Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

Sumselkb

I don't think I can figure out my number because I am in my 40's and have always lived with my mum and have never lived on my own. I give her some of my pay and she pays all of the bills so I've no idea what my number is. 

If I had to guess I would say £6,000 a year.

coyrls

Sumselkb said:

I don't think I can figure out my number because I am in my 40's and have always lived with my mum and have never lived on my own. I give her some of my pay and she pays all of the bills so I've no idea what my number is. 

If I had to guess I would say £6,000 a year.

I would think that was a poor guess.

NI_BOBS

Sumselkb said:

I don't think I can figure out my number because I am in my 40's and have always lived with my mum and have never lived on my own. I give her some of my pay and she pays all of the bills so I've no idea what my number is. 

If I had to guess I would say £6,000 a year.

Best to make an estimate of what bills would be if you were paying everything yourself and work out yearly living costs.  Suggest including House and contents insurance, car running if applicable (tax, insurance, upkeep, fuel etc), Electric, broadband, mobile phone, rates,  TV licence, mortgage/rent, groceries, Christmas/birthday presents, heating oil/gas etc,  then pin money for everything else stopping for a coffee, meals out, hairdressers, beauticians, clothes etc.   Maybe factor in if you wish to travel. 
I probably have missed something obvious but you get the essence of it x 

drummersdale

If COVID 19 carries on for the next 12-18 months you can probably take out a large part of the pin money element....

Retireinten

crv1963 said:

Following on from the lockdown, has anyone revised their number downwards? Given how much I have left over each month through lack of going out (pub, day trips and browsing in shops) and buying essential items only I am thinking my personal spending could easily stay low.

Also Mrs CRV has decided "life is too short" so is planning moving her retirement (or at least reducing significantly her hours) from 57 to 55 and living with a lower personal spending sum. 

Has anyone elses plans been revised? 

We have spent more on food but have saved everywhere else (holidays, events, takeaways, eating out, food, school trips, fuel, clothes).  We have received back around £3k in various refunds and our monthly discretionary spend is much much lower than normal and that's with our increased food and DIY spend.

I've not revised our figure down,  but the last couple of months has certainly made us re evaluate how we will spend in the future, so I think there will definitely be scope to do this if we need to. There will be fewer expensive holidays and weekends away (cost v enjoyment doesn't quite stack up for us) and we won't book as many theatre trips and concerts as we were doing (our spend here really was getting out of hand - £1,700 of that £3k refund figure was from cancelled events... just the cancelled ones, not the ones that have been rescheduled😳). Eating out is not something we do often anyway. We will also do a bit more of our own DIY. We've got used to 'getting the man in' but there are jobs we can tackle that will save us £££'s, which gets us closer to retirement. 

Sumselkb

NI_BOBS said:

Sumselkb said:

I don't think I can figure out my number because I am in my 40's and have always lived with my mum and have never lived on my own. I give her some of my pay and she pays all of the bills so I've no idea what my number is. 

If I had to guess I would say £6,000 a year.

Best to make an estimate of what bills would be if you were paying everything yourself and work out yearly living costs.  Suggest including House and contents insurance, car running if applicable (tax, insurance, upkeep, fuel etc), Electric, broadband, mobile phone, rates,  TV licence, mortgage/rent, groceries, Christmas/birthday presents, heating oil/gas etc,  then pin money for everything else stopping for a coffee, meals out, hairdressers, beauticians, clothes etc.   Maybe factor in if you wish to travel. 
I probably have missed something obvious but you get the essence of it x 

Hopefully my mum will live a long and happy life and she's only in her 60's so living on my own isn't something I have to worry about right now. But it would still be good to know how much my living costs are and to try and plan how much to save into my workplace pension.

Here's a rough estimate:
House and contents insurance - no idea, I would have to shop around
Car - I don't own a car. It's a 10 minute walk to my work so I don't need a car.
Gas/Electricity/Gas Service - I have a smart meter and if I was living alone I think I would spend around £100 a month.
Mobile Phone - I have never owned a mobile phone and don't want one.
Mortgage/Rent - My mum has paid off the mortgage and has said she will leave me the house so I wont have mortgage/rent.
Groceries - I've no idea as my mum does all of the shopping but I would guess I would spend about £200 a month.
Council Tax/Water/Sewerage - It's around £1,150.00 for 2020/21
Housing Associations costs - £30 per month. £50 per month for a year if they paint the close or if there are extra charges.
Virgin Media (broadband/phone/tv package) - I think my mum pays around £80 per month at the moment but we have two boxes. I assume if I got rid of a box it would be cheaper? Also I could choose a cheaper package? I watch mostly netflix or amazon prime and play video games.
TV license - £157.50 a year
Gym Membership - £25 per month
Netflix/Amazon Prime - £16.98 per month
Hairdressers - I cut my own hair
Christmas/Birthday presents - I wouldn't buy any as I would live on my own and have no other family.
PIN money - what is this? I have never heard of this. What does it stand for?
Travel - I don't like to travel. I get travel sick and hate warm weather.

That's all I can think of the now. Is there something obvious that I am missing? I like to buy 2 or 3 video games every year. Would that come under PIN? Also clothes and trainers, that would come under PIN?

Sumselkb

I am assuming I would be cheaper for the council tax if I was living alone? So that would change from £1,150.00 would change to about £862.50 a year.

coyrls

Try filling in the spreadsheet here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#bplanner

gwapenut

Is it possible you'll want to budget for a car when you retire, because you'll no longer just be walking to and from work? You may want to travel in the UK.
EDIT. To reply to your extra question, single council tax only reduces by 25%, not 50%

Sumselkb

coyrls said:

Try filling in the spreadsheet here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#bplanner

Ok I'll give it a go. Thanks.