Dr Duncan Robertson @duncanrobertson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026It was the packed lunches that did it, not the fact that one of them was an actuary. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 8455459
Ewan Mcteagle @mcteagle.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Smug bastards. Can’t imagine an evening in their company being much fun! 210
TheBee @thebeee.bsky.social · 30/06/2026What’s are missing here is that their lives are been incredibly dull, they have defined themselves by how little they spend, denying themselves life experiences whilst young and can enjoy it. They will take this psyche into their later lives and end up with millions in the bank whilst living penury. 000
Simon Robert H K @simonpostsdog.bsky.social · 30/06/2026No lobster garlic butter and fries for TEN YEARS?? Tell ‘em they’re dreaming 000
terrible normie @botvolution.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"we're really well off anyway, but we like to pretend we weren't" 080
MinusAndrogynus @minusandrogynus.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"An actuary is a professional with advanced mathematical skills who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty... Actuaries provide assessments of financial security systems... The profession has consistently been ranked as one of the most desirable." 010
md700a.bsky.social @md700a.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Actuaries have a miserable existence and they’re always working out when people will die. Imagine that pressure on yourself 😆 000
Ian @wordsoup.bsky.social · 30/06/2026@retroid.bsky.social They claim they saved £40,000 over ten years by having packed lunches & hardly eating takeaway? What sort of lunatic spends £4000 a year on lunch & the odd takeaway? 110
Tom Levitt @tomlevitt.bsky.social · 30/06/2026“Aside from their good incomes…” AND discontinuing to pay a proper contribution through tax towards services they will use AND failing to reach the state pension contribution threshold. No mention of kids either 130
Clare M @clamc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Nauseating. The ‘I stopped eating avocados and drinking iced caramel Frappuccinos’ brigade 🙄 010
tadaaa.bsky.social @tadaaa.bsky.social · 30/06/2026a counter narrative - we rinsed it, 5 kids, skiing sometimes twice a yr, always a summer holiday, Greece, Spain Morocco NZ, my wife stayed at home to bring up the kids all done by leveraging ourselves to fvck on cheap money before selling our London BTL in 2024 for ££ - all mortgages paid off 100
k-szymanski.bsky.social @k-szymanski.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"The central tenet is that you live extremely frugally during your working life, so that you can retire as soon as possible." - Your ONLY life. Can they then afford little joys once retired? Or better not lest the money ends? It's not life, it's suspended animation. 000
Chris Gooch @chrisdg.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I have eaten packed lunches for over 30 years, and my government decided to move the retirement age up. 071
Thomas Atcheson @thomasatcheson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026The claim of saving £40k on 'lunch alone' is a wild one. If they are 20 and have been saving for 20 years, that would make their lunches around £8, double that of a meal deal, more than a spud, Wrap of the day etc. 100
Nick @nicalee.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Good luck to them but having had one close relative literally keel over dead out the blue at 59 a few weeks back and another relative at 50 being rotted away by terminal cancer I personally can't subscribe to this way of "life". 130
Joshua Murray-Nevill @joshuamurraynevill.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Quite an unusual article to post in the midst of a Youth Unemployment crisis. Almost as if the BBC is... baiting... rage? 010
mirkobolesan.bsky.social @mirkobolesan.bsky.social · 30/06/2026They sell "courses". rebeldonegans.com 110
Kev O'Neill @kon23uk.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"Every pound we invested was a step closer to the life we wanted,". It would be interesting to know what this life is: the sheer fulfilment of the guilty thrill of ordering a takeaway after charging your phone at home? 000
Tom Buckley @bigbadbuckley.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Isn't this a by product of stock market boom and possibly some crypto with ten years as ab actuary 000
Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 30/06/2026"I rarely bought expensive clothing, kept electronics until they gave out, cooked most of my meals at home, and paused before any significant purchase.” so radical 230
AppliedNewtonianOnEarth @refunfunyadora.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Also, from my perspective from the US, they're not here so figuring out how to have health insurance when not employed and before turning 65 so one can be on Medicare wasn't something they had to worry about, perhaps? 060
Chris Fitch @chrisfitchchris.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"Aside from their good incomes..." um no you can't put that aside 060
Claire S (UK not USA) @csav55.eurosky.social · 30/06/2026I had packed lunches every day of my 30+ years working, must have been eating the wrong sort of packed lunch. 050
Andrea ClementⓋ @andreajane.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Packed lunches, never go on holiday, rarely have take-out, never eat out. 55 and we're still broke. It's not the bloody packed lunches. 🙄 21441
Jeswings @jeswings.bsky.social · 30/06/2026'The two rarely had takeaways and always took packed lunches to work. "We were £40,000 better off over 10 years from just that one lunch habit," Working 50 weeks a year, they saved £8 each (lunch cost then £2?) a day for a lunch. Who spends TEN QUID on a lunch? Oh, an actuary. 040
