I'm 51 and our investment income exceeds expenditure. I could FIRE but I won't until at least 55. This is partly because much of the income comes from my SIPP and hence isn't accessable until then and then there is the safety margin. Strictly speaking there is enough assets in my ISA to bridge the gap but I'd rather keep them (and the income produced is doing something useful).
One thing that strikes me is that you have to understand your financial enviroment (tax breaks, interest rates, own age,etc). This is very different for me today than when I started and will continue to evolve.
So :-
Own your own home? Use an offset mortgage, I've had two, first one enabled my original house to be paid off, second one is completely offset.
The offset means all your money generates a tax efficient return, insulates you from interest rate hikes, owning it means stability and no worries about rent rises. However my first house was compartively inexpensive and the second because I'd made so much on the first was also reasonably affordable. In todays world with comparatively expensive housing (by this I mean as a ratio to salaries) I'm not sure that works as a recommendation for someone just starting. In the round though I think retiring in a house you own is a primary goal.
Earn significantly more than average salary for a prolonged number of years. There is no getting over this in order to save a significant amount a decent salary is needed.
No partner, a partner committed to the same goal or a partner who pays their way. If there is a constant drain on the income then clearly savings won't grow. In my case, my wife has no interest in FIRE, I doubt she even knows it exists, she likes the consumer society and broadly speaking could be considered a spendthrift
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Tax. Understanding and manages the tax system is very important. Income tax and National Insurance being the two that matter most. The strategy I used (and use) is offset mortgage for cash, ISA and SIPP for investments. My wife mostly offsets the mortgage today as she likes to see cash (so she does and it does something useful). My money is invested with more risk. Age is also a factor as is the regime. I always loaded my ISA up the invested in my Pension as I got older so I began to target the pension (the ISA allowance is so large now that this makes things easier). As for pensions I use my SIPP and never contributed in any money that would not attract 40% tax relief. As I get older so I contribute money that no longer attracts 40% however I have stopped putting it in my SIPP now use salary sacrifice and put it in the company pension (I'll come to why shortly).
Investment strategy. HYP. Though I'm not a purist, I hold ITs, ETFs and Pref shares as well as ordinary shares (and far more than a normal HYP). The idea is well uderstood, the shares pay dividends and the divdends exceed the income requirments. The things I liked were, inflation protection both asset and income and the efficiency of both accumulation and when the time comes income without selling anything. This is achieved today and will be further enhanced by re-investing dividends over the next few years. There are many that argue this is not an optimal strategy, my view is that it does't have to be optimal it has to be easy to do and it needs to be good enough (ie deliver enough to live off). Investing to produce an adequate income is not a competion sport, it's "won" when the investment investment exceeds expenditure.
Risk. This strategy has significant risks, my very wide holdings should provide some safety, but it is really only mitigated by retaining enough cash to ride over any bumps. This is another reason I have to wait. The company pension is being funded at 40K per year and will be worth circa 200-250K when I reach 55. This will transfer into my SIPP and between them should be worth circa 1KK allowing circa 250K to be withdrawn as the cash free lump sump so providing the risk mitigation.
Enabler, my HYP ISA is currently paying out as income. This allows me to maximise my company pension contributions whilst still being able to carry on without having to curb my expenditure too much over the next 4 years. I would stuggle to contribute so much without this topup.
I have been running this plan for 20 years, modifying things as the envionment I operated in changed and it's worked - at least as far as I can tell.