Fire Bull UK

Fire Bull UK – Blogging My Journey to Financial Independence

Author: admin

  • November 2024 Update – Trump Is Back!

    November 2024 Update – Trump Is Back!

    General Life Update   

    Making myself sound very boring now, but it was another quiet month. To be honest it was welcomed with open arms with Christmas coming up and plenty of socials throughout December. My football continues to disappoint and a hamstring injury limited my playing time. Probably being a good thing for myself and the team, but I still managed to miss some sitters along the way. Still, the one win in the month meant a big night out was needed, an opportunity we couldn’t put wide of the post, but  there were some shots over the bar! Drinking is so expensive now, but sometimes you need to celebrate the wins. 

    Highlight in the month was an Alpaca walk with the missus. Already forgotten the fun facts the guide told us but I will forever remember them as being stubborn and greedy sods, much like our doggo! Her future dream for a house farm will only be bolstered by the experience, with the inclusion of alpacas now. 

    There has been time for self reflection in this period: Looking back on the finance journey so far, the main reflection point is judging whether I have been depriving myself in the quest of speeding up my path to FIRE at expense of necessary life enjoyment. Listening to an old Aussie Firebug Podcast with the Author of the infamous book “Die with Zero”, they discussed the importance of creating ‘Life Dividends’ to reflect on throughout your life, along with the different life stages to create these memories. This made me debate what experiences I should ensure I undertake in the near future. 

    In Bali I realised my window to experience the hostel/party world is closing ever and ever quicker. Some things are even beyond being socially acceptable for myself to be involved in. No one wants to be the oldest in the room and become that guy who is the creep (Unless your surname is Lineker). The next 2 years are big and I want to create plenty of memory dividends with my close people within this time so will be planning trips/events what will achieve this. This might include a certain stag organised by someone, if they are reading the link I sent them…….

    Finance Update

    With it being a quiet month, this correlates to a bumper month for my savings rate. 66% of my income was saved in November. Happy for this in grim November, but if this is the case in for the summer I will be letting myself down with all that was said above. 

    For the first time ever I sold some of my shares. My old work shares reached a peak that they haven’t seen for 4 years and felt it was a good time to cash some of it in. Looking at the capital gains threshold, I was shocked to see the tax free allowance has been slashed to £3,000, so it made sense to cash out some of these and make use of it. 

    This month has been crazy in terms of gains in the markets after Trump’s win, with the Market agreeing with some of his team appointments. Even my Tesla shares are back in the green (which I may look to cash out also). With this and my healthy November savings rate, my total gain in liquid assets for the month was the biggest I have seen by some distance, increasing by over £7,000. This takes the gain over the last 12 months to £38,000. 

    How long this run will last, I’m not sure. 

  • What FI?

    What FI?

    What Are The Different Versions of FIRE?

    In this post I will be going through some of the different types of FIRE that can be taken in pursuit of obtaining the life you want through gaining financial independence. 

    There’s No One Fire to rule them all?! 

    Long story short, no. There isn’t only one way for everyone to live their life and I doubt everyone’s retirement will look the same. Using this there are different types of FIRE that can be undertaken using your finances to enjoy the rest of your life. 

    Retirement Definition 

    The definition of retirement – the action of someone leaving a job and ceasing to work.

    The definition of work – An activity that uses physical or mental effort, usually for money. 

    So work is usually for money, but it’s more about the effort. By this definition, it means if once retired and no one did any sort of work, we’d all do our best Micky Flanagan impressions doing Proper F*ck all (great comedy sketch). Obviously this isn’t the truth, so the definition of retirement is down to interpretation. In reality, people want to still put in effort, but just elsewhere.

    In the example of a footballer, they might retire from their playing career in their 30s or even late 20’s if injuries permit, but plenty of them still go into other fields after hanging up their boots, even if they have millions in the bank. Whilst some will enviably enjoy their riches, others will go into coaching, punditry roles, some create their own businesses and others might want to put more effort into their family lives (that’s a lot of effort in Kyle Walker’s case).

    Types of Fire

    Lean Fire

    Lean fire is achieved through being frugal and retiring with a low expenditure, meaning your Fire Portfolio doesn’t need to be as large. This means Fire can be achieved earlier, a way for people who have lower paying jobs to achieve fire. This is typically what the Average Joe would believe FIRE consists of, and typically not the end goal that most people looking for financial independence are pursuing. 

    This is suitable for people who are typically frugal and undertake activities that they enjoy requiring little expenditure and desire for minimalism. It is also possible to achieve this method using UK tax efficient wrappers only, such as an ISA and if all available, topping up with a pension at the access age (whenever that will be). 

