How much to live on

louby40

Well things are a' changing here. I decided to drop a day in my teaching job and asked to be considered for flexible working. I've taught full time for 28 years so think with my dodgy health I need to slow down a bit. My headteacher was very supportive and I'm not going to teach on a  Friday, giving me a 3 day weekend. It won't affect my pension, it will literally be a few pounds each year and as I intend to retire early I don't believe it will make a great deal of difference.

I also think it will be a good idea to slightly reduce my income. I'm definitely a person that lives to their means, and although I do save a decent amount each month I do tend to buy whatever I want (within reason). I need to start reigning my spending in a bit and this is good practice having a smaller monthly income.

However I'm currently off sick with a chest infect and exacerbation of my asthma, so my first official Friday off will be a sick day.

We've also started the process of having the house valued. We've definitely decided that we need to do this to become mortgage free. We've had 2 very similar valuations and one more to be done next week. We plan to put it on the market in the new year once we've painted an ensuite and completed another couple of small jobs. 

This will then give us more choices regarding my job. If my health continues to be a problem I may need to go down the ill health retirement route. If not then I can continue working and save £10k a year in mortgage payments, 

Kim1965

louby40 said:

Well things are a' changing here. I decided to drop a day in my teaching job and asked to be considered for flexible working. I've taught full time for 28 years so think with my dodgy health I need to slow down a bit. My headteacher was very supportive and I'm not going to teach on a  Friday, giving me a 3 day weekend. It won't affect my pension, it will literally be a few pounds each year and as I intend to retire early I don't believe it will make a great deal of difference.

I also think it will be a good idea to slightly reduce my income. I'm definitely a person that lives to their means, and although I do save a decent amount each month I do tend to buy whatever I want (within reason). I need to start reigning my spending in a bit and this is good practice having a smaller monthly income.

However I'm currently off sick with a chest infect and exacerbation of my asthma, so my first official Friday off will be a sick day.

We've also started the process of having the house valued. We've definitely decided that we need to do this to become mortgage free. We've had 2 very similar valuations and one more to be done next week. We plan to put it on the market in the new year once we've painted an ensuite and completed another couple of small jobs. 

This will then give us more choices regarding my job. If my health continues to be a problem I may need to go down the ill health retirement route. If not then I can continue working and save £10k a year in mortgage payments, 

I have had some experience of the tps ill health retirement proceedure. It will be a long drawn out affair. The tps is in a mess, my wife was terminally ill, it took 8 months, so good luck. If successful you may be able to get your pension without early retirement reductions. 

louby40

It really is in a mess you're right. We are given so little information about what our potential retirement income could be. 

I don't want to retire on ill health grounds but sadly that's what it may come to.
the fact that you have to fight and wait for terminally ill people to get what they deserve is disgusting. 

barnstar2077

louby40 said:

It really is in a mess you're right. We are given so little information about what our potential retirement income could be. 

I don't want to retire on ill health grounds but sadly that's what it may come to.
the fact that you have to fight and wait for terminally ill people to get what they deserve is disgusting. 

Agreed, eight months for someone who is terminally ill is borderline criminal in my opinion!

[Deleted User]

I know the ill health retirement process can be long and laborious but for typical retirement questions and procedures I have always found the TPS very helpful and efficient.

Kim1965

[Deleted User] said:

I know the ill health retirement process can be long and laborious but for typical retirement questions and procedures I have always found the TPS very helpful and efficient.

After my wife passed i had many things to sort out. The last to be sorted (3 months after evetything else) was the tps widowers pension. Again it took countless emails and calls. Luckily i was financially sound. Have a look on trustpilot at the reviews, they are awful. 

[Deleted User]

I tend to form my own opinion. People are more likely to complain to sites like trustpilot than write praise. I can only say as I find.

Enjoying_life_more

Very interesting thread - I’m due to retire in 2029 - a couple of years ago I estimated I ( single person) needed 1350 a month to live on (covering everything including holidays / trips) A recent update of this estimate is now coming out at 1650 a month. Both figures are excluding any housing costs due to being mortgage free. 

Arthurian

I'm eagerly awaiting an update to the Retirement Living Standards, due soon.  "The latest research updating the standards was carried out in 2022. Extensive research fieldwork is currently underway across the UK which is scheduled to be published towards the end of 2023."  From  https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/details

Albermarle

Enjoying_life_more said:

Very interesting thread - I’m due to retire in 2029 - a couple of years ago I estimated I ( single person) needed 1350 a month to live on (covering everything including holidays / trips) A recent update of this estimate is now coming out at 1650 a month. Both figures are excluding any housing costs due to being mortgage free. 

That puts you approx in the middle retirement income bracket according to the surveys that have been previously mentioned in the thread, especially if you do not live in an expensive part of the UK.
Does it include an estimate for unexpected/irregular costs ( new roof, new boiler, maybe paying for private medicine due to long NHS waiting times, helping out a relative etc ) or do you have a separate emergency fund for that.
Probably by the time you retire then £1650 will have gone over £2000 due to estimated inflation. Only a problem if your sources of retirement income are not also growing over the 6 years.