How much is enough?

doshunta

saver861 wrote: »

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right but £170 per week or £8840 per year to run the house for four adults for virtually everything sounds awfully low. (you mentioned you had two adult kids still living at home.)

Sorry my fault...what I call 'household weekly spending' is on food, drinks, toiletries, one car petrol and occasional cheap meal out - it doesn't touch the direct debits, standing orders for utilities etc which are all fixed at moment.

doshunta

dunroving wrote: »

I read this as meaning £12k as a minimum annual living income ...

That would make sense!...;)

Proudtitania

We are a youngish retired couple. Our joint income, after any housing costs is ~ £18500 pa. We don't have any loans to service and one credit card with small limit.

We live reasonably comfortably on that but we have an "economical lifestyle". We don't travel overseas (:o health issues) and can manage to run 2 cars, both old, but reasonably economical to run.

We have no children/grandchildren so that saves huge amounts as no birthdays/Christmas etc.

We live in the heart of the West Country so lots to do in easy travelling distance.

Moral of the tale, everyone is different, I'm sure many people on here would struggle on a decent lifestyle for this amount!

doshunta

Sounds like you know what works well for you.. quality time is everything and sounds like you've been brave enough to make that time for yourselves as early as possible.

To clarify our calcs for retirement budget planning further, here is how my planned figure compare with an analysis to find the ave breakdown from of 15 working retirement budgets.

US 'number'
9120 4500 Hols (rental, flights etc.)
3702 6300 monthly bills ex shopping
2400 2500 car fund
7800 3500 shopping
3144 2000 misc other spends
1800 1000 replacement/maintenance
27966 19800 Totals (need to test these)

So our monthly bills will drop as our rental includes utility charges, but we have to fund the rental itself so this is included in the 'hols'category.

Obviously these figures are NET OF TAX...

saver861

doshunta wrote: »

Sorry my fault...what I call 'household weekly spending' is on food, drinks, toiletries, one car petrol and occasional cheap meal out - it doesn't touch the direct debits, standing orders for utilities etc which are all fixed at moment.

Ah right - thats different to how I was reading

I was trying to work out how you could do it all on £170 per week. The average Council Tax and Energy bills would would be in the region of £50 per week alone.

Shoot though cos I thought you might have had some good tips!

atush

Proudtitania wrote: »

We are a youngish retired couple. Our joint income, after any housing costs is ~ £18500 pa. We don't have any loans to service and one credit card with small limit.

We live reasonably comfortably on that but we have an "economical lifestyle". We don't travel overseas (:o health issues) and can manage to run 2 cars, both old, but reasonably economical to run.

We have no children/grandchildren so that saves huge amounts as no birthdays/Christmas etc.

We live in the heart of the West Country so lots to do in easy travelling distance.

Moral of the tale, everyone is different, I'm sure many people on here would struggle on a decent lifestyle for this amount!

Yes what is good for you would be a disaster for me.

I am American and would need to travel home at least once per year. Plus, I have 3 boys and will always have to buy them gifts, as I would any spouses or grandchildren. So right off the bat I could not live as cheaply as you even if everything else remained the same.

ttoli

dunroving wrote: »

I read this as meaning £12k as a minimum annual living income ...

Yes that is correct

dunroving

atush wrote: »

Yes what is good for you would be a disaster for me.

I am American and would need to travel home at least once per year. Plus, I have 3 boys and will always have to buy them gifts, as I would any spouses or grandchildren. So right off the bat I could not live as cheaply as you even if everything else remained the same.

How many spouses do you have? (just kidding, but I did a double-take when I first read this)

Yes, I think the original question needs two calculations: (1) How much money is needed to meet basic living costs, and (2) What discretionary activities (like travel, eating out, or even "up-market grocery shopping") do you really see as necessary to keep you happy?

The latter has greater flexibility if calculations go awry or investments don't perform - shop at Aldi instead of Waitrose, and take a less ambitious holiday.

Even gifts can be modified - reasonable relatives can recognise that granny/granddad maybe can't afford to buy lavish gifts this year, for example. After all, it's supposed to be the thought that counts).

My friends retired on much less than they were earning and their bank balance keeps going up because they hardly ever go on holiday (they didn't even renew their passports when they expired), and when they do it's a cheap B&B-er during the off-season, in places like the Lakes. He goes hiking with the dog and she is happy to tootle around doing some sightseeing.

atush

Yes, with 3 boys in their 20's I am assuming there will be the possibility of a spouse or two down the road lol. I am still on my first.

Then we come to luxury groceries. I do buy them, but try to as cheaply as possible lol. WE eat lobster fairly frequently, but it isn't expensive here. I like good meats too, but make full use of leftovers (twice this past week we had leftovers of beef stew and Paella) and I can cook from scratch (everything incl homemade pasta and gnocci) so that helps too. If I had a choice of supermarkets (and I dont have much) i'd buy from both Aldi/Lidl and Waitrose.

And when home in america I never eat out more than once per day unless I am travelling. If we retire there part of the year as planned, will be more like 2x per week. Here we eat out less than once per month, and take out it is max at 2x per month and tends to be cheap ie fish and chips or part of a chinese meal- I cook the rest at home.

You are right, there are basic costs and discretionary. Our basic costs are high right now with a huge house and oil guzzling rayburn, but will be a lot lower when we downsize.

Can't say i'd be happy with the above holiday plans- cheap B&Bs off season, sorry. I'd rather stay home . Not that I stay 5 star or anything, last time I did, it was on a super special deal, ie a 5 star luxury hotel in cannes for just over 100 quid a night. We are staying 3 star for a few nights in London for that in Feb, and for the same price. It is a combo our anniversary plus "I have to go the the US embassy" trip.

doshunta

Sounds like a similar situation to us - switching Mallorca for The States...Currently we choke down our UK lifestyle to afford our rental and hope that retirement can allow us to enjoy our time there, but we're also thinking that with home swapping we could visit some great places (including the US) without needing the 5 star hotel expense.:beer:

In retirement we can choose times out of season that can minimise flight costs. Currently my wife works part time as a school admin clerk, so we pay through the nose for flights at peak periods.