Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Greetings!
I thought I would introduce myself before starting to comment.
I'm in my mid thirties, married with two children and am a somewhat reluctant software developer working primarily in the banking sector in London on a contract basis. I've had muted ERE-ish leanings for some time in favour of the usual English obsession with property, work and the general busyness of life.
I have been wondering for some about taking a different approach and having spent the last 18 months successfully saving a quite high proportion of my income in order to finance some home renovations I am now interested in working out a strategy to financial freedom.
Challenge 1 is that contract work is (while highly remunerative) also highly contingent on the state of the market. I am expecting a period of downtime when my current engagement ends in a month or so but if nothing else it will give me the opportunity to work on budgeting.
Challenge 2 is likely to be the UK tax system (not to mention the UK economy). More on that in a separate post I think.
Jim.

Hey Jim.
The pros of the English system is that you pay taxes but in return get free health care (as I understand it from the Netherlands). Also, there is a safety net called social security in place. Hopefully you don't need either of these things, but it's great to have them.
I have absolutely no idea whether you can save up some money tax-free for retirement? Since you work on contract basis, I think you need to provide for your own retirement, but there probably are ways to do that?
Well, anyway, good luck!

See the UK specific thread:
viewtopic.php?t=1505