The cost of living

Well_excuse_me.

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Assuming that "reserve" isn't contributing to the income, that sounds incredibly unrealistic to me.

In what way?
We live now on under £20k.
Bills are £6k on a three bed detached.

Maybe you live better than us?

saver861

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Assuming that "reserve" isn't contributing to the income, that sounds incredibly unrealistic to me.

Unless I'm misreading your point I'm bemused at why you think £20k is not enough for a couple to live on? I think it would be cutting it fine but certainly not incredibly unrealistic?

westv

I'm sure I read somewhere that the minimum annual income for the basic living is about £13k pa for a couple.

Well_excuse_me.

saver861 wrote: »

Unless I'm misreading your point I'm bemused at why you think £20k is not enough for a couple to live on? I think it would be cutting it fine but certainly not incredibly unrealistic?

I re-assess our spending on a financial year basis, so I just did it, £18k to £19k.
Petrol/gas/leccy/food are all trending down, as are house and vehicle insurances.
As previously posted, we dont take foreign holidays, preferring the UK.

atush

20K is unrealistic for us in our current home. Very.

Large, expensive to run. Hope to downsize in future as wont be needing a 5 bed 4 bath home with 3 receptions/acres?

saver861

Well_excuse_me. wrote: »

I re-assess our spending on a financial year basis, so I just did it, £18k to £19k.
Petrol/gas/leccy/food are all trending down, as are house and vehicle insurances.
As previously posted, we dont take foreign holidays, preferring the UK.

We have around £20k for similar - all running costs but does not include car depreciation, foreign hols, big ticket items or significant house repairs. There is no mortgage of course.

If needed, we could trim that £20k down further, so certainly £20k should cater for most couples. If you were living in the middle of Kensington or Chelsea then may it might be a touch more.

margaretclare

You're planning to retire to a mortgage-free house in Cornwall. OK. There are a couple of other things to think about:

1. Will this house be always suitable for you as time goes on? When you're newly-retired, still fit and able, it's one thing. It's also easier to think what your future needs might be, when you're still active enough to make home improvements yourself, rather than later when you may need to get someone in to do it for you.

Think particularly about; stairs, bathroom, kitchen, garden, ease of use, ease of maintenance.

We're in our 9th decade and we've done all those things, starting with this 1930s 2-bed bungalow (except for stairs, obviously). Final thing is another upgrade to the bathroom making it into a wet room - starts next Monday!

2. The other thing is: you both have incomes and own pensions. Fine. Just like us. But there may not always be two of you.

We don't do 2 foreign holidays a year - one is plenty (a drive across northern Europe is planned for June). But we do like long weekends/short breaks away. These can be as costly as anything else. We've just got back from the west Highlands and islands, and it would have been cheaper to go to Benidorm. Except that we didn't want to go to Benidorm!

Goldiegirl

atush wrote: »

20K is unrealistic for us in our current home. Very.

Large, expensive to run. Hope to downsize in future as wont be needing a 5 bed 4 bath home with 3 receptions/acres?

If a person has been a high earner in their lifetime with a large house, I don't think anybody would say that person would be comfortable on an income of £20k in retirement.

Equally, a person who has always lived in a 2 up 2 down and never even earned £20k pa during their working life, isn't going to need a king's ransom to fund their retirement.

Ganga

20K is unrealistic for us in our current home. Very.

Large, expensive to run. Hope to downsize in future as wont be needing a 5 bed 4 bath home with 3 receptions/acres?

But will you be happy in a smaller house atush,will you get a smaller house that you would like to live in for ever in the area that you live in now and think what you could have done with the money if you had done it sooner!
I know there is more to life than foreign holidays,fast cars etc but you can not take the money with you and can you imagine what it must be like to work all your life to find that at the time you should be enjoying the fruits of your labour something comes allong ( and i hope it does not ) to make you regret it

fatbeetle

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Assuming that "reserve" isn't contributing to the income, that sounds incredibly unrealistic to me.

Why would you have a reserve that isn't generating some form of interest?