Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

westv

rebuswad said:

To be fair although it's an extensive study it's still based on people's guesses, and there can be huge variances in circumstances as well as perceptions . Personally I only felt confident having tracked my own expenses for a few years which is an effort, but the confidence is invaluable. 

Guesss? The figures are based on actual spending. How those figures might relate to another individual is another matter though.

Stubod

..one persons basic is another persons luxury! I guess it depends on your starting point and expectations. As above we have been tracking our spending for as long as excel has been available. I would say we are in the "comfortable" category and for the last 10 years our average spending has remained fairly constant at £24k with the mortgage paid off.

Also as above, we lost parents a few years ago who had been extremely frugal (to the extreme) all their lives and even managed to save while being on the state pension. They never earned that much, but they had inherited a pot of money from their parents which they never really touched despite us telling them to spend it and enjoy it. (They kept saying they were saving it for a rainy day, and we kept telling them "it's pouring"). Ironically we also feel guilty about spending it so we put it into premium bonds and spend any "winnings".

Bravepants

westv said:

From what I remember, those figures aren't guessed but are based on a survey of several thousand people. Might have been a Which? survey I think.

There was a survey done recently which quoted a person as needing to spend £1500 on clothes each year! I don't think I actually own £1500 of clothes never mind spend it each year!

garmeg

Bravepants said:

westv said:

From what I remember, those figures aren't guessed but are based on a survey of several thousand people. Might have been a Which? survey I think.

There was a survey done recently which quoted a person as needing to spend £1500 on clothes each year! I don't think I actually own £1500 of clothes never mind spend it each year!

I certainly don't spend £125 a month on clothes. In a year, I perhaps might spend £100!

rebuswad

westv said:

rebuswad said:

To be fair although it's an extensive study it's still based on people's guesses, and there can be huge variances in circumstances as well as perceptions . Personally I only felt confident having tracked my own expenses for a few years which is an effort, but the confidence is invaluable. 

Guesss? The figures are based on actual spending. How those figures might relate to another individual is another matter though.

You are correct, I was wrong, the study was based on what the respondents said their actual spend was, although I've not seen the details how each person measured this so don't know how subjective it was (the statistician in me is always suspicious ).

ifonlyian

ifonlyian said:
 ideally comfortable+ if everything works out:-

Basic £26pa
Comfortable £40pa
Luxury £60pa

it could well of been the which https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/starting-to-plan-your-retirement/how-much-will-you-need-to-retire-atu0z9k0lw3p that i first looked at, but that looks slightly different as it has
Basic £17k pa
Comfortable £25k pa
Luxury £40k pa
That said i am still aiming for the £40k pa + this will include SP when we are old enough as we will both have full entitlements.
if i needed a number today it would be £50k pa but we are in an expensive period of our lives and this will defiantly change once the children finish uni, but there will be other expenses as we want to travel more when we have more time.
The above was more to focus the mind on making sure we are looking after our pensions have opened S&S ISA's this year as we are starting to plan ahead more seriously.
In the past, i was too happy to go with the flow of what previous employers Pension advisors invested my pension money, tbf i have an Aegon Pension which has grown really well, but other pensions ended up in default funds with low to average growth, not higher risk and reward that they should have been in whilst i was younger.
As for my OH, she has the NHS1995 & 2015 pensions, so these will continue to grow accordingly & will be a constant in our future plans whilst we can be more adventurous with my SIPP's & our S&S ISA's 

westv

rebuswad said:

westv said:

rebuswad said:

To be fair although it's an extensive study it's still based on people's guesses, and there can be huge variances in circumstances as well as perceptions . Personally I only felt confident having tracked my own expenses for a few years which is an effort, but the confidence is invaluable. 

Guesss? The figures are based on actual spending. How those figures might relate to another individual is another matter though.

You are correct, I was wrong, the study was based on what the respondents said their actual spend was, although I've not seen the details how each person measured this so don't know how subjective it was (the statistician in me is always suspicious ).

A full breakdown of all the items is in there somewhere. 

westv

Latest on the inheritance is that it will be very roughly £80k or so between me and my two brothers.
There's also a house but that is a bit more complicated as one brother already lives there and is unlikely to want to move any time soon nor would he be able to get a mortgage.

atush

garmeg said:

There was a survey done recently which quoted a person as needing to spend £1500 on clothes each year! I don't think I actually own £1500 of clothes never mind spend it each year!

I certainly don't spend £125 a month on clothes. In a year, I perhaps might spend £100!

$100 a year is as surprising to me, as is 1500 per year.  The truth for most mush be somewhere in betweem=n.

For me, the older i get, the less i buy.  But i had to up spending these last months as i am down a size so had to buy new trousers. 3 for summer, 2 for winter in the new smaller size.

garmeg

atush said:

garmeg said:

There was a survey done recently which quoted a person as needing to spend £1500 on clothes each year! I don't think I actually own £1500 of clothes never mind spend it each year!

I certainly don't spend £125 a month on clothes. In a year, I perhaps might spend £100!

$100 a year is as surprising to me, as is 1500 per year.  The truth for most mush be somewhere in betweem=n.

For me, the older i get, the less i buy.  But i had to up spending these last months as i am down a size so had to buy new trousers. 3 for summer, 2 for winter in the new smaller size.

It might be £200 pa if I include shoes.