UK FI Blog round up plus Liebster Award

Sep09
by TFS on September 9, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Posted In: Blogging, Fun, Resources

Liebster Award

 

Well whaddaya know it’s taken me over one whole year to get one of these darn awards (and about a month to do a post about it) but I guess better late than never eh? šŸ™‚

In all seriousness I would like to say “Thank you” to regular commenter and now blog owner Weenie @ Quietly SavingĀ for nominating for the award, which is designed to encourage and promote up and coming blogs, which is great! The idea is then to answer five questions from the blog who nominated and pass on the award to some more blogs, and the torch is not only passed on, but multiplied. It’s basically the viral infection of blog awards šŸ™‚ – but fortunatelyĀ this particularĀ virus has only good intentions!

Anyway, rather than passing on the award – it seems this particular niche of blogs has already saturated and I can’t find any blogs I regularly read that hasn’t already received the award! – I thought it was high time we had a decent review of all the UK Financial Independence blogs out there, plus a smattering of general Personal Finance ones as well (basically whatever is in my Chrome Bookmarks “UK Blogs” Folder). When I first started the blog over a year ago I was either unaware of a lot of these or they have started up since, so the scene has definitely improved which is great to see! And as much as I like reading stories from across the pond, it is sometimes better to interact with folk on home turf as we have far more similar financial situations. If you have a blog and would like to be added to the list then let me know, I will be adding this page as a permanent feature in the top bar menu when I work out how to add those “drop down” type menus you sometimes get.

 

UK Financial Independence Blogs

 

Simple Living In SuffolkĀ Somerset

If you are interesting in FI and are UK based and haven’t heard of ermine @ SLIS then I guess you’ve been living under a rock. I would call himĀ the Grand Daddy of the UK FI blogging scene, but as he retired early it seems rather inappropriate šŸ˜‰

Come here for long, well written articles and a great British wit and sarcastic humour.

Quietly Saving

Run by Weenie, a lady from the Manchester area who is done with the consumer lifestyle and has seen the light. She has a lot of interesting things to say on her blog so go check it out!

Mrs Financial Freedom (defunct)

Another lady FI blogger* from the North West of England, who is striving for financial independence for her family (Husband and little girl). Most of the other blogs are either singletons or DINKY’s (including myself) so it’s most excellentĀ to see someone showing you can be financially responsibleĀ even with kids in tow. This is of course in direct opposition to all the “woe is me, kids are so expensive” malarkey we tend to hear about from mainstream media outlets, and hence most other parents, who just parrot their nonsense whilst buying the unnecessary rubbish that they advertise. I digress, go to this blog if you want a family perspective on FI and some ultra cute Microsoft paint drawings! šŸ™‚

*Firmly dispelling the myth that Mr Money Mustache philosophy is for men only, once and for all!

Mister Squirrel (defunct)

A city buff looking to squirrel enough money to escape to the countryside. Some great thoughtful and technical articles on here, some useful resourcesĀ and evenĀ a glossary. Even better, I’ve just seen he’s written a free e-book for subscribers, which I am off to read shortly!

The Escape Artist

The Escape Artist, or TEA for short šŸ™‚ , writes with a great British witty and oftenĀ slightly sarcastic tone, hence is right up my alley. Lot’s of informative and entertainingĀ posts, Ā as well as numerous references to The Great Escape on here to while away the hours on your journey to FI.

Financially Free by Forty

Huw over at FFBF surely needs no introduction as has been featured on the Blog FAQ, but if you do then read that or check out his blog. If you want to learn how to live frugally while still having a “mainstream” life, then check out his monthly spending updates. Quite inspiring stuff on what you can cut out if you put your mind to it.

Early Retirement Guy

New kid on the block with his head screwed on straighter than a roman road, he hasĀ some great contentĀ up in just three months. One to follow!

Under The Money Tree

UTMT works in the Investment banking sector, and therefore you will find a lot of good information about investing over there. He also knows more than his fair share on Buy To Let properties and Landlording. What aĀ great skill set to FIRE with!

Budget Breakaway

With the word “Budget” in the title you could be forgiven for thinkingĀ this is just anotherĀ run of the mill PF blog with theĀ standard advice, but this young coupleĀ have bigger fish to fry than that! With one eye firmly on Financial Freedom, it will be interesting to see how these young folk get on. Read more about them in my Blog FAQ with them here** and on their blog of course.

Keeper of the Cauldron

A lady looking for quite a late early retirement šŸ™‚ but still living the simple/goodĀ life and having the perfect perspective forĀ FIRE. Always interesting to get different view points from people at different stages in life so a valuable resource of insights here.

Where Eagles Fear to Perch

Some great posts on DIY projects, off grid / sustainable / simple living here. I will have to admit I discovered the blog a while back but have not read through it properly yet, I’m delighted to report that onĀ closer inspection there looks to be a lot of excellent information on here.

