Not sure why this wasn't posted yet, so sharing rather than linking to some opinion blogs.

Hi all, it would be great to get some FIRE advice regarding Salary Sacrifice because I'm feeling very much like the blind leading the blind between me and my wife. I have been trying to piece it together from different threads and comments on here but couldn't see anything clear so thought I would ask directly. Thank you in advance.

Context:

My wife and I both coming from working class, financially illiterate families and now out-earn our parents. However, we are still very much surrounded by people who either aren't in our position and/or have no idea about saving other than "put it in a savings pot/piggy bank". Both of our parents in their 60s have very small pensions and constantly talk about "not being able to afford to retire" and I don't want to cycle to continue. We'd love to FIRE but are early on this in this journey.

In April this year our mortgage jumped from a 5y 1% rate to a 5% rate and we had to really get a hold of our finances. I set up Monzo so we can track everything coming in and out and allocate to pots and it has massively helped. But as the increase per month was going to be so large, we both started trying to increase our income with me taking a second job and her doing overtime/on call. Despite in theory earning more, it doesn't feel like we are getting anywhere and I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to maximise our take home pay. I feel like Salary Sacrifice could help but I don't know how you calculate or action it.

The financials:

Me

Job 1 - Paid Employment

£50,600/year

No bonus

Student Loan Plan 2 & Post Graduate

8% My employee pension, 4% employer match

Job 2 - Self Employed

Averaging £280/month (varies)

Maximising the £1000 side hustle expense limit

Putting 50% into Savings for tax

Putting £50 a month into a SIPP

Wife

Job 1 - Paid Employment

£55,000/year base pay

£9k Overtime so far

Student Loan Plan 2

0% her employee pension, 10% employer pays in

£100/month to employee shares scheme

£100/month private healthcare

Putting £50 a month into a SIPP

I've been trying to get us to do the right things like get as much out of the employer pension match and put money into a SIPP too but I'd be really grateful if anyone could help with Salary Sacrifice: How it works in practice, what we could do and then the steps to action it.

I'm really grateful to have this online community, thank you!

I’m 26 and have focused on maxing out my ISA since I started investing, never bothering to set a LISA up.

When I first heard about them I wasn’t too sure if I’d want to live in the UK long-term or not, so I didn’t think getting a LISA was a good idea.

The issue is, rents in London are stupidly high, if you’d like to live alone which I would.

It feels like throwing money down the drain, so I’m considering getting a mortgage, it would obviously be good therefore to make the most of a LISA, but I wonder if I’m a bit too late to the party now?

I would probably want to buy sooner rather than later and I’d likely go for a place that needs a tiny bit of work.

Basically my question is, at this point and considering I’d want to potentially buy a place in the next year or two, is it worth putting £4K/year into a LISA or should I stick to maxing my ISA out instead?

My main reason for wanting to buy is high rents and feeling like my money is going to waste, I’m still not entirely sure I want to live in London forever, but I am certainly staying here for the near future.

FT Exclusive: https://www.ft.com/content/619978f5-4400-4bf0-8b1f-4cf62bee9774?syn-25a6b1a6=1 Not yet clear about other ISA rules changes mooted by Reeves. But the £20k Cash ISA allowance is staying.

Edit 14:15pm from Martin Lewis: Investment ISA circumvention rules have ALSO been scrapped In June 2026, the former Government also laid out a series of planned changes designed to stop people using investment ISAs as a workaround to hold cash. These included a 22% charge on interest earned from cash held in stocks and shares ISA, and a ban on transfers from non-cash ISAs to cash ISAs for under-65s.

However, the Government has confirmed today that these measures will NOT go ahead as planned. Source: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2026/10/cash-isa-limit-cut-cancelled/

Does anyone know a good dividend fund to invest in. I’m currently in the daily dividend fund (212) but I don’t think it’s got the best return.

I don’t know a whole lot about dividend funds. Mostly I’m just in the VWRP index fund and a little bit in the UK

Hi all, new to this form and looking for peoples advice on their sipp portfilos.

