A journey to financial independence

[RetirementInvestingToday]

A real life journey to financial independence:
1995 to 2007:  A consumerist life focused on standard of living, some investing luck and forced pension savings then a wake up call to it being about quality of life.
05 Jan 2008: £175,000
03 Jan 2009: £195,000 +£20,000
02 Jan 2010: £304,000 +£109,000
01 Jan 2011: £406,000 +£102,000
07 Jan 2012: £461,000 +£55,000
05 Jan 2013: £572,000 +£111,000
04 Jan 2014: £664,000 +£92,000
03 Jan 2015: £753,000 +£89,000
02 Jan 2016: £855,000 +£102,000
07 Jan 2017: £1,119,000 +£265,000!!

...and graphically:


Next stop FIRE in late summer.

[arebelspy]

FIRE really is straightforward if you just stick with it, and LBYM year after year after year.

Congrats!  :)

[RetirementInvestingToday]

FIRE really is straightforward if you just stick with it, and LBYM year after year after year.

Congrats!  :)

Agreed. Just starting and determination, including LBYM but maybe more so the need to run against the consumerist herd, prohibit many though.  Savings is the key (and it's not a secret as it's just maths) though.  On my journey 39% of wealth gain came from investments and 61% came from saving (increasing earnings and LBYM).

[Ryland]

This is rad! Thanks for sharing.

Curious... What was you average savings ratio throughout the journey? Looks like you kicked conventional retirement in the a$$. Way to go!

[RetirementInvestingToday]

This is rad! Thanks for sharing.

Curious... What was you average savings ratio throughout the journey? Looks like you kicked conventional retirement in the a$$. Way to go!

To encourage me to work hard to minimise taxes, including investment taxes which I pay from earnings, I tracked a bit differently to most by calculating savings vs gross earnings + employer pension contributions. Under that metric my savings rate started above 60% (wasn't tracking my journey that well early on) and slowly reduced as my earnings increased.  In the last 4 years it's averaged 52%.

If I calculate it more traditionally, so savings vs net earnings + employer pension contributions, in the last 4 years it's averaged 82%.  I believe that even might beat Jacob of ERE fame :-)