Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

Albermarle

There are plenty of existing SIPPS where you can invest in VLS funds .
I am not an expert on LGPS but I think there some advantages in investing in the AVC's , so might be better just to increase your contributions to that rather than opening a SIPP. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will post on the subject. 

Gin_and_Milk

Thanks Albermarle.  I do intend to increase the amount I pay into my AVC at some point.  I know what you mean about how opening a SIPP might not be the best way to plan for my retirement given the AVC, I'm just wary of putting all of my eggs into one basket - despite the VLS fund.
I appreciate your thoughts, especially as I am by no means an expert myself!

Mnd

I posted our circumstances in this thread 2 and a half years ago, and basically came out with a number of £24000 pa or 2000 a month.
The post disappeared a while back, but with the new website it has magically reappeared.

So, what has changed. Remarkably our outgoings have not significantly altered in that time £1200 a month is still what we spend day to day.
I am working part time 2 or 3 days a week which will boost our back up money to £100k, from 80k and my wife will probably do 1 more year at work which will a) boost that pot to £120k and b) cut down the amount that we need to drawdown before her state pension
I am now (just) an OAP, and I calculate that we can have net monthly income of £2350 (£28k pa) so we should be fine

My big concern was my wife's income after I die, as I'm 6 years older, she will have almost £16000 a year now at least, with a decent insurance lump sum as well.

So all in all, I'm happy with our situation 

Thank you for reading 

merlin321

Hi Mnd, our situation/figures/ages are very similar to yours.  Me due to retire next month,  wife will soldier on till end of the year.
I to am concerned about wifes income if I go 1st.  So have pre- paid for a funeral plan, one less thing to worry about!
Also using a Sipp as a savings account, not invested,    effectively a 20% uplift as long as she stays within tax allowance.
Me also to bridge gap to state pension in 2 years,  along with tax free chunks of Dc pension and savings.
I have all of this planned on a spreadsheet, thanks to all on this forum,   have found it a great source of info!

Stubod

Just wondering how COVID may have effected your number?

I really just wanted to re-boot this rather good thread...sorry...

Gatser

Stubod said:

Just wondering how COVID may have effected your number?

I really just wanted to re-boot this rather good thread...sorry...

Good point... thank you... and always a good idea to keep finances reviewed regularly.
Having reached our NUMBER threshold, we now just make sure nothing upsets that.... COVID was a BIG test!
The Investments / pensions side has suffered inline with the markets generally, but we just sit tight and spend a little cash on food and....errrr….. not much else really..   When we look at non holidays and non travel, non dining out etc for this year, I am expecting to finish 2020-21 in a better position than expected.  (Assuming we escape from our bunker at some stage!)
Good Health to you (All)

Stubod

..we were relying on S&S ISAS to fund the gap between retiring and state/private pensions, and these have taken a bit of a hammering. Our "number" is still flexible, currently anything between £26k and £40k. Although our investments have gone rather pear shaped, we had planned some expensive holidays this year which will now not happen, (and maybe not for a long time, if ever). Another issue has been the ongoing reduction in general savings rates as we have been relying on some cash / interest to tide us over and these have also taken a bit of a battering.

In my budget planning spreadsheet I use a worst case interest rate of 1%, never really expecting to get that low..(oh dear), but I also use a figure of 3.5% for inflation?

I normally look at our investments every month or so, but chose not to look until last night when I had a little peak from behind the sofa. I was amazed that in general (although still down), they have recovered fairly well given that the short term future still looks a little bleak. I guess time will tell....

****** ALSO JUST NOTICED THAT THIS THREAD IS NOW 10 YEARS OLD!!!..*****.

Gatser

Stubod, your numbers are similar to ours. 2020 was also going to be a bumper travel year for us too as the first year without caring responsibilities... oh well, patience is a key skill of ours!
Five years until state pension so we will utilise cash deposits in the meantime... as you say, dismal returns. I use 1.5% returns on cash but that may soon be too optimistic. The “shining light” is that we foresee serious underspends over the next 2 years. Challenging times indeed.. whatever format of normality returns I feel we will all appreciate everything more. 

Stubod

Gatser, we are probably a similar age. To compensate, and seeing no holiday spend this year I decided to get myself an e-bike and make the most of the current good weather..   

VoucherMan

Stubod said:

Just wondering how COVID may have effected your number?

I really just wanted to re-boot this rather good thread...sorry...

I posted a number a few months ago, which was questioned at the time for seeming a little low. Being furloughed for the last 2 months I've had plenty of time to think about it, and have revised it down considerably. I'll not going to go into details for fear of being considered insane, but suffice to say I've come to enjoy some aspects of the lockdown, and a happy retirement is likely to cost me a lot less than I originally thought. So much so, that if the current crisis does result in my redundancy (the company have already announced plans to dismiss 10% of the workforce), I'm severely tempted to make it 'official' retirement.

I had a chat with a financial advisor last week, and he made a couple of small tweaks to my pension, but other than that, everything looks okay. I'd have enough in savings to keep me going for a few years, and a small pension with the PPF that would help out too. As things stand, I wouldn't expect to touch my main pension for at least 7 or 8 years, by which time it will hopefully be in a much healthier state. Numbers wise I think I could manage on the existing pension figure if need be, so with the amount I'll hopefully have in a few years, I'll be living a life of comparative luxury.