Semi-Retire FIRE

Its all about the habits – part 2

Following on from Its all about the habits part one here are a few more useful financial habits to try in order to secure a happy financial future.

Switch, switch, switch!

Recently I had my car insurance renewal quote come through, it was double that from the previous year. If I had just left it to auto renew I would be around £400 down now. Instead, I got another quote, put this to my insurance company via their app ( I didn’t even have to call them up) and they halved it just like that! It all took about 30 minutes. I just made £400 in 30 minutes not bad! This is the same for other expenses such as mobile phones, house insurance, broadband, TV package etc. A few hours spent getting some quotes and switching providers could save you thousands over a year. That will probably be the most profitable couple of hours of your whole year!

Regularly audit your bank statements.

Its a good idea to get into the habit of checking your bank statements on a regular basis. One reason to do this is to check what regular payments are going out and if they are correct. You don’t want to be paying twice for something or paying for services you no longer use because you forgot to cancel a direct debit. Another reason is so you can also check where your money has actually gone each month. You can then decide if you are happy with your spending decisions or if maybe the budget needs tweaking a little.

Create a budget

This one maybe should be top of the list but I think most people are aware they need a budget. However, we often put it off as it sounds too boring or restrictive. If this sounds like you then please read my post budgeting can be fun! to hopefully give you some inspiration to create and stick to a budget. We all need a plan for where we are going and why, this is all a budget is. It helps us reach our goals and make sure we are spending on things that align with our values and plans for the future.

And finally, Treat yourself

I know this can sound counter intuitive when discussing good financial habits, however money is there to enjoy. There is no point amassing a big number of digits in your bank account if you don’t actually do anything with it. If you have put the previous 6 habits in place, you should hopefully now be saving more and more each month. This maybe for future goals like retirement or a house purchase but we also have to enjoy the here and now as discussed in getting the balance right. So do remember to use some of the money to enjoy your life now. If there is a trip you want to make or a restaurant you really want to visit, do it! You are working hard to get your financial life in order so you should also enjoy the benefits!

Its all about the habits – part one

Following on from my last post about the benefits of a regular meditation practice, I realised that life really is all about the habits we develop. Good habits generally equals a good life and bad habits can equal a not so good one. Our life is the sum of our habits. Whether these be healthy habits, work habits, self care habits or financial habits. They all shape our life accordingly. However, as this is a financial blog I will focus on the good financial habits.

Getting into good financial habits, especially when we are younger, will pay dividends (literally!) as we get older.

Below I explore some of the good habits to get into now, so that the future you will be more wealthy and extremely grateful to the current you for getting your financial habits in order!

1. Set up automatic savings each month.

We all know we should save, but many people don’t. Often we wait until the end of the month to see what is left to save, usually not much! Instead, get into the habit of setting up an automatic transfer to a savings account at the start of each month. By paying yourself first and having it go out automatically each month, you are more likely to stick to this habit. This will then accumulate and compound over months and years into a very nice nest egg for the future you, hopefully enabling you to semi-retire FIRE.

2. Try not to emotionally spend

Sometimes we can get into the habit of spending to feel better, or emotional spending. We’ve had a bad day so treat ourselves to a new pair of shoes. We are feeling low so splash out on a luxury spa break to lift up our spirits. This isn’t wrong or bad, but its good to get into the habit of being more conscious about spending. Will this purchase actually help me feel better or would I be better calling a friend for a chat or taking some time out to exercise or meditate? Just getting into the habit of questioning our reason for the purchases can cut down our emotional spending.

3. Avoid all high interest debt

This is a super important habit to get into if you do want to become wealthy. Once you have high interest debt, the interest will compound against you and your outgoings will increase, making it even more hard to save for the future you. Some debt is useful debt, for example taking a mortgage to buy a home, but this is usually lower interest. High interest debt are things such as payday loans, credit cards and store cards. Once you start to accumulate this type of debt it is often very hard to find enough room in the budget for saving. If you already have such debt then the best thing you can do is pay this off as quickly as you can and then cut up those cards. Building an emergency fund should then help you to avoid having to take any further high interest debt out. If you have alot of debt you are struggling with do contact one of the many free debt advice organisations for advice. Here in the UK Stepchange is a good one to try.

These 3 financial habits are a great way to start getting on top of finances and building your wealth. In the next post we will look at a few more but do let me know in the comments below your number one good financial habit!

Getting the balance right

How meditation changed my life

With all this planning for semi-retirement its easy to fall into the trap of living for tomorrow rather than being in the here and now.

