Excellent, Iāll have a read of these blogs over the weekend.
@BramblerJohn I know how expensive my single child is, so Iām looking forward to your frugal tips when you have three.
I didnāt know you had a blog! You should of mentioned!
Youāve banged another reader!
Edit: *bagged another reader 
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I think you meant something else but thanks for reading 
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I have no frugal tips, as you will see. Most of the other FIRE blogs more than cover how to make your life less pleasurable. Mine concentrates on maximising you investment returns with more innovative products.
The second child is only half the cost of the first.
The third child is almost for free!
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Hereās a good source for new content on personal finance and FIRE: https://sovereignquest.com/category/personal-finance-united-kingdom
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Recently had an obvious realisation and counter to some f.i.r.e followers. As many use their positions to stir up fomo from others.
Even if you avoid the noise you have still by now probably heard some sly brags from some self proclaimed āfinancially independentā people.
However. I am questioning the āindependentā part of many of these f.i.r.e people.
Surely if you have found yourself in the position where you are living off of rental income that you are in-fact financially dependent on those renters. Meaning you are not financially independent at all.
Short thought and thought Iād put it out there to the 11 people who read this community now 
Obviously the brightest f.i.r.e practicers will realise this and diversify as youād feel a little low of self esteem purely by living off-of others.
It is funny because it is true. You are in-fact financially dependent not independent.
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Yeah I do wonder if the idea of fire is a little off course.
I hear of people whoāve already dropped the RE part and kept the FI part, which makes more sense imo. but as you point out the FI part is technically dependant on the income sources generating income.
But I think the goal is more that youāre not relying on the single point of failure of a 9-5 job that you have to keep doing to keep getting income.
rentals donāt run themselves (unless you get someone to run them for you), but they often donāt require your full attention 9-5 every day. Same with stock investments.
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I intend to just live off my investments when I retire, which I guess could also be seen as a āsingle point of failureā with sequence of returns risk, volatile markets etc.
A cushion of cash to use during these times will probably be required.
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My plan is a combination of investments in dividend paying stocks in parallel with some rentals.
I would have already pulled the trigger on a house but got sidetracked by a health issue and now rates are a bit high.
Still thinking of pulling the trigger some time between Q4 and Q1.
If any of you have a crystal ball telling you what mortgage rates will be around then, hit me up 
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(Hope the health scare went in your favour and you are all good).
UK mortgage rates in Q4 2023 - Q1 2024 will be 4.5% - 5.5%
There will be no ābargainsā on real estate opportunities for people in regular situations.
Hi all,
I have been part of this community for a while but not posted this threadā¦ however I am also on the FIRE journey so hopefully have a few like-minded individuals here.
This month, with the rally in the markets, I hit my ānumberā - this is based on having enough to retire on, if I wanted to!
I donāt plan on retiring just yet, Iām only in my late 40s. So I guess I will join the āone more yearā club 
I am sure there will be another dip during ā24 but at least I know I hit my level once already! And with the power of compounding each month will get easier to hit the number again!
Hope you all have a great Xmas and a profitable 2024! 
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Congratulations on hitting your number, @sishbi. If your jobās not bad and you donāt have a pressing urge to stop doing it, thereās nothing wrong with that one more year until you decide you want to do something else - the beauty of FIRE is that you can choose, so well done you!
Alas, I had to dip into my āFIRE potā for a house purchase (I was unable to release funds from other assets for the purchase) and a recent review of what I would need to live on, taking into account increased cost of living has meant that Iāve moved my goal posts so my ānumberā will likely take at least 2-3 more years to achieve.
Better performance of my investments could accelerate that, but I try to be realistic and not over-optimistic! 
Have a great Christmas and enjoy that one more year!
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Congratulations!
You could consider investing like you have pulled the trigger on RE (i.e. move into whatever fixed income allocation that you would take at that time) so you donāt have to worry about dips.
You could then do as many more years as you want safe in the knowledge that you arenāt subject to the whims of the market and free to stop at any time.
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I guess the problem I have with fixed income is that it doesnāt grow like the rest of the market.
I know I want to avoid the dips but I guess I am still willing to take some risk to get a higher growth.
Thanks for the comments. Something for me to think about next year!
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I think 2024 will be a good year for me 
I do still enjoy my job and have no plans to quit yet.
Every year I stay working will be one more where my pot will grow!
I may move more into dividend stocks like you, and I want to track my dividends over the year, which is a project for next yearā¦
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