How much do you need for comfortable existence in retirement.

Stu999 · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:31

About tree fiddy.

newbiejim · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:33

dirtychinchilla said:
I think the savings should be in the pension really.

I'm looking at that option though it's a difficult balance regarding leveraging indulgence to about 70 ish & taper off as I think after 70 my paragliding & water skiing days will be over.

newbiejim · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:33

DXP55 said:
I can assure you that £1500 is not enough even with the state pension. -I retired 21 yrs ago on half pay pension- sounds a lot but I was a drone worker all my life so my paypacket wasn't a lot although it kept wife and myself self sufficient - I remember one year the local dustmen earned more than we did. Over the last 21 years we have seen our pensions drop compared to cost of living.
We have no mortgage or debts and a 11 yr old car. We have some saving but that's rainy day stuff and not having holidays. Every house I have bought I made sure we were in band B/C of council tax - water rates at lowest I could find but now I am having to put £460 a month into the budget account just to keep dry and warm -any other bills are extra like food.
You can not have enough stashed away for your pension and I am talking now of those of us who are on pensions well below the average wage.
Stick as much away as you can, you can't survive on state pension - The only people who can do that is the pro unemployed.
If you have a wife who doesn't pay tax then you can have her tax relief transfered to you - helps a little bit. We do not live in luxury but can afford the odd goodie.

How much per month would you say is enough?

Griff7520 · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:34

Having no mortgage is a massive plus when retiring, if we had not had paid up our mortgage then retirement would not have been an option for us at the time. The wife is the money person in our house and she manages all our out goings on a monthly basis so we know exactly how much we need for essential purchases, bills etc etc each month.

Our monthly income is based on enough to cover all bills, food, spending money and a bit of savings for holidays, emergencies holidays etc etc, all though we dont go abroad nowadays and restrict to as cheap a holiday as we can get but its still nice to be able to go away if we want. When we went to the financial advisor we told him what we needed per month from the funds available in the pension and gave him all the info on my pensions and he took it away and told us yes we could retire and live comfortably with what was there and obviously the state pension is further down the road but will be a help when the time comes.

newbiejim · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:37

Psycho Sonny said:
Realistically speaking what outgoings are people expecting to be less in retirement and what are going to be more?

Less - mortgage free
More - everything else

So I'd want a similar level of income as to my working income. Unless you are planning on using all that free time sat in front of a screen on a couch.

Simply don't retire but go from working 5 days a week down to 2 days per week. That means your work income is dropping by 60% but a lot of that is made up by your taxes being less, so it's not a real 60% loss. Then you top that up with your pensions and passive income streams / savings. Remember you have 5 days off per week to enjoy life. That is plenty.

There are some folk though who get to retirement age and clearly aren't fit to work. Had an old Betty in an old office who was 4 years past retirement and she had fallen over at least 2 times in the office and was absolutely hopeless at everything. But if she did retire chances are she would never leave the house. So that probably won't be a real solution for everyone but they can always get a part time job somewhere like Asda if need be.

Almost everyone I speak to about this who are retired say you spend less than you think when retired. Personally I would save at least £100 a month fuel + decadent lunches etc , it does cost to work, if that makes sense, though not a huge amount.

potatolord · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:40

I just give all my money to my wife.

Despite being 10 years younger than me, she wants to retire when I hit state pension age, the cheeky blighter!

Azza · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:42

How long is a piece of string?

You need to breakdown and calculate your known annual costs. Essentially the costs of surviving. See how much that comes to, then see how much you have left over to do things you enjoy, meals out, theater, holidays etc. If it's not enough then you'll be working longer. No one wants to sit in their house doing nothing when they retire.

So if you look at the regular known costs they generally are:

Electricity
Gas
Water
Internet
TV licence / Subscription TV
Mobile phone
Council tax
Car insurance
Car tax / servings
Insurance products (life etc)
Food

That would give you a good idea of what you'll have left over to 'live your life'.

Griff7520 · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:44

Azza said:
How long is a piece of string?

You need to breakdown and calculate your known annual costs. Essentially the costs of surviving. See how much that comes to, then see how much you have left over to do things you enjoy, meals out, theater, holidays etc. If it's not enough then you'll be working longer. No one wants to sit in their house doing nothing when they retire.

So if you look at the regular known costs they generally are:

Electricity
Gas
Water
Internet
TV licence / Subscription TV
Mobile phone
Council tax
Car insurance
Car tax / servings
Insurance products (life etc)
Food

That would give you a good idea of what you'll have left over to 'live your life'.

yep

Slam62 · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:52

I retired at 59, for me it's the time I have that is the real difference people go on about filling your time with something. I just don't need that at all, I just do what I want. I have been busy enough for me.

