New tax year housekeeping and FIRE aspirations
Hi all,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Since we’re in the new tax year, like many of you I’m reviewing my current approach towards FIRE aspirations and some housekeeping.
Some headline stats and considerations for this year:
Age: 39
Job: perm £120k (including bonus which is c. 10%) - Engineering Manager
ISA: c.£265k
GIA: c.£70k
Cash: c.£125k
SIPP/DC: c.£275k
DB (previous public sector): est £10k p/y at 67
Stock allocations are largely world, US and some money market funds.
Outgoings - minimal - c.£600-700 p/m as I have no dependents, live quite simply and live with a partner who inherited their house (which is basic but functional) and contribute towards bills. Outside London.
Other than month-to-month spending I spend c.£8-10k on holidays, everything else at present goes to GIA and a few occasional purchases but I don’t consider my life to be spartan. I have quite simple needs.
I currently max £20k ISA per year and salary sacrifice full £60k p/y to take advantage of employer contributions (who fortunately also pass on NI savings) and well documented tax cliff edge at £100k.
I generally enjoy my job, so not targeting a specific date for FIRE but more so the FI flexibility to pursue other options or hours etc if I can. Plus this also helps me deal with the uncertainty of transformation in service-based jobs/reskilling/redundancy etc.
Future considerations
- No plans for children;
- Unmarried;
- Possibly buy a house jointly with my partner with joint equity/split (I previously sold my house 1.5 years ago), so likely increase in outgoing costs since I recognise mine are currently low;
- Contract market appears dire but have considered contracting in future but staying firm at the moment (won’t rehash uncertainty/AI arguments);
- Have held financial discussions with partner and believe in transparency. They have reasonable savings but also a (relatively) high earner just below £100k. Their house ownership means lower direct costs but they have higher outgoings due to lifestyle. I’ve considered contributions to their SIPP since they fill ISA and make use of employer match but do not exceed this for pension.
I realise I’m cash heavy (£20k of this will shortly be going into ISA related products).
Decisions/intentions
- LISA? Whether to open a stocks and shares LISA since I’ll have an opportunity to do this before I turn 40 in September. I think my future planning is reasonable with mixture of DC and DB but I’m wary of losing the opportunity to not take advantage of being able to open this and hedge against future pension age raises which take DC further away (my thinking is this would provide an earlier buffer/release at 60). I wouldn’t be using this for a house purchase since I’ve already bought one so I’m uncertain whether the value/trade off is worth it here for locking the funds away. Also I understand that LISA is being reformed so it’s not clear whether this grandfathered arrangement will be hnoured or t’s and c’s changed (such is the way with any investment). I’d also likely have to open another account with DODL or similar, when my intention is to rationalise - so would welcome opinions.
- Rationalising providers - I’m currently split across II, Vanguard and InvestEngine plus T212 so it’s sprawling and I’m thinking of consolidating to II.
- Same for SIPPs - due to different employers I have various providers for DC;
- Otherwise drip feed more money from cash into the GIA to dollar cost average, if these are up by at least £3k each tax year then sell this amount to rebase cost and wait or buy in a similar fund;
Welcome any comments/opinions from the redditor hive-mind on these