Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

SouthCoastBoy

DairyQueen said:

Anonymous101 said:

I've opened up that can of worms on here before... Personally I think the whole system needs reforming. In my opinion there are far too many courses which offer little value but whilst University is pushed as the default path for 50% of the population chances are I'll have to factor it in for my children when they are of age.

Expect your young adult kids to cost the same as a small house (in some parts of the country) and you won't be far wrong in planning your budget...
Our 50s were our most expensive decade courtesy of financing my (much-loved) stepdaughters.

I totally agree with this, when kids went to uni the costs surprised me. The loan is totally inadequate. I am expecting to pay £20k for each child at uni. One is studying primary education, the other biomedical sciences. The teacher should hopefully be able to find a job relatively easy, not so sure about the science grad, although is at a good uni so that should help. However she may stay on to complete a Phd, if so more cost for me. I have allocated £100k for child costs and therefore removed that from the balance available for me.

cfw1994

Just on this point:

Useless degrees are out there but it's your job as a parent to discourage such a waste of your/their/the nation's resources. I despair when I hear that my neighbour has encouraged her gifted son to attend a mediocre college to take 'theatre studies' at age 16. Indulging the youngster's hobbies at this stage of his life is just crazy. The real world rarely rewards such specialism, and especially at such an early age.

This is a tricky one. 
A degree is an entry point to proving you can learn: our company insist on a 2:1 or above, and they are not always degrees relevant to the role!
The world is a very different place now to when I got my "Combined Studies" degree back in the mid-80s....
Look around at the plethora of media outlets available today: as well as traditional channels, we now have Netflix, Prime, BritBox, Apple, Instagram.....the list continues to grow, and all need people curating & creating.   I can't see that reducing.
The legal profession is not immune to mass change through use of AI over coming years.  Working from home will become far more of an option for many, and even working in the tech industry, I'm not clear which careers will be more impacted by change in the next 10 or 20 years.   
Our goal has always been for our kids to find things that they enjoy - our belief is that they will be better at it, & hopefully will find a career to go along with that.   I actually believe their generation will likely have multiple 'careers', or at least threads to it.  Who knows!

jimi_man

geoffers4 said:

geoffers4 said in September 2016:

Marine_life wrote: »

I am curious to know how a 26k (or average 23k) budget breaks down across expense categories?

Ok M_L
Units are £1,000s

---

2 Groceries
3.5 Utilities & Home Maintenance
0.1 Health
2 Transportation
0.5 Animals & children
1 Entertainment
3 Holidays
1.5 Home improvements
1 Charity & gifts
5 My Personal items
5 Wife Personal items
1 Car replacement fund
TOTAL = 25.6k

Good to see the NUMBER thread more active again - thought I would look back at the numbers I posted on here 4-and-a-half years ago to see how they compare with our actual outgoings over the last year. Still pretty accurate actually, for example: 
Groceries 1.89k
Holidays (remember them??)  2.5k
But quite an increase in unavoidable costs:
Utilities & Home Maintenance  4.18k
Has anyone else noticed similar trends over time, apart from the obvious inflation?

I must take my hat off to you for the lowest grocery spend I've ever seen on here! £1890 a year is about £36 a week, which for two people is amazing!!! Even SeaShell - one of the most frugal people on here, spends more than that. I think it was £2500 in 2017, so probably more now.

Our Sainsburys bill is between £130 and £150 a week, but we do have two adult boys living at home, who like lots of food and (at the moment as they are home all the time) drink. Also we don't like Aldi or Lidl (there aren't any close by anyway) so we use Sainsbury's. We see it dropping to about £80 a week for the two of us, since when they were both at Uni it was around £70 or so. But I couldn't get it down to £36!

michaels

jimi_man said:

geoffers4 said:

geoffers4 said in September 2016:

Marine_life wrote: »

I am curious to know how a 26k (or average 23k) budget breaks down across expense categories?

Ok M_L
Units are £1,000s

---

2 Groceries
3.5 Utilities & Home Maintenance
0.1 Health
2 Transportation
0.5 Animals & children
1 Entertainment
3 Holidays
1.5 Home improvements
1 Charity & gifts
5 My Personal items
5 Wife Personal items
1 Car replacement fund
TOTAL = 25.6k

Good to see the NUMBER thread more active again - thought I would look back at the numbers I posted on here 4-and-a-half years ago to see how they compare with our actual outgoings over the last year. Still pretty accurate actually, for example: 
Groceries 1.89k
Holidays (remember them??)  2.5k
But quite an increase in unavoidable costs:
Utilities & Home Maintenance  4.18k
Has anyone else noticed similar trends over time, apart from the obvious inflation?

