My Journey to Financial Independence

Woah, Woah, Woah… Hang on a minute. This isn’t a real SavingNinja post; this is a page disguised as a post! I’ll be keeping this page updated every month and you can now find it under the ‘Savings’ menu option at the top of the site.

I’ve been tracking my journey to financial independence since August 2018 and publishing the full details on SavingNinja every month. Below, you can find all of my Savings Reports along with some interactive charts which will automatically update each month.

Subscribe now to keep up to date with my progress and get exclusive access to all of my spreadsheets and charts for your own personal use.

Learn how to Save for Financial Independence

Are you thinking of taking early retirement? Do you want to accelerate your FI journey to the maximum of your ability? Retire years earlier than your peers? Saving well is the key to achieving financial independence. Below I’ve collected the best resources from this site and elsewhere which will allow you to increase your savings drastically and get closer to your FI dream.

What is FIRE?

If you don’t know what FIRE Financial Independence Retire Early actually means then start here.

Find out how people are planning to take early retirement at 40 or lower and how you can too.

How to Calculate your Savings Rate

Learn how to calculate your savings rate when aiming for financial independence. There is one thing that matters most; getting the Maths right! You don’t want to end up having to go back to work if you choose to retire early.

Figure out how to do the Maths or use the premade compound interest calculator for Google Sheets and Excel here .

The Boggy Marsh Part 1 and Part 2

The secret financial blueprint that a lot of financial independence bloggers don’t talk about; time! Read this detailed two-part series which explores how important time really is when aiming for FI.

If you’re young or trying to convince a young friend to start their FIRE journey, definitely check this one out!

How to Bridge to your Pension

The question I see crop up the most from fresh FIRE pursuers is “How do I retire early when I can’t access my pension until 55?” As over half of my savings are going into my pension that’s the main question readers ask me.

This article will answer that - find out how I’m going to bridge to my pension and how you can too.

You could be working DECADES extra if you decide to not save into your pension, so this is a must-read!

How to Increase your Savings Rate

Last year I saved over 80% of my salary. A high savings rate will make achieving your financial independence dream a reality in no time!

Read this article to find out how you can increase your savings rate without reducing your quality of life.

How to Work in the City on a Budget

Do you think living in an expensive area like London or the South East of England will restrict your ability to save for financial independence? Wrong!

I own a home in the South East and work in London and live on £10k per year. Read this article to find out my best money-saving tips whilst working in the city!

FIRE Orientated Budgeting Spreadsheet

The first step in your financial independence journey should be to create a budget. You need to know what you’re spending your money on in order to save more and understand how much you’ll need in order to be FI.

Read this article to find out how to use the beautiful Saving Ninja budgeting spreadsheet and calculators.

Download the excel personal budget template or use it directly within Google Drive. You can use the spreadsheet for bills and everything in your household budget monthly or annually along with a dynamic FIRE calculator baked into each spreadsheet.

Super Saving Spreadsheet for Financial Independence

Get access to a full financial independence FIRE dashboard with access to over 15 charts made with Google Sheets and Google App Scripts.

Track your FIRE journey meticulously with this super-spreadsheet or grab an Excel downloadable with Excel FIRE calculators written in VB code.

Should you Include your House in your Net Worth?

Find out why you’ll be working years extra if you don’t include your house in your net worth and why including it is vital to the Maths of financial independence.

How Anyone can get a Student Discount

Did you think that you needed to actually study to be a student? Find out how anyone can get a student discount and get access to all of their juicy deals like 10% off Macbooks or 50% off Amazon prime!

Note: the vendor described in this post is no longer accepted as an educational institution, but with a little savvy-ness, you should be able to find a qualifying one.

Being Rich has nothing to do with your Salary

This was one of the first articles that I’d ever written (even before SavingNinja came into existence.)

In it, you’ll find out about my strong philosophy of what it means to be rich and why you should care.

Following these philosophies is what allowed me to detach myself from the materialistic norm and focus hard on saving instead.

Spending less Makes you Happier

This article again predates the age of this website. I talk about how I believe that spending less money makes you happier.

I’ve since debunked this notion a little with the discovery that I need to spend more in some cases to maximise my happiness but all of the points made in this article still ring true.