the fire place

Mike and Andy
  • 5.0 (1)
  • INVESTING

This podcast is part of the fire place project which discusses investing for financial independence and early retirement (FIRE) from a UK perspective. Episodes are in a magazine format and contain items about recent news, interviews with guests, and Q&A sessions. We also have a helpful wiki covering a lot of the FIRE concepts here: https://www.thefireplace.info/wiki ⁠⁠Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/thefireplace

Episodes

  1. 11. Coast FI with Guest Chris

    2 DAYS AGO

    11. Coast FI with Guest Chris

    In this episode we talk to Chris about 'Coast FI' - when you're financially independent or nearly there and decide to prioritise quality of life over work. We chat about his background and when he became aware of the financial independence on retiring early (FIRE) movement. Along the way we cover the career choices he has made and using unpaid parental leave to get more time with his family. How do you balance the need to save for retirement with a young family? What options are there for employees? How do you use pensions, ISAs and general investment accounts (GIAs) to fund your retirement? Chris details his FI journey on his blog here: dadonfire blog Support the show thefireplace community

    38 min
  2. 10. Building Bridges

    6 DAYS AGO

    10. Building Bridges

    We talk often on the show about 'bridging', which is how you build a pot of assets to provide you with an income until you can get access to another source like a pension. A good example is retiring before pension access - the bridge fund would then need to be big enough to pay for your outgoings until you reach the age when you can access the pension. We also talk about bridging the gap until access defined benefit pensions, which often are only accessible later than private occupational or self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). When you should you start thinking about bridging? And what proportion should go in your pension compared to the bridge fund? We also talk about what sort of assets you should have in your bridging fund and how this might change depending on the length of your bridge. Support the show the fire place community

    32 min
  3. 9. Frugality - Why is it Important?

    30 APR

    9. Frugality - Why is it Important?

    Frugality is a key part of the financial independence and early retirement community, but it's not necessarily all about wearing hair shirts and eating mung beans. We talk about good and bad frugality and the key metric that defines your progress - the savings rate, or the proportion you save compared to how much you earn. Is it easier to increase your savings rate by reducing your spending? Or by earning more? And is frugality still important once you've reached financial independence or early retirement? We discuss how plenty of people find happiness in free activities like being outdoors in nature. And we discuss holidays - many see extensive travel as a key goal for early retirement and how can this be done to align with frugal goals? ⁠Support the show the fire place community

    30 min
  4. 8. Bex's Story - Early Retirement from the Civil Service

    23 APR

    8. Bex's Story - Early Retirement from the Civil Service

    We chat to Bex, who is a regular at the Sheffield and Nottingham community meet-ups (for details of these, see our community link below). She is a civil servant and is looking at retiring early so that she and her husband can enjoy more free time together. Bex's retiring early means that she may have to wait for access to her civil service pension and we talk about building a 'bridge' fund to provide an income to cover this period. Along the way we talk about quality of life, work/life balance and aligning your retirement with that of your partner. We also discuss setting a good example for children and some of the 'de-risking' activities you can undertake to help prepare financially for your life of freedom. the fire place community Support the show

    49 min
  5. 7. Q&A Special with Guest John

    15 APR

    7. Q&A Special with Guest John

    We've used this episode to make a Q&A special to answer a number of questions that regularly come up with our guest John, who is a regular in our Facebook group. We look at 'one more year syndrome', where it's very tempting to delay your retirement, along with dealing with how to generate an income to bridge the period between retirement and access to pensions. We then deal with how to optimise planning for your retirement and drawing down an income once you get there, including gifting money to dependents. Show notes Support the show

    50 min
  6. 6. Evelyn's Story - Finding a Healthy Work/Life Balance

    11 APR

    6. Evelyn's Story - Finding a Healthy Work/Life Balance

    This episode's News covers the planned rise in dividend tax rates for the 2026-27 tax year and   In the main section our interviewee is Evelyn from one of our Nottingham FIRE meet-ups. We talk about how you know when you've reached financial independence and finding a healthy work/life balance. And in the Q&A we talk about using dividends as a source of income and whether the free investments platforms are likely to stay that way? ⁠Support the show the fire place community

    40 min
  7. 5. Michael's Story - Retiring on both Armed Forces and Private Pensions

    7 APR

    5. Michael's Story - Retiring on both Armed Forces and Private Pensions

    Andy talks about the recent Nottingham meet-up in the news. What is a meet-up? Who attends? What do they talk about? And what do they get out of it? Meet-ups are a big part of our community and a chance to meet and chat to people in comfortable surroundings. We then have Michael, one of the attendees, as this podcast's guest interviewee. He had a career in the forces but then decided to switch into the private sector and then retired early with a combination of a defined benefit forces pension and a defined contribution one from his time working after leaving the forces. What were the challenges? And what is he doing now? In the Q&A we talk about some of the issues around end of year capital gains tax harvesting, which can be useful for people with substantial sums in taxable general investment accounts. Support the show the fire place community

    57 min
  8. 4. Andy's Story - A New Hope

    3 APR

    4. Andy's Story - A New Hope

    A long time ago in a galaxy far away... Oops! Wrong episode IV.  In the News section we cover how the war in the Middle East is affecting the value of shares and bonds. Are bonds still useful at these times and what about the effects of inflation?  In the main section Mike interviews Andy about his FIRE journey - how could a regular earner could reach financial independence in 8 years? And what challenges were there on the way? And in the Q&A we talk about the role of cash savings and cash equivalents such as Premium Bonds for investors and those aiming for financial independence. Support the show the fire place community

    32 min
  9. 3. Mike's Story - All the Good Bits

    3 APR

    3. Mike's Story - All the Good Bits

    In this magazine format episode, we cover the introduction of new low-cost investing platforms in the News section: are these useful for those planning for financial independence and FIRE and how do they compete with existing platforms? In the main section Andy interviews Mike about his FIRE journey. When did the penny drop that you could live off your investments? And what did he then do about it? And in the Q&A we talk about what tasks investors should be undertaking at the end of the tax year and whether it is a good idea to invest while there is a war underway in the Middle East? Support the show the fire place community

    33 min
  10. 2. The Basics of Investing and FIRE

    2 APR

    2. The Basics of Investing and FIRE

    Here we ask: what is FIRE? How does it work? How can you expect to reach financial independence and early retirement? This 15 minute introduction covers the basics for people to whom FIRE and investing is new territory. Support the show the fire place community

    15 min
  11. 1. Introduction

    30 MAR

    1. Introduction

    Here we cover the goals of our podcast and how it fits in with the fire place community, along with what the hosts Andy and Mike bring to the party. Support the show the fire place community

    12 min
  • 11 Episodes

About

This podcast is part of the fire place project which discusses investing for financial independence and early retirement (FIRE) from a UK perspective. Episodes are in a magazine format and contain items about recent news, interviews with guests, and Q&A sessions. We also have a helpful wiki covering a lot of the FIRE concepts here: https://www.thefireplace.info/wiki ⁠⁠Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/thefireplace

Information

  • Creator
    Mike and Andy
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Mike and Andy
  • Show Website
    the fire place

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