Dave Rackliff @daverackliff.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I’ve had packed lunches every day for most of my 35 year working life and I’m not retired. Something tells me it’s not the packed lunches that were the main driving force. 060
Bill Heywood @billheywood.bsky.social · 30/06/2026There is no “apart from their good incomes” These stories are BS. If you earn lots of money and don’t have children, funnily enough you can save a lot 1160
Paul Kelly @pjthinker.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Sorry Mr Socrates, what was that again about the unexamined life not being worth living …👆 010
John T @jtatlife.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Be interesting to see how they get on with 1m capital between the two of them...that's...maybe 30k a year as a joint income. That's nice, but almost certainly much much less than before...and definitely not enough if you want to live a cushy life with lots of new distractions 100
Finn Longman is only here occasionally @finnlongman.com · 30/06/2026As someone with food allergies I've packed a lunch basically every day of my adult life that I've left the house, but also I earn <£20k/yr and don't have any kind of pension fund, so I don't think it's going to help 1511
alanbenzie @alanbenzie.bsky.social · 30/06/2026There's nothing in that article about what they do with their retirement that is so amazing it justifies not charging your phone at home 030
john @snoopster.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I'd imagine having packed lunches every day for 10 years is a lot easier if you expect to be able to retire at 40. 130
Matt Severn @mattsevern.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I wish the bbc wouldn’t try and copy Reach. We dont pay the licence fee for this kind of news 010
Giles Sparrow is adrift in the vortex @gswrites.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Me whenever I see one of these headlines:media.tenor.coma group of cartoon characters are sitting at desks in a classroom and one of them says say the line bart .Alt: Bart Simpson’s classmates and teacher eagerly await his much loved “I didn’t do it” punchline - much as someone might read an “I ditched shop-bought coffee and avocado toast and paid off my mortgage at 30” headline and anticipate getting to the bit where you find out they’ve a director of their Dad’s property empire, heir to the Duchy of Westminster or something similar… 000
Rev Peter W Nimmo @peternimmo.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Also: "a little-known concept 15 years ago". People have been taking early retirement for decades. Margaret Thatcher encouraged it! 2590
Rollo Tommassi @ilajp.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I fucking HATE these fucking stories. It's bad enough that they are ALWAYS accompanied with a picture of the person in the story having a smug smile on their face, but it is usual that you find out 5 or 6 paragraphs in that the person is either from a rich family, or lived rent free for years. 060
Bean & Sprout's Mom @beansproutsmom.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Also, not having children (I love mine intensely, but, um, they're not a sound financial decision.) 020
Alan Clarke @alanclarke.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I misread that as making enough from packed lunch business to retire at 40! 030
Alison M @alisonm.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I like the way these people always seem to be absolutely fine about the fact that other people (nurses, doctors, retail and hospitality workers, basically most people) will have to keep working so that they can lounge about for the next 40 or 50 years, contributing fanny-all to society. 000
Gerry Blake @gerbla.bsky.social · 30/06/2026So they saved 40 grand, invested it and came up trumps with a million quid. I'd rather hear about their investment strategy than their scrimping and scraping. 020
Máirtin Ó’Caoiṁ (O’Keeffe) @mokeeffee.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Actually, I’ve used exactly the same method over last 25 years and retired completely at 57. Now just enjoy life. Rebel Finance School is a good tool and shows people how financial advisors eat into your investments. 000
Peter Deacon @peterdeacon.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Lifestyle choice of the affluent, but fundamentally no-one cares 000
Matt Gardner | GameTripper @gametripperuk.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Reminds me of those classic stories of frugal first-time buyers who own their house outright by the time they're 30, but mainly because their parents gave them a 75% deposit 000
alandonegan.bsky.social @alandonegan.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Hi, Alan & Katie here. Interesting questions! The BBC had around 250 words for our part of the story, so we’re doing a live Ask Us Anything about income, kids, investing, whether £1m lasts, what “retired” means, & what the headline missed Genuine questions welcome www.youtube.com/live/cuuf4Pu...youtube.comThe BBC FIRE Article: Ask Us Anything About Packed Lunches, Money and Retiring at 40YouTube video by The Donegans 011
Clive Woodbridge @blandishments.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Another partial story and sounds a miserable experience. They'll be divorced in five years. 010
Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Honestly can’t be bothered to open it. Are there avocados? Oat-milk lattes? Netflix? Top-end mobile phone subscriptions? 010
Non-dairy Canary @nondairycanary.bsky.social · 30/06/2026'"Every pound we invested was a step closer to the life we wanted," says Katie.' Yet the life they wanted remains curiously unspecified, beyond being 'retired'. 130