    If you are someone who isn’t attached to your current location, you could move to another area in the country where house pricing is lower than you currently are. Going further on this, if you live in a wealthy country, there is the possibility of looking to migrate to a country where there is a lower cost of living and achieve Fire earlier than if you stayed put. 

    The dangers of Lean Fire are that if their is a downturn in the markets early into retirement it could eat up a lot of your portfolio and you wouldn’t be able to live off of this, as there are not many extra costs that can be cut out from your expenses. 







    Fat Fire 

    On the other end of the Fire spectrum, Fat Fire is when someone is able to create an extremely large portfolio, and the are able to live a lavish lifestyle once they leave their career. To be able to achieve this will require a high paying job, or a sizeable inheritance. Alternatively this can be achieved my putting in a few more years, but still retiring well before pension age. 







    Coast Fire

    Coast Fire involves hitting a specified total prior to retirement and not contributing anymore to your Fire pot, leaving it to grow until you reach the age you want to start withdrawing from you pot (preservation age). All current expenses until preservation age would then be covered by your income coming in prior to this. 

    Once reaching Coast Fire, current outgoings would be reduced due to not making further investments. From there, you could earn the same money and  upgrade your lifestyle if you really wanted to, go part time, or move into a different career. 

    The below link provides some good detail on this version of Fire.

    https://walletburst.com/coast-fire-grid/

    Barista Fire

    Barista FIRE, your Fire Portfolio will not currently have enough to cover all of your expenditure using for 4 percent rule, but there difference between your spend and your portfolio income will be subsidised through topping up your income through part time or casual work whilst also drawing out from your Fire portfolio.






    Mini Fire

    With the other options (Lean, Coast and Barista) there can be the argument that at the time of going for early retirement, that you are at your highest stage of earning power in your career and you are leaving money on the table that could enhance your life.

    One way to tackle this is to take mini retirements throughout your Fire journey and go back into your career at a later date. This will allow you to enjoy your Fire pot at an earlier stage and top this back up whilst you have stronger earning power. Looking at my scenario, this is an option I am seriously considering. The though of taking some time off to travel the world and supplement this at different times is suitable with where I am in my life. 

    There is the argument that with career breaks, employers will be put of but that’s a gamble that sounds worth it. If going for a maternity leave role, why would the employer be worried about what you do after you have filled the role. Maybe there is one Fire to rule them all…..


  • October 2024: What’s Your Early Retirement Number

    October 2024: What’s Your Early Retirement Number

    Hello! 

    Hope you are well. October was a pretty quiet month in the grand scheme of things. It was the girlfriend’s birthday, so went out for some nice food but I was left behind whilst she celebrated with the girls in Dublin. Her present is a getaway in the countryside, so looking forward to getting away with her over new years 🙂 

    Autumn is now upon us with the dark nights approaching again, which means the good boy will be limited to street walks in the evenings now 🙁 On the upside the cats are in the house a whole lot more and are actually happy to snuggle up, instead of looking at you like you’ve insulted their whole lineage when trying to stroke them. Fickle but you’ve got to love them!  

    Personally, on the football side Charlton and my Saturday team had a poor month. Legs are starting to feel a lot older these days with constant aches and the thought of retiring from the game I started playing 25 years ago is becoming more prevalent in my mind. Didn’t feel it would end on such a low season as how it’s been so far, but plenty of time for it to change…..

    The Goslings by the office enjoying the Autumn Sun whilst mother watches on,

     My pumpkin carving for the work comp. Safe to say I did not make the podium…

    Your FIRE Number and the 4% Rule

    For Example, if the total of my essential and discretionary spend for the month was £2k and this is generally the average monthly spend, for the year I would need to save enough money to cover £24K annual expenses (£2k x 12 months). Using the 4% rule (explained brilliantly in the below link) I would need £24K times 25 (inverse of 4%) which would be £600K to be able to infinitely cover this spend going forward, in line with inflation, in a usual market return. 

    https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/29/how-much-do-i-need-for-retirement/

    For this I have gone through my monthly bank statement and categorised the spend as below. I am putting it into a P&L format, because I am a boring accountant and this brings me joy. It also makes me treat the FIRE thing more seriously and helps me improve my decision making. 

    Monthly Spend 

    Looking to track my monthly spend on a regular basis going forwards, with the below reasons coming to mind: 

    1) Understand where my money is going to see if I need to change any habits or reduce spend in certain areas

    2) Prepare future spend forecast for budgeting and investing purposes. There will be some months I will be paying out flights, insurance, presents etc and will need to make sure I have enough in my current account for these. 