I must take my hat off to you for the lowest grocery spend I've ever seen on here! £1890 a year is about £36 a week, which for two people is amazing!!! Even SeaShell - one of the most frugal people on here, spends more than that. I think it was £2500 in 2017, so probably more now.

Our Sainsburys bill is between £130 and £150 a week, but we do have two adult boys living at home, who like lots of food and (at the moment as they are home all the time) drink. Also we don't like Aldi or Lidl (there aren't any close by anyway) so we use Sainsbury's. We see it dropping to about £80 a week for the two of us, since when they were both at Uni it was around £70 or so. But I couldn't get it down to £36!

Does your bill include any alcohol as that makes a huge difference imho.  We don't really like Aldi but do shop there, it is at least much quicker and spend about £90 per week with 3 teenagers.

DairyQueen

jimi_man said:

I must take my hat off to you for the lowest grocery spend I've ever seen on here! £1890 a year is about £36 a week, which for two people is amazing!!! Even SeaShell - one of the most frugal people on here, spends more than that. I think it was £2500 in 2017, so probably more now.

Our Sainsburys bill is between £130 and £150 a week, but we do have two adult boys living at home, who like lots of food and (at the moment as they are home all the time) drink. Also we don't like Aldi or Lidl (there aren't any close by anyway) so we use Sainsbury's. We see it dropping to about £80 a week for the two of us, since when they were both at Uni it was around £70 or so. But I couldn't get it down to £36!

Groceries appear to be one of the most variable of all non-discretionary costs.

I bulk-buy high-value items like coffee and wine when they are on offer so our weekly bill can vary by £80+. On average, we spend around £100-£120 per week for a couple. All of the basics are internet-delivered by Tesco or Waitrose plus we shop locally for fresh food. We prefer to eat less, but higher-quality, meat so our butcher bill is around £20p.w.

Animal welfare plays a major part in this decision. (Mis)treating animals as a commodity in order to meet consumer demand for low prices is a modern-day scandal. I no longer eat meat that is imported and/or from animals raised in unnatural conditions so meat-based restaurant/takeaway/ready-meals are pretty much excluded from my diet. I would cut-back on other spends rather than eat the sneakily-labelled, broiler-shed-raised carcasses that pass for 'British chicken' in most supermarkets, takeaways and restaurants. Industrial-level chicken production has become a blight on the rural landscape and is morally repugnant to country-dwellers like me who are privy to these factories and their conditions. This is not 'agriculture' in any sense.

Alas, Mr DQ is less particular about the source of his takeaway curry but I'm working on it (!).

lollynerd

DairyQueen said:

jimi_man said:

I must take my hat off to you for the lowest grocery spend I've ever seen on here! £1890 a year is about £36 a week, which for two people is amazing!!! Even SeaShell - one of the most frugal people on here, spends more than that. I think it was £2500 in 2017, so probably more now.

Our Sainsburys bill is between £130 and £150 a week, but we do have two adult boys living at home, who like lots of food and (at the moment as they are home all the time) drink. Also we don't like Aldi or Lidl (there aren't any close by anyway) so we use Sainsbury's. We see it dropping to about £80 a week for the two of us, since when they were both at Uni it was around £70 or so. But I couldn't get it down to £36!

Groceries appear to be one of the most variable of all non-discretionary costs.

I bulk-buy high-value items like coffee and wine when they are on offer so our weekly bill can vary by £80+. On average, we spend around £100-£120 per week for a couple. All of the basics are internet-delivered by Tesco or Waitrose plus we shop locally for fresh food. We prefer to eat less, but higher-quality, meat so our butcher bill is around £20p.w.

Animal welfare plays a major part in this decision. (Mis)treating animals as a commodity in order to meet consumer demand for low prices is a modern-day scandal. I no longer eat meat that is imported and/or from animals raised in unnatural conditions so meat-based restaurant/takeaway/ready-meals are pretty much excluded from my diet. I would cut-back on other spends rather than eat the sneakily-labelled, broiler-shed-raised carcasses that pass for 'British chicken' in most supermarkets, takeaways and restaurants. Industrial-level chicken production has become a blight on the rural landscape and is morally repugnant to country-dwellers like me who are privy to these factories and their conditions. This is not 'agriculture' in any sense.

Alas, Mr DQ is less particular about the source of his takeaway curry but I'm working on it (!).

Hi Dairy, Have you considered becoming a veggie? It's very easy nowadays (Vegan is a bit more difficult).

DairyQueen

lollynerd said:

DairyQueen said:

jimi_man said:

I must take my hat off to you for the lowest grocery spend I've ever seen on here! £1890 a year is about £36 a week, which for two people is amazing!!! Even SeaShell - one of the most frugal people on here, spends more than that. I think it was £2500 in 2017, so probably more now.

