Enjoying Retirement
Discussion
croyde said:
It's a relief to read this after the usual PH stuff of £6k a month.
I'm 59 and sick of working but will have to soldier on til 67, and maybe beyond.
My state pension may just kiss £800 a month whilst my private ones may add maybe £500 a month.
I need to use current investments to buy somewhere to live though as rents are so eye watering. Obviously living in London doesn't help but work is here.
Once retired I can move to the ass end of nowhere, as long as I don't need a hospital nearby.
Looking at what I've written and as I'm fairly healthy now, maybe I should just splurge on nice cars and good holidays and then just depend on the State when my time comes
Hi Croyde , this is the thing , there is no one size fits all . I'm 59 and sick of working but will have to soldier on til 67, and maybe beyond.
My state pension may just kiss £800 a month whilst my private ones may add maybe £500 a month.
I need to use current investments to buy somewhere to live though as rents are so eye watering. Obviously living in London doesn't help but work is here.
Once retired I can move to the ass end of nowhere, as long as I don't need a hospital nearby.
Looking at what I've written and as I'm fairly healthy now, maybe I should just splurge on nice cars and good holidays and then just depend on the State when my time comes
gotoPzero said:
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=...
Just ignore the "what do you earn tab" and go straight to the what do you spend tab.
Intrigued by this but the link doesn't work for me?Just ignore the "what do you earn tab" and go straight to the what do you spend tab.
Wacky Racer said:
I'm like you, a year off, although I have only worked three days a week for the past five years.
I think there are too many variables, do you run one car, two cars, three cars, a motorhome, no cars?
Do you live in London or Mablethorpe?
My three lads are all in their thirties and are doing well.
Good luck, you have worked hard...enjoy it.
I’m unlikely to work part time although I do potentially have a self employed role with a family member in the future but that’s not part of my current calculations. I think there are too many variables, do you run one car, two cars, three cars, a motorhome, no cars?
Do you live in London or Mablethorpe?
My three lads are all in their thirties and are doing well.
Good luck, you have worked hard...enjoy it.
Car wise it’ll be one family car and a small starter car for our daughter at uni .
We will be around 80 miles from London but costs will be equivalent to what we have now for everyday goods and services.
Idea is golf for me , gym for the wife .
Eat out once a week & for me learn to cook !
Generally a bottle of wine split most evenings too .
Most of the time will be spent doing gently exercise, walking , golf & cycling .
Yes we’ll have sky tv and 3 mobiles to pay for .
Guess b’days & Xmas costs on top too.
What I do know is that i feel ive done my time in the current business so for my own health it’s time to set an end date
GT3Manthey said:
I’m roughly a year away .
Whilst I don’t think I’d struggle to fill my time I do wonder what people feel they need per month to live a ‘ comfortable’ life .
I’ll only have one child at uni to support and no debts.
Having ran this past various friends and peers the range is between 2-6k per month net .
My thinking is somewhere in the middle of this range & I appreciate it depends on plans in retirement such as travelling , meals out etc.
Interested in gathering retirees thoughts and actual experience of people on here that have retired .
2-6k covers a BIG range Whilst I don’t think I’d struggle to fill my time I do wonder what people feel they need per month to live a ‘ comfortable’ life .
I’ll only have one child at uni to support and no debts.
Having ran this past various friends and peers the range is between 2-6k per month net .
My thinking is somewhere in the middle of this range & I appreciate it depends on plans in retirement such as travelling , meals out etc.
Interested in gathering retirees thoughts and actual experience of people on here that have retired .
Everyone needs to figure out their own number - The Number thread on MSE here is a beast that covers 10 years of views on this!
Clearly Powerfully Built PH Directors will have much larger numbers!
For us: we have under a grand in monthly 'essential' outgoings. Perhaps £500 in food: we mostly eat veggie food. 3 vehicles come in under £300pcm on average. The electric one (used for 80%+ of our miles) means the running costs are kept down.
So £2k pcm covers the 'essentials'. We have never had monster extravagant holidays, aside from a month long US family trip some years back - I figure our 'number' really sits somewhere between £3-4k.
10 months in, not regretted a moment!
Work now consists of maintenance and managing a holiday cottage we have. It doesn't really make a lot of money - washes it's face, but has the occasional major expense to use up any saved profits.
Fun - cycling, walking, volleyball, reading, films, festivals, comedy shows & beers with pals.
Travel will return in some future: MrsMikeIOW spends a lot of time helping care for her elderly frail mum. We are skiing for a fortnight in March (only ever done 1 week in the past), & did get to Scotland 4 times last year (kids were up there) and IOW for 5 trips (much work in the 'garden gym' at the cottage).