    3) Get a better understanding of what my FIRE number could be. When I’m out of work it’s likely there will be a lot of change to my spending habits, but it will help create a more accurate yearly spend can I can input to the 4% rule to get a rough figure to aim for. 

    Income – This is my net salary I receive form my full time employment. Any dividends are reinvested either manually or automatically so I do not include this in income

    Essentials – Spend I need to live or occur from my work activities. I have included my Huel Subscription within this for work lunches, with any other lunch spend falling into discretionary spend. Whilst I don’t need it to survive, haircuts will be included here as in reality I need someone to sort of this awful mop on my dome for the good of humanity, even if I still own a dodgy barnet! 
    Investing – This is left out of the P&L Format as this will not be part of my expenditure after FIRE
    Discretionary Spend – Spend incurred outside of work for fun or other non enjoyable activities (football) 

    Fire Portfolio October 
    I was able to save and invest a decent portion on the months leftovers into the ISA before the chaos of Christmas occurs. Some positive movements in my ISA and Workplace shares increases my net worth in October. Looking to make some adjustments to my portfolio as will be discussed in next month’s update. 

  • My Journey to £100K in Liquid Assets

    My Journey to £100K in Liquid Assets

    Back from Bali and my second post within a month. Here we go! 

    Will be looking to do monthly posts highlighting any points of significance that have taken place, but this post will cover some umbrella areas over the last 5 years or so that have got me to where I am today and evaluating the upsides and pitfalls of my decisions taken, 

    FIRE/Liquid Assets Portfolio

    As discussed in my last post, I mentioned how my Fire portfolio/Liquid Assets had reached the £100k mark. I have used this definition as a measuring stick instead of net worth due to being more relevant to my targets going forward, with the 2 below items being excluded from this. 
    Pensions – These can only be accessed from 58 (could end up being later) and I’m not interested in having to wait that long to take an extended, voluntary leave out of the workplace. 
    Student Loan – This is a significant amount, however without a salary I would not have to pay any of this back so it’s irrelevant from my expenses when not earning an income. 

    Breakdown and commentary of mentioned portfolio below. 

    Whilst it’s nowhere near where many others into FIRE at my stage of life, I’m pretty happy with the progress in the last 5 years. As you can see I have pretty much all of my savings in the S&S ISA.

    This has mainly been down to my savings rate and markets being strong in this time, instead of earning a high income as I will discuss below. 

    Income

    Covered this in my last post so will be brief on this. I have only received income from my Employee Salary and have looked to improve this through completing my accounting exams, which are now complete. Will look to improve this further by gaining greater experience and skills  going forward. 

    Will also look into trying to create other revenue streams in the future, but not a real priority in the meantime. 

    Spending

    After years of treading water from 18 and through most of my 20s, I needed to ensure there was a surplus of savings. Whilst I wasn’t increasing my salary, I knew the area I would need to address was reducing my spending. Although there was some decisions to make I didn’t want to make my life a joyless mess. At points that still happened anyway, but that’s life and not a spending issue. 

    Housing

    The biggest potential expense and also has the potential to play a big factor in happiness given the personal circumstances. When I got back from Australia, I knew I would be at home for a while before I could look into moving out to my own place or with others. I’ve always had a good relationship with my parents, whilst there have been some minor tensions with my dad but nothing beyond trivial. They also do shifts, so I have had a lot of time of my own as well.

    My best friend at the time had just moved into his own place and there was the possibility of moving in with him. It never materialised and that could have been a brilliant time, but shortly after he found his wife to be and I was able to save a bit more. So all turned out well. 

    Not much further down the line there was other friends I tried to sell the sizzle of moving in together to gain that bit more freedom and enjoy the social aspect, but where and what we wanted in terms of housing was too far off. At this point in time I didn’t want to move in with strangers around London. 

    Later into 2019 the family got our first ever dog. Despite the stigma around living with your parents, the love I have for the good boy stopped dead any interest of moving out. Not long after I got a girlfriend and by 2021 she was really pushing to move out together. I reluctantly agreed to it and it ended up being a disaster! The place was really nice but showed the relationship was terrible and controlled. 6 months later Dobby (Me) was free and I was back with the parents and even better, the goodest boy, and been here since. 

    Whilst this wouldn’t be for everyone, especially at my age, I genuinely think this has been the best option for me from the options possible, giving me my competitive advantage in terms of growth, and I feel really lucky to share more time with my parents. As I said before potentially moving in with friends would’ve been great, but just never materialised. Going forward I think I need to find a place of my own soonish for their sake more so than mine.