Our Sainsburys bill is between £130 and £150 a week, but we do have two adult boys living at home, who like lots of food and (at the moment as they are home all the time) drink. Also we don't like Aldi or Lidl (there aren't any close by anyway) so we use Sainsbury's. We see it dropping to about £80 a week for the two of us, since when they were both at Uni it was around £70 or so. But I couldn't get it down to £36!

Groceries appear to be one of the most variable of all non-discretionary costs.

I bulk-buy high-value items like coffee and wine when they are on offer so our weekly bill can vary by £80+. On average, we spend around £100-£120 per week for a couple. All of the basics are internet-delivered by Tesco or Waitrose plus we shop locally for fresh food. We prefer to eat less, but higher-quality, meat so our butcher bill is around £20p.w.

Animal welfare plays a major part in this decision. (Mis)treating animals as a commodity in order to meet consumer demand for low prices is a modern-day scandal. I no longer eat meat that is imported and/or from animals raised in unnatural conditions so meat-based restaurant/takeaway/ready-meals are pretty much excluded from my diet. I would cut-back on other spends rather than eat the sneakily-labelled, broiler-shed-raised carcasses that pass for 'British chicken' in most supermarkets, takeaways and restaurants. Industrial-level chicken production has become a blight on the rural landscape and is morally repugnant to country-dwellers like me who are privy to these factories and their conditions. This is not 'agriculture' in any sense.

Alas, Mr DQ is less particular about the source of his takeaway curry but I'm working on it (!).

Hi Dairy, Have you considered becoming a veggie? It's very easy nowadays (Vegan is a bit more difficult).

Veggie isn't for me. I like meat and am very happy to include it within a well-balanced diet. My spending supports those (often multi-generation, farming families) whose excellent animal husbandry provides the quality meat/dairy available in my (very rural) area. I just object to the unsustainable commodification and ill-treatment of animals. Natural life = happy life. 

westv

lollynerd said:

DairyQueen said:

jimi_man said:

I must take my hat off to you for the lowest grocery spend I've ever seen on here! £1890 a year is about £36 a week, which for two people is amazing!!! Even SeaShell - one of the most frugal people on here, spends more than that. I think it was £2500 in 2017, so probably more now.

Our Sainsburys bill is between £130 and £150 a week, but we do have two adult boys living at home, who like lots of food and (at the moment as they are home all the time) drink. Also we don't like Aldi or Lidl (there aren't any close by anyway) so we use Sainsbury's. We see it dropping to about £80 a week for the two of us, since when they were both at Uni it was around £70 or so. But I couldn't get it down to £36!

Groceries appear to be one of the most variable of all non-discretionary costs.

I bulk-buy high-value items like coffee and wine when they are on offer so our weekly bill can vary by £80+. On average, we spend around £100-£120 per week for a couple. All of the basics are internet-delivered by Tesco or Waitrose plus we shop locally for fresh food. We prefer to eat less, but higher-quality, meat so our butcher bill is around £20p.w.

Animal welfare plays a major part in this decision. (Mis)treating animals as a commodity in order to meet consumer demand for low prices is a modern-day scandal. I no longer eat meat that is imported and/or from animals raised in unnatural conditions so meat-based restaurant/takeaway/ready-meals are pretty much excluded from my diet. I would cut-back on other spends rather than eat the sneakily-labelled, broiler-shed-raised carcasses that pass for 'British chicken' in most supermarkets, takeaways and restaurants. Industrial-level chicken production has become a blight on the rural landscape and is morally repugnant to country-dwellers like me who are privy to these factories and their conditions. This is not 'agriculture' in any sense.

Alas, Mr DQ is less particular about the source of his takeaway curry but I'm working on it (!).

Hi Dairy, Have you considered becoming a veggie? It's very easy nowadays (Vegan is a bit more difficult).

I can't imagine anybody called DairyQueen becoming a vegan. 

Sea_Shell

Someone spends less than me!!!! 😲

My "groceries" does include alcohol, cleaning products and day-to-day toiletries.😇

Just looked back...
2017, £2560
2018, £2410
2019, £2586
2020, £2666

Last year is higher, as no eating out, as that gets treated as holiday spends (we only tend to eat out when away)

SomeMadeUpName

We reckon our 'number' as a couple will be £30k at today's prices. Tax won't be much of an issue at that level (no issue at all really, as some will come from steady draw down on unwrappered savings). Holidays not much of an expense as the hope is to have 1 or 2 holiday homes which will provide 'free' holidays by being let just enough to cover there expenses. We have a lot of friends with big corporate jobs and big ideas about what they need in retirement, but we have lived pretty frugally for over a decade (without denying ourselves) and so see no reason why that should change in retirement.