Its good to plan, but we don’t want to make the mistake of missing out on the present moment because we are thinking too much about our future goals. This can result in us missing out on enjoying life now, as we tell ourselves we will be happy once: I reach financial independence/can semi-retire FIRE/win the lottery (insert as applicable.)

So how can you stop yourself falling into this trap?

Well one way I have learnt to develop a better balance between planning for the future and living in the present is by Mindfulness Meditation. It is an excellent way of developing the habit of observing when your mind has wandered into all the future plans or worries and gently guiding it back to the present moment.

Its a skill and habit that needs to be cultivated by regular practice, but will benefit you in all areas of life.

A book I would recommend as a good starting point is Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Penman and Williams. It explains why Meditation and Mindfulness is so beneficial citing many scientific studies as evidence. There are weekly practices to follow that are all simple and short, to get into this life changing habit.

However, there are also lots of free resources on the internet and different meditation practices to download and follow. Or you can simply set aside a few minutes a day to sit in silence and follow your breath mindfully.

If you find yourself constantly thinking about the future and ignoring your present then I definitely recommend giving mindfulness meditation a try. I began the practice many years ago, and even though I don’t do it daily I still reap the benefits. It helps me not to focus too much on the semi-retire goal.

Let me know if you have tried meditation or if you have any other techniques to help stay in the here and now rather than focussing on the future too much.

The reason why most people aren’t wealthy.

When I was a student, I had very little money to live on. My only income came from a part time job in a bakery and some student loan payments. However I still managed to live pretty well. I had housing, transport, food, a good social life and a great education including all the very expensive books I had to buy!

So, if on a tiny student income I could live quite well, why is it that now I have a far higher monthly income, I am not able to save most of it and become super wealthy?

Well apart from regular inflation (which is a subject for another post) there is something else that will eat up the extra earnings you gain over the years and is why most people don’t become rich.

And that is ‘Lifestyle inflation’.

Put simply, as we earn more money over our careers and lifetime, the cost of funding our chosen lifestyles generally increases too. Bigger mortgages, bigger car payments, more holidays. Meaning despite the extra money coming in from pay rises, bonuses etc, there is still very little surplus income to save.

Comparing my student days to now is a good example of this. As I had very little money back then, my housing was a really tiny bedroom in a shared student house. My transport was a second hand bike I picked up from the local paper. Food was all savers/value ranges and an extravagant night out consisted of a bottle of Lambrini (who remembers that!) and a takeaway kebab.

Once I left university and started working and earning more, my lifestyle started costing more. The room became my own property, the transport became a next to new car and social life became expensive meals out and weekends away.

Now I’m not saying I could live like a student for the rest of my life, far from it! I consciously made that choice to increase my lifestyle with the increase in salary and I get lots of pleasure from nice holidays and a decent car. However, I got to a point where I could have increased further with a bigger house, a newer car, more exotic holidays, but decided more is not necessarily the answer. So instead of those extra purchases and expenses, I decided to use further pay increases to pay myself first and build a freedom fund.

I’m not sure many people have this realisation though. They earn more money but the lifestyle inflation (or lifestyle creep as its sometimes known) keeps on inflating. There is never much spare at the end of the month to put away for the future self and to grow wealth because we never reach ‘enough’.

I don’t want to say one way is right or wrong, everyone is different and has different priorities and goals. But its good to have that awareness so you can make a conscious decision rather than just unconsciously doing what everyone else does.

So maybe one evening, get out that bottle of Lambrini, grab a kebab and start thinking about what you really want to spend that extra income on. A bigger and better car or an earlier retirement? The choice is yours.

The only piece of financial advice you need.

There is endless advice, content and theories out there about finances, and sometimes it can all be a bit overwhelming. We can get information overload, then disheartened that we don’t know what we are doing or where to start, so end up not doing anything.

But I think sometimes less is more. So I thought today I would give you just one simple piece of advice that will mean you never have financial worries again.

So what is this brilliant piece of concise wisdom I hear you ask?

Well, it is this: Make sure you spend less than you earn.

Simple I know, and maybe slightly under whelming, but crucial to financial success and very easy to remember!

As discussed in budgeting can be fun! there are certain bills and expenses we have to pay each month such as rent, fuel and food. But once these are accounted for, the rest of your income is discretionary spending. These are things that aren’t essential so we don’t have to buy but often choose to. Examples may be going out for dinner, buying numerous home furnishings or the latest must have gadget. It is this category we need to ensure that spending is below our income. This may mean not going on holiday, not going out to eat as much or cutting back on the Dunkin donuts. As long as we follow this one golden rule, we will gradually month by month and year by year become increasingly financially free.