    Socialising

    Through my sports teams and still being round friends from school, I was regularly socialising with friends on nights out and having weekly cheeky Nandos. We never used to do anything to grand in terms of our nights out, but it was consistent and nights out could lead to far too many rounds being bought. Part of being in your twenties and this has settled down with us growing up.  

    There have also been plenty of holidays, ranging from boys holidays, stag doo’s and solo travelling. All have these have been great money spent on memories..

    Ideally I would like to keep in touch more with my friends than I have done and will be the first to admit I should’ve been more proactive in this over the years, especially with old university friends. So if anything I could’ve spend more or been more wise with what I spent on. 





    Health and Fitness

    Being someone who has played sports from a young age health and fitness has been of importance whilst not being obsessive. I have a gym membership, but at a local gym and not one of the high end ones. 

    Now I’m in my 30s I’m getting more conscious of my fitness, recovery and nutrition. I might end up paying for a high quality gym facility and look more closely into the food that I eat, along with getting some health checks undertaken. The nutrition side would be easier if I had my own place and control on what’s in the fridge. 

    Relationships

    Maybe it’s part of being an only child or just growing up in my household, but I’ve always liked my alone time and never felt like I must have a partner and was never a serial dater. I did have a girlfriend over 2020/21, but being a savage, Covid hid a lot of issues with the relationship that meant it wasn’t suitable for either of us. 

    However this has changed from 2023 and have been taken by my lovely partner who I have just come back from Bali with. Genuinely the relationship not was expected and has been great (I’m not just writing this because she will be reading :P)

    She is also interested in personal finance so this has been a massive help in regards to not overspending in the relationship, but we definitely do spend on holidays, experiences and dates to keep it all exciting 🙂 

    Possessions

    Keeping up with the Jones’ has never been an issue for me and this is reflected in my possessions. I have a very A to B car and don’t have much interest in jewellery and gadgets. Whilst I’m not a fashionista with Louboutin’s and the latest Vivienne Westwood gear, I am conscious of my appearance and don’t want to look like Graham Potter from his early Brighton days. I have skimped out on some clothes, which has been a waste, so now I try to get clothes with have decent quality and last a while. I am also reluctant to get rid of clothes/shoes with sentimental value. Especially the Birkees.

    Thank you very much for reading. Until the next time. 

  • My (Less) Shite FI so far

    Where to begin…

    Hi there,

    Only a 2 and a half year sabbatical from my 2 post blog but we go again….. Hope you’re all well. 

    A lot has happened since my last post in March 2022 and plenty to cover. When I did start this blog I had the hope that one day I’d be able to make this a success, but success isn’t a thing that comes without work and my work has been directed elsewhere in terms my profession and my social life.

    I’ve realised I don’t really have great knowledge in terms of investing and FIRE to share, so I will do the thing that can’t be replicated by anyone else and share my story so far prior and during my hiatus from this vessel of waffle. Maybe you can learn from my past mistakes or make you question your situation of anything that can be different, or just to get you through your commute after you’ve forgotten your headphones. 

    Me

    I am a now 31 year old from the South East of England who has always been a bit of a late bloomer with that feeling of being slightly behind in life and an underachiever. I had a standard, no thrills upbringing as a shy, only child, with loving, blue collar upbringing  

    After university gaining a first in accounting, I did one year working in London, then headed to Australia on a working holiday visa. I came back with £500 in my bank account and some old work shares at 25. 

     Career

    Coming back from Oz I went back into the City doing the same line of work as before in accounts for an investment firm. Needing any sort of income, I went for the easiest job I could get for the most money possible  I turned down an assistant accountant due to being offered 8k more. However, in this job I came to the realisation I was going nowhere higher in this firm and was failing my accounting exams, pretty much giving up all hope of getting somewhere in this profession. 

    After plenty of rejections, I found an assistant accountant role in my hometown and took a pay cut for the privilege. My last post was my final day in the city after 4 years. 

    Now I had the job to gain the skills and experience I required, I needed I get my exams back on track. If I failed this it was over but somehow, I scraped this exam and was now an accounting finalist! 

    This new work environment couldn’t have been better for me working for a blue collar firm and finished my exams 18 months later (continuing the trend of being a slow burner) and currently loving it.

    Finances

    I’ve always been a tightarse and with my money whilst sober, but have enjoyed my nights out, holidays and experiences where all my savings went towards.

    I know I don’t want the 9-5/6 office life for the rest of my life and discovered the concept of Fire at 27 during the covid lockdown. With all I was earning and couldn’t spend I was able to save and eventually built the confidence to invest in the stock market in October 2020.

