How much do you spend in retirement ?

Albermarle

On a slightly different tack 'comfortable' could also equate to not having to worry about money in retirement.
By that I mean if you have a pension income of £50K , but only spend £40K , then you do not need to do spreadsheets or detailed expenditure analysis. Also no stress if the investments drop off for a while.
OK I know 'you can't take it with you' 'no pockets in a shroud etc ' but if you built up a big excess you can always give it to charity or family member.

fred246

I am not going to spend my retirement hanging around airports. I always charter my own jet. A good bottle of wine is always over £1k these days.

coyrls

"Charter"?  Cheapskate.

fred246

coyrls said:

"Charter"?  Cheapskate.

I suppose I should buy my own.

westv

fred246 said:

coyrls said:

"Charter"?  Cheapskate.

I suppose I should buy my own.

Only one?!

cfw1994

MallyGirl said:

ratechaser said:

badger09 said:

In case anyone is interested, this is the Which? article to which OP referred.
https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/starting-to-plan-your-retirement/how-much-will-you-need-to-retire-atu0z9k0lw3p

Very interested so thank you.

Alright so I can see where the holes are for me in terms of the 'luxurious' budget - LH travel doesn't come close (said it before and will say it again, I'm not spending my dotage in economy!).

£800 for 'expensive meals' is not going to go far, perhaps it's just a question of what's expensive, but Mrs RC and I would normally run to £100+ on a typical Saturday night out, and not even in a particularly fancy place. Maybe that's living in the Home Counties for you.

Allowing only £4000 per year for a car, including depreciation, is pretty low as well. 

Could go on but it's, as before, just a question of perspective. I think £80-100k gross between us will be more than sufficient, but not gone any further than fag packet estimates yet...

We are in your ballpark and have similar ideas about LH travel.
I have a row in the spreadsheet for 'fixed & variable costs' and are then looking for another £40k on top till we hit 80 then dropping a bit maybe (unless we need more help/care by then). That will be for bigger entertainment, travel, helping DD if she needs it, toys/hobbies, car replacement,... If we don't spend it then that is fine - its a budget not a target. DH will not entertain the idea of early retirement if it means not being able to afford to do what he wants to - he'd rather work for longer. I am not going to change him at this point.
Fixed - TV licence, BB & landline, contact lenses, council tax, health insurance. Even just that comes to £6k (South East based and not looking to move).
Variable - fuel & water bills, phones, insurance (house, cars, pet, vet plan), car taxes, fuel, car maint/MOT, house maintenance, food, 'local' entertainment. Things that will happen but we could tighten the belt on. Another £23k

Impressive numbers there......I imagine many here would be extraordinarily happy with those levels of monies 
Our fixed outgoings are also pretty high (although I include paying various family subscriptions - phones/music/film!), & would likely eat up 8K here.
The variable ones depend a little on how one lives.   Aldi is not the same as Fortnum & Mason (or perhaps even Waitrose!)....
For me, the big numbers are the interesting tricky ones...do I want to drop down into bangernomics, or continue down the path of a new motor, perhaps EV, at high costs but perhaps less often.  Those long haul trips can be VERY steep....or can be done cheaply too....I'd hope to manage a few somewhere balanced in the middle of that......but right now, even that feels a distant hope!  
Also want to try to continue to help invest (both for us and "the kids" as they start their post-grad lives)....that can clearly drop down if needs be....
Fun, eh!

shinytop

Albermarle said:

On a slightly different tack 'comfortable' could also equate to not having to worry about money in retirement.
By that I mean if you have a pension income of £50K , but only spend £40K , then you do not need to do spreadsheets or detailed expenditure analysis. Also no stress if the investments drop off for a while.
OK I know 'you can't take it with you' 'no pockets in a shroud etc ' but if you built up a big excess you can always give it to charity or family member.

Couldn't have put it better myself and that describes me very well.  I've a lot more important things to do in retirement than budget spreadsheets. 

Lummoxley

jonnygee2 said:

I have a really simple approach - I live comfortably on a certain amount now (not including things like mortgage which I won't pay in retirement) - it's about £1500 a month. I just intend to keep that amount going in retirement.

There would then be some expenses I don't pay (e.g. TFL fares!) but that would leave a little extra for travel etc. 

This mirrors my approach (and figures) . The only question for me is, having started late accumulating, whether to work until 60 in 7 years time and pay off the mortgage or work until 57 and cash in the equity and move out of London. Recent events have skewed my thinking towards the latter

badmemory

I think one big mistake about retirement is to assume that your expenses will decrease as you get older because you won't do as much.  Factor in the "body is letting you down" costs such as physio/chiro prices, the "can't manage the hedge cutting" costs - the list is endless.  It may not be as significant if you are part of a couple as one can probably pick up any slack, but if you are single it is just down to you.

I also think that if you are part of a couple you need to factor in how both of you are going to survive without the other.  Another thing to remember is that the value of property, like shares, can go down as well as up.  If so many are now able to work from home (let's see how that goes!) then the value of homes in the London commuter zone should come down which may affect some plans.

Jaco70

badmemory said:

I think one big mistake about retirement is to assume that your expenses will decrease as you get older because you won't do as much.  Factor in the "body is letting you down" costs such as physio/chiro prices, the "can't manage the hedge cutting" costs - the list is endless.  It may not be as significant if you are part of a couple as one can probably pick up any slack, but if you are single it is just down to you.

I also think that if you are part of a couple you need to factor in how both of you are going to survive without the other.  Another thing to remember is that the value of property, like shares, can go down as well as up.  If so many are now able to work from home (let's see how that goes!) then the value of homes in the London commuter zone should come down which may affect some plans.

That's very interesting, I have tended to think holidays, meals out, nice car, when considering retirement, but health issues are definitely something else to consider. My parents are reasonably comfortable and when they've needed anything medical we have told them to pay if it speeded things up, but this isn't cheap.
Part of my planning is a few low-end BTL properties and I'm quietly confident that the demand for rental houses in the £ 500 pcm bracket is likely to remain strong. It has many and varied hassles obviously, but I can't see the housing crisis easing very quickly, so people will need houses to live in. I've been surprised how pessimistic many posters have been regarding the state pension, some not even factoring it in to their planning as they feel it won't exist.