It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Sea_Shell

michaels wrote: »

Looks good. Out of interest how do you budget for car and other intermittent capital spends. We budget for depreciation each year even though it isn't actual spend.

If we included all capital spends, it would probably take the budget to nearer £20k, as this is roughly what we've spent over the last 10 years, on average, including cars, furniture and home improvements.

There is always the chance something really unexpected (expensive) will rear its head (private operation etc) but we'll cross those bridges if we come to them.

ffacoffipawb

I retired 6 months ago at 55. Took a DB pension early to mitigate LTA issues. Taking a small DC income, totalling £20k from both sources, withdrawing 3% of DC.

Another DB of £5k on line from age 60 plus £9k state pension from 67 (fully achieved this years last small accrual for full amount according to HMG).

Finding it hard to deaccumulate though. DC Pot is still growing, spent half my PCLS on new EV car and kitchen and the rest is my emergency cash fund.

geoffers4

Sea_Shell wrote: »

The breakdown for the 2019 spends looks like this…

Bills (DD) £3651
Holidays £1272
Car (1) £397
Groceries £2586
Household £1050 (includes the WM)
Health/Beauty/Fitness £878
Clothes £163
Fuel £432
Gifts £180
Fees/ISA £317
Phone £158

Congrats Sea Shell and thanks for posting this impressively frugal, informative breakdown of costs. I'm close to FI but still working full-time currently, which considerably inflates petrol and some other costs. For comparison our 2019 costs totalled £21k as follows:
Utility Bills £4300
Holidays £4100 (3 trips to Canaries)
Car £825
Groceries £2150 (thanks Aldi)
Household £1592 (includes blocking up external door + fitting window)
Health/Fitness £225
Clothes £0 (get these as gifts)
Fuel £1422
GIfts £283
Fees £60
Phone £20
other categories not mentioned by Sea Shell
Going out £500
Possessions £350
Work related £160
Dog £516 (needed op)
Wife £4200 (works part-time due to chronic condition so I pay for some bits)

Suffolk_lass

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

I retired 6 months ago at 55. Took a DB pension early to mitigate LTA issues. Taking a small DC income, totalling £20k from both sources, withdrawing 3% of DC.

Another DB of £5k on line from age 60 plus £9k state pension from 67 (fully achieved this years last small accrual for full amount according to HMG).

Finding it hard to deaccumulate though. DC Pot is still growing, spent half my PCLS on new EV car and kitchen and the rest is my emergency cash fund.

I presume you mean last year is a fully paid up year for state benefits? At age 55 you cannot have all the years you need for a full state pension yet (only an HMRC estimate based on you continuing to pay until the end of the tax year before your 67th birthday) and will still need to make some sort of contributions if you hope to receive a full state pension at age 67, (and you will need to check whether those DB pensions meant you were opted out of SERPS until 2015, which would mean your pension is based on the basic rather than full state pension)

Sea_Shell

geoffers4 wrote: »

other categories not mentioned by Sea Shell
Going out £500
Possessions £350
Work related £160
Dog £516 (needed op)
Wife £4200 (works part-time due to chronic condition so I pay for some bits)

Interesting that you have these other categories.

Our Going Out is included in the Holiday figures, as this includes Eating out and Entertainment too. TBH we don't really "go out" as such and tend to only eat out whilst on holiday.
Possessions ?? - If we need to buy a "thing" it's usually able to go in one of the other categories, unless it really is a gift to ourselves (something like a new watch), then it would go in gifts.
We obviously don't have a "work related" category, but then we didn't have any specific work expenses, unless you include clothes or commuting costs.
No Pets.
Wife?? :rotfl: Do you not budget as a couple?

ffacoffipawb

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I presume you mean last year is a fully paid up year for state benefits? At age 55 you cannot have all the years you need for a full state pension yet (only an HMRC estimate based on you continuing to pay until the end of the tax year before your 67th birthday) and will still need to make some sort of contributions if you hope to receive a full state pension at age 67, (and you will need to check whether those DB pensions meant you were opted out of SERPS until 2015, which would mean your pension is based on the basic rather than full state pension)

No, i now have the full £168 as of this tax year. I was less that £1 short of the full state pension as at 5th April (about 80p a week I think) and I only needed to earn one more tax year of at least the lower threshold to get the final £1 to get the full state pension from 67. I achieved this in June. So I retired.