Non-dairy Canary @nondairycanary.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Alternatively, they could have pursued jobs they would have enjoyed doing. 020
jockhigh.bsky.social @jockhigh.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I know someone who retired around forty. They did none of these money saving things, but they were also an actuary. 010
Sam ooOOooOoo Turner @renrut-mas.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I'm going to start ascribing my financial comfort to arbitrary things I don't do. "I've only eaten McDonald's three times in my life and I have no mortgage. QED." 1401
Alex @dralexm.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Some balance: youtu.be/2oUCqKLdNRs?...youtu.bePack lunches didn’t make us millionaires - BBC Fire articleYouTube video by The Donegans 110
sharkastic.bsky.social @sharkastic.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Any news about their avocado and netflix consumption? 110
Spooky Robb from 8/16/32bit @81632bitretro.com · 30/06/2026Based on a quick Google, their combined average income would have been around £140-£180k a year. Frugality my arse. 1791
Josie Glausiusz @josiegz.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"We even charged our phones while out," they say, meaning someone else paid the electric bill. Hmmm 3381
Euan Gorrie @euangorrie.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Being an actuary perfectly explains this lofe choice too tbh 000
Avon Caulin @spodulike.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Claims they saved around £8.70 *each* on every working day (@230 days a year) for 10yrs by making sandwiches? You don't *have* to spend a tenner buying lunch. & fully charging a phone battery on someone else's bill saves around 0.4p, I'd be embarrassed to claim that helped me retire early. 1320
Craig Nikolic @craig.nikolic.co.uk · 30/06/2026"Aside from their good incomes" is pretty much all you need to read in this. It's like those multi-millionaire teenager Execs who did it all through hard graft and a small-print credit that their dad was the CEO. 0300
Mark @rfcider.eurosky.social · 30/06/2026If I forced myself to have packed lunches every day, I’d definitely want to retire early just to stop that boring shit… 000
Curious Iguana @curiousiguana.eurosky.social · 30/06/2026Oh sod off. £1m in savings over 20 years is £50,000 per year. That's more than an entire salary, every year. No one does that from making their own sandwiches. 180
stubakes.bsky.social @stubakes.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Perhaps they've also monetised their smugness 020
sbarlster @sbarlster.bsky.social · 30/06/2026But does their bike cost 3 times their car and can they shred it! Where’s the fun part of the story? 000
Ezra Abrams @ezraabrams.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Lets do some minimal math say US $20/lunch, x2 x 5 = SU$200 per week x 50 =10K/yr x 20 years = US $200K lets assume they invested well (lucky and their money doubled, we get US $400K not really enough to retire on, but nothing to sneeze at either 000
Elsie Yorks 🐈⬛ @elsieyork.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I took packed lunches to work for <counts> nearly 20 years. I did not then retire on my savings. I had a very occasional school dinner. I don’t think that’s what stopped me retiring. 0110
Richard K @rkemb.eurosky.social · 30/06/2026This works out at ~£8 each per working day, and sure it's possible to spend that but it's also probable that a lot of people spend less than this on their lunch every day. 6270
Mrs Quent @quarkquent.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Feels like one of the biggest contributors is “don’t have children” tbh 3520
Nick R @nickren.bsky.social · 30/06/2026Quite. I make packed lunches every day and I’m certainly not retiring at 40. 000
Dr Duncan Robertson @duncanrobertson.bsky.social · 30/06/2026And are you *really* retired if you're a director and shareholder of a company? 424911
StoptheFarRight @stopthetories.bsky.social · 30/06/2026And they have a youtube channel (which probably generates an income) if you want hear how annoying they sound www.youtube.com/@rebeldonega...youtube.comThe DonegansWelcome to the Donegans' YouTube Channel. Our mission is to empower all people (yes everyone, including you!) to take control of their finances and live their version of an extraordinary life. We cre... 130
StoptheFarRight @stopthetories.bsky.social · 30/06/2026The plot thickens, she's actually still working rebeldonegans.com/about-us/kat...rebeldonegans.comAbout Katie Donegan - Rebel DonegansKatie Donegan is the world record-breaking, co-founder of Rebel Finance School! Katie, alongside her husband Alan, helps people from all walks of life to avoid debt and build a better relationship wit... 050
StoptheFarRight @stopthetories.bsky.social · 30/06/2026"Wealthy couple retires early" doesn't make me want to read the article though 010
StoptheFarRight @stopthetories.bsky.social · 30/06/2026But according to a 2021 article, they already retired at 35. Plus they were earning a combined salary of £121,000, so I don't think the packed lunches was what did it, funnily enough. Something fishy here. www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/161... 050
Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 30/06/2026UK media has been running their story for 5 years.Jane@localnotail.bsky.socialSept 2021: After graduating in 2008, the couple moved in with Alan’s mum in Hampshire with the aim of saving for a house deposit £42K to buy their £167,650 two-bedroom flat in Basingstoke in November 2010 2014 Katie was on £58K, Alan £63K £3,000 savings every month www.mirror.co.uk/money/woman-... 1301
@localnotail.bsky.social