FISH (Financial Independence & Seeking Happiness

You could call “TheContender” who runs this blog the original UK MMM, as he has reached FI at the ripe young age of 36, and is now living it up in the South of France with wife and kids! Get some invaluable information from someone who’s already done it. Awesome!

 

More Links

 

Some quick fire links/resources that (I’m pretty sure) are UK based and have general money saving, investing, and other FI themes running through them. I will attempt to keep this list up to date as I discover new blogs:

 

http://monevator.com/Ā – Come on… like you don’t know this one already?!

http://www.ecothriftyliving.com/Ā – Zoe doing it her own way, saving money and the planet!

http://www.retirementinvestingtoday.com/Ā – Investing and FI

http://financialindependenceuk.com/Ā – Investing + FI

http://theresvalue.blogspot.co.uk/Ā – Value Investing to achieve FI

http://www.ukvalueinvestor.com/Ā – UK based Value Investor. Duh.

http://expectingvalue.com/Ā – Yet more value investing!

http://www.nomorespending.net/Ā (defunct)Ā – Budgeting

http://www.the-diy-income-investor.com/Ā –Ā Investing and General FI themes

http://www.multimillionaireroad.com/Ā – Investing and General FI themes

http://financialfreedomuk.wordpress.com/Ā – Not updated any more but some good general FI posts here

http://moneybulldog.co.uk/Ā –Ā General/Consumer Personal Finance

http://moneystepper.com/Ā –Ā General/Consumer Personal Finance

http://www.themoneyprinciple.co.uk/Ā – General Frugality with FI themes as well.

http://www.moneysavingchallenge.com/Ā – Money Saving / Making Ideas

http://girlcountingpennies.com/Ā (defunct) – Debt Repayment, Frugality, Lifestyle

http://www.thefrugalcottage.com/Ā – Frugality/Lifestyle blog

http://www.makingitanywhere.com/Ā – Finally someone from the UK has done the “Digital Nomad” type of thing. Go guys!

http://emmadrew.infoĀ –Ā Ideas on saving money, Ideas on making money. (Used to be called From Aldi To Harrods, a name I lovedĀ but can see why Emma decided to change this šŸ™‚ )

http://www.ideasforbiz.co.uk/ (defunct)Ā – Bit of a random one but some good ideas for side hustling on here, and general entrepreneurial themes.

Please Note: A fewĀ may not have posted for a while but I believe they are still somewhat active, and in any case are probably worth at least a scan anyway to see if there are any older posts that could be useful.

 

Back to the Liebster Awards…

 

Finally, I better answer the questions from the Liebster Award! Here they are:

 

1. What’s your favourite holiday destination?

Tough one. I have been lucky enough to travel a fair bit so my best trip in total was a 4 month jaunt around South America, however I wouldn’t really call this a “holiday destination”. Thailand was also amazing and I would like to go back, but I’m starting to become wary of the environmental costs of long haul air travel, so I’m not sure I will ever go back. In terms of somewhere I can see myself having lots of holidays in the future (and have been on lots in the past),Ā you cannot beat the good old United Kingdom!

 

2. What piece of financial advice would you give to your 18 year old self?

I love this question, it reminds me of the future Biff Tannen from Back to the Future II leaving the sports almanac for his past self! In a slightly less ambitious plan, I would simply explain the concept of FI, exactly how compound interest and investments work, and that extra money left over from my wages is therefore not for spending, but for investing into a work free future. All I wanted to do when I was 18 was mess about doing unpaid work I found fun (messing about on computers, making music, etc…) yet I also found as soon as something became work (by definition paid work I guess) then it became less fun. So simply laying out the idea of FI would have worked it’s wonders on me, I am sure of it! Unfortunately I fear this would beĀ one sequel too far, and be deemed unworthy viewing of today’s action loving audiences šŸ™‚

 

3. What was your favourite book when you were a child?

I have a terrible memory so this is a another tough one for me! I do remember lovingĀ George’s Marvellous medicine when I was a wee lad so that could be up there. When I got a little older I really liked the Jurassic Park book. I never really read any books on finance as a child/teen hence me being a late comer to the FI game.

 

4. What’s your favourite quote?

Gah… again I am rubbish at memorising such things! I will admit to cheating and googling some good quotes. Oscar Wild seems to be a rather good source and this one pertains to the FI mindset: “No man is rich enough to buy back his past”

 

5. Which song is currently on your top play list of your iPod/generic MP3 player/radio?

I haven’t downloaded any songs for a while but I’ve recently (i.e. about a year ago) been digging Of Monsters and Men (Yellow Light and Lakehouse are both fantastic crescendo tension building tracks)

Well that’s it for now folks! Hope you liked the round up and may have been exposed to a few new blogs, and enjoyed the answers to the questions!

Until next time!

TFS.x

 

**If you’d like to be intensively grilled questioned politely by yours truly and be featured in a Blog FAQ post then please do not hesitate to contact me! Likewise if you run a UK based FI or PF blog with a definite slant towards FI and want me to add you to the above list then let me know.

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