What monthly figure do you need in retirement ?

kaz13

Can I ask please ? What monthly figure you need for retirement? I know this will be different for lots of people, but to have a nice retirement, which magazine says you need £40,000 per couple per year !
After the state pension and our small private pensions, we would still have to find a lot of money to have this amount. When we do retire.
I find as I get older, I seem to spend less on everyday things, but would like to holiday more, what about everyone else.
Thank you

lessonlearned

£40k per year.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Which planet are they on.

Obviously it will depend on personal circumstances, whether the person is debt and mortgage free etc but actual NEEDS can be surprising low in retirement. So what you are Left with is WANTS and that's a whole other ball game.

The one beauty of being retired is finally having time to do all the things you wanted .......and that is priceless.

As for travel well again you will have time to shop around for the best bargains and you are not tied to peak periods so can usually get good deals.

alanq

Having just look at the Which? article it doesn't say you need £40,000 per year.

It surveyed some members and they were spending on average £26,000 per year per household. £39,000 was the figure for "A luxurious retirement, filled with new cars and exotic holidays". I would assume that Which? members are more affluent than the average member of the public.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/04/revealed-how-much-you-need-to-save-for-a-happy-retirement/

dunroving

This is a typical figure you see in US-based retirement books, and seems to be drifting over to UK financial recommendations in the media. It assumes retirees want to go on lovely cruises, have a boat, a nice car, the best e-bikes, etc., etc. It's a pipe dream, both in terms of how feasible £40k a year is, and what the typical retiree really wants.

The biggest living costs are associated with housing, so any recommendation has to be with/without rent/mortgage. I'd guesstimate £5k-£9k for rent/mortgage for those living outside of La-La Land (London/Southeast).

Ignoring housing costs, I can get along on about £15k a year [without housing costs; my mortgage is an additional £7k a year] without feeling really stretched. It was a real eye-opener when I was doing my usual financial calculations and realised I was planning on a retirement with an income greater than my actual current living costs! I have no desire to travel the world, buy expensive toys, etc., I just want to get my hiking boots on, ride my bike, and on occasional do mini-trips within the UK and Europe.

My current projections are to retire early (in the next 4-16 months) with an occupational pension of about £13k and very healthy amount saved, to tide me over until my UK state pension kicks in 5 years later, at which point I will have a combined income above £20k. For my lifestyle, I think that will easily be enough.

[However ... I also think it is critical to have an emergency fund for house repairs and other one-off expenses that crop up]

p00hsticks

there's a massive and long running thread over on the Pensions board that discusses 'the number'

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

I don't see how Which or anyone else can quote a single 'one size fits all' value as the figure for individuals will generally be related to the standard of living they have had over their working lives.

Savvy_Sue

Heck, 40k is more than many of us live on prior to retirement!

jfdi

We've got about £20k pa between us, ( 1x RP, 2 x Work Pensions. 7+ yrs to 2nd RP) plus a substantial savings pot we draw on for the big spends - blow out hol, new car etc.

We're still saving £400 pcm and living a very good life, gardening, trips out, gym, hobbies, run 2 cars etc

newatc

Our annual retirement income is just over 30K and we live a very comfortable retirement with several holidays a year although in fairness when we have a particularly expensive holiday (several weeks in Australia for example) we have to dip in to capital.
I think the key is, as may have been said already, is finding the retirement life that you would be happy with at the cost you can afford. Everyone's priorities of daily lfe, inheritance, allowing for care costs and son on will be different.
In many ways budgeting (without getting paranoid about it) is more important in retirement (because future income options will be less) than at other times.

ibizafan_2

When our state pensions kick in (I am still working part time so deferring mine) our gross income will be around £43,000 from pensions alone. I consider us to be very fortunate indeed, and we are using the opportunity to do a fair bit of long haul travelling including cruises to far flung places. On the other hand, we both run cars over seven years old and are not interested in acquiring "stuff". Other people will not be at all interested in travelling and have other priorities. Like the previous poster, we still have to dip into savings to fund some of it. I have a son in Australia and soon to be two grandchildren, and I really want to be able to see them most years. None of us know what's around the corner, and that's what drives us.

Mnd

We are aiming for 2k a month, we will also have savings available for holidays etc and for big ticket items like a new car or kitchen we will be using equity release

Wizard_of_Id

£250/month pays all my bills and buys food for the month as well.