I did have high earnings for a few years whilst contracted in to SERPS from 1997 and its successor which probably helped.

EDIT: My April state pension statement said I only needed one more year to get the full state pension, i.e. this current tax year. So I have the full state pension for 32 or 33 tax years as I started working in January 1988 after a postgraduate degree.

nigelbb

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I presume you mean last year is a fully paid up year for state benefits? At age 55 you cannot have all the years you need for a full state pension yet (only an HMRC estimate based on you continuing to pay until the end of the tax year before your 67th birthday) and will still need to make some sort of contributions if you hope to receive a full state pension at age 67, (and you will need to check whether those DB pensions meant you were opted out of SERPS until 2015, which would mean your pension is based on the basic rather than full state pension)

You only need 35 contributions for a full state pension so it’s perfectly possible to have enough contribution years for a full new state pension of £168.60/week. My partner is 56 & she only needs one more year of contributions for a full pension.

DairyQueen

nigelbb wrote: »

You only need 35 contributions for a full state pension so it’s perfectly possible to have enough contribution years for a full new state pension of £168.60/week. My partner is 56 & she only needs one more year of contributions for a full pension.

Only if your working life began after the intro of the new SP. Everyone else is in transition from the old system and how many years you need from 2016 will depend on your starting amount at that point. The starting amount will vary dependent on, for example, contracting out history/salary/years of employment/home protection.

For example, I qualified for the full nSP with 32 years contributions whilst OH won't qualify until Apr 2021, and he has over 40 years. My brother's starting amount was higher than the max nSP so he retains that higher, index-linked amount.

I was contracted-in for more years than out and ditto brother. OH was the reverse.

geoffers4

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Interesting that you have these other categories.

We obviously don't have a "work related" category, but then we didn't have any specific work expenses, unless you include clothes or commuting costs.

Yep definitely a Category for me as these are costs that will evaporate when I FIRE in a couple of years; commuting, work clothes, work parking, meals/drinks I have to pay for when occasionally working at other sites, leaving do's/gifts, tea fund in the office, etc. It does add up.

Anonymous101

Sea_Shell wrote: »

The scores on the doors are in…

In 2019 we spent the grand sum of …..£11,087 !! Including £400 for a new washing machine! We haven’t tried to do this, it’s just what it is.

Saying that, we had planned to go on 2 additional UK trips, but due to the weather we didn’t end up going. One was June when I was still working and had a specific week booked off work, and it rained all week, and the other was going to be October, but again it was wet. Even so, that would have added only £1000 - £1500 to the total.

So basing on a “budgeted” spend of £15,000, we’ve got £4k carry over, so can spend £19,000 in 2020. At least now with no work commitments, if the forecast is good, we shall just book and go!!

If we have a bad spring, we may well fly south to see the sun, in May maybe.

The breakdown for the 2019 spends looks like this…

Bills (DD) £3651
Holidays £1272 (3 UK short breaks plus days out)
Car (1) £397
Groceries £2586
Household £1050 (includes the WM)
Health/Beauty/Fitness £878
Clothes £163
Fuel £432
Gifts £180
Fees/ISA £317
Phone £158

The overall picture of our finances is looking very healthy at the moment as it would appear 2019 has been a good year.

Our total pot is now at c. £560k, which is made up of…

DC Pension pots £323,705
S&S ISAs £138,075
Locked Cash £79,780
Instant Cash £20,777

At the end of 2018, it was down at £480k, due to the end of year dip, so the year on year figures are skewed a lot by that. The previous high was £509k in August 2018.

So there we have it…Happy New Year and here’s to 2020!!

Fantastic information there Sea Shell, thanks very much. It’s very inspirational in the sense that you’re budget is robust and you’ve not found any unexpected expense since retirement.

Out of interest how are you recording your spending? I know you’ve mentioned you’re an excel fan in the past. Is it a case of recording what you’ve spent on a month by month basis or are you looking back once a quarter or year even?
I budget up to 12 months in advance but I’m not quite so diligent about recording the actual experience so long as I’m able to cash flow month by month and I’m investing a decent amount. 2020 might be the year I start recording what our actual spend is.