Pensions are the main way to fund retirement and we look at Nest, a government scheme that offers pensions to small companies that do not manage their own.

However, Nest has several shortcomings: it's expensive; it's not very flexible and it's restrictive. Is there much you can do about these? What are the alternatives? And what happens when you change jobs?

For more information on workplace pensions, see our wiki article here:

Workplace pensions

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In this episode we discuss some of the most common ways to spoil your happy and financially stable retirement.

Some of these came from our recent meet-up event at Caernarfon and some of them from discussions in our Facebook group (see below).

What can you do to avoid these traps? And if you're in them, what can you do to get out?

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A bit of a clickbaity title maybe, but we thought we might try and game the algorithm a bit and direct some new listeners to the podcast.

What are the five biggest mistakes for those looking for financial independence or retiring early? And what can you do about them?

We keep it simple and focus on the handful of areas that you can easily address now and that will help you reach your goal more quickly.

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This time we have our regular guest John and we are looking at questions posted in our Facebook group (see the community link below) covering a wide range of FIRE areas including:

What are the trade-offs in retiring early and how important is it to understand tax?

How do you deal with one partner having a much larger pension?

Should you include the state pension in your planning and what if it needs topping up?

What about house or pet sitting as a way to reduce holiday costs in retirement?

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As a follow-up to the last episode, in this one we talk in more detail about Richard's investment approach, which involves a mixed portfolio of property, index funds and investment trusts.

When does index investing become 'active'? What are the advantages of investment trusts over mutual or exchange-traded funds? How do you known when to buy and sell investment trusts?

More information about investment trusts can be at the association of investment trusts here.

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In this episode we talk to Richard who started very early and reached FIRE before 50. We discuss his early life where while working in a number of jobs he quickly learned about investing and how it could eventually free him from work - and how this affected his attitude to both work and life.

We then cover his attitude to investing, including property and investing in individual companies and how his involvement with mentoring organisations and charities in retirement.

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In this episode we talk about index-tracking investment funds and their relevance to people looking at financial independence and early retirement.

What are indexes?

What are index funds?

What should I look out for?

We look at popular funds, like global trackers and how they compare across indexes and platforms. And we also go a little deeper into how index funds work and what risks they may entail.

The fire place wiki article on index funds

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In this episode we talk to Man Tai who reached FIRE and retired early, then became a counsellor and has helped many people deal with the psychological issues of retirement.

We cover his upbringing in an immigrant community and how that affected his views of money and work; his career in business; and what lessons he has learned from counselling both for himself and his clients.

Links to topics covered in the podcast:

Phil Stutz on Netflix

Conditions of Worth and Carl Rogers

The 8 C's of self in Internal Family Systems therapy

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