Fire Bull UK

April 2025 This was a month I was looking forward to and it exceeded expectations: Brazil, Rome and a cup final for my Sunday team made it a memorable month. There was one that ended in disappointment though (no prizes for guessing which one!) It was great seeing some of my old friends from my days back in Australia after 7 years. After that time away from eachother, I was a little anxious to see how we would all get on but it was like we'd never been away. With them being Irish they were as happy as ever with no awkward silences had, apart from when waiting on them to turn up. Timekeeping was never a strength of theirs but as imperfections go there are a lot worse :)   The wedding was beautiful and the switches between English and Portuguese in the ceremony were almost seamless. How much the Brazilian contingent got of the best man speech I'm not sure, but likely more of what we understood of the bride's side speeches.  One of my goals was to learn a bit of Portuguese to...

Sigh!  Before we go into the finance side of the month, I'll start with a little rant about how my Saturday football has gone in the month, culminating in multiple head losses, a 3 match ban and £82 fine for the month. Football truly is the beautiful game but has been completely poisoned by the attitudes of people within the game. Even getting to a final with my Sunday team hasn't sweetened the bitter taste.  The governance from the top is poor at best/corrupt at the worst, Referees don't understand the game with an ever increasing level of arrogance, Manager's who have watched too many punditry shows think they're geniuses and the players; I can't believe how many big timers and cheats there are at amateur level.  Rant over and I'm looking forward to a fun April, travelling to Brazil then stopping over in Rome for a few days on the way back. The break from work (and football!) is needed, with the batteries needing a recharge before year end and Audit. Liqui...

Here we go! I will get this out earlier next month, as I've forgotten what even happened in February. But after 18 months or so of ups and ups, here comes the first stagger that we've seen for a while. Trump is back and Trump will Trump. A lot of noise and chaos that crept in during February and has extended even further in what we've had in March so far.  2025 Non Financial Goals Tracker It's been a terrible start in terms of my non financial goals. January and February are always my least favourite months and I pretty much go into hibernation, but this is the current position on the immediate goals: 5 Lessons of Portuguese a Week - Currently on Lesson 18, so not quite the 5 lessons a week but the lessons have gotten longer than the initial ones. Still happy with the progress  Get down to 12 Stone - Think I've gone further towards 13 Stone (Maybe even above) but I have had couple heavy weeks of eating and drinking due to multiple birthdays. Operation Brazil body wi...

Jan It's been a busy start to 2025 which is part of the reason for not getting this out earlier (Sorry Joe!). A wet and gloomy start to the year has meant there hasn't been much going on in terms of football and other outdoor activities. However, it still hasn't been a cheap month with booked flights for a stag later and Brazil. Flights are spenny! The Brazil trip is for a friends wedding I lived with in Australia and haven't seen for 7 years, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing some familiar faces after such a long time. With the possibility of heading back to Australia in the summer, it'll be nice to rebuild on these friendships and carry them on for when I get back out there. It's a shame it's been so long as when you live with people away from your family, it becomes a really strong bond and they become you're family away from family. It just can't be helped at times. I have also started trying to pick up a little Portuguese in prepara...

Happy 2025 Everyone! Hope Everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year break. This Post will summarise the key numbers of my 2024 financial year and how my position has changed from the beginning of the year. I will use this to assess my performance in the year regarding spending activity and contributions, as well as how my investments did in the year . Going forward I will use these 2024 figures to assess 2025 activities.  Hopefully this can also be of use for anyone reading this in the context of their own numbers, especially for readers in the early stages of their finance journey, who might be wondering how they can save without making their lifestyle miserable and start their path in creating wealth.  Context of the Numbers 31 year old Male - Started Investing at 27 - I am still in the early days of the accumulation phase building my Fire Portfolio, but with a mindset of wanting to enjoy the years of freedom I have left before real adulthood responsibility will occur....

How is Fire actually going to work? When first hearing about Fire, my mind was opened up to a new light. Disillusioned by the 9-5:30, 3 hour round commute everyday for the rest of your life until you're a shrivelled up prune.  I now had the way to escape this.  At the point of discovering Fire I was adamant I would achieve this through intense frugality whilst still being on a modest income at the time. I would be alone forever and my costs would never change in real terms (adjusted for inflation), even though we was in the middle of the pandemic. Even when going away, I would only ever go and stay at hostels and travel on a backpacker budget like some real life Peter Pan. No issues right....  Now a few years have passed and more life experience has been gained, this isn't quite what the reality will be. But this time has proved that it is almost impossible to predict what will happen the future. However, there is still every reason to try and put yourself in the best pos...

General Life Update    Making myself sound very boring now, but it was another quiet month. To be honest it was welcomed with open arms with Christmas coming up and plenty of socials throughout December. My football continues to disappoint and a hamstring injury limited my playing time. Probably being a good thing for myself and the team, but I still managed to miss some sitters along the way. Still, the one win in the month meant a big night out was needed, an opportunity we couldn't put wide of the post, but  there were some shots over the bar! Drinking is so expensive now, but sometimes you need to celebrate the wins.  Highlight in the month was an Alpaca walk with the missus. Already forgotten the fun facts the guide told us but I will forever remember them as being stubborn and greedy sods, much like our doggo! Her future dream for a house farm will only be bolstered by the experience, with the inclusion of alpacas now.  There has been time for self reflect...

What Are The Different Versions of FIRE? In this post I will be going through some of the different types of FIRE that can be taken in pursuit of obtaining the life you want through gaining financial independence.  There's No One Fire to rule them all?!  Long story short, no. There isn't only one way for everyone to live their life and I doubt everyone's retirement will look the same. Using this there are different types of FIRE that can be undertaken using your finances to enjoy the rest of your life.  Retirement Definition  The definition of retirement - the action of someone leaving a job and ceasing to work. The definition of work - An activity that uses physical or mental effort, usually for money.  So work is usually for money, but it's more about the effort. By this definition, it means if once retired and no one did any sort of work, we'd all do our best Micky Flanagan impressions doing Proper F*ck all (great comedy sketch). Obviously this isn't the trut...

Hello!  Hope you are well. October was a pretty quiet month in the grand scheme of things. It was the girlfriend's birthday, so went out for some nice food but I was left behind whilst she celebrated with the girls in Dublin. Her present is a getaway in the countryside, so looking forward to getting away with her over new years :)  Autumn is now upon us with the dark nights approaching again, which means the good boy will be limited to street walks in the evenings now :( On the upside the cats are in the house a whole lot more and are actually happy to snuggle up, instead of looking at you like you've insulted their whole lineage when trying to stroke them. Fickle but you've got to love them!   Personally, on the football side Charlton and my Saturday team had a poor month. Legs are starting to feel a lot older these days with constant aches and the thought of retiring from the game I started playing 25 years ago is becoming more prevalent in my mind. Didn't feel it ...

Back from Bali and my second post within a month. Here we go!   Will be looking to do monthly posts highlighting any points of significance that have taken place, but this post will cover some umbrella areas over the last 5 years or so that have got me to where I am today and evaluating the upsides and pitfalls of my decisions taken,  FIRE/Liquid Assets Portfolio As discussed in my last post , I mentioned how my Fire portfolio/Liquid Assets had reached the £100k mark. I have used this definition as a measuring stick instead of net worth due to being more relevant to my targets going forward, with the 2 below items being excluded from this.  Pensions - These can only be accessed from 58 (could end up being later) and I'm not interested in having to wait that long to take an extended, voluntary leave out of the workplace.  Student Loan - This is a significant amount, however without a salary I would not have to pay any of this back so it’s irrelevant from my expenses w...