As you probably know by now, we’re expecting a baby in July! As money is our favourite topic, we wanted to understand the financial impact of having a baby!
Aside from the obvious emotional impact of expecting a baby, there are some very significant financial aspects to think about.
Continue reading “Baby Impact Assessment”
2019 has been a year to remember for us, with highlights including:
Clearly, 2019 has been more expensive than we would have liked!
Despite this we have still managed to achieve all of the above, as well as an unwelcome new car purchase, while saving in the region of 35% of our income. We much prefer to see a figure above 50%, but considering what has happened this year we are happy to still make significant contributions to our ‘FI funds’.
Continue reading “Happy New Year!”You’ve met Mr Way. You’ve met Miss Way. Say hello to Baby Way! Well, not just yet….
If the incredibly expensive Africa trip followed by a new car weren’t expensive enough, we’re now expecting our first child!
We recently found out that Miss Way is pregnant, with the baby due in July 2020.
Obviously, we’re absolutely delighted with this news. But at the same time, there are some severe doubts about whether we’re doing the right thing.
Continue reading “Baby Way”There has been a steady increase in the mainstream media coverage for Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE), especially here in the UK.
While it’s a really good thing that our message is being spread to more people, this also brings a lot of frustration with it. Almost every time I have seen FIRE covered in the press, there appear to be severe misunderstandings about the principles by which us ‘followers’ live.
The most recent example of this was an episode of Money Box Live, aired on 6th November 2019. Money Box Live is a radio programme on BBC Radio 4, covering all areas of money.
Continue reading “Misunderstanding the FIRE Movement”This was a strange month for spending because we were in Africa for almost the whole month! We had already paid for the vast majority of the trip in advance. You can see the damage in previous spending posts!
Continue reading “Monthly Spending – August 2019”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”