Tbh looking at some of the numbers you lot are quoting my pension isn't very high, but its enough for me. I have a fair bit of savings and my wife is working although we are starting to pile a lot into her pension and have a plan for her to retire early.

As someone I used to work with told me, once you retire your attitude has to change, all your life you may have been saving money but now you have to spend it. I'm actually struggling to come up with things I care that much about, as soon as I think of something I buy it. But these things don't tend to cost much.

If you love working enough to put of retirement I think you should be honest about the rest of your life.

DXP55 · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:54

newbiejim said:
How much per month would you say is enough?

Whatever the national average wage is at the moment would do me fine.

We were out today looking for a carpet and wife said lets go for a cup of coffee and a cake -- £8.50- What ! These are once in while treats.

CREATIVE!11 · 13 Sep 2021 at 16:55

Good luck if you are part of younger generation. Don't even expect to retire.

Tom_ed1987 · 13 Sep 2021 at 17:11

Assuming I had a mortgage paid off, £1500 a month would be more than enough for me. That'd easily cover all my bills and hobbies; It's a long way off but I can't think why I'd need more.

Psycho Sonny · 13 Sep 2021 at 17:58

newbiejim said:
Almost everyone I speak to about this who are retired say you spend less than you think when retired. Personally I would save at least £100 a month fuel + decadent lunches etc , it does cost to work, if that makes sense, though not a huge amount.

Yeah but surely you would spend that £100 a month fuel in your new spare time visiting friends, family, playing golf, going out? Lunches replaced with dining out when you are away playing golf, etc.

I can't imagine retiring then sitting at home watching TV all day and spending nothing like a lot of old folk do.

Yes cut backs will happen but I'd really not want to be earning less than what I was from my day job.

£200k in an ISA tracking an index would pay you £20k a year for instance (being conservative). Add that to your pensions and you are laughing. Best thing is it's all tax free. There could be dips in the market which means you don't get much one year but recoveries tend to be really quick.

£200k in an ISA is easily done over your working career I bet it would be less than £50 per month if you started from day one.

moon man · 13 Sep 2021 at 18:00

dLockers said:
You've forgot to mention your legal-highs drug addiction and alcohol consumption

2 bottles of red a week, the dream mix should last a long time tbh and could replace the wine as the buzz is 10 times higher (im A lost cause) i like to still think the red has health benefits though

newbiejim · 13 Sep 2021 at 18:12

Psycho Sonny said:
Yeah but surely you would spend that £100 a month fuel in your new spare time visiting friends, family, playing golf, going out? Lunches replaced with dining out when you are away playing golf, etc.

I can't imagine retiring then sitting at home watching TV all day and spending nothing like a lot of old folk do.

Yes cut backs will happen but I'd really not want to be earning less than what I was from my day job.

£200k in an ISA tracking an index would pay you £20k a year for instance (being conservative). Add that to your pensions and you are laughing. Best thing is it's all tax free. There could be dips in the market which means you don't get much one year but recoveries tend to be really quick.

£200k in an ISA is easily done over your working career I bet it would be less than £50 per month if you started from day one.

a guaranteed 10% on this ISA?

but anyways, its too late for that because I`m 60 atm.

Psycho Sonny · 13 Sep 2021 at 18:48

newbiejim said:
a guaranteed 10% on this ISA?

but anyways, its too late for that because I`m 60 atm.

10% is conservative. This year would be 20% and last year more like 40%.

newbiejim · 13 Sep 2021 at 18:54

Psycho Sonny said:
10% is conservative. This year would be 20% and last year more like 40%.

Must be quite an element of risk there though (at risk of derailing the thread)

dlockers · 13 Sep 2021 at 18:59

newbiejim said:
Must be quite an element of risk there though (at risk of derailing the thread)

Don't get sucked in. It's a PS patent pending investment method mostly into magic beans.

flea.rider · 13 Sep 2021 at 19:13

i'm 55 planning to retire well part ..will do 20-25 hrs a week when i'm 63 .. most of the long term jobs on the house have been done .. roof floors 2 wood burners windows bathroom .. so house is safe ..till the kids sell it

.. i'm happy to do a min pension plus state .. the house will be paid off before pension .. never earned much so things will stay the same ..
we don't holiday days out and such .. and my side don't live long 65-70 last 5 generations ... just some time to get a rest . before the next big journey

DXP55 · 13 Sep 2021 at 21:31

My Dad went at 60 - I have 17 yrs on him now but I don't smoke or stuff my hodge with chocolate.
When i retired in the first two years I did all the jobs I didn't do while working but after those jobs were done I got bored so did a part time job just to earn enought to keep my hobby of clay shooting up - without that job I wouldn't have been able to do it. - So as it was my pension didn't cover my hobby. Yes it is boring if you do not have the means to do other things.
I don't care what other people think -You need as much money as you can get to retire comfortably- Do not underestimate what you will need.