'Spending Money' in retirement

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  • daivid
    daivid Posts: 1,225
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    Is a part time job an option? There are employers who like to hire retired people. If he could work 1 day a week in something not to taxing there would be 4 days less to spend and more spending money each month too. Or as already suggested a voluntary possition in something of interest to spend the time at low cost.
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,585
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    The issue might be the op's contribution to the pot though and not the husbands spending.

    Good point.
    If the OP gets her state pension in 2019, she'll be (I think) age 66.
    Retired 2 years ago, say 2015, she was 62.
    And her OH carried on working for 5 years after his state pension age.
    Maybe she had to give up work for health reasons.
    I think to comment further on the fairness of the situation, the OP should provide more information.
  • svain
    svain Posts: 516
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    £25 "pocket money" a week is nothing these days. It hardly covers a single coffee a day.

    If finances are that tight then perhaps part time work is the answer. If not, then i think the purse strings need to be loosened.
  • What was he like with money before he retired? If he's always overspent, that's a different issue.
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    OP we need more info.

    Are yous mortgage free? How much roughly is coming into the household per month and how much is going out.

    I don't understand how someone who has worked until retirement should have to live off £100.00 a month.

    I'm certainly sure they didn't work for 50 years to retire to live of the price of a coffee a day.

    We need more info to advise correctly. But £25 really isnt much to enjoy life.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    edited 2 September 2017 at 5:37PM
    I couldn't live off £25 a week for personal spends.

    People say oh only newspaper , coffee but people buy more than just those items. If you are retired aswell you have time to go to places and you spend ie go to the garden centre and you buy a plant or compost or whatever . Go to the theatre and you buy a programme.

    Unless your retirement is spent in front of the television you need more than £25 a week.

    I think with even a £100 a week most people would have to be really careful . Money just doesn't stretch anymore.

    I am another who cannot understand how you work until you are 70 and have to live off £25 a week. 70 is a late retirement and you don't know how long you have ,none of us do so I wouldn't be happy at all living on £25 a week
  • chiefie
    chiefie Posts: 406
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    Get him into the habit to draw £20 only every week
  • andygb
    andygb Posts: 14,631
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    I would plan out a personal survival budget on a spreadsheet, something which we already do.
    List all your incoming funds first - pensions, wages etc.
    Then list all your outgoings - direct debits, all monthly bills, estimated food and drink costs (be generous and realistic with these).
    Take the outgoings away from the income, and you will hopefully be left with excess money.
    Now the reality check.
    Make a list of the ACTUAL spending in the month, make a detailed analysis, which will show you exactly where estimates and reality differ.
    Show this to your OH.
    Good luck!

    I should add, that by doing this, we have managed to save around £6K since January, and we both earn less than average wage.
  • DUTR
    DUTR Posts: 12,958
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    My husband retired in June at 70, I retired a couple of years ago with two small pensions but no SP until 2019. We have savings but our income is less than half pre retirement.
    All household bills, food, petrol, savings for expenses etc are paid from our current account and we agreed (or so I thought ) that we would draw out £100 each in cash every four weeks for personal spending money - newspapers, coffee, drinks etc.
    For the third month running my husband has spent all his money after two weeks and has drawn out more. At this rate we will be dipping into our savings to cover household expenses every month. Our last discussion about finances ended in a row.
    Does anyone have advice on how to resolve this?

    I'd have to ask what do you intend spending the savings on?
    Retiring at 70 suggests he has worked hard for a long time and now deserves rest and leisure time, not using the money for health care or leaving a big pot for someone else to fight over.
    Depending how much is saved , I'd re-evaluate the budget with more leisure in mind,
    If the bills are paid comfortably what is the issue?
  • Thank you to everyone for your very interesting and varied responses.
    During 45 years of marriage my husband has never been interested in our finances. Mortgages, bank accounts, credit cards, savings, holidays - his attitude is that if I think we can afford it ( I make sure we can) then it's OK. That's the way it has worked.
    We have a Santander 123 account which is kept at £20,000. No mortgage, loans or cc debt, the cashback doesn't cover the £5 fee but worth it for the interest.
    Monthly income is £1590 from pensions.
    Outgoings - Council tax, water, gas, phone etc £250
    Monthly savings by s/o for Christmas & birthdays, holidays, insurance, hobbies (golf & fitness classes) £300
    Food £200 - 250 Spending money £216 (£25 week)
    So about £500 to cover petrol, meals out, cinema, clothes, dentist, haircuts etc. So not a lot left over.
    We save £200 each in 5% regular savers, money transfered from another savings account and have a pensioner bond, fixed rate cash ISAs and some money in premium bonds.
    Our plan is to spend some of our savings on holidays, trips and treats together over the next ten years while we are fit and able.
    My original question was about spending money and I think we have resolved that but it has been interesting to read what others think is a reasonable amount to spend every week.
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