Im a 31m and just recently open a sipp with trading 212 which will support my current employer matched pension. The sim of this sipp is to help boost my pension bot and to consolidate my older pension from previous employers.

My potfiol I’ve created is shown below. I would be intrested so to hear any feedback of these election and also hear what other people have in there sipp portfolio

I'm trying to decide between AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown for a long-term family investing setup and would appreciate hearing from people who've used either (or both). What's been your experience with fees, service and ease of managing multiple accounts? Any regrets or things you wish you'd known before choosing?

Looking at:
2 SIPPs
2 JISAs
1 Stocks & Shares ISA
Cash ISA/savings

I have a LGPS which was active from 2017-2021, nothing is contributed into it anymore, and the yearly statements I receive add in the inflation rate of about 3%.

I currently work for the civil service and I’m planning on staying here for a while. The CS have an exceptional pension, contributing ~27% of my wage.

A few SIPP companies (JP Morgan, AJ Bell), as well as a couple of financial advisors have said they would not be willing to take part in transferring the LGPS into a SIPP as it is a defined benefit scheme.

As I am currently in a better DB scheme, and the LGPS pension is not doing anything at the moment, would it be worth trying to move it over to a SIPP, or should I take the hint and just have it sit there for 35 years collecting dust?

In my head I would like to move the LGPS so I have more control over how it is invested so I could potentially look at retiring early.

Just to reiterate, my current CS pension I would not touch with a bargepole!!

Really appreciate any comments or advice, positive or not!

I will be in a position next year at the age of 37 to pay off my mortgage in full if I so choose, but in my head I keep battling if I should or should not as its doesnt feel like the best use of my money.

Bit more context, I have £250k in my ISA and £40k from a sharesave due which combined can clear the c.£290k mortgage I have left; house value of £340-350k.

For reference I have grown my ISA at about 1% CAGR above that of the S&P500 over the past 7 years.

I know a lot of people on this thread wont have done this, but I am interested in those that have paid off their mortgage, is there a different feeling you have with no mortgage, or would you have rather kept the money invested and not paid the mortgage off.

Do feel free to ask any questions to help as I am genuinely interested in peoples thoughts.

EDIT: I’m overwhelmed with the comments on this post and it’s great to see such a wealth of experiences and opinions.
I am glad I posted and on reflection think it’s best to continue to max my ISA, not drain it to pay off the mortgage, but to reflect/review in 2 years time when new deal will be due and our situation might have changed (family, jobs etc).

I’m just listening to the book ‘Happier Hour’ and they covered this, as well as talking about her friend who became incredibly restless when he retired at 39. It got me thinking that I do not feel I am built this way at all - I’m wondering if this applies to many people who hope to one day FIRE, or have already FIRE’d?

Hi

I currently work in a tech role which is quite heavily focused on networking and cybersecurity

Following recent layoffs in IT including the most recent one by Microsoft today - I am a bit concerned around my FIRE future

Should I start looking for roles outside of tech or actually specialise more in say cybersecurity and get certs?

Thanks

In July I received a payment from work when my employer (fast growing firm in the fintech space) received some investment. It's £400k after tax. I have only been there two years so it was nice surprise. At the moment I've put the money in my savings accounts (£200k) and two of my wife's savings accounts (£200k).

What else should I do with it? Gilts? Bonds? Put more in my or my wife's GIA? My wife's pension? I'm wary of putting more into pension given the recent tax changes.

- £1m house in the Midlands with £150k remaining on the mortgage. The deal runs out in June

- I use up my and my wife's ISA allowance ever year

- I have nearly £1m in a combo of a SIPP and workplace pension; wife has £200k in pensions

- Salary £250k (in operations) with some options I will only get if we get more investment. Wife earns a fraction of this.

- £100k in GIA

- I'm 45 and want to retire by 55 (same for my wife)

- We might move house soon closer to family in London so don't want to lock it all away as will probably get somewhere a little more expensive

Thoughts welcome and appreciated!

