How to Retire Early UK : FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

[@TruthPain]

Well I’m nearly a year late to this video but worth the wait. All good stuff and appreciate the reinforcement of what my wife and I understand to be sound financial habits. 5 years ago we were $89,000 in debt and we made a concerted effort to do what you’ve outlined so well here. We made a spreadsheet that followed month to month % of debt reduction as we went along. It was a great motivation to see the “needle” of % decrease as we went along. The day it crossed from us being in red to black was unforgettable. We “splurged” on a bottle of cheap champagne and went right back to the savings mindset. We will be debt free in June of 2022 (except for our new retirement home in West Virginia) and even that home mortgage is slated to be paid off in less than 5 years. Nicely presented mate! I hope the Mrs is recovering well! Cheers from America 🇺🇸!

[@2GoRoam]

Hey Dardin! That's actually amazing to hear that you are on a similar path to us. Yes, seeing things change with the finances is really motivating, we saw it as a bit of a tipping point, as time goes on you see the decisions you make having a bigger impact to the bank balance. So well done you two, $89k debt is no small matter to deal with and you are doing great! Nice work. Best wishes Neil & Sarah

[@wonderingthoughts926]

Fantastic video, thank you! I’ve found a good way of going into the path to FI without getting overwhelmed is to calculate how much you’d need to still live a good life and work a very simple part time job, classic example is the garden centre! Working two days a week helping old lady’s with their plants and being out in the sun whilst the ‘gap’ in your earnings is covered by your investment income, sounds much better than working full time in a job you hate. The pot you’ll need to do this is significantly lower than what you’d need to fully stop work. This helps it seem less intimidating and even if you ‘only’ achieve that you’ve got a lot more freedom than most!

[@Bloomscounty]

Loving all your videos guys. Just wish we'd known and understood F.I.R.E. a little bit earlier (why don't they teach this in schools?) but 'hey ho' - it's being installed in our kids as we speak and as we approach the end of our 9-5 working lives....lol! The pandemic certainly opened our eyes to many things and more over what's important in life. Hopefully we will get to our goal a little early than than the norm and that's partly down to good folks like yourselves that are willing to share your journey - so a HUGE 'thank you'. Keep up the great work - you are amazing role models!

[@2GoRoam]

Very cool! In a couple of weeks time we will be talking about FIRE and the 4% rule. I am highly likely to be introducing some stuff in that video that will be new to you. Let us know what you think when you see it. Best regards, Neil & Sarah

[@daveharruk]

Thank you for your video - I really enjoyed your video which gave me a few things to think about and i learnt a fair bit too (a good balance I thought). It is good to find a channel relevant to the UK and that isn't trying to upsell something

[@2GoRoam]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@travellingwithcrowsfeet]

Thankyou for the intro into the F.I.RE concept. Would you believe, we have been dong it for the last 9 years and didn't actually realise it was a "thing". Seriously, since we met, we have bought investment properties, paid them off as quickly as possible, and lived a frugal life. We are just a tad excited to now know, we can connected with other like minded people across the world.

[@2GoRoam]

Hey you two! That is funny to hear, we were much the same... doing the F.I.R.E. thing without realising it. Sounds like you are doing the right thing, we have never got into the investment property side of things but know many that have that love the residual income it provides. We are excited you have connected too. Next task.... don't disconnect! We are looking forward to meeting you both sometime on our collective travels! Best wishes Neil & Sarah

[@travellingwithcrowsfeet]

@@2GoRoam no chance of that.... Darren's a Pom and wants to meet you both when we leave Australian in 26 or so months. Plus, we don't know too many people, so your stuck with us now ha ha ha

[@irishinusa1615]

Wonderful to see you encouraging other's regarding this. 👍👊🥂

[@richardbernhard3373]

Congratulations as I’m watching your video in series it just said that you had 250 subscribers and I just looked your up over 15,200 I enjoy your videos immensely and we are beginning our journey to try to figure this out thanks again for your efforts you and your wife

[@noellehilgesen612]

Thanks! Keep them coming. Love to see a video about what needs to happen in the world to allow you to start the physical journey.

[@2GoRoam]

Thanks Noelle! As I repeatedly say through the video, it is simple but not easy but there are a number of things that need to be undertaken to get on the journey some mindset and others to look at the nuts and bolts of the financial side. Pleased you found it useful :-)

[@susanlewis1953]

Great video - nice to have the UK perspective. Sue 😀

[@2GoRoam]

Thanks for the feedback Susan. Let me know if you want more FIRE content. Best wishes Neil (& Sarah)

[@carlyndolphin]

My girlfriend and I are both enjoying following you on KZbin. Do you think one day you might travel around Europe in a camper van / motorhome? We bought one last year and managed to travel around France and through Mont Blanc tunnel into Italy. Definitely another good way to see parts of Europe off the beaten track.

[@2GoRoam]

Hi Philip, thanks for getting in touch. Well, we had a motorhome last year and absolutely loved it. The challenge for us was the restrictions in the UK for where you can actually take it with wild camping not being a thing here. So we have discussed the fact that at some point in the future we will likely buy another in Europe and spend a year or so travelling around in it. We bet you had a fantastic time getting around Europe last year! Mont Blanc is beautiful eh. In the meantime for us, when we do travel Europe it will be with backpacks on trains but be assured, we'll be behind the wheel of a motorhome again in the future. What motorhome do you have? Thanks Neil & Sarah

[@MariaSantos-rv5kh]

Ready for the next post...:)

[@2GoRoam]

Thank you Maria! We are on it at the moment, we have had a few delays this week but it will be out in a couple of days :-)

[@gladysnajar2254]

Excellent advice👍

[@2GoRoam]

Hey Gladys! Thanks so much, I wanted to try and pay it forward and hoping this helps people. Appreciate your kind words! Best wishes Neil & Sarah

[@davidwelty9763]

This is helpful. Well done.

