How Much Pension Do You Really Need?

Samsonite1

Great comments, all helps to add some perspective to the discussion.

I forgot to mention that my partner will get a similar pension to myself as things stand, so we would have around £50k jointly. We have a JISA for our child and are looking into other investments currently. I would like to think this is enough to ensure a decent quality of life. You can never be sure, but then for all I know I could target £100k for a personal pension and somehow something goes wrong with it before I retire (quite a way off yet)...

brewerdave

Having taken early retirement I would just say, make sure you have a sizeable chunk of cash tucked away ...or increase your planned retirement income by 50% ! One thing I didn't take enuf account of, when calculating our post retirement needs, was the capital costs of maintaining the home post retirement....I allowed for redecorating,carpets ,curtains ,white goods etc but forgot about things like new bathrooms,kitchens...which will be needed if you have a long and happy retirement.:eek:

geelamch

Work friend says he has all his pension sorted for retirement in 8 months and has a "stash " of £8000 for his wifes funeral tucked aside. He's got it all sorted lol

brewerdave

geelamch wrote: »

Work friend says he has all his pension sorted for retirement in 8 months and has a "stash " of £8000 for his wifes funeral tucked aside. He's got it all sorted lol

God...that's an expensive cardboard box!!!!!:rotfl:

PasturesNew

brewerdave wrote: »

..forgot about things like new bathrooms,kitchens...which will be needed if you have a long and happy retirement.:eek:

If you retire in a brand new house then you might need to think about: 2 boilers, a bathroom, a kitchen, most of a roof, a replacement car (not new), one new set of furniture, 2 fridge/freezers, 2 washing machines, 2 TVs, 10 PCs ....

It's really "whatever you had to do aged 40-60 you have to do again at least once when 60-95"

greenglide

2 boilers, a bathroom, a kitchen, most of a roof, a replacement car (not new), one new set of furniture, 2 fridge/freezers, 2 washing machines, 2 TVs, 10 PCs ....

You replace most of your roof in the same time frame as you replace your car, your fridge and washer twice?

What do you do to wear it out?

BillJones

Samsonite1 wrote: »

Perhaps it is not easy to answer, but ideally I would like to know a range of what pension amount would be reasonably comfortable to live off with a modest lifestyle.

If you read all of that, well done!

As you say, it's not going to be a fixed percentage of salary but, on the other hand, it's probably correlated. Most people who've earned very good money will tend to have developed a lifestyle to match, and won't want to go back to a completely modest one afterwards. If you've always flown business class and stayed in the best hotels, you probably won't want to spend your retirement taking a caravan to skegness.

So, that being said...

I think that if I've no mortgage, then I'm going to want £50k per year after tax, and my wife will want the same.

Will we achieve that? I've no idea, but I'm doing everything that I can to achieve it. It may come down to having to downsize and move away from London.

Goldiegirl

I'm planning my early retirement next year.

I'll be 55, my husband will be 63.

For the first 18 months of the retirement our income will be the pensions we are currently receiving - £17500 between the two of us.

In October 2016, when my husband is 65, his other pension income will commence, so our joint income will then be around £30k. I'll get my state pension at some dim and distant point in the future. We also have savings put by.

I agree with Peaceful Waters - on this income we fully expect to run our mortgage free house, one small car, have Sky TV and go on holidays and days out.

This year, I've been doing a pre-retirement trial of living on £17500 pa, and have been managing quite easily with only a few tweaks to my previous way of living. We are not being particularly frugal - we still shop at M&S and Sainsburys!

If I was the surviving partner, I don't think I'd want the holidays by myself, so I would downsize the house and live quite modestly.

Goldiegirl

greenglide wrote: »

You replace most of your roof in the same time frame as you replace your car, your fridge and washer twice?

What do you do to wear it out?

I was thinking 10 PC's over 20 years was quite steep too.

BillJones

Snakey wrote: »

As I get older, I become less keen on economising. I'm only 42 and already I've noticed that about myself. The cost vs convenience thing is turning on its head. I don't want a hotel that's miles out of town, I don't want to "just have toast" unless I feel in the mood for toast, I don't want to spend an hour on the bus instead of a fifteen-minute train ride...

It's funny, I'm finding exactly the same happening now. I traveled standard class son the train up North recently, and weekend first on the way back, and don't feel inclined to take the standard route again.

It's the same when buying things. I've just gone back to buying Church shoes, instead of Jones, after realising that the Jones, although half the price, aren't very nice any more.