How much to live on

Albermarle

louby40 said:

Albermarle, I don't want to live in a 4 bedroomed house when there are only 2 of us. We live in a 3 storey house. We don't need it. Too many rooms to keep clean. Yes the space is lovely but it's not needed. 

Our search area up is a 1 mile radius when we eventually decide to sell. We like the area but just need to downsize.

Having an extra £700 a month (plus the £150 a month overpayment) will be a great boost to my savings. Plus give me more flexibility about going part time if I need to . 

I had cancer during 2021-22 so life has different priorities now. 

Downsizing can be a good move if approached realistically and sensibly ( like you seem to be doing).
However many people can be unrealistic in their aspirations/what is possible.

2Scratters

@louby40 carry out your plans. We downsized from 4 bed detached to a 2 bed semi bungalow. Life does change and that re-directs your priorities. Ours has the original 1963 kitchen in been here 8 years and it has still not been changed (there are plans) we have been doing bits but it isn't a race, to be honest I don't give a damn anymore about stuff like that. We are happy and mortgage free. That weight being lifted itself was priceless. 

2 Scratters xx

[Deleted User]

It’s amazing that this thread has had nearly 370000 views and 1500 responses. It has been in existence for two and a half years now! Would be good to hear again from some of the early contributors to see how they are faring. New contributors with their stories and plans very welcome too. 

I think the strengths of this thread are that people are transparent with their figures, which is informative for others, and also tolerant of different views and approaches. 

mummytummy

I’ve been a long term lurker on here and find everyone’s story helpful in planning our own escape into retirement.

I’m pretty sure we will be ok when the day comes which I’m planning for 2027.  At that point we will have 2 x NHS pensions dh will get his in 2027 alongside his lump sum, I took mine a year ago, wasn’t large compared to some but gave me a lump sum of £32k and a monthly pension of £1037 which half is saved and the rest goes towards utilities etc.

We have another property which we shall sell to fund our retirement and there is a lot of travelling we want to do, that should give us approx £300k dependant on the rise and fall of house prices over next few years.

We have the maximum in premium bonds and a small contingency fund for property maintenance etc.,

dh continues to work full time, he is a little younger than me and likes what he does but is looking forward to our agreed date of 2027, in the meantime I work 3 days a week which is lovely but also know I can leave tomorrow if I wanted to 😊

otb666

Our Update following redundancies and subsequent early retirement aged 56 and 55 in 2021 and 2022. We are managing on 1800 pm with 35k savings.  600 food 600 bills 600 everything else. Following retirement a lot of our time taken up looking after 90 yr old who wants to remain in their home.  Plus hubby newly diagnosed diabetic.  The money side has gone well considering costs of living impact.  Glad we paid off mortgage Stopped smoking and alcohol and got a good fix on gas and electric We cook from scratch mainly as have the time. No updates needed yet in our 2006 home as replaced all appliances including heating before we retired. Priorities have changed and feel we are enjoying living in the moment  and enjoying small pleasures Housework is up to date and Garden looks good.  Our kitchen and bathrooms are most probably dated now but we will wait for them to come back into fashion now but both clean and functional which is all we want now.

[Deleted User]

Wonderful update otb666! I agree with your comment about enjoying the small pleasures. I'm  just enjoying not having to rush about!

mummytummy with the possibility of £300000 from a house sale I would be tempted to sell an go sooner! That's a fantastic back up to have.

Murphybear

2Scratters said:

@louby40 carry out your plans. We downsized from 4 bed detached to a 2 bed semi bungalow. Life does change and that re-directs your priorities. Ours has the original 1963 kitchen in been here 8 years and it has still not been changed (there are plans) we have been doing bits but it isn't a race, to be honest I don't give a damn anymore about stuff like that. We are happy and mortgage free. That weight being lifted itself was priceless. 

2 Scratters xx

We lived in a bungalow for a few years, only sold it when we moved 200 miles and bought a business.  It’s the best property I ever lived it, I can’t recommend one highly enough.  

otb666

My pension has gone from 5k to 6k due to being indexed linked I love being able to have time to clean oven and washing machine filter and sinks Silly i suppose but this does give me joy. When you retire everyone assumes your extra time is theirs.  I now have a tortoise (retirement present??) that takes up a lot of my time but thanks to our chats earlier on in thread gave me a lot of reassurance.  I remember pre Covid Brexit War we owed 50k on credit cards and both smoked 30 a day and drank We have come a long way

time2change_2

I have been reading this thread with interest having been signposted here from DFW board by Baron Dale.

I'm 57 now and know that I will have a reasonable income on retirement (enough for me anyway) currently £21k in SRP (full) and occupational DB scheme which is index linked.

However, I don't want to work until 67 - I want to retire earlier and hopefully still have energy and health to do lots of things. I am currently focussed on saving enough to bridge the gap between work and pension. I'm aiming for £25k a year although looking at the amounts people live on that may be too much. So to retire at 62 I need something in the region of £100K.

[Deleted User]

time2change_2

Welcome to the thread. Hopefully over time others will be along to support and suggest. You say 100000 needs to be saved but, as you say, you may be able to get by with less. Seasonal or part-time work may also help you retire more gradually. Best wishes and looking forward to hearing more from you.