    Since then I have just been able to get my Fire portfolio to £100K (although dipped since) in August 2024 and have built myself a platform to build upon and enjoy. 

    I will go through how I did this and evaluate the decisions taken within this time (plenty of wrong ones) in my next post, as well as what my goals are going forward. 

    I’m heading on holiday this weekend so I might be able to draft something up on the flight, or be another 2 and a half years lol! I will try to be more consistent (not hard) going forward. 

    Ciao  

  • Why FI

     Why Pursue Financial Independence 

    Why not spend your money now? What is the point of pursuing Financial Independence? Life is finite and you never know what’s round the corner. Off the top of my pea brain there’s a few reasons to look to go down this path that I’ll briefly list here. 
    Build a safety net: 
    Being someone who’s pretty risk averse, the idea of spending all income as it gets into your account just sounds pretty scary of me. As we said before you never know what’s around the corner, and the pot towards FIRE could just help you out of shit hits the fan. 
    Fuck You Money:
    You ever been asked the simplest thing from your manager and thought to yourself “You do it yourself cunt”. No, just me then… But I’m sure there’s times you just feel like you’ve had enough of work. If you’re unfortunate enough to be in a job that is really bringing you down it might be best to leave and give yourself a rest. Having this portfolio might help you allow you to do this whilst you look for a different role. 
    Career Change: 
    Similarly to the above you might just have enough of the career you’re in and may look to jump into something new, or go into going self employed instead working for a company.  Most likely when jumping into a new career you’ll need to start at a lower salary than you was on in your previous job. Having a buffer could be vital bridging the gap between salaries during the initial starting stage. 
    Travel:
    There’s the saying about your when you’re young you have the energy and time without the money, then when you’re a little older the money and energy without the time, and at retirement age the money and time but not the energy. What a depressing saying, so let’s bun that off!
    Give yourself some time in your younger years to go make some memories and happiness. Have you heard anyone who’s ever been on a trip to a different part of the world and said it was wank? Even when things haven’t gone to plan on people’s travels, there’s usually a good story/lesson to get from it. 
    Charity Work:
    Similarly to travelling maybe you haven’t been able to get the time to help on a cause that has a lot of meaning to you, Financial Independence can allow you the time to help on a cause that is much greater on yourself. One thing I know I want to do is go and volunteer at an animal sanctuary. If I can do this before I don’t have the physicality to be of benefit to the cause brilliant. 
    Health and Fitness:
    Getting stuck in a rut in them long days where you’re at your desk all day and don’t have the time to exercise or even prepare a healthy meal will be a huge detriment to your overall health on top of the mental stresses of work. Financial Independence can give your the time back to really be able to look after your self mentally, physically and nutritionally. 
    Family/Relationships: 
    You often hear about how late nights at work whilst having a young family is a regret to many a parent. Mr Money Moustache didn’t have this problem. In his pursuit of Financial Independence he and his wife were able to retire from their corporate jobs in their 30’s, allowing them to be in their words “Super Dad and Super Mum”. Whilst it doesn’t automatically make you a better parent, having the option to spend more time with your kids is something I’d love to have when I become a parent. Need to lose my virginity first… 
    Any others that spring to mind, or think I’m chatting a load of bull, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments. Thank you for reading 🙂 

  • My Shite FI so far

    Hiya,

    Don’t know what you’ve been Googling to get into the dregs of the internet at this time of day, but whilst you’re here I might as well introduce myself. 

    I’m a pretty bang average bloke in his (very) late 20s from the UK. I wasn’t the greatest with my financial journey in life in my teens and early twenties, but I’m still narcissistic enough to write a blog about my journey towards financial independence and see how it pans out, and see what curveballs come into play which may make me even want to get away from this journey. Fat FIRE, Lean FIRE, Coast FIRE, Barista Fire (shout out Jack): Not a clue if/which one yet. The possibilities are endless! 
    FI/RE (IYKYK), or if you don’t, stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. Does what is says on the tin. My aim is to do this via investing in shares and building a portfolio to live off, mainly because I’m very lazy and it’s an easy platform to invest in. 
    That easy, not quite. Problem is along with the bad start so far, I don’t earn anywhere near the £100k salaries that a large proportion of the FIRE reddit communities earn, so there will be some sacrifices among the way, and I’ll need the ability to keep my nerve to keep investing when, let’s say, some dictator decides they’re god and want to redraw the world map and bring in all sorts of uncertainty and shrinks the portfolio smaller than my dick in freezing water. No not Nicola Sturgeon. 
    Even a snail will reach its destination eventually. Can I join in its footsteps. Probably not but let’s see 🙂