The income that is not being spent on gadgets and donuts can then be saved for the emergency fund and after that saved and invested for future financial independence.

But it all starts with spending less than you earn. If you don’t know where else to start, then start there. The rest will happen naturally.

6 benefits of working (apart from the money!)

We all know the benefits of reaching full financial independence and being able to quit work. No more 6am alarm clocks, no more pointless meetings, no more being told when you can take your holiday and how many days you can take. Its no wonder the idea of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) and never having to work again is so appealing.

However, there are also lots of benefits of still doing some work (apart from the money) which I think can be an added advantage for semi-retire FIRE (having enough saved and invested money to never have to work full time again.) Here are a few of the advantages –

You will appreciate your free time more

Life is about balance. If we have too much of a good thing, its no longer a good thing. It becomes the norm and in turn can become boring. Same with free time. If we have unlimited free time and no purpose or challenge, we can quickly become bored. That’s why I believe still working part time could bring more happiness and fulfilment than not working at all. It will make those long weekends you can now have even sweeter!

2. Provides a sense of purpose

Still having part time work of some sort will give a purpose and a structure to your week. After a few months of never working again I would imagine each day may start to blur into the next without some sort of structure. I’m sure if I never had to work again I would spend a few too many days lazing in bed!

3. Pushes you out of your comfort zone

There are many things I have accomplished in life which if it wasn’t for the fact I was getting paid for it, I would never have pushed myself to do. For example, becoming a trainer in employability skills, giving a presentation on stress to over 300 professionals and working within several prisons to give advice and guidance to inmates. It has also lead me to meeting many people from all walks of life that I wouldn’t otherwise have met. These are all experiences that have enriched my life and given me a sense of achievement but that I may not have done otherwise.

4. An opportunity for social connections

I have gained many friends over the years that I worked with and have still kept in touch with. In most jobs there is some sort of social contact everyday whether in person or virtually. Equally I have worked with people that I would happily never meet up with again! Either way, your workplace can provide a great place to meet and connect with people.

5. Perks such as company pension scheme

There are lots of perks of being an employee. Access to a company pension scheme is a big one, but there may also be things such as health insurance, employee assistance programmes and a paid for works Christmas party, though this can sometimes be a disadvantage too!

6. Developing personal skills and knowledge

There maybe free formal training available to you at work to take advantage of and provide continuous development. Equally there may be more subtle ways you are learning everyday for example how to use latest IT software and developing communication skills.

I’m sure there are many more advantages to working but these are just some that hopefully highlight that semi-retire FIRE is not necessarily a next best option to full FIRE and might actually be even more positive for our wellbeing.

Let me know in the comments below of any others you can think of.

The OG of Financial Independence: ‘Your Money Or Your Life’ by Robin and Dominguez.

A short book review of Your money or your life by Robin and Dominguez.

When anyone asks me for a book recommendation on how to get started and inspired on the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) journey, I often suggest the book ‘Your Money Or Your Life’ by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

Robin and Dominguez originally wrote this book in 1992 before the FIRE movement was ever a thing and before Mr Money Moustache had even started work! It has been revised several times since though so it is still as relevant today as it was then.

It was the first book I read about personal finance and it helped me view money differently. Financial independence was something I had never thought possible before. I didn’t know anything about stocks or bonds and didn’t think there was any alternative to working full time until I could get my state pension at 68 and then finally enjoy life. Quite literally reading this book changed my life and it is probably one of the most influential books I have ever read.

It brings together some interesting concepts and ideas around money, life and work. One of these is around money being life energy. For example if we spend $300 on a hand bag, and you get paid $25 dollars an hour, you will have used 12 hours of life energy to pay for it. They are not saying this is right or wrong, it is whether the value is worth it to you. If the handbag is just going to be used once and then sit in a wardrobe was this worth working 12 hours in your job for?

They also discuss investing your spare money to provide an income to pay your everyday expenses. Once you have reached the ‘crossover point’ your investment income will cover all your living expenses. This is the point you have reached financial freedom/independence. I knew nothing about investing before reading this book so it gave me lots of useful information on where to start, enabling me to do further research on how best to invest the surplus cash.

It is a detailed book but also fairly easy to read and also practical. It provides 9 steps/chapters to follow. These include ‘Where is it all going?’, ‘The American dream on a shoe string’ and ‘For love or money: valuing your life energy’. It covers the psychology of money, some philosophy of why we work and our life purpose and also how to invest. They also give lots of examples of people using financial independence to achieve their life goals and purpose.

Reading the book will help you gain an awareness of what you are doing with your money. Question why you are spending on certain things and if it will help you achieve your “deep thrills ” rather than cheap thrills.

