How much to live on

RetSol

I have a very similar position for my pension.

I smile inwardly whenever I hear about pay freezes in the civil service.  I was one increment off the top of my pay scale when I took voluntary severance in 2010 at the beginning of a civil service pay freeze.  My final salary for pension purposes (and now my pension) has quietly been going up annually by the rate of CPI while pay was frozen for a couple of years from 2010 and now again from 2021.

helensbiggestfan

Hi everyone.  

Well it sounds like in cases of pay freezes early retirement has actually been more beneficial than remaining in work.  

I tried watching that Bargain Brits thing the other night on the TV.  Thought I'd see if I could pick up any tips. 😂. There was a lady on who did "extreme couponing". She did get lots of food for next to nothing, and although I do look out for the deals and money off coupons I do find that a lot of the offers are for junk or convenience foods which I tend to try and avoid because I'm trying to eat healthier foods.  

There was a couple who had downsized to live on a canal boat, it looked fun.  I knew someone who did that.  They had an amazing time, living on the Thames, enjoying the benefits of living in our capital without the high cost of housing.  However, they were in their 20s when they did it.  I am not sure my old bones could cope. 😂. 

All going well here......my new business venture is doing ok.  It won't make me rich but I'm happy with the results so far.  Still got masses of decluttering to do.  However,  my son has asked me to store some furniture for him.....so much for my attempts at downsizing...... 

I don't mind.  I offered. Can't see the point of him having to pay  for a storage unit when I have some space here.  I have also been allowing my neighbour to park in my driveway whilst they have building work done.  

Maybe I should start charging fees for people renting my space.🤔

drummersdale

helensbiggestfan said:

I don't mind.  I offered. Can't see the point of him having to pay  for a storage unit when I have some space here.  I have also been allowing my neighbour to park in my driveway whilst they have building work done.  

Maybe I should start charging fees for people renting my space.🤔

I know there are some people who live close to Liverpool and Everton football grounds who "rent" their driveways for use during home matches - every little helps!

helensbiggestfan

Yes I've heard that. I suppose it works best in city/tourist areas.  

One year my friends and I went to Ascot for ladies day.  We rented a parking space in someone's private driveway.  The lady of the house noticed we had packed a picnic and asked us if we would like to use her garden to eat instead of lugging everything to the race ground and have to carry it around with us.  She had a beautiful garden so we took up her kind offer.  She even let us use her downstairs cloakroom.  We bought her a bottle of wine with some of our winnings as an extra thank you. 

blue.peter

helensbiggestfan said:

 I have also been allowing my neighbour to park in my driveway whilst they have building work done.  

Maybe I should start charging fees for people renting my space.🤔

If you're serious about that, take a look at JustPark: you can let out a parking space in front of your house by the hour/day/whatever.

I go to Birmingham from time to time. When I do, I use JustPark to book parking in a driveway in Solihull, and then take the train into Brum. Last time I was there, the owner happened to be outside loading his car, and we had a chat. He told me that the three parking spaces that he offers are enough to pay the council tax on his house. It's detached, about 3 or 4 bedrooms, and on a very nice road, so we're talking about a non-trivial amount of money for him.

helensbiggestfan

Alas Blue Peter although I have parking for 3/4 cars my house isn't really in the right area.  Not busy enough, and not near to workplaces, stadiums etc. But I'm sure in the right circumstances people can do quite well letting out unused parking spaces.  

I'm just letting my neighbour use part of my drive whilst her builders are on site, partly because they need close access to get equipment to her house and also to protect her car - just in case.  I won't ask her for payment, she's a brilliant chef and often brings me new dishes to try.  She regularly  sends round her latest concoction.  I'