How much to live on

Phossy

Thanks for sharing Superdude0499.  Very similar numbers to us  (especially on the essentials). Post retirement I expect the biggest savings on the car  (we will reduce to one and the fuel will more than half). Where you have Health Insurance, that number is what we spend on our Pet insurance and  care plans - I also expect that to reduce...

BooJewels

There seem to be some slight anomalies in your plan - at least compared to my own personal thinking - there's no emergency/contingency planning - for example, I had a dental emergency in August that cost me £600 and a failed light fitting that I had to pay someone to replace a couple of weeks ago.  You've got car maintenance, but not home repairs covered.

And why go from 2 expensive holidays to nothing at all in your frugal list?  Maybe 2 foreign holidays in your Desired list, one foreign and one UK holiday in the Decent and 1 UK holiday (or budget overseas, or better on alternate years) in your frugal list?  You'll still spend £130 a month on takeaways and booze when being frugal, but won't buy any gifts?

Albermarle

Superdude0499 said:

Saw the title of this thread and thought I'd nudge it back on track...  

52 now, looking at 60. Plenty of wriggle room I hope (Health insurance, telly etc). Desired column keeps us going as is.

My figures, for what they're worth...

Some of the more low spenders that inhabit these forums would probably point out that the luxury items are rather expensive. Particularly the £2K pa on streaming services and £7K on two holidays, although with the latter point I find I have spent about the same this year, partly due to big increases in prices for everything holiday related.
Overall your figure for a couple is in the comfortable range, but to get a real figure you need to add an estimated average annual spend on Home maintenance - decorating, new carpets, new bathroom or kitchen every 15? years. Same for new boiler,  Car replacement etc So with inflation as well then maybe £40K pa is a more realistic target, to maintain the lifestyle.
Alternatively make sure you keep a completely separate pot to pay for these things, that sods law will probably come all at once. 

[Deleted User]

Albermarle I can take the good natured dig lol  !
 
Some people are low spenders by choice others by necessity.

My list wouldn't include Alcohol, Netflix and Sky etc.... So an annual saving for me of £2580 for me lol.

However, I spend a lot more on gifts for others. Probably a £1000 or so a year for Birthdays and Christmas.

Had a quick tally using those headings and my monthly requirement would be about £2000 ( that includes putting £200 a month into my S&S ISA) a month as a single man who isn't particularly frugal. Fortunately my projected income after tax from next July is currently £2360 per month.

That is a cheap window cleaner, mine is £30 a month. My council tax is also £20 a month more expensive over 10 months.

Savings are not mentioned. Surely if people save for retirement they are there to be used during your retirement.
There again I am not troubled by this desire to leave money to relatives!

Albermarle

[Deleted User] said:

Albermarle I can take the good natured dig lol  !
 
Some people are low spenders by choice others by necessity.

My list wouldn't include Alcohol, Netflix and Sky etc.... So an annual saving for me of £2580 for me lol.

However, I spend a lot more on gifts for others. Probably a £1000 or so a year for Birthdays and Christmas.

Had a quick tally using those headings and my monthly requirement would be about £2000 ( that includes putting £200 a month into my S&S ISA) a month as a single man who isn't particularly frugal. Fortunately my projected income after tax from next July is currently £2360 per month.

That is a cheap window cleaner, mine is £30 a month. My council tax is also £20 a month more expensive over 10 months.

Savings are not mentioned. Surely if people save for retirement they are there to be used during your retirement.
There again I am not troubled by this desire to leave money to relatives!

I was not actually thinking of you 
Compared to some posters £24K pa for a single person  ( and I think in the past you have possibly indicated a higher figure than that) is really splashing the cash !

[Deleted User]

I did say I will have £2360 a month after tax. so £28320 after tax a year.  Fortunately pension income is a DB and from next year state pension. I also have a small annuity that pays about £43 a month after tax.

[Deleted User]

'I was not actually thinking of you '    
I know, I was teasing!

Superdude0499

Albermarle said:

Superdude0499 said:

Saw the title of this thread and thought I'd nudge it back on track...  

52 now, looking at 60. Plenty of wriggle room I hope (Health insurance, telly etc). Desired column keeps us going as is.

My figures, for what they're worth...

Some of the more low spenders that inhabit these forums would probably point out that the luxury items are rather expensive. Particularly the £2K pa on streaming services and £7K on two holidays, although with the latter point I find I have spent about the same this year, partly due to big increases in prices for everything holiday related.
Overall your figure for a couple is in the comfortable range, but to get a real figure you need to add an estimated average annual spend on Home maintenance - decorating, new carpets, new bathroom or kitchen every 15? years. Same for new boiler,  Car replacement etc So with inflation as well then maybe £40K pa is a more realistic target, to maintain the lifestyle.
Alternatively make sure you keep a completely separate pot to pay for these things, that sods law will probably come all at once. 

This was a fairly broad look at mainly regular monthly expenses with a few extras thrown in. Big capital expenditure (car purchase, renovations, repairs etc) will be dealt with from a separate pot. Inflation is factored into future spending. i.e. 34k now will be about 43k then (ish). Plenty of scope for reduction, I think. Perhaps we’ll only run one car and I’ll stop my one man mission to keep SKY afloat. I think the holiday expenditure is about right for 2 weeks  away  from these shores.

Kim1965

Superdude0499 said:

Albermarle said:

Superdude0499 said:

Saw the title of this thread and thought I'd nudge it back on track...  

52 now, looking at 60. Plenty of wriggle room I hope (Health insurance, telly etc). Desired column keeps us going as is.

My figures, for what they're worth...

Some of the more low spenders that inhabit these forums would probably point out that the luxury items are rather expensive. Particularly the £2K pa on streaming services and £7K on two holidays, although with the latter point I find I have spent about the same this year, partly due to big increases in prices for everything holiday related.
Overall your figure for a couple is in the comfortable range, but to get a real figure you need to add an estimated average annual spend on Home maintenance - decorating, new carpets, new bathroom or kitchen every 15? years. Same for new boiler,  Car replacement etc So with inflation as well then maybe £40K pa is a more realistic target, to maintain the lifestyle.
Alternatively make sure you keep a completely separate pot to pay for these things, that sods law will probably come all at once. 

This was a fairly broad look at mainly regular monthly expenses with a few extras thrown in. Big capital expenditure (car purchase, renovations, repairs etc) will be dealt with from a separate pot. Inflation is factored into future spending. i.e. 34k now will be about 43k then (ish). Plenty of scope for reduction, I think. Perhaps we’ll only run one car and I’ll stop my one man mission to keep SKY afloat. I think the holiday expenditure is about right for 2 weeks  away  from these shores.

Out of interest what is your current pension/investment position to fund this expenditure? 

Daffodil1234

@Superdude0499 thanks for sharing your figures, setting out in the frugal through to desired columns is a good way to look at it.

I compared your categories to ones that I track / plan for and wondered if you might want to allow for -

Extra spending on health (eyes, hearing, physio, prescriptions, general health items) as you get older

Any particular hobby / interest which takes some money each month / year ?

Any memberships such as gym, pool, or annual membership of something else ?

Any allowance for ongoing technology upgrades / maintenance / software licenses ?

I appreciate the items above might not be relevant to you but hope it's useful to mention.