fi meetups london

For many on the FIRE journey, the prospect of quitting salaried work and shifting into some kind of self employment is an exciting but daunting transition. In this meetup, we are very excited to introduce you to Career Development and Personal Branding coach Karen Richards, who founded and runs Karen Natasha Coaching. For those of you who joined the picnic in August, Anders shared a little about his work with Karen, who has been nothing less than a revelation. Many…

We hope you’ve all had a good summer and managed to spend some time with loved ones – whether in person or online. Detractors of the FIRE movement often call out the need to live for the now, rather than save up for some future that you may not get to enjoy or that you can deal with when you get there. How do you balance your long term goals of saving for the future, against the twin pressures of…

In the end, we’ve had to skip the July event and move it into August instead. Hope it’s worth the wait, and that all/most of you can make it! It’s been well over a year since our last In Real Life event and although we plan to continue with the online meetups (perhaps alternating with the park or pub), we do miss the informal chats and socialising. There is no topic or presentation planned this month, just an opportunity to…

This month we’re excited to have another very special guest hosting the meetup. Gary Derbridge has been a member of the group since the early days and we’ve enjoyed hearing about his adventures in entrepreneurship, from wedding photography to property, and more recently, a YouTube channel. This month Gary will walk us through the basics of YouTubing, and answer questions like: * How can I choose a topic? * Can I really make money from this? * Is it too…

If you’ve been part of the UK FIRE community for any length of time, then you’ll probably have come across the Escape Artist blog. Barney Whiter is a breath of fresh air in a space that’s often dominated by American voices. He worked as a chartered accountant for 20 years before quitting his corporate job at age 43. He now works as a coach, helping others to develop their own escape plan and reach financial freedom. In this month’s meetup,…

Frugality is one of the fundamentals of the FIRE movement, but it seems that everyone you ask has a different view on what it really means, from pinching every penny, to living life to the full! To delve into this topic, we’re very happy to welcome frugal hero John Wilman to this month’s meetup. John is the founder of the Frugal and Freegan London group on Facebook, and is a true expert on the topic. John will explain his own…

Having a side hustle (or 3) is often seen as fundamental for achieving FIRE. For most of us, however, being an employee forms the bulk of our income during the wealth accumulation phase. With that in mind, the March meetup looks at the importance of your ‘main’ career, and how to keep growing your income steadily on your way to FI. We’ll share some of the lessons we learned (and mistakes we made) on our own career paths, and talk…

We’ve avoided the topic of relationships until now because, well, it’s complicated. But it’s a topic that comes up regularly in meetups, and so with Valentine’s Day lurking, it’s time to dive in! As usual, we’ll be sharing some of our own experiences (the good, the bad and the ugly), but also hearing stories and advice from our members. We’ll tackle questions like: * Is it easier to reach FI as a single or a couple? * How do I…

It seems like just yesterday we were gathered at the Duke of Sussex pub for the Frugal January Challenge, completely oblivious to what lay ahead… Fast forward 12 months, and it seems appropriate for us to wrap up 2020 and look ahead to 2021: * What did we set out to achieve last year? * How did we do? * Highlights and lowlights of the year * What are our goals for 2021? We’ll be sharing our own experiences, but…

The FIRE movement is sometimes accused of not being representative of a large part of the world’s population. In fact if you browse a selection of personal finance blogs, you might come away thinking that FIRE is only achievable for millennial software developers, usually white, male and single. Yet our own FIRE community is very diverse, with members of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds and personal circumstances. And if you look around, you’ll find many examples of excellent blogs and podcasts…