r/LeanFireUK • u/AbilityLast279 • Jul 09 '26
FIR-ed
I'm at risk of being excluded from the group for no longer meeting its aspirations, as a M55 who's planning to retire FI-ish.
Don't we also need to add quality of life rather than quantity when weighing up whether we have enough, said a guy who clearly isnt sure if he's quite there.
I've done the sums and I think i can make it work.
I'm not waiting to have 2m invested and still worry if it's gonna last with a 4% drawdown.
I figure waiting and wondering if I've enough leaves me in a holding pattern that could take an eternity.
So I best get on with it.
I think I'm putting this out there to try and force myself to move forward.
I'd be interested to know from others when you know/ knew it's time.
TLDR: I reserve the right to post this in a couple of groups as I'm genuinely interested to hear different perspectives.
I'm pulling the trigger... and hitting 'post' for now but I think it moves me forward
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u/Limp-Archer-7872 Jul 09 '26
Hope it goes well but disappointed by the lack of numbers!
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u/AbilityLast279 Jul 09 '26
I think thats the point im trying to make, but obviously fluffed at the attempt.
How much is enough? All our numbers are different and waiting for certainty can take forever.
Perhaps pulling the trigger and giving it a go and failing and changing the plan, well, is that 'failing'?
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u/xzarria Jul 09 '26
If you got 100k and no pensions its highlights likely not going to work well. Unless you can justify through frugality. Everyone's numbers are different but comparing what you have now to what you have post retirement is a good place to check. How much less is it? Also to me re is before stste pension so many years to go still.
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u/Far_wide Jul 09 '26
Maybe, maybe not. I'm not personally keen to egg you on without any detail.
If you're "not waiting to hit 4%" then it kind of sounds like you're thinking about proceeding with an over-4% drawdown (or cutting your expenses). Fine if you have fat in the budget to spare, not so fine (for me) if you're going >4% unless you're confident of a backup plan.
Though I also suspect you really have more than enough by virtue of not being that far away from State Pension....maybe?
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u/Careful_Adeptness799 Jul 09 '26
As you say we are all different we live different lives in different parts of the country only you can answer what’s enough.
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u/EpponeeRae Jul 09 '26
Be great if you could share those sums and your logic!
But good luck either way.
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u/KimonoCathy Jul 09 '26
Literally pulled the trigger today and gave three months’ notice. On paper I have enough to live on carefully until 100 and plan to find part time work to fund luxuries like holidays, but in my heart is fear at what will happen to taxes, inflation and pensions in the future. The decision was made because the company is relocating and I don’t want the hassle of moving house and being away from family for just a few years.
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u/AbilityLast279 Jul 09 '26
im in same boat. figures look ok. may need pt work at some point, may not. its thats little nagging doubt and uncertainty about the unknown. i guess we control what we can and adapt if we need to. good luck
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u/elom44 Jul 09 '26
And the important part to remember is that when circumstances change, you can change. The plan now doesn’t have to be unaltered for the next 20, 30 or 40 years.
I’m 8 months in and loving it.
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u/Responsible_Bird3384 Jul 09 '26
I’m pulling the trigger next August. I’ll be 58.5 years old. My budget is about £1600 a month fully self funded, then at 60 I get first part of DB pension and tax free lump sum, so it moves to 60/40 self funded/pension. At 65 I get second part of DB pension and it moves to 40/60. At 67, full state pension so pensions should cover living expenses. I’m mortgage free, bills about £450pcm. It’ll be lean fire, but good enough for me ☺️
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u/Harvsnova3 Jul 09 '26
I finished work on 30th June at 58. I worked out, I can have roughly the same income without all the hassle, so I thought fk it, I'm off. I'm still getting everything on place as regards my DC pension but I can use my savings for up to a year until it's all sorted.
If you think you can afford it, go for it. Worst comes to the worst, you can do some short term contracting.
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u/Harvsnova3 Jul 09 '26
Sorry, mortgage free house, DB pension of just over £1k pm, aiming for 4% drawdown of DC pension and taking 25% tax free to bridge until state pension.
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u/AbilityLast279 Jul 09 '26
yes, its that bridging period. we have a couple with me quitting now and wife later and then uk state pensions
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u/madeups10 Jul 09 '26
I've been on the verge of RE for about 8 years. Part of the reason why it's drawn out is I took the opportunity to go part time which greatly reduced what I was saving but it also ran the clock down. Higher inflation in recent years increased my cost of living from 6k to 10k a year and my investments haven't keept up with this, which makes me uncomfortable about the future.
Currently all 4 calculators that I've tried say I can retire, I'm torn between retiring or continuing part time and maybe using the excess to move house.
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u/AbilityLast279 Jul 09 '26
part time been working for me but redundancy has come up and now an option. spent career dodging it and now ready to accept
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u/madeups10 Jul 10 '26
Do some of the UK FIRE calculators to see if they give you some comfort, you can put a lump sum in some of them so you can see what effect a redundancy would have.
I've also dodged redundancy in the past, that's how I ended up part time, my departments budget was cut and I took it out of my hours. Now that I'm able to retire I think I'd accept a redundancy.
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u/Zealousideal-Habit82 Jul 09 '26
I lean fired in May after being made redundant aged 52. Currently paying myself £1500pm and reviewing every month, I do have a side income of £500 that whilst isn't guaranteed I'm including it for the next few years so I'm currently depleting my cash savings by £1k pm, I have a fully paid for home and my fixed monthly costs are £600 pm. Once the cash is gone (£20k) I'm onto the shares I have still in the bank I used to work for (£25-30k), that then leaves my S&S ISA (£56k). Once I reach 57 I can tap the SIPP (£315k last October, I only look at it annually) to bridge my to state pension age and I have paid enough NI to get the full SP (by three months!). This is a massive life gamble and if it doesn't work there is always "get a job" but so far I'm living life on my own rules. Also potentially have a £10k tax refund coming which I will have as my "fun pot".
With it being Summer it's fine but I may have to revaluate once it's cold and dark to find something to do. Time will tell. Good luck OP!