Is my income enough to retire on?

ElephantBoy57

theoretica said:

How much are you spending now? Not counting the mortgage or any major work costs like commuting.  Will you expect your costs to go up in retirement with more time for holidays and hobbies? 

I calculated that if I carry on working until 67 I will get the equivalent of £21k, which is about £4k more than I get now.

So I might be ok to retire a little earlier. Although I am happy to work, I am 59 now.

barnstar2077

Don't worry, there will always be someone telling you that you cant retire yet, that you need to do a few more years.  As I said, you have plenty of time to check everything before you go.  Don't let fear of the unknown stop you.  I will be retiring on 12k a year if that helps!

Anonymous101

What you're expenses will be is very personal. The answer could really be anything.
What you are forecast sounds fairly healthy to me but as a check for you why don't you look back over the last few years expenditure and pull a budget together for when you're retired?
Seems more scientific than asking on a forum where we don't understand your costs.

MoneySeeker1

I'm retired on a good bit less income than that - so my answer is obviously "Of course you can afford to retire on that - it's an income I'd be glad of personally".

In your position - I'd spend the next year getting some savings behind me and then go.

After all - we are all seeing just what our Society can get up to that affects our own life and have been for nearly 5 months now!!!!! (ie Lockdown). Goodness knows how much longer they are going to keep these Lockdowns up for and with New Zealand about to ramp it up again for only 4 people (all in one family at that) - then I rest my case that they seem to want to ruin our lives for quite some time yet. So get what enjoyment you can out of life with that going on.

RobM99

I'm retired (redundancy) - own my home outright and I get by on £1300 a month. Not ultra-frugal though.

BritishInvestor

Audaxer said:

rosierunner said:

Audaxer said:

Around £27k is thought to be enough for most couples in retirement which means it should be more than enough for a single person, dependent of course on your lifestyle. You will know how much you currently spend on average each year, and you may make some savings in say, commuting costs when you retire, while you may plan to spend more on other things, so you should be able to calculate whether £27k is enough for you.

The only other thing you need to consider if you have not already done so, is whether there is definitely enough in your SIPP to bridge the gap of 8 years or so until you get your State Pension. Assuming it is invested, are you satisfied there will still be enough if there is poor sequence of returns in the stock markets over the next few years?

Thankyou i have worked out my SIPP income based on what the capital value is now rather than assuming any growth.  I suppose the question is with the current uncertainty with COVID that this can't be guaranteed but the market seems to be gaining some ground fingers crossed!  I'm feeling fortunate, the youngsters must be feeling very concerned about their future but they are resilient and we 50+ year olds survived the Maggie Thatcher years!

That's good. I would also want to ensure I had a decent cash buffer of at least a few years income as cover for any equity crashes when I wouldn't want to be selling capital.

Doesn't that assume you are only holding equities in the portfolio?

ancientofdays

May I make one small suggestion?

I retired a couple of years ago at the age of 67 and as  I was earning up to that point,  I chose to defer my State Pension until retirement.  Doing that has enhanced the amount I receive by quite a bit.  If you find that you can manage on your existing work pension up to retirement age, you might wish to considering deferment, it doesn't need to be for 6 years like me!  The combination of a public sector pension plus the two elements of state pension make life quite manageable and I support 3 adults on my income. I know I'm fortunate to have worked in the public sector. 

Our lifestyle is not lavish, never has been but we have all we need.

rosierunner

Hi all I hope you are doing well despite the continued lockdown.  Thank you all for the lovely good advice. I did angst over the fact that I won't have much in the way of cash savings for my retirement or an annual buffer if things go wrong  (for a while) but  ultimately I know I'm in a good position from a guaranteed monthly income perspective (even if I don't secure a nice part time job) so I can easily build up a savings pot moving forward.  The most important thing is to be debt free and income secure and comfortable and living life rather than working in a job you no longer enjoy.  Since my last post I have had a meeting with my financial advisor and I am course to finish work at the end of August 21 with a take home per month of £2400 dropping to £2200 when I hit 67 S(SPA). I think I can live with that.  Roll on next August!  So looking forward to my freedom .  Take care all

barnstar2077

Come back and give us some more updates closer to the time please.  I like to hear about people escaping, it inspires me to keep digging my own tunnel! :  )

Retireinten

Rosierunner, all sounds good to me. We're aiming for £3k net a month for a couple and we are expecting that to give us a very comfortable lifestyle...

Are you in a position to live to the £2.2k a month and save the amount you are hoping to each month (whilst retired) between now and August 21?  This will road test your retirement income and create you a bit of a cash buffer if you hit an expensive repair in the first year or so of retirement.