Regret retiring too early with not enough money?

kidmugsy

atush wrote: »

3-5 days is good to me.

Our experience has been that a good length of holiday is 5 days; another good length is 3 weeks. The classical fortnight has not on the whole suited us.

greenglide

various European rivers

Returned from a cruise seeing Christmas Markets at the weekend. Brilliant trip, much enjoyed. Really is a shame about the events of yesterday.

Clearly some people who do retire early will end up with less income than anticipated and others will have more. Logically the smaller the income level the more significant any shortfall would be. To my way of thinking a total income stream of £11k has no scope for any mistakes while a stream of £50k must have loads of fat. I cannot even imagine what to spend that amount on. Equally I struggle to see how people commit themselves to an income of £11k.

Everyone to their own!

robin61

jennyjj wrote: »

Getaway LOL. Well if you have substantial pensions and savings, that's what puts you in that top 1%, so seems a bit circular.

I don't quite agree with your 'Pretty much no-one': I think many CAN afford to retire before SPA with only moderate pensions and savings. My finger in the air numbers for being able to retire at about 60 would be house paid and maybe £250K near cash.

Anyway, here is what the man on t'internet says about top percentiles of UK wealth:-

The net worth information is based on data from HMRC for 2004–2005 (Rather out of date) and includes marketable assets including house equity, cash, shares, bonds and investment trusts.
Top
1% £688,228 21% of total UK wealth
2% £460,179 28% of total UK wealth

I believe more up to date figures put net wealth of over £1.2m to be in the 1% club

Your post made me curious. I found this.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/ons-chart-on-wealth-inequality-in-britain-2015-12

I think that maybe the increase in property values have increased the figure over the last few years according to this £2.8m. Quite a lot !

fatbeetle

Interesting thread.

I plan to retire in Feb 2018 at age 59, taking my super as a lump sum to see us through until my wife hits 59 (5 yrs after me.) When my wife hits 59 her super kicks in and pays out a very good pension. I will receive the state pension at age 66, and also have a small (beer money() NHS pension I can take when needed.

So financially we should be fine. We own a cottage in deepest Cornwall, and will retire there.

Never ever fancied doing a cruise, and have lived in Aus for the past 14 years, so I'll count that as my travelling. The wife is an Aussie, so we'll tour the UK and the EU , probably in a campervan, so as for her to see the country and region.

In terms of doing things when retired, our hobbies* are all well catered for though we may invest in new gear when we retire.

While waiting for the next year and a bit to pass we're investing in ourselves, hitting the gym 4-5 times a week, walking for an hour each day, our 2 dogs are getting well fit.

*walking / landscape photography / cooking / gardening / rock climbing / paragliding / visiting friends / making music/ gym

Xbigman

My roof should last 60+ years, so taking me to SPA when I'll be rich. However I've been observing the roof's around my mid terrace. The end terrace properties have lost a few roof tiles over the last few winters and some of the fascia's have been done. I'm allowing for a complete replacement but in reality its likely to be spent on a number of ongoing minor repairs that could quickly add up.

As for income, well I live alone, don't drink, don't smoke and ride a pushbike. I need an awful lot less than many others.




Darren

marlot

atush wrote: »

Pretty much no one (apart from lottery winners and the top 1 %) can retire before SPA. Unless they have substantial pensions and savings.

And the 'substantial pensions and savings' is what the prudent have been accumulating.

I don't do the lottery, and I'm not in the top 1%, but I did:

• Overpay my mortgage (whilst all around me were having exotic holidays)
• Invest all my bonuses (when I had them) into my pension
• Lead a relatively frugal lifestyle (eg. make my own lunches)
• Once I cleared the mortgage, I put more than 50% of my gross pay into pension

As a result, I have something far more valuable (to me, at least) - choices. At 53 I can choose whether to work another year, or whether to make 2017 the year I retire. My work stress has never been lower.

fatbeetle

Pretty much no one (apart from lottery winners and the top 1 %) can retire before SPA. Unless they have substantial pensions and savings.
Originally posted by atush

Pretty much everyone I know is going before SPA, the only ones who aren't are not retiring through choice. The average age that my friends are retiring at is around 58-62 yrs.

moneyistooshorttomention

atush wrote: »

Pretty much no one (apart from lottery winners and the top 1 %) can retire before SPA. Unless they have substantial pensions and savings.

I did - and I'm most certainly not anywhere remotely near being a lottery winner (still live in hopes:rotfl:) or the top 1%.

I managed it right at retirement age (ie 60) - despite having had a revised State Pension Age of some while after that imposed on me. I've always been poorly-paid and I'm single (ie all those extra expenses!).

Though I'm still annoyed at how much pension I lost in between 60 and that revised SPA - and it wasn't my idea of funny having to manage on work pension only until then. I managed it - though that was with having to take a bit of my savings out to "subsidise" that work pension.:mad:

Though I can appreciate that the longer the gap between "retirement age" and "revised State Pension Age" then the more difficult it would be to manage during that gap. I can also see that it would be very difficult/maybe impossible to retire at "retirement age" if none of the pension was due to start then. I couldn't have gone at 60 (as per plan from birth) if my work retirement age had been older than my own personal retirement age iyswim. Thankfully - it was still the same as my own at that point.

Yorkshirebornandbred

It will be interesting to see how many people retire early once defined benefit pensions are a thing of the past. There is a direct clash between today's consumer spending culture and the sacrifices required to build a pension pot large enough for early retirement.

moneyistooshorttomention

kidmugsy wrote: »

A Victorian roof might well last 100 years, but you wouldn't expect a 1970s roof to. What was the design life in the 70s? 40 years perhaps?

I've got a 1970s house too. I saw reference on another thread subsequently that their house has concrete tiles roof - as has mine in fact. I don't expect the roof to need replacing during my lifetime (an estimated 20 years to go). I must admit that could be a problem if it did start needing it - particularly if that happened whilst I'm paying off the loan I'm having to take out to do my new kitchen.

I know I do need a new kitchen and, being a keen cook (from scratch) then that is vital - so I'm going ahead now anyway.

So - will just have to keep fingers crossed that the roof on this house was designed to last at least 70 years.