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?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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

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This episode is a follow-up to episode #12 where we discussed How Pensions Work. This time we look at the practicalities of drawing down an income from a self-invested personal pension (SIPP).

The SIPP has been chosen for simplicity although many occupation defined contribution pensions will behave in a very similar way. We again cover the difference between flexi-access drawdown (FAD) and uncrystallised funds pension lump sums (UFPLS) and how these relate to the 25% tax-free allowance.

[Correction: the podcast mentions Origo as a provider or back-end software for investment platforms. They do provide transfer services between pension platforms but the actual backend software provider for Vanguard and Interactive Investor is FNZ.]

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Can you reach financial independence by your 30s if you start early enough? We chat to Lucy and Kieran who are still in their twenties with a house and family but expect to reach Coast FI - where their investments are established and they can work fewer hours to meet their spending - in their early 30s.

They talk about both having a frugal mindset from an early age and meeting up with shared goals of making money fit their lifestyle and not the other way around. We cover how they manage their money and how they explain what they are doing to friends and family.

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In the News section we cover the introduction of SIPPs by the Trading 212 platform and the new platform Prosper which offers a free SIPP and a global tracker fund with no fees.

In the main section we chat to William about looking at FIRE in your 30s. We deal with the challenges of accommodation, balancing pension and ISA investments and dealing with job uncertainty.

Is FIRE easier for younger people with the widespread availability of tools and apps to help you get there? Or do the constant demands on your attention span and tempting offers make it harder?

More information on investment platforms

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This episode is a live Q&A special at our recent FIRE in the Forest event where over 50 members met at Center Parcs in the beautiful surroundings of the English Lake District: people hung out together, went on hikes and enjoyed the facilities while chatting about their FIRE plans.

Our panel included a few members as well as Andy and Mike and we had a wide variety of questions covering topics such as choosing funds, inheritance tax and using partners' allowances. As it was recorded live, the sound quality may be a bit variable.

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In this episode we first cover the difference between defined contribution and defined benefit pensions and then we look out the the principles of a defined contribution pension such as a workplace pension or a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) .

We discuss how to take advantage of the 25% tax-free portion and explain the difference between flexi-access drawdown (FAD) and uncrystallised funds pension lump sums (UFPLS) and how to use these to access your pension assets.

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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

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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.

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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?

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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.

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This is a follow-up to episode 17 where we discussed forthcoming changes to inheritance tax with John. In this episode we discuss what practical measures you can take now, such as setting up pension drawdown to ensure more of your estate gets passed on to your dependents.

We go into more detail on the different approaches to gifting and how these can help avoid inheritance tax later on, along with other areas to consider if you want to avoid losing some of your estate to inheritance tax.

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For this episode we're joined by John to discuss inheritance tax. Coming changes to tax law mean that many more people will have to deal with inheritance tax and we discuss ways to maximise how much of your inheritance gets passed on to your dependents.

What is changing in April 2027 and how does it affect inheritance tax? What can I do to minimise the effects?

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