[@nickfifield1]

Hi , what’s your withdrawal strategy from pension , and what tool do you use to track your pension pot. Finally , have you made a withdrawal changes since markets crashed etc in U.K. ?

[@shackbikechick7414]

Spot on! :)

[@2GoRoam]

Thank you! Pleased you liked it :-) You know this stuff better than anyone.

[@WISERandHAPPIER]

So many people do not plan for the future. Great to live for today. Do you really need to spend so much on items that will not provide long term happiness e.g. car you only drive to work.

[@2GoRoam]

My goodness yes. We wasted money on cars over the years, once we learnt of FIRE everything changed for us and it was like a switch in our heads. Now we live for experiences rather than stuff.

[@nickfifield1]

Like the channel ! 👍🏻 Playing devils advocate…. Savings rate , this is an interesting one. Is that based on net salary ? Assuming so. In that case , how to factor in pre-tax pension contributions.

[@MrKlawUK]

what audience for those books? Would they be useful for my kids just out of uni and getting started? want to get them a decent grounding and encourage investing for retirement without scaring them off too much

[@2GoRoam]

Definitely 'A Simple Path to Wealth'. I wish I had read that when I was younger.

[@JZCRealtorCA]

Mint by Intuit can help you figure out net worth.

[@WISERandHAPPIER]

What do you use to edit videos? Any recommendations for a product for PC users?

[@2GoRoam]

Hey Wiser & Happier, Thanks so much for watching our videos and we are over the moon to see all your comments flooding in, means a real lot to us, look forward to seeing what you think of our future content. As for editing, I do have a really good recommendation yes. I have enjoyed editing for years and have used things like Sony Vegas and Power Director (both paid for apps) and many more besides. Knowing that this KZbin channel was for long term, I spent a lot of time researching but I didn't want to get into a lengthy subscription model. I went for Davinci Resolve and am currently using the free version 17.1. I am almost looking for opportunities to upgrade to their paid version but for what I need the free version does it all. I would 100% recommend giving that a go. It may have a slightly tough learning curve to start, but persevere and you will be rewarded. Who doesn't like FREE eh :-) Best wishes Neil (& Sarah)

[@bradleywatson521]

This question/comment is really more about how you are paying for travels. I assume you use some sort of mail service that uploads your physical mail to the web? Or maybe you do all your business online? But how do you access local currency? How do you pay for your accommodations, groceries, beer? I don’t want to know your account numbers, just generally. You mentioned a card while you were in Turkey, but said that you needed a new one and had no way to get that. So, details?

[@marcusnelson3520]

The simple path to wealth is US focused, 401k etc. do you have a similar book recommendation with a UK focus? Thanks.

[@2GoRoam]

Hi Marcus, not really... basically you have to do some translation of 401k and Roth IRA to SIPPS and ISA's. It is well worth it though, no one explains this stuff better than JL Collins.

[@llamudos9809]

I do not go to the gym as it costs. I decided to save the money for FIRE and now just veg on the sofa watching FIRE videos :)

[@WISERandHAPPIER]

Do you think 2.5k pounds enough to live off travelling the world slowly (2 countries per year for the first 5 years)? Too cautious?

[@2GoRoam]

We think that £2.5k is absolutely achievable travelling at a slow pace. We hope to do it cheaper than that, we will learn whether we can once we hit the road.

[@simonhackett4471]

You don't get to FIRE by spending 25 eur on an online conference. I thought the link to firehq was going to be useful. But I can't see anything on that site other than a page advertising a recording of a chat. Theres not even a free promo. Is this going to go down the clickbate and referral bombardment route....Also the playing with fire link is a referral too. Playing with Fire is total rubbish and there is absolutely nothing that anyone going for fire wil learn from it. Sorry for being so blunt about it, but if you are going down this route then I am out. If you are FIRE and you want to help people, why are you trying to make money on the people you are claiming to help, spending money on this rubbish doesn't help you get to FIRE. Even JL Collins tells you not to buy his book but to get it from the library.

[@2GoRoam]

Hi Simon, Thanks for the heads up on the FireHQ link, that was actually the link to the event that happened a few weeks ago, the event is led by FireDave.Com in Ireland, I have now changed the link accordingly so appreciate you pointing that out. With regard to 'Playing with Fire' I did mention in the video that there is a cost on Prime for that at present but didn't specifically recommend a watch, I said it was a good movie. I enjoyed it but appreciate it isn't for everyone. Finally with regard to the JL Collins book, if you are able to get it at your local library then absolutely that is the way to go. Where possible I try to get all my books from the library, I haven't been able to get The Simple Path to Wealth from my local library sadly. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone, JL Collins down to earth style breaks FIRE down perfectly and was a fantastic resource for me while on the FIRE path. Appreciate your feedback and if you do stick around and are involved in FIRE why not drop me a mail: [e-mail], happy to have a chat and get your feedback. Anything I can do to improve the message to get more people on this journey is absolutely what I want to do. Best wishes Neil

[@shackbikechick7414]

@@2GoRoam The book from JLCollins was definitely worth the investment. We have also watched his follow-on interviews with the ChooseFI guys.

[@bebetheexplorer624]

In ‘playing with fire’ I think what you get on it is the aspiration to get that free of crap lifestyle and be able to live the way you want to live, I agree they shouldn’t have to make you pay 14$ for it but thats where you get to know who is the real deal. J.L Collins is the real deal on teaching people on how to grow your dough and thats to be brave of putting money in the market and staying in the market. I read all the blog content of J.L. but I still bought his book its just my way of paying for one of his coffee.