How much to live on

thriftylynny

 I've been asking myself those exact same questions Hugheskevi , Apart from a couple of small db pensions coming in.  all of my savings are held within a VLS 60 S & S, plan was to top up my eventual retirement income by withdrawing say 2.5% a year from it . I agree with blue.peter i would ride the storm also if i was younger, but have now got sick & tired of worrying over even considering taking small  safe withdrawals  & putting life on perpetual hold by not daring to touch it ! If i pull out now the hit to me will be i come out with around the same as i put in 5 years ago , so no gains , maybe look at fixed rate bonds .Goes against my investment head, so teetering a bit on pulling out, but i'm inclining to peace of mind.  

Roger175

[Deleted User] said:

I have just closed my S&S ISA. Probably not the best  financial decision but adding £100 every month and seeing the overall value continually decrease was unsettling me.

I did a similar thing back in 2008. I used to have a regular contribution set up of £300/month and couldn't face logging in and seeing it drop month after month, so I stopped the regular contribution. It was one of the worst decisions I ever made! When I now look at the unit value of those funds and think how much more I could have bought when they were really cheap, it makes me want to cry - some of them have increased over 200%.

I don't blame you for doing it and you clearly feel comfortable with your decision, just don't be tempted to check the price in 5 or 10 years!

Kim1965

Selling now consolidates losses. Id rather delay retirement than take the hit. Might view it different ly if i was already retired

Bravepants

Roger175 said:

[Deleted User] said:

I have just closed my S&S ISA. Probably not the best  financial decision but adding £100 every month and seeing the overall value continually decrease was unsettling me.

I did a similar thing back in 2008. I used to have a regular contribution set up of £300/month and couldn't face logging in and seeing it drop month after month, so I stopped the regular contribution. It was one of the worst decisions I ever made! When I now look at the unit value of those funds and think how much more I could have bought when they were really cheap, it makes me want to cry - some of them have increased over 200%.

I don't blame you for doing it and you clearly feel comfortable with your decision, just don't be tempted to check the price in 5 or 10 years!

Indeed! I only really started investing around the time of the 2008 crisis when I hit 40. If it hadn't been for that crisis and the continuation of my modest monthly investments I would not have been in a position to think about early retirement.

[Deleted User]

Interesting comments. My S&S ISA was very small in value so I will not be losing sleep over it!
Nearing 64 I no longer worry about the longer term as I could be dead!
As I said I will review in a year.
I am also in the position of having a guaranteed income throughout my retirement.

otb666

i agree you cannot rely on inheritances the elderly have good help on NHS and last and last now eventually with all the tablets end up in a home and then last and last there (the home money only lasts a couple of years) then council take over.  I have to be very careful not to be outta pocket with all their bits and bobs for them as i want to help the younger generation rather than the oldies who are well off but tight. For comparison they have 30k pa 300k house paid and 100k in savings. We have 23k pa 300k house paid and 30k savings.

We have seen money made yo yo in investments in last 15 months 44k -20k. But initial amount still there to cover next 9.5 years. And my DB went up this year so glad that i am now getting the index linking.applied.

Husband wants to move to cheaper house price area in 2025. But if we can afford to stay we will.  If money only lasts 5 years instead of 10 we will just sign on/get jobs before SP.

Apologise if anyone finds my post offensive but it is annommy thats why I like to air my thoughts to get them outta my head

Gin_and_Milk

otb666 said:

i agree you cannot rely on inheritances the elderly have good help on NHS and last and last now eventually with all the tablets end up in a home and then last and last there (the home money only lasts a couple of years) then council take over.  I have to be very careful not to be outta pocket with all their bits and bobs for them as i want to help the younger generation rather than the oldies who are well off but tight. For comparison they have 30k pa 300k house paid and 100k in savings. We have 23k pa 300k house paid and 30k savings.

We have seen money made yo yo in investments in last 15 months 44k -20k. But initial amount still there to cover next 9.5 years. And my DB went up this year so glad that i am now getting the index linking.applied.

Husband wants to move to cheaper house price area in 2025. But if we can afford to stay we will.  If money only lasts 5 years instead of 10 we will just sign on/get jobs before SP.

Apologise if anyone finds my post offensive but it is annommy thats why I like to air my thoughts to get them outta my head

I'll be honest, there's a lot in that post which I actually didn't understand.

otb666

basically i am not gonna cut myself short for parents when parents have 10 times savings to us As there is no guarantee of any inheritances in todays world

Time4T_Accounts

otb666 said:

As there is no guarantee of any inheritances in todays world

... neither guarantee nor right ...

thriftylynny

No guarantee for sure ,  before my father passed away he made sure that i was entirely cut out of the will  on the basis that i have more assets than my married brother who in spite of having a well paid job has chosen to fritter money away constantly over the years. My conscience tells me i have no rights to anyone else's money even if it is parents , however i do feel slightly miffed that my elderly mother  constantly whinges  on  to me  about her future care as i am seemingly the older more sensible sibling . Both parents retired at 50 & lived a very comfortable retirement .