticising the 4% rule. I still think this rule provides a great initial estimate for anyone considering FIRE. That’s why I wanted to create an article giving the other side of the argument.
Continue reading “In Defence of the 4% Rule”This is the first time we’ve participated in one of SavingNinja‘s Thought Experiment posts so we’ll add a little explanation.
This is an idea to get bloggers to immediately respond to a question and all post their answers on their blogs. You have to write the first thing you think of and can’t pre-plan or do any major editing.
We’re joining in at Thought Experiment 5 because we only recently started our blog! If you want to see previous versions see SavingNinja’s archives.
Continue reading “Thought Experiment 5”It all started normally enough.
I grew up in a comfortable lower middle-class household. We never really discussed money. My parents weren’t flashy by any means, but they saw it as a matter of personal pride that we never went without.
Looking back, it’s fairly clear that there wasn’t any significant money being put into savings (other than for holidays and new cars!). I now know that any savings my parents did have was all held in cash. My Dad has a fear of the stock market – he has a very conservative approach to money!
The mindset I had been encouraged to adopt was that of the majority of people in my scenario; work hard at school, get a good job, settle down and have a family in a nice big house with a shiny car. After all, it’s not surprising when that’s exactly what my parents have achieved. These examples were the start of my money journey.
Continue reading “My Money Journey”As somewhat of a personal finance geek, I (Mr Way) have learnt a fair amount over the last few years. As a result, I wanted to share my specific take on saving for FIRE in the UK with you. I am not a qualified financial advisor and nothing in this article should be considered financial advice! This is simply a log of my own findings/opinions in the hope they may help you to do your own research!
Most of the information in this article will be based on my own situation as a full time employed basic rate tax payer. The advice will differ depending on your circumstances so do your own research.
You may well have more efficient ways of saving than I mention below. If so, please let me know!
Mr Way
There are many resources out there on how to save for financial independence. In my experience, most of these are US centric with their own tax and savings implications (401k, Roth IRA, healthcare etc). The general principles are very similar and can be broadly followed. But what about the UK FIRE saving nuances?
Obviously saving for FIRE differs from ‘traditional’ savings techniques because you need to access your money much earlier than traditional retirement dates (55+). If you aren’t planning to retire early, the best course of action will be very different.
Continue reading “How Do You Save for ‘FIRE’ in the UK?”In What is FIRE? we described the process of achieving financial independence and having the freedom to retire early from work. That’s great, but what are you going to do with all that spare time? You need to have a goal!
“One can find time for everything if one is never in a hurry.”
Mikhail Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog
It’s vital that you understand what you’re retiring TO rather than focussing on what you’re retiring FROM. This is what we mean by ‘have a goal’!
Continue reading “The Importance of Having a Goal”While developing ‘our way’ and learning about financial independence, we found reviewing other people’s spending really helpful. We can all learn something from each other because there’s so many ways of doing things!
To this end, we aim to regularly summarise our spending for comparison. It will also act as an accountability test for us, meaning we have to justify every purchase!
We will break our main expenses down into categories, starting with the big 3; housing, food and transport. Everything else falls broadly into the entertainment/miscellaneous category, with any large inclusions explained in detail.
So here it is – our March 2019 spending!
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – March 2019”