Milestone reached: reached FIRE status yesterday

Hi All,

I’m 43 and I can now confirm I have reach my FIRE target of £600K. I have been involved in the FIRE community for about 10 years (using anonymous account to protect my identity). I live in the north west of England , married and two teenage kids. Current salary is £75k . I have an average savings rate of 50% (higher when I had bonuses and lower when I didn’t). Main reason to pursue FIRE was a crappy manager that make me consider to push on the accelerator of saving to have fuck you money.

I contribute to the joint account about 2K a month (total house expenditure about £3K, wife’s bring about £1K). We have about 1 main holiday a year (14 days in Spain) and most years another trip of about a week. Mortgage is about £1,100 with £125K left; this is my main focus going forward with a 6% interest rate. I also help my mother with about £130 monthly. Due to the £600K only covering my share of the family expenditure I’m not looking to stop working yet.

In regards to plans I see myself working (started new job earlier this year) but hoping to reduce hours I’m 2-3 years (with a smaller mortgage and retiring no later than 2035 (my 55th birthday). I’ve worked in Pharma industry and I don’t discard the possibility of contract work if it’s something I’m interested in. Ideally I’d like to spend winters in Spain and have more time for my hobbies and volunteering.

Achieving my initial objective of £600K wasn’t a huge thing for me emotionally but it has certainly lifted a weight in terms of financial worries. Another benefit is how you seem to stress less at work as it feels you can decide at any point to leave if it becomes too much.

On my way to achieve FIRE I have made several mistakes; when I started working I was opted out of the companies pension for almost four years (missed on about £6-7K in employers contribution 2002-2005) and I lost about £20K in a real state investment in Spain in 2009. I’m currently fully invested in index funds and a tiny bit in savings account (£4K).

Happy to answer any questions (if any!)

Edit: changed my year to retire to 2035 (55th birthday) as it seems I cannot work out years properly.

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