GT3Manthey said:
Generally a bottle of wine split most evenings too .
Most of the time will be spent doing gently exercise, walking , golf & cycling .
What I do know is that i feel I've done my time in the current business so for my own health it’s time to set an end date
If your health is a number one goal, I'd suggest you reign in ideas of a bottle of wine each night! Most of the time will be spent doing gently exercise, walking , golf & cycling .
What I do know is that i feel I've done my time in the current business so for my own health it’s time to set an end date
We have the odd binge out with pals, but at home now rarely drink more than the occasional beer....
Shnozz said:
gotoPzero said:
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=...
Just ignore the "what do you earn tab" and go straight to the what do you spend tab.
Intrigued by this but the link doesn't work for me?Just ignore the "what do you earn tab" and go straight to the what do you spend tab.
Click this link and select "spreadsheet version"
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-p...
croyde said:
It's a relief to read this after the usual PH stuff of £6k a month.
I’ve read varying figures about what the average UK pension pot currently is, usually in the range £50k - £70k, with many of the articles stating that’s as at retirement age.The average UK salary is circa £31k (I think), which equates to around £2k per month after tax, from which rent, mortgage, work commuting costs, childcare, pension, savings etc. must be deducted.
Most of the population is therefore existing just fine on much less than £6k a month, and few will enjoy £6k a month in retirement either.
It does all depend upon individual circumstances of course - what one’s living standards are now, and whether they will continue into retirement; dependants; mortgage/debt; other income streams; inheritance etc.
Bravo to anyone with the means to enjoy a very comfortable retirement, new cars, holidays, travel etc. - more power to them, I don’t doubt they’ll have worked hard to achieve it, and a big part of it is knowing in advance what you want for retirement and planning for it years ahead (many don’t). It’s good to aspire to better, thriving rather than surviving.
It just won’t be the reality for the majority, I fear.
For my own purposes, assuming children all through Uni, mortgage free etc., in retirement (20 years away, hopefully less) I think I’d need (all figures as at today’s costs and needing future adjustment therefore, after taxes) £1,000 per month to survive, £1,500 would be comfortable, £2,000 adds scope for more travel & meals out, at £2,500 I’d want for little. All based on mostly preserving the pot capital and using State Pension, small DB scheme & likely Drawdown on main DC pot.
That’s based on my current living standards. Quite sensible, but still living in a nice house in a nice area (not London!), half-decent car, lots of low-key travel & meals/drinks out, with a frivolous spending habit on watches & pens.
Having a partner to share retirement costs with will make a big difference to budgets too.
I deliberately haven’t touched on care costs on old age, but that’s another matter to consider.
UnclePat said:
Having a partner to share retirement costs with will make a big difference to budgets too.
A massive factor IMHO. In the 70s only around 50% of women had a job. Now its closing in on 75%.
Its even more stark when you look at full time working. In the 70s only 20% ish had a full time job. Now its over 45%.
I'm mid 50's and have been retired nearly a year and my wife about 18 months,
we don't have any debt at all and in the last year we've probably spent about £50k, which probably sounds a lot, but we haven't exactly been very careful money wise and could have survived on much less.
A lot of this I put down to the fact that we've made a big change to our lives from both working full time and being pretty busy to not working at all and needing some time to adjust,
out of the £50k I think we've given our daughter about £10K, we spent at least a few thousand ( I haven't kept count ) on the house, had a holiday and a lot of days out, quite a few of which have been for the purpose of house hunting,
in fact due to the house hunting, and also wanting to find things to fill our days up now we're not working,
we've roughly doubled our typical annual mileage,
this has obviously also had an effect on our monthly fuel bill which would be higher even on our typical mileage just because of increasing fuel prices.
If we were to cut right back and try to budget more we could probably survive quite comfortably on about £2.5k a month (possibly less) and still enjoy a fair few days out and at least one holiday a year,
and If we ever manage to find a house we like that we can actually afford, we're going to have to start cutting back a bit and try to base our outgoings and lifestyle on whatever our pension funds manage to return.
We hadn't planned retiring till we reached 60 but decided that we couldn't really think of a good reason to put it off any longer and just went for it, I haven't for one minute regretted our decision and would recommend it to anyone feeling the same way.
Retired end of last march 21, so almost a year into it. No mortgage, no kids at home, regular bills for me is £900 a month, my railway pension is £1100, and I draw £500 out of my investments from my lump sum, so £1600 every 4 weeks.