If you are looking for a thorough overall book on finance and financial freedom I would definitely recommend reading or listening to this book.

If you have read it let me know what you think in the comments below.

Why I chose Semi-Retire FIRE over traditional FIRE

Some reasons why semi-retire FIRE is better than full financial independence retire early.

For anyone new to the concept, FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The movement began in the US in the 1990s and gained popularity in the UK during the 2000s.

The core idea of traditional FIRE is simple in theory:
save and invest aggressively until your portfolio is large enough to cover all of your living expenses for the rest of your life. Once you reach that point, you can stop working entirely — often decades earlier than the state retirement age.

Some people have achieved this in their 20s or 30s. For most of us, however, the reality looks very different.

Why Traditional FIRE Didn’t Fully Work for Me

I discovered the FIRE movement in my thirties, and many of its principles immediately resonated with me. I liked the focus on:

Spending intentionally
Reducing consumerism
Saving and investing for freedom and flexibility
Not working full-time until nearly 70

But when I ran the numbers for full FIRE, the timeline was sobering. Even with disciplined saving, my FIRE “number” was so high that I wouldn’t realistically retire much earlier than a normal retirement age.

That’s when I started exploring semi-retirement FIRE — and it completely changed my approach.

Instead of aiming to never work again, my goal became much simpler:

Build enough assets so I never have to work full-time again.

Over time, I realised there are many advantages to semi-retirement — and for many people, it may be a more realistic and enjoyable path than traditional FIRE.

Semi-Retirement vs Traditional FIRE: Key Differences

Before diving into the reasons, here’s a quick comparison:

Factor	Semi-Retirement	Traditional FIRE
Savings required	Lower	Much higher
Time to reach	Shorter	Longer
Ongoing work	Part-time or flexible	None
Lifestyle balance	High	All-or-nothing
Accessibility	More realistic for average earners	Often favours high earners

1. Semi-Retirement Can Be Reached Much Sooner Than Full FIRE

Because semi-retirement includes some ongoing income, you don’t need to accumulate such a large investment portfolio before stepping back from full-time work.

Even modest part-time income can significantly reduce how much you need invested, which means:

Less pressure to save extreme percentages
A shorter timeline
More flexibility if markets perform poorly

For me, this made the goal feel achievable rather than overwhelming.

2. Doing Some Work Is Actually Good for Us

The dream of never working again at 40 sounds appealing — but for many people, complete retirement can feel empty surprisingly quickly.

After the novelty wears off, unlimited free time can lead to:

Loss of structure
Reduced sense of purpose
Less appreciation for leisure time

Working two or three days a week provides balance. It gives structure to the week and makes the days off far more enjoyable.

3. Semi-Retirement Avoids the “Cliff Edge” of Full FIRE

Traditional FIRE can feel like an all-or-nothing leap:

Decades of intense saving
Constantly watching every expense
Then suddenly stopping work forever

Semi-retirement is a gentler transition. You gradually rebalance work and life instead of switching everything off overnight.

For me, that feels far more sustainable — both financially and psychologically.

4. You Don’t Have to Sacrifice Your Best Years

Reaching full FIRE often requires major sacrifices:

Fewer holidays
Tight budgets
Saying no to experiences

If you’re doing this throughout your 20s and 30s, those sacrifices can add up to real regret later on.

Semi-retirement allows you to:

Save consistently without extreme deprivation
Enjoy life now and plan for the future
Avoid postponing happiness for a date decades away

5. You Still Get Most of the Benefits of Full FIRE

The main appeal of FIRE isn’t never working again — it’s:

Escaping a stressful 9–5
Gaining control over your time
Spending more time on what you love

Semi-retirement delivers most of these benefits:

More flexibility
Less stress
More time with family and hobbies

The difference is you get them sooner.

6. Semi-Retirement Is More Achievable for Average Earners

One of the biggest criticisms of FIRE is that it mainly benefits high earners.

While there’s some truth to that for full FIRE, semi-retirement is far more accessible. You don’t need a massive salary — just consistency, planning, and realistic expectations.

As an average earner myself, semi-retirement felt like a goal that actually fit my life rather than forcing my life to fit the goal.

Final Thoughts: Is Semi-Retirement Better Than Traditional FIRE?

For some people, traditional FIRE will always be the goal — and that’s great.

But for many others, semi-retirement offers:

A faster path to freedom
Less stress
More balance
Fewer sacrifices

For me, the semi-retirement journey feels not just easier, but more enjoyable and sustainable in the long run.

If you’re weighing up semi-retirement vs traditional FIRE, this middle path may be worth serious consideration.