Pensions Planning: The NUMBER

Definite

Flip - Gobsmacked at how cheaply people live on here, although we still have teenagers at home, so perhaps things will be cheaper after they are done with school and uni. IRO retirement, where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

DairyQueen

Definite said:

Flip - Gobsmacked at how cheaply people live on here, although we still have teenagers at home, so perhaps things will be cheaper after they are done with school and uni. IRO retirement, where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

My (step) kids are now grown and independent but we couldn't come close to living as cheaply as some posters. Just goes to show how different lifestyles/priorities/tastes/hobbies can make a big difference to the bottom line.

As for holidays....

The cost is as variable as every other aspect of retirement living. If you are a cruise type then £4.5kp.a. won't go far. If, OTOH, you own a caravan/camper then you could probably spend several months on hols for £4.5k.

Amateurretiree

Definite said:

Flip - Gobsmacked at how cheaply people live on here, although we still have teenagers at home, so perhaps things will be cheaper after they are done with school and uni. IRO retirement, where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

So we can live on £1000 a month for bills and food quite easily, but we like to go to Florida a couple of times a year and will spend £7000 each time. In 2018 we went to New York twice and Florida once. Last year we would have had three separate trips, New York, Florida, Canada.( obviously all cancelled)
We are happy spending 12-15000 a year on holidays while we are young and fit enough to be able to, hopefully again soon.

westv

For holidays we normally go away abroad twice a year for 2 weeks and 1 week.  Costing around £6k roughly.

Gin_and_Milk

Definite said:

 where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

Don't forget that once 'annual leave' ceases to be an issue, there is the possibility of last minute deals which could save you a fortune.  I get emails about cheap flights on a regular basis, and the prices are incredible, you can also get some great last minute package holidays too providing you're not fussy about where you go.  Unfortunately for me, annual leave is still very much an issue, so I don't really get chance to take advantage!

cfw1994

Gin_and_Milk said:

Definite said:

 where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

Don't forget that once 'annual leave' ceases to be an issue, there is the possibility of last minute deals which could save you a fortune.  I get emails about cheap flights on a regular basis, and the prices are incredible, you can also get some great last minute package holidays too providing you're not fussy about where you go.  Unfortunately for me, annual leave is still very much an issue, so I don't really get chance to take advantage!

I'm looking forward to that, especially for skiing!
As a family, we've rarely spent more than £3k on a holiday - one blow-out entire month in the US 6 years back we spent about £10k, truly the trip of a lifetime with the kids (whilst they were kids!), but many holidays include camping, which is always cheaper, & we enjoy it!

MallyGirl

Most family holidays were UK - Lake District, Devon, Derbyshire Dales type with a cottage. We did do city breaks to New York/Amsterdam/Barcelona plus a couple of US road trips once daughter was older. Last year would have been the last big family holiday before uni and that was a £12k safari. A couple of years ago we did a trip of a lifetime to Vancouver Island to see bears (and whales and sea otters...) - it was £15k for the 2 of us and I would do that again in heartbeat but for longer next time as no school constraints any more. We also camp/camper van for not a lot of cost. We won't retire until we can afford to do more of the sort of travelling we enjoy.

eastcorkram

Definite said:

Flip - Gobsmacked at how cheaply people live on here, although we still have teenagers at home, so perhaps things will be cheaper after they are done with school and uni. IRO retirement, where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

That's a classic example of where everyone is different and will have individual needs/wants .
My holiday budget in retirement will be zero. 

Ganga

Definite said:

Flip - Gobsmacked at how cheaply people live on here, although we still have teenagers at home, so perhaps things will be cheaper after they are done with school and uni. IRO retirement, where you guys budget eg £4,500 for holidays per year, is that enough to have regular good holidays in your experience? My plan, all being well, would be that we take 4 or 5 holidays a year when we retire, but perhaps I am living in cloud cuckoo land. 

It works both ways ,there are people on here who are planning on spending £35k a year ,thats  nearly £3000 a month but thats probably when everything is open as it the moment there is very little to spend your money on unless it is food. 

michaels

I know those in retirement don't need the planet to last for that many more years but would appreciate if they at least consciously considered the environmental impact of their travel plans and decided whether screwing things up for future generations was really fair.