How much to live on

BrilliantButScary

MayDogsandCoffee said:

@BrilliantButScary - sorry it is a bit of a niche area and might blow my cover.  But animals are involved  

No problem, I too am 'careful' about how much information I disclose. Very sensible IMHO.

Good luck with your studies.

Organgrinder

Bit of a panic this week when my trusty spreadsheet suffered severe user error and my short lived delight of being £5k up on my forecast was corrected due to double counting a £4k national savings bond.

So only £1k up this year but given all the stock market turmoil affecting my pension and one of my ISAs I can't complain!

I also rejigged my spreadsheet to account for the real term growth my savings are generating. Ok it's not exactly stellar but anything over inflation is a gain!

It also looks like my extra management allowance will continue next year, so happy days. More so as I'm dying to visit somewhere new next year. I'm tempted by Croatia or Cape Verde in the summer, and possibly Bosnia in the winter for a cheap ski deal! Fingers crossed.

louby40

My SIPP  has taken a nosedive too. 

We went to Cape Verde last Easter (Boa Vista) it was very much a fly and flop holiday. Not really much there but we loved the sunshine and walks along the beach. We stayed in the adults only   hotel.

We're going to the other larger island next April 2026 (Sal) where I think there's more  going on. Since handing my notice in to retire this year we amended the dates and saved ourselves nearly £900 by going during term time. 

Albermarle

Organgrinder said:

Bit of a panic this week when my trusty spreadsheet suffered severe user error and my short lived delight of being £5k up on my forecast was corrected due to double counting a £4k national savings bond.

So only £1k up this year but given all the US stock market turmoil affecting my pension and one of my ISAs I can't complain!

I also rejigged my spreadsheet to account for the real term growth my savings are generating. Ok it's not exactly stellar but anything over inflation is a gain!

It also looks like my extra management allowance will continue next year, so happy days. More so as I'm dying to visit somewhere new next year. I'm tempted by Croatia or Cape Verde in the summer, and possibly Bosnia in the winter for a cheap ski deal! Fingers crossed.

I know we do not want to get too financially technical on this thread, but I have made a small addition to your post above just to put things in perspective.

Year to date the FTSE 100 is 6% up 
The German DAX is up 13%
The French CAC 40 is up 7%
Bonds/Gilts are stable

So really only portfolios high in US equity ( and Far East ) have suffered, and even then they are still up over 12 months .

Organgrinder

Sadly that appears to be mine!

However pension is still 17% up after 19 months.

I can live with that!

Organgrinder

Update. 

My stocks and shares investments are 5% lower than last year after once being up 9%.

My pension pot has fallen by 7% from it's peak.

The future's not bright. The future's not orange! ;-)

(It's going to be a longer game than I'd hoped!)

barnstar2077

It'll all come out in the wash.

Organgrinder

barnstar2077 said:

It'll all come out in the wash.

Over time yes. Thankfully I've no need for either for at least 5 years!

Nebulous2

After a very spendy year last year, I'm determined to rein in this year, and live within my income for financial year 25/26. We expected to run down quite a bit of capital between retiring and state pension age, which wasn't really the case for the first few years, but we made a big dent in it last year. 

We've had a noticeable increase in costs in some areas, car insurance being one. Holidays are another - comparing like for like, and flight costs at the same time of year, there has been quite a jump. 

I'm still working part-time, and pay a big chunk of my income, £400 net, £500 gross, into a SIPP per month. So if I manage to live on my income excluding that, I'll still be £6000 plus interest ahead for the year. 

Organgrinder

Nebulous2 said:

After a very spendy year last year, I'm determined to rein in this year, and live within my income for financial year 25/26. We expected to run down quite a bit of capital between retiring and state pension age, which wasn't really the case for the first few years, but we made a big dent in it last year. 

We've had a noticeable increase in costs in some areas, car insurance being one. Holidays are another - comparing like for like, and flight costs at the same time of year, there has been quite a jump. 

I'm still working part-time, and pay a big chunk of my income, £400 net, £500 gross, into a SIPP per month. So if I manage to live on my income excluding that, I'll still be £6000 plus interest ahead for the year. 

I've also found holidays have shot up in price since 2022 or 2023. Car insurance though seems to be heading back down thankfully. However times are very turbulent right now. I find it a little unsettling to be honest.