How much to live on

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.

Phossy

What is it with roof replacement on this forum?. I live in a 1930's house on a street full of 1930's housing. In the 25 years I have lived here I've never seen a roof replaced. A roof should last well over 50 years, some say 70 plus. If you are concerned about your roof - get it checked before you retire and you should be good.

blue.peter

Phossy said:

What is it with roof replacement on this forum?. I live in a 1930's house on a street full of 1930's housing. In the 25 years I have lived here I've never seen a roof replaced. A roof should last well over 50 years, some say 70 plus. If you are concerned about your roof - get it checked before you retire and you should be good.

I think it's just an example of a big-ticket that *might* be needed, just to make the point that an emergency fund is a useful thing to have.

I live in a development built about twenty years ago. One of my neighbours did need to have her roof rebuilt a couple of years ago. I don't know the exact reason, but it looked - based on the work that I saw- as if the waterproof membrane below the tiles wasn't. It was certainly replaced. Most of the old tiles were then put back, but some new ones were put in as well. Generally, though, I agree that a roof ought to last a lot longer than that.

Bravepants

My dad is 80 in February, he had his roof replaced earlier this year.

Also my partner's aunt and uncle (both in their mid-80s) had to leave their property in the summer for a few months while they had renovations due to a long term leak of a dishwasher! A small trickle over many years led to a lot of plastering, floor restoration, new carpets, furniture removals and accomodation. Go figure, such a small thing a leaky dishwasher outlet pipe!

Albermarle

Phossy said:

What is it with roof replacement on this forum?. I live in a 1930's house on a street full of 1930's housing. In the 25 years I have lived here I've never seen a roof replaced. A roof should last well over 50 years, some say 70 plus. If you are concerned about your roof - get it checked before you retire and you should be good.

I live on a street of mixed age properties ( Victorian to 80's and everything inbetween) 
About half the Victorian properties have had their slate roofs replaced at some point in the past, and in the last 5 years three 30's Semis have had to have major roof work/replacement. Why? I have no idea, luck of the draw I guess.
Anyway as already said it is just an example of an unexpected high cost item that might come along.

Dizee123

We live in a row of 1930s houses (mainly bungalows so quite large roofs) and had our roof replaced this year.  Many of the old asbestos slate tiles were slipping and the last couple of years we have been very concerned about them blowing off during the winter storms.  We did have a roof survey a few years ago and were advised that all the roof components apart from the ridge tiles were reaching the end of their natural life and it would be better to reroof rather than patch.  We also found that quotes for removing the asbestos tiles varied from the affordable to the totally ridiculous and thought that asbestos removal would only get more expensive in the future given that a whole industry has build up around it.  Maybe this has influenced the need to reroof earlier rather than later if asbestos tiles are involved.

The majority of houses in our road have now been reroofed, and I now have peace of mind that it should not have to be done again before we die

cbsexec

I wouldn’t worry about roof replacement   My worry is dental work.  No nhs dentists means high costs for private dental work.  Often very necessary as we age 

Nebulous2

My roof has carpenters marks that mean it was probably made before the invention of pencils in the late 1700s. In 5 years it has had two moderately expensive repairs and is due another. My architect has advised it is unlikely that I would be allowed to replace it. We've spent more on it already than we did in 30 years in a new build. 

Baileys_Babe

Nebulous2 said:

My roof has carpenters marks that mean it was probably made before the invention of pencils in the late 1700s. In 5 years it has had two moderately expensive repairs and is due another. My architect has advised it is unlikely that I would be allowed to replace it. We've spent more on it already than we did in 30 years in a new build. 

Our house is of a similar age to yours. About 10 years ago we had all the roof slates removed, replaced or repaired any damaged timbers. Then the undamaged slates were reinstated and the damaged slates replaced from a building reclamation yard. This was done with listed building consent. It would be worth talking to your local authority about what is permissible in your area. Our architect only had general ideas about what would and would not be possible externally.

[Deleted User]

If you worry about every possibility you will never retire! The only certainty is that you are growing older and time is passing so make the most of it!