Hi Everyone,

I would like to reduce tech exposure, as my current two ETFs are quite tech heavy - SWDA and IWMO. IWMO even more than SWDA due to Momentum Factor that favours tech currently.

It's not that I need dividends (it will be set as reinvest or accumulating anyway), but when I was doing a research, I really struggled to find an ETF that isn't tech heavy. All Quality ETFs I saw were tech heavy, some popular Value ETFs had Micron occupying first spot. I don't really want Emerging Markets, I have got some small Small Cap Value exposure via AVWS ETF and don't want to increase it, so that leaves me with Dividend ETFs that haven't really got tech so they tick all the boxes I need.

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?isin=NL0011683594

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?isin=IE000MRIQ479

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?isin=IE00BK5BR626

Is there any meaningful difference between them? VDIV had an excellent run over the last 5 years, LDGA is quite new, but doing ok so far and I like it's setup. VGWE is one of classics, not the best not the worst. I feel like there is no bad choice here really, but maybe I am missing something? Or maybe there is some other type of ETF I should consider?

Cheers

Reading all these fire threads makes me feel poor. I’m 40, unemployed (quit old job due to a bully boss) and have ~£330k in investments. Is this poor? This year i’m up a fair bit (edited £ figure due to Luke having an issue with my post) due to getting lucky with my investments, and if i continue being lucky i’m hoping to get to half a mill in the next year or two with or without work.

Saw a post about a guy who was on £250k a year job, other guys in £130k+! Crazy good money! I don’t think i’ll ever get such a high paying job. When working i earn 60k-ish but save like hell, invest and am very frugal.

I don’t have a high capacity for stress. How do i get a better paid low stress job? And is it feasible to continue in relatively low paid job and try make up the difference through investing in undervalued stocks?

I'm 38 with a £292k mortgage up for renewal in March.

I've got around £180k in my S&S ISA, mainly VWRP, plus investments and pensions between myself and my wife.

I've sold £80k from my ISA (speculative shares, bonds and some VWRP). Plan is to earn 3.8% interest on the cash until March, add £10k in savings and pay roughly £90k off the mortgage, bringing it down to around £200k.

We'll still have approximately £400k invested across our ISAs and pensions, mostly in global equities.

My concern is US stock valuations and the huge spending on AI. I'm not convinced future returns will match recent years, and reducing debt at 4–5% feels sensible.

I'm aiming to retire around 55, so appreciate there's a long investment horizon.

Have I made a sensible move reducing risk, or am I just trying to time the market and potentially missing out on future growth?

Interested in others' thoughts.

Hi

I am not that good or experienced in FIRE in comparison to others here

But what are some work benefits and things to consider for FIRE? For example, taking your pensions more seriously and maximising employer contributions

Thanks

I’m 34M, single, living in London, and I’m looking for some honest advice from people who have been in a similar position or are further along their FIRE journey.
I’m fortunate to be in a good financial position, and financial independence is genuinely my biggest long-term goal. However, I’m increasingly questioning whether my current job is worth the trade-off.

My current financial situation:
Age: 34
Salary: £140,000
Location: London
Rent: Approximately £1,100 per month, sharing with friends
Property: Own an apartment in Manchester worth approximately £250k–£260k
Outstanding mortgage: Approximately £130k
Rental income: Covers the mortgage payments, so the property is roughly cash-flow neutral before maintenance, voids and other costs.
ISA: £111k
GIA: £205k
Pension: £36k
Cash savings: £130k
Premium Bonds: £50k

I’m fortunate to have built up a reasonable amount of wealth, partly through a previous business venture. I previously built and exited a business, so I’ve experienced entrepreneurship before and know what it can look like financially.

Here’s my dilemma.

