How much to live on

RobM99

Normally, £1,000 a month is adequate to get by on. don't have an extravagant lifestyle but neither am I frugal. Since Lockdown One (sounds like a film) I'm saving about £100 a week though.

[Deleted User]

The answer to this is very individual. However, I must say that most forum members who post in the retirement section of these forums are far from typical of the rest of the population.

Time and health are the most important things in my view.

My mother who is now over 80 has a perfectly happy retirement on just over £14000 a year.  Myself, at the age of 62 manage very well on just over £19000 pension income a year and manage to save several hundred pounds a month too.(For annual bills and hopefully, future travel) I have some savings and investments but certainly not loads!  I currently work a few hours a week (casual contract zero hours) because I enjoy the work, not because I have too. I dont earn much but the money goes towards wants rather than needs. I probably won't do this for much longer, as I have other things to occupy my time.

From age 66 my income from pensions, both work and state will be just over £28000 a year, which is more than enough.

Please dont measure yourselves against some of the posters in the retirement section of this forum. They tend to have high salaries, inherited wealth and buy to lets. There will always be people better or worse off than yourself.

As long as you have enough to pay the bills and have quality time doing whatever want, you will be fine. As I said above, having good health, family and time are so much more important at retirement.

Those who believe they need £40000 plus a year in income, as well as  hundreds of thousands in savings, maybe need to look at what really is important. Maybe they should also read other sections of these forums where many people are trying and succceeding against the odds to live worthwhile lives on a great deal less.

Best wishes and keep safe.

scottish_lassy

This is so right.  Reading the retirement threads I began to panic that I was never going to have enough!  But looking at it another way, I have never had a huge salary - and have managed ok - so why would I need a mahoosive income in retirement?  I am not a big spender so, as you say, spending time with friends/family (when we can!) is far more important.  I have friends who haven't lived to see retirement, so all the saving was meaningless.  I have a figure in my head which I could sumplement with a small amount each month, and if work comes back with that, I'm going to seriously think about it.  I'm so glad to hear that £19000 is enough and will definately keep that in mind.

helensbiggestfan

Great post Baron-Dale. Wise words.  

I too looked at the pensions thread once, scared me half to death.  😂

I am 69, my pension income is £12k. It's fine, I'm perfectly happy. I have a great quality of life and lack for nothing,  

blue.peter

Someone asked a very similar question in the Budgeting & Bank Accounts forum the other day (not really the best place for it, but still). In case you're interested in the comments posted, it can be found here. The general tenor is much the same as in this thread - it's not a "one size fits all" situation, the answer will be very personal, and might well not require the vast funds of which some people speak.

[Deleted User]

I saw that thread blue.peter. I responded to that too in a similar way to the one here. Tend to feel more at home here though!

203846930

My private pension income is £3600/year and I get by quite easily on that.
I did a lot of experimenting prior to stopping work to see just how much I would actually need to get by each month and although I had to take a raise to cover the cost of the dog, the above figure pays ALL of my bills and buys my food, anything extra that I want or need comes out of my savings.
I have 5 years before my OAP kicks in and I will increase the drawdown on my pension pot as and when I need to to cover inflation and the pot should last well into my seventies and hopefully there will be nothing left in it when I pop my clogs.

blue.peter

[Deleted User] said:

I saw that thread blue.peter. I responded to that too in a similar way to the one here. Tend to feel more at home here though!

Yes, I noticed. But other people (including me) also made contributions to that thread. I thought that perhaps those interested in this thread might also like to see the other contributions.

fred246

duncanthedog said:

My private pension income is £3600/year and I get by quite easily on that.
I did a lot of experimenting prior to stopping work to see just how much I would actually need to get by each month and although I had to take a raise to cover the cost of the dog, the above figure pays ALL of my bills and buys my food, anything extra that I want or need comes out of my savings.
I have 5 years before my OAP kicks in and I will increase the drawdown on my pension pot as and when I need to to cover inflation and the pot should last well into my seventies and hopefully there will be nothing left in it when I pop my clogs.

£3600 is a lot for a dog to spend in a year.

203846930

fred246 said:

duncanthedog said:

My private pension income is £3600/year and I get by quite easily on that.
I did a lot of experimenting prior to stopping work to see just how much I would actually need to get by each month and although I had to take a raise to cover the cost of the dog, the above figure pays ALL of my bills and buys my food, anything extra that I want or need comes out of my savings.
I have 5 years before my OAP kicks in and I will increase the drawdown on my pension pot as and when I need to to cover inflation and the pot should last well into my seventies and hopefully there will be nothing left in it when I pop my clogs.

£3600 is a lot for a dog to spend in a year.

So is £28000 for a human.