Saturday 11 February 2017

My Revised Roadmap To Freedom for 2017



Last February I formulated my strategy for how to achieve retirement by the time I'm age 50. In my Roadmap to Freedom I set out the savings goals I would need to achieve on a monthly basis.

I think it's important to revisit this Roadmap frequently to make sure that I'm still on target with my savings each month. This post is the result of my 2017 review.

I have revisited all my calculations from last year, including:

  • My expense projections considering:
    • Ages 50-57 (the ages between which I'll be retired but won't yet be able to draw my Personal Pension)
    • Ages 50-62 (the ages between which I'll be retired and still have mortgage repayments to make)
    • Age 62+ (when I'll be mortgage free)
  • The current value of my Freedom Kitty and my Personal Pension

So without further ado, here is my revised Roadmap for 2017 onward...

FI Before 50 Roadmap

Freedom Kitty  must reach £190,000 by Jun 2025 (age 49) 

    To be achieved by saving on average £1,268 per month from February 2017 - May 2025 (assumes 4% interest)

Personal Pension must reach £446,300 by Jul 2032 (age 57) 

   To be achieved by saving on average £1,090 per month from March 2017 - May 2025 (issues 5% interest)

This results in a total average monthly saving goal of £2,358





My FI Before 50 Roadmap suggests that I need to save a total of £2,358 each month until June 2025. This splits out across my Personal Pension as £1,090 and my Freedom Kitty as £1,268 per month. The amounts I actually want to set as my saving targets for 2017 have been slightly adjusted from those suggested in the Roadmap:

SAVINGS TARGET
Freedom Kitty - £1,666 per month
Personal Pension - £1,000 per month


Equals TOTAL Savings Target: £2,666 per month 
(£308 more per month than the Roadmap states is needed, but split differently across the 2 savings pots)

Although my 2017 pension target is £90 per month lower than the Roadmap suggests, it is hoped that the fund will grow by at least 5% per year. Furthermore, savings into my Freedom Kitty are planned to be approx. £480 per month higher than the Roadmap requires, any excess in my Freedom Kitty can be used to supplement my Personal Pension if it has not met the required amount by age 57. The reason for paying more into the Freedom Kitty is to maximise the new £20,000 ISA allowance in 2017/2018.

I feel very confident in being able to achieve the Personal Pension target. The Freedom Kitty target will be more of a challenge, but I'm going to give it my absolute best shot.


Have you set any financial targets for 2017? I'd love to hear of them, let me know in the comments...

6 comments:

  1. Hi OR

    Great to see your plan for the year and the future. That's some big savings targets you're committing yourself to but being FI before 50 is a fantastic goal to aim for and one that will keep you focused and motivated.

    The two financial targets I've set for myself will be a challenge - 50% savings rate needs me to have work to achieve and £1.5k dividend income needs extra capital to increase! Let's see how I do!

    Anyway, looking forward to meeting you in March at the FIRE Escape! :-)

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    1. Hey Weenie,

      You're quite right about these being big savings targets...eeeek! The thing is, they have to be big if I have any hope of achieving my retire by 50 goal. So I'm going "all in" and just going for it!

      It's great to hear your financial targets - a 50% savings rate is definitely a big goal. I'd love to have goals around dividend income because it's such a tangible thing to see your savings grow. I don't feel confident investing in individual stocks and shares for dividend growth myself though - I don't have the time to do the research, so I'm sticking with simple Vanguard Lifestrategy investments for now.

      All the best of luck for your goals this year and we can chat more in March - I can't wait for the FIRE Escape, should be loads of fun!

      OR

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  2. These are some big goals indeed! In fact your savings target is bigger than my actual monthly income...
    It's all down to personal circumstance of course and you wouldn't have set these goals if they weren't achievable, but good luck nonetheless :)

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    1. Hey TFS,

      I have to confess with the ISA savings target that this is really going to be a stretch challenge for me. The only way I'm going to be able to achieve it is if I really up my efforts with side income hustles like kindle publishing. I reckon I can manage £1,000 per month at best before I really have to hustle for the rest!

      Also, being a freelancer, if later in the year I finish my current contract and opt to take some time off I'll have to seriously rethink my target for the year. But I figure aim big and I'm at least pushing myself to save as much as I possibly can!

      Thanks for the good luck wishes. Good luck for your year ahead too. I'm about a month behind in my blog reading at the moment, so I have some catching up to do.

      OR

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  3. Sarah@themoneydiary.co.uk8 April 2017 at 02:29

    Hi, wow they are ambitious savings goals! It's great you've pinned down exactly what you need to be saving to reach your goal, and that they're realistic for you. I've found it daunting faced with a huge savings target if I try to work out what I'd need to do in an ideal world, so have been increasing my savings bit by bit to give me time to adjust to having less available to spend. I'd definitely like to work towards a focused goal though, so will be following your progress with interest! Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sarah,

      You're quite right about these being ambitious savings goals - I'm still not sure how I'm going to achieve the Freedom Kitty (ISA) goal, but I figured I'd try setting myself a lofty target to push myself to strive for it...

      I absolutely know how you feel with being daunted by a hugs savings target. I think the psychology of the huge "mountain to climb" in the early years of the FIRE pursuit journey is quite possibly the hardest part. I think the very fact that you're doing something to up your savings, even if it's not necessarily the amount you feel you ultimately need to be saving yet, puts you ahead of the vast majority of the population who never even think of saving for early retirement (some don't even save for regular retirement!)

      I wish you all the very best with your saving, and hope to update soon on how I'm getting on with my goals and targets this year.

      OR

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