Two cars, and 3 bikes., and am just about to trade one of them in for a new one. Holidays are several times a year in cornwall, as we have two dogs , and wife still works as she's 8 year's. Younger than me, I'm 56.
Enjoying the luxury on not working nights, and up for 04.45 for day shifts.
Loving it.
Two cars, and 3 bikes., and am just about to trade one of them in for a new one. Holidays are several times a year in cornwall, as we have two dogs , and wife still works as she's 8 year's. Younger than me, I'm 56.
Enjoying the luxury on not working nights, and up for 04.45 for day shifts.
Loving it.
rigga said:
Retired end of last march 21, so almost a year into it. No mortgage, no kids at home, regular bills for me is £900 a month, my railway pension is £1100, and I draw £500 out of my investments from my lump sum, so £1600 every 4 weeks.
Two cars, and 3 bikes., and am just about to trade one of them in for a new one. Holidays are several times a year in cornwall, as we have two dogs , and wife still works as she's 8 year's. Younger than me, I'm 56.
Enjoying the luxury on not working nights, and up for 04.45 for day shifts.
Loving it.
Great to hear very pleased for you . Two cars, and 3 bikes., and am just about to trade one of them in for a new one. Holidays are several times a year in cornwall, as we have two dogs , and wife still works as she's 8 year's. Younger than me, I'm 56.
Enjoying the luxury on not working nights, and up for 04.45 for day shifts.
Loving it.
I think im overestimating what we’ll need ( well I hope So at least) and we’ll settle into the retirement set .
Like you the luxury of not having to get dragged out of bed is what I want the most
GT3Manthey said:
I think im overestimating what we’ll need ( well I hope So at least)
Quite possibly.
Both my wife and I took voluntary redundancy just over a year ago and both being in our late 50s decided that this was early retirement, especially as we were able to use the voluntary redundancy payments to receive our index linked Defined Benefit pensions immediately without any reduction in them.
The surprising thing was that our 'take home pay' hardly changed between working and getting paid to receiving a pension. Once we stopped paying National Insurance, pension contributions, a stupid amount on two train season tickets and parking at the station, the difference was pretty minimal.
Even an increase in our leisure expense hasn't really hit. Eating out for frequent pub lunches has been offset by not buying overpriced sandwiches and coffee in London. The numerous UK and overseas holidays we have taken in the last year have been cheaper because we could stay or fly midweek or pick up last minute deals.
Because they are DB pensions the money just keeps flowing into the bank account each month, then it needs to be spent. And the challenge at the moment is we are not keeping up with it (not a boast, just a fact).
That combined with no children, means we have to spend it and all the savings we have - and as we will both be receiving full state pensions in just under a decade, then that additional £18k a year before tax will need to be spent as well.
And to that end we disappeared off last week to the Canary Islands to spend a couple of months there in order to avoid the rest of the damp and cold UK winter.
GT3Manthey said:
the luxury of not having to get dragged out of bed is what I want the most
Yep. No more standing at the station in the freezing cold at 'silly o'clock' listening to some pathetic excuse why the train isn't coming.anonymous said:
[redacted]
This was me this morning at 5.20am . All manner of s
t going thru my mind and all I could think of was having a cuppa and going back to sleep ! I even looked today & not discounting days off I’ve got 407 days left !
I’ve always said ( back in the day ) That on the first day of retirement I’d get a hammer from the garage and smash the alarm clock to pieces .
Maybe I won’t do that now with my new iPhone.
Tks for all the replies, it’s massively helping in my decision making process
I’ve been retired 10 years. Wife also retired. No kids. House owned. Two cars, no debt. Couple of pets so no holidays to speak of. No expensive hobbies (unless you count servicing and consumables for the second car).
We spend between £45k and £60k each year. Usually nearer to the higher amount but last year with minimal eating out, closer to the lower amount.
I reckon we could live on £30k if we had to but living off savings, until we reach pension age, having retired into a long bull market means that we spend more. The confidence effect of market performance has a big impact on consumer confidence and we, evidently, are not immune to that.
I think it’s best to have a wide range to your acceptable budget and be flexible enough to cope with swings and roundabouts.
We spend between £45k and £60k each year. Usually nearer to the higher amount but last year with minimal eating out, closer to the lower amount.
I reckon we could live on £30k if we had to but living off savings, until we reach pension age, having retired into a long bull market means that we spend more. The confidence effect of market performance has a big impact on consumer confidence and we, evidently, are not immune to that.
