How much to live on

[Deleted User]

I’m absolutely no expert though just my thoughts! 

RetSol

Good to see posters on this thread agreeing to differ over approaches to life and retirement.  Different strokes for different strokes....We are all blessed if we have the opportunity to make these choices. 

Dazza1902

It's a balance, I am desperate to retire (wife wants to carry on). If we do not have a comfortable ish lifestyle I will cop a heap of grief.
I could lead a pretty frugal life. Hoping in retirement to continue and extend at 37 yr marriage😬

Sunnylifeover50plan

Dazza1902 said:

It's a balance, I am desperate to retire (wife wants to carry on). If we do not have a comfortable ish lifestyle I will cop a heap of grief.
I could lead a pretty frugal life. Hoping in retirement to continue and extend at 37 yr marriage😬

Relationship success is key. Divorce would likely scupper the best laid plans; Gin, a weekly visit to the florist and and a dress allowance are part of my risk management, lol.

silverwhistle

From a week ago I became eligible for my state pension and will soon be feeling a lot better off: an extra ~£550 every four weeks  is something sort of dismissed in my budgeting until now. I've been living on a small private pension, some FIT payments from my solar panels and only dipped in slightly to my old company shares and have largely been rolling up the dividends in a PEP/ISA for around 20 years.

I spend on what is important to me: an annual skiing holiday (when permitted) which is not too expensive having friends in the Alps, a football season ticket and decent home cooked food and wine. Thank goodness an obsession with Burgundy wine and those prices never took hold! With the extra income may come a more relaxed attitude to eating out and a summer holiday a little more ambitious than wandering around the country visiting old friends, good though that may be. The house needs some decorative maintenance so that becomes a bigger possibility, but it's quite liberating not to have that urge to update and replace some people have. The garden is showing signs of spring renewal and that's good enough in itself. I might splash out on a new compost bin.. :-:smile:

RetSol

 it's quite liberating not to have that urge to update and replace some people have. 

Thank you, @silverwhistle. This is me.  Good to know that I am not alone! 

Langtang

Sunnylifeover50plan said:

Dazza1902 said:

It's a balance, I am desperate to retire (wife wants to carry on). If we do not have a comfortable ish lifestyle I will cop a heap of grief.
I could lead a pretty frugal life. Hoping in retirement to continue and extend at 37 yr marriage😬

Relationship success is key. Divorce would likely scupper the best laid plans; Gin, a weekly visit to the florist and and a dress allowance are part of my risk management, lol.

Wow! I get off with just the Gin....

blue.peter

This thread won't die, will it?

silverwhistle said:

The garden is showing signs of spring renewal and that's good enough in itself.

Oh, yes. I'm no gardener: not good and don't enjoy it.  But sights like this are rather nice. It's my first-ever azalea flower

(There's a story to this. I've lived here ten years or so.Until last summer, I did nothing to the bed at the end of my very small garden. By then, it was totally choked with bindweed and ivy, and the ivy was covering the fence behind. I gave up and cleared it all out, including digging out a couple of roses that I'd never liked. That was a lot of work, and several fills of my garden waste bin. But what to do with it now that it was empty? The first idea was tulips. Then I discovered how deep they have to be planted: eight inches. The soil here is only about six to eight inches deep, then I hit bedrock. By chance, I saw an advert for azaleas, which I like. I read up on them a bit, bought a few, and planted them last September. Amazingly, I haven't killed them yet. This (so far) solitary bloom opened yesterday. I'm hoping that more of the buds will open soon.)

[Deleted User]

Well done blue.peter!  No this thread will not die. We just need to keep reporting our experiences and welcoming new posters with their ideas about ‘How much to live on?’

blue.peter

[Deleted User] said:

... and welcoming new posters with their ideas about ‘How much to live on?’

Yes, OK, point made. I've digressed again.