Early Retirement - (nearly) one year on

MallyGirl

we are the same - large detached Victorian house which has astronomical heating bills even though the less used rooms are only frost protected. Council tax is £290 pcm split over 12 months. We won't immediately downsize but it will definitely happen at some point.

Clive_Woody

Thank you for sharing, it is really helpful to hear a genuine "how's it working out for you" account from a retiree.

I suspect, like you, that by the time I hit 60 I will be more than ready to call it a day. I still have 17 years to go, so plenty of time for planning and saving but it really does help to see some actual figures and understand how you got to these.

Enjoy your retirement

swindiff

12 years til 60 for me and without wanting to wish my life away, cant wait lol

shinytop

Really useful stuff, especially around the expected levels of spending. I'm very fortunate in that I have have a good DB pension from 60 (2 years time) and the DC is to fund the time before that and top-ups before SP. OH took her DB at 55. I'll be jacking in work some time this year, exact date to be decided.

When I was younger I used to dream what it would be like to win the lottery and never have to work again. I'm beginning to feel a bit like that's becoming reality now. 20 years later that I'd have liked but you can't have everything!

barnstar2077

OldMusicGuy, I am definitely a proponent of giving your offspring a helping hand early on. I benefited from a small inheritance of 9k my grandfather left for me to have when I reached 25. It was exactly the right age as a few years earlier I would probably have wasted it. As it was I paid it straight off of the mortgage I had only just taken out and gave myself some much needed breathing room. If I had inherited it in my forties or later I would have felt like the race was already run. Obviously it is great to receive free money at any time, but giving your kids a lump sum towards a house early on will provide them with a much improved quality of life for the rest of their life. Then make it clear that is all they are getting and enjoy your retirement, you have earned it!! :rotfl::T

tempus_fugit

Our annual spend is £24k and that includes holidays - we have a couple of holidays abroad each year plus shorter breaks in the UK. We have a car on PCP, Sky TV and a four-bedroomed house (all paid up). We could spend more of course, but as long as we are enjoying ourselves (which we are), the above is keeping us going fine and I want to keep it reasonably tight to make sure we will make it to when we start getting regular pension payouts. We are about 2.5 years in now and we have been able to keep to the plan so far. :-)

k6chris

swindiff wrote: »

We have no pets and live in a modest 3 storey townhouse, so I guess our general living expenses will be considerably lower. This is what I have come up with, don't think I have missed anything out.


Car Lease £300.00
Council tax £135.00
Gas & Electric £91.00
Sky TV £64.00
Water Rates £30.00
Fuel £60.00
Mobile Phones £60.00
Home Insurance £20.00
Car Insurance £25.00
TV License £12.00
Food £300.00
Holidays £500.00
Property Maintenance £200.00
Fun Money £1,000.00
Gym membership £60.00

£2,857.00
£34,284.00

Interesting, completely different categories and almost exactly the same total - as meansured over 24 months of very detailed recording of all of our spending.

Bravepants

OK, here's mine and my partner's spend profile! We are DINKies, with no mortgage, in a good sized victorian terrace. We run one car between us, and I have a "modern classic", the below does not include pocket money, but is meant to represent the absolute minimum we spend to exist and have a reasonable life. The £50 per month of fuel for the car is just a basic amount and we top up if each of us use it more. We've stuck to this budget for a good few years now.


We also pop £50 a month each into a separate account for hols, and I also budget myself about £430 per month (£100 per week) spending money. I have no idea what my partner spends pocket money wise, but it's a pittance! The rest of our cash goes into savings, whcih includes pensions, ISA, emergency fund, etc.





Food & Household £420


Council Tax £108

Cleaner £87

Energy (Gas & Elec) £106

Mazda Fuel £50

Water £35

Mazda Maintenance £33

Phone and Broadband £35

Mazda Road Tax £20

Mazda Insurance £16

The AA £12

TV Licence £12

Coal £12

House Insurance £12

Sky £10

Mobile 4G £10

Window Cleaner £9

Heating Servicing £3

NowTV - TV £8

Mozy Backup £8

Chimney Sweep £4

Total £1008

tacpot12

Very interesting post OldMusicGuy.

I'm in a similar position, although a few years younger. I wanted to stop working in my high-pressured job; I have taken up sailing as a hobby and started volunteering a couple of days a week in a role that has a bit of pressure, but also allows me to help someone in a significant way every 15 minutes or so.

It has also freed me up to support my aged parents as and when they need me.

dwsjarcmcd

Great post. We are at the start of the retirement journey (me in November at 57, OH in December at 52) and used last year to do work on our house and pay a couple of holidays - just back from one, with a big(ish) one in March.

We appear to be an amalgam of everyone else’s situation. We have a large house (no mortgage) but don’t want to downsize unless we really need to as we love where we live. Our cars are fairly new so won’t need changed for a while. We don’t owe anything on these and my mileage has dropped from 2k per month to under 500! We have a pretty active social life and, of course that adds to the cost!

I’ve helped my daughter with her house deposit and updating her kitchen, so she’s now financially independent although I’ll always be there for her!

We too are changing from accumulating savings to withdrawing them. We will live off our savings until my DB pension kicks in a 60. My wife has a DB scheme which she will take at 60. I have a small DC and reasonable SIPP which I will also take at 60, although I probably won’t take tax-free cash from the SIPP to boost our income. I haven’t include SP in my calculations although we both are fully paid up.

I’m really comfortable with the mix of guaranteed income for later on combined with our savings/SIPP/DC for increased spending in our initial retirement years. If need be, one or both of us could work part-time (which may happen anyway)