In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.
This week we speak to Silvia Mariani, 59, who lives in Weston-super-Mare with her husband, Nick, 57. Having been interested in the Financial Independence, Retire Early (Fire) movement for years, Silvia and Nick both took early retirement in September 2025.
The couple, who married in 2016, have a rental property they purchased at auction as a renovation project. Silvia has a six-figure sum invested in gold as well as £75,000 in a cash ISA.
Monthly budget
My monthly income: I have about £550 coming in via money from a self-invested personal pension (Sipp). We have £450 coming in from a rental property. I sometimes make between £50 to £100 a month by selling items on Vinted. My husband has income coming in from a pension.
My monthly outgoings: We own our house outright. Council tax, £250; groceries, £350; gas and electric, about £30 – we have solar panels and a battery; water, £22; broadband, £40; mobiles, £10; Netflix, £12.99; We only eat out for very special occasions and don’t get takeaways. I rarely buy new clothes. My husband has a car and handles the running costs for it. Our home insurance is £189 a year. We are no longer adding money to savings and investments.
I used to work as a compliance analyst full-time, earning £34,000 a year. My husband worked as an IT manager for a fintech firm.
My husband and I both took early retirement in September 2025. After cashing out my SIPP I have £550 coming in each month. We’d both planned to follow the Fire movement for a number of years and were well prepared financially.
The Fire movement appealed to me as it offered a way to get off the hamster wheel. Life is too short to sit in front of a computer every day looking at spreadsheets. Reading about other people achieving Fire was a welcome challenge and very motivating.
My husband put a lot of money in his Sipp. We were also lucky to make a profit by moving as I sold my London flat when we got together, before selling a house in Bristol later on. We got very lucky with the profits we made on property sales.
I’ve always added money to a company pension, but decided to purchase an annuity in the spring of 2025, with a view to retiring later in the year. I could not live solely on the UK state pension in later life. I wish the government would look after its pensioners better rather than squandering money on wars and weapons.
My husband and I live in a three-bedroom bungalow in Weston-super-Mare, which we purchased for £350,000 with a small mortgage in 2021. We managed to get the mortgage paid off in 2022, which was a great relief.
In 2024 we purchased a rental property at auction for £130,000 in Weston-super-Mare. The auction was a really exciting experience and we spent £50,000 renovating the property. We receive £450 in rent for the property each month, which helps boost our income.
At home, our energy bills are low as we have solar panels and a battery. Our electric bills are usually only about £30 a month. We also keep our expenses low by not eating out much or getting takeaways. Fortunately, my hobbies, which include reading, walking and gardening, are inexpensive.
I have always been a careful saver. I’m not always saving for a particular reason, but I like to feel financially secure for the future. Recent research by Tesco Bank found that 31 per cent of people view themselves as a “saving squirrel”. While now retired and not saving, I’d still put myself in that category of savers.
I have £120,000 invested in gold due to geopolitical instability. I think gold remains the safest way to save. My grandmother, born in 1920, used to tell me gold was a safe bet too. I wish I had started investing in gold at an earlier age. As well as having money tied up in gold, I also have £75,000 in a cash ISA and £5,000 in premium bonds.
For me, money provides practical security. I am happy with my current modest monthly income as I have learned to live within my means. Our ultimate goal is to move somewhere sunnier and cheaper. This is something we are actively looking into and Malaysia or Vietnam would be near the top of my list.
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