Part of this blog will be my efforts to become financially independent before the statutory retirement age. How quickly this happens will depend on a number of factors but moving here was about getting more life out of the work/life balance and working less is a big part of that.

For me, the priorities are:

1. Build up a substantial pension pot
   To generate income for day to day living and to use the 25% tax free lump sum to pay off outstanding debt
2. Reduce outgoings
   Living here has already helped reduce our outgoings but the house needs a lot of work so in the short term our outgoings will be high
3. Build up passive income sources
   At present this means our buy to let property but we also intend to invest and use the income to pay some bills

I reckon ten years ought to be enough but there’s a lot that can happen in the meantime. Interest rates, investment returns and other unexpected events may get in the way or help.

Part of the reason for this blog is to report on progress. I’m not alone and there are a lot of people out there doing the same thing, like Monevator, Retirement Investing Today, Afford Anything, Early Retirement Extreme as well as the sites linked on the left.

The title is a reference to financial institutions and their customers which will be the subject of another post.