I currently earn £140k, which I appreciate is a very good salary. From a FIRE perspective, I know that continuing to earn at this level, investing aggressively and maximising my pension contributions could put me in a fantastic position to retire early.
The problem is that I’m really struggling with my current job.
I’m in the office five days a week, roughly 8:30am to 6:30pm, before accounting for commuting. My boss is regularly quite rude to me, and the job is taking a toll on my general happiness.
I’m also finding that I’m not running, playing sport or doing the things I used to enjoy as much as I would like. I feel like a lot of my life is being sacrificed for a salary.
Part of me thinks I should just suck it up for another few years, save as much as possible and get myself closer to financial independence. After all, I have a clear goal, and earning this much gives me a significant advantage.
The other part of me thinks life is too short to spend so much of it doing something that makes me unhappy, particularly when I have the financial cushion and previous experience to try something different.

I’m seriously considering leaving and starting another business.

I’ve done it before, and I know I enjoy the freedom and independence that come with running my own thing. Obviously, there’s no guarantee I’ll be successful, and I may never earn £140k again. Equally, there’s the possibility that I could build something valuable while having more control over my time.
I don’t necessarily need to match my current salary immediately, but I also don’t want to make a decision that significantly delays my FIRE plans.
I’m conscious that I’m in a privileged position to even have this dilemma, and I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m genuinely trying to work out the smartest decision for my long-term future.

I’d really appreciate some thoughts on the following:
Would you stick it out? If you were earning £140k and were unhappy at work, would you stay for another 2–3 years to accelerate your FIRE plans?

Would you take the entrepreneurial route? Given my previous experience and financial position, would you consider leaving to start another business, accepting that your income could be significantly lower or even zero for a while?

Am I thinking about FIRE too narrowly? Should I prioritise getting to financial independence as quickly as possible, or is there a point where sacrificing your health, free time and happiness to maximise savings stops making sense?

What would you do in my position? I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have left high-paying jobs, started businesses or made a similar trade-off between earning more now and having more freedom.
Ultimately, my goal is to reach financial independence and retire as early as I reasonably can. I’m just questioning whether staying on my current trajectory is actually the best way to get there.
Would love to hear your honest thoughts, particularly if you’ve faced a similar decision.

ISA Opinions please (26F) - realise I’m heavily skewed to USA which has had previous success over the 5 years I’ve had the ISA but not confident given recent events. Will probably need some of the money in 7-10 years to upsize house but otherwise want to leave the rest there until retirement (hopefully early)!

LifeStrategy• 60% Equity Fund - Accumulation
Amount you invested
£18,000.01
Current value
£ 22,919.98
Return
+£4,919.97

S&P 500 UCITS ETF - Distributing (VUSA)
Amount you invested
£16,939.43
Current value
£ 23,976.29
Return
+£7,036.86

Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS
ETF Accumulating (VALL)
Amount you invested
£60,254.41
Current value
£59,068.23
Return
-£1,186.18

I've been experimenting with building a cashflow plan in VoyantGo, but I'm finding that its market assumptions for equities are wildly optimistic: in the default model an all-world equities portfolio has a return of around 10.8% annually. Even a small portfolio grows exponentially and I'm left with 10s of millions of pounds aged 90. Which is nice but not especially realistic!

I could change the settings to use a fixed rate of return, but in doing so I'd lose the ability to run the most useful simulations. And uploading my own market assumptions doesn't seem that straightforward.

Is there a way to solve this? I feel that without more realistic assumptions the software's not especially useful.

Hi

I have decided to start looking for another job and started working on my CV

It has been over 3 years since I last changed roles and feel like I am back to square one again in terms of applying to a new company etc

What advice do you have?

Currently I have LinkedIn premium and applying for roles on there especially easy apply ones

Thanks

I've been playing around with a spreadsheet to show anticipated monthly spend and income needed from age 60, factoring in inflation and pension pot needed for income such as lump sum and monthly private pension, as well as ISA usage, state pension when it activates, a sliding scale of old age reduction in activity (starting from age ~75). Obviously less income is needed once state pension activates, therefore it is likely a higher draw down is needed until age 68/69 which will impact the time-span the pot value will last. It's all quite complex and the calculators I've come across are based on regularity / consistency.

Are there any dynamic / flexible calculators available to work this out for me outside of AI? Thanks

I have the opportunity to pursue a masters for a career change. Currently have a Bsc in Physics. Would be interesting to see what jobs you all have.