Affording retirement

susiejq

Hubby and I have 18 months now tilll we retire and we estimate our income, before tax, will be in the region of £24,000 a year.
We have been wondering if that's enough, although we can't do much about it if it isn't.
We will have a mortgage but should have enough in savings to cover the monthly payments (or pay it off if we have to) but the interest rate is much less than what we got on our savings so not in any rush to pay it off.
We want to run our car (cheap tax and very economical) as well as our motor home so we can travel.
We live in a band C property and have fairly average bills for utilities.
We have life insurance and a small dog who we insure. We also have a small boat that we sail locally.
Does anyone have any idea as to whether our income will be enough or have any first hand experience of retiring on that amount of income. I'm very frugal where I can be which is why we can retire at all. Any comments very welcome.:beer:

HappyMJ

susiejq wrote: »

Hubby and I have 18 months now tilll we retire and we estimate our income, before tax, will be in the region of £24,000 a year.
We have been wondering if that's enough, although we can't do much about it if it isn't.
We will have a mortgage but should have enough in savings to cover the monthly payments (or pay it off if we have to) but the interest rate is much less than what we got on our savings so not in any rush to pay it off.
We want to run our car (cheap tax and very economical) as well as our motor home so we can travel.
We live in a band C property and have fairly average bills for utilities.
We have life insurance and a small dog who we insure. We also have a small boat that we sail locally.
Does anyone have any idea as to whether our income will be enough or have any first hand experience of retiring on that amount of income. I'm very frugal where I can be which is why we can retire at all. Any comments very welcome.:beer:

If you are as frugal as you say you are then it will be plenty.

How much did you take home each month when you were working after tax, NI, pension contribution, what were the costs of getting to/from work and how much was your mortgage payment which I assume is now paid off and an expense no longer required?

missile

Not wishing to state the obvious, but if you have no alternative source of income, it will (have to) be enough.

I would suggest you make out a spread sheet and total up your projected expenditure vs your income.

Is your £24K fixed or inflation linked? With CPI projected to continue rising it will buy you less each year. You might be wise to reduce you spending now to eek out your savings to cover future years.

susiejq

My take home pay is £2,200 per month and my husband takes home about £1,000 We also have rental income of £1,000 per month, which we have to pay 20% tax on.

We will have around £57,000 in savings which will be enough to cover our mortage, or what our mortgage should be at the time we retire. This should be August 2014. However, I want to keep this money so we can get the interest on it.
We currently give our daughter money every week to live on at Uni as, not surprisingly, she doesn't get a grant. So we need to ensure that we have enough money put aside to do that as she will still have a year left to do when we pack up work.

My costs travelling to and from work are very little as I work close to home.
I think I'm just wondering if we can manage on less than half of what we have now.
Thanks

[Deleted User]

You could do a trial run, month by month and that will give you a pretty good idea

John_Pierpoint

Many pensioners are able to take a tax free lump sum.

Unfortunately for the first time in their lives they think they are rich.
Some gets blown on a cruise.
Some on a brand new car.
Some making the family home into the "palace" that those teenagers never allowed it to be.
Some things like a new central heating boiler and panels on the roof might be an investment - a fancy kitchen & bathroom is simply consumer expenditure.

Most can have no concept of how life and money might pan out in the next 25 years.

[In the situation you describe the only thing I would have considered doing differently would have been to consider housing daughter at uni rather than paying tax on income from the tenant. Daughter could sub let under the rent-a-room tax allowance to create a win win situation. Obviously only you can know the maturity, reliability and commitment of you child.]

Newly_retired

Bus pass will enable you to get out and about cheaply.
Many reductions at museums etc. See other threads.
You won't need so many clothes when not working.
Main costs will be utilities. I'm sure you will be price checking those using comparison sites.
Daughter at uni may have to find work or take a loan.
You could rent out a room or car parking space for extra income.

chesky

What does your daughter expect to do after uni? Is she planning on returning to the bosom of her family - if so, then you will either have to charge her rent or gently explain it's time she moved on.

chesky

Will you have occupational pensions; are you counting the state pension? Are you both the same age?

susiejq

Thanks for all the ideas, very welcome.
My husband is 6 yrs older than me and will get his state pension this May plus a very tiny private pension. Total about £6,500 pa
I will be 60 in 2014 and get my occupational pension of just over £5,000 plus a private pension of just over £3,000. Totals about £15,000 between us. Then we have the rental income which nets about £11,000 less expenses like gas checks, insurance etc.
On top of that we will get about £1,500 in tax free interest from our ISAS. We will have to pay some tax. i won't get my state pension for a further 6 years.
Still I think that the ideas you have suggested are very much what I have been thinking; trial run living on projected retirement income, save as much as possible in the next 18 months, look for other ways to increase income.
Thanks to you all:beer:

zygurat789

Lots of information here


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2146737