I think it’s best to have a wide range to your acceptable budget and be flexible enough to cope with swings and roundabouts.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 19th January 21:06
I’m 10 years off when I want to retire and doing my sums I’m expecting to be on between £6-7k a month net.
The plan will be to have fabulous holidays so a portion will be saved for that. We are not particularly extravagant mind you so what isn’t spent will be left in investments and I’d be surprised if we spent that much. I do plan to drink very nice wines and am building a cellar at the moment to plan for that.
The plan will be to have fabulous holidays so a portion will be saved for that. We are not particularly extravagant mind you so what isn’t spent will be left in investments and I’d be surprised if we spent that much. I do plan to drink very nice wines and am building a cellar at the moment to plan for that.
Interesting thread as it has got me thinking.
I'm guessing most of you will have somewhere to live mortgage free. I didn't really factor that in.
Currently my work is in London, it's well paid but most of it is taken by rent on a small 2 bed.
Within 5 years I should get half the equity from the ex marital home which should buy me a small cottage well out of London.
So that's the £1500 a month rent I will no longer have to find. So take that and child maintenance off my current take home and it appears that I live on £800 a month.
That covers bills, food, council tax and looks after 2 cars and a 300cc Vespa.
So there is hope yet
I'm guessing most of you will have somewhere to live mortgage free. I didn't really factor that in.
Currently my work is in London, it's well paid but most of it is taken by rent on a small 2 bed.
Within 5 years I should get half the equity from the ex marital home which should buy me a small cottage well out of London.
So that's the £1500 a month rent I will no longer have to find. So take that and child maintenance off my current take home and it appears that I live on £800 a month.
That covers bills, food, council tax and looks after 2 cars and a 300cc Vespa.
So there is hope yet
I’m another one of those people that keeps a spreadsheet for pretty much everything. In no particular order, our (two people) annual expenditure looks like this:
Council Tax £3,360
Electricity £1,920
Water £480
BB/Phone/TV £1,440
Dentist £600
Gate service £180
Chimney sweep £70
Eco Dan Service £400
Car 1 serv & MOT £540
Car 2 Serv & MOT £1,080
Mobile phones £360
Wine & Spirits £2,400
Food shopping £6,000
Pet Insurance £240
Pet supplies. £1,200
Petrol £3,600
Iron & dry cleaning £480
Pub/dinners out £7,200
Clothes £2,400
Logs £240
Car Insurance £1,200
Home Insurance £720
Memberships/subs £3,600
Road Tax £825
Misc gifts. £1,200
Salon appts. £1,800
Other. £4,000
Totals £47,535
Including ongoing holidays, occasional car changes and household maintenance/improvements probably doubles this.
Council Tax £3,360
Electricity £1,920
Water £480
BB/Phone/TV £1,440
Dentist £600
Gate service £180
Chimney sweep £70
Eco Dan Service £400
Car 1 serv & MOT £540
Car 2 Serv & MOT £1,080
Mobile phones £360
Wine & Spirits £2,400
Food shopping £6,000
Pet Insurance £240
Pet supplies. £1,200
Petrol £3,600
Iron & dry cleaning £480
Pub/dinners out £7,200
Clothes £2,400
Logs £240
Car Insurance £1,200
Home Insurance £720
Memberships/subs £3,600
Road Tax £825
Misc gifts. £1,200
Salon appts. £1,800
Other. £4,000
Totals £47,535
Including ongoing holidays, occasional car changes and household maintenance/improvements probably doubles this.
Reading the replies it's difficult to get an ideal 'figure' as everyone's needs are different.
I will have been retired 4 years next month and I'm still 10years off the OAP but rely on a FS pension, AVC pension and a part time job that let's me turn up when I want without any real ties or commitment for the next 2yrs. Wife was a stay at home mum so only the OAP to wait for.
At the moment with a daughter at Uni with 18 months to go I'm funding her accommodation, car etc but other than this we are debt free having paid off the mortgage 15 years ago. The only thing the part time job gives me is enough extra income so that I don't need to draw down on my savings and investments - something I'll have to do when I finish although at a pinch we could survive on just the pension. At this point you can effectively set your income for the year by how much you draw down and how many years your savings will last.
None of us know how long we have but in your 50s there's not a lot of point saving your money to spend in your 80s! I reckon I've got another 15-20yrs purposeful time left (hopefully with good health) to enjoy what we have.
If I rule out £1,800pa on Salon Appts (and I hope at those prices they come with a happy ending) I could probably muster £60k net pa as a future 'income' for the next 15-20yrs but just know I wouldn't have cause to spend that much.
I will have been retired 4 years next month and I'm still 10years off the OAP but rely on a FS pension, AVC pension and a part time job that let's me turn up when I want without any real ties or commitment for the next 2yrs. Wife was a stay at home mum so only the OAP to wait for.
At the moment with a daughter at Uni with 18 months to go I'm funding her accommodation, car etc but other than this we are debt free having paid off the mortgage 15 years ago. The only thing the part time job gives me is enough extra income so that I don't need to draw down on my savings and investments - something I'll have to do when I finish although at a pinch we could survive on just the pension. At this point you can effectively set your income for the year by how much you draw down and how many years your savings will last.
None of us know how long we have but in your 50s there's not a lot of point saving your money to spend in your 80s! I reckon I've got another 15-20yrs purposeful time left (hopefully with good health) to enjoy what we have.
If I rule out £1,800pa on Salon Appts (and I hope at those prices they come with a happy ending) I could probably muster £60k net pa as a future 'income' for the next 15-20yrs but just know I wouldn't have cause to spend that much.
DeuceDeuce said:
I’m another one of those people that keeps a spreadsheet for pretty much everything. In no particular order, our (two people) annual expenditure looks like this:
Council Tax £3,360
Electricity £1,920
Water £480
BB/Phone/TV £1,440
Dentist £600
Gate service £180
Chimney sweep £70
Eco Dan Service £400
Car 1 serv & MOT £540
Car 2 Serv & MOT £1,080
Mobile phones £360
Wine & Spirits £2,400
Food shopping £6,000
Pet Insurance £240
Pet supplies. £1,200
Petrol £3,600
Iron & dry cleaning £480
Pub/dinners out £7,200
Clothes £2,400
Logs £240
Car Insurance £1,200
Home Insurance £720
Memberships/subs £3,600
Road Tax £825
Misc gifts. £1,200
Salon appts. £1,800
Other. £4,000
Totals £47,535
Including ongoing holidays, occasional car changes and household maintenance/improvements probably doubles this.
How can you eat £500 a month of food excluding booze? I thought I ate alot Council Tax £3,360
Electricity £1,920
Water £480
BB/Phone/TV £1,440
Dentist £600
Gate service £180
Chimney sweep £70
Eco Dan Service £400
Car 1 serv & MOT £540
Car 2 Serv & MOT £1,080
Mobile phones £360
Wine & Spirits £2,400
Food shopping £6,000
Pet Insurance £240
Pet supplies. £1,200
Petrol £3,600
Iron & dry cleaning £480
Pub/dinners out £7,200
Clothes £2,400
Logs £240
Car Insurance £1,200
Home Insurance £720
Memberships/subs £3,600
Road Tax £825
Misc gifts. £1,200
Salon appts. £1,800
Other. £4,000
Totals £47,535
Including ongoing holidays, occasional car changes and household maintenance/improvements probably doubles this.
PM3 said:
I'm a year in ( and a bit ) not initially planned but now I'm done with actual employment (late 50s )
No debt, home owned , one child finished Uni and operating independently since last year
Run 2 cars ( a daily and an unnecessary extravagance) have some costly near future plans but that will come out of savings/investments
Oh and very importantly , a relatively low maintenance wife !!!
Monthly :
I NEED 1,500 ( I have upped this number to reflect what I expect next year )
I typically use 2,300 max
I put aside another ~500 ( don't actually its just there ) for unexpected like replacements, unexpected, smaller maintenance to add to 6k a year
I assign another 1K a month to add up to 12K a year for holiday or something wife and I want to do
lets say comfortable enough with a steady 2,800 and happy to know that 4,000 is more than enough to have a modest comfortable time where any bigger extras are entirely at our discretion. In practice , spare money is adding to investments /cash savings every month
Remember keep on paying into your pension pot too and get the tax rebate then take 25% of that in the future too. No debt, home owned , one child finished Uni and operating independently since last year
Run 2 cars ( a daily and an unnecessary extravagance) have some costly near future plans but that will come out of savings/investments
Oh and very importantly , a relatively low maintenance wife !!!
Monthly :
I NEED 1,500 ( I have upped this number to reflect what I expect next year )
I typically use 2,300 max
I put aside another ~500 ( don't actually its just there ) for unexpected like replacements, unexpected, smaller maintenance to add to 6k a year
I assign another 1K a month to add up to 12K a year for holiday or something wife and I want to do
lets say comfortable enough with a steady 2,800 and happy to know that 4,000 is more than enough to have a modest comfortable time where any bigger extras are entirely at our discretion. In practice , spare money is adding to investments /cash savings every month
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