Am I missing something??
36m here £80k salary (recent increase), married with 1 child, I've been paying into my pension consistently for 12 years now, so that sits at £170k, I have my emergency funds in place, and my mortgage has ~8 years to run.
I just cannot work out how to balance living now and being restricted by pension dates? I'm at the top end of earnings in order to keep any child benefit from the government, and I'm obviously aware that I can sacrifice further take home to keep it, but my pension is currently predicted to be at ~£1m at 57, so that would be me in a position to FIRE around 52-55 if I can put some money aside to bridge the gap.
I'm very aware this will sound like I'm complaining, but ever avenue I try to take to maximise savings while still have a comfortable life with a young family, leads to defering income or paying more tax/losing any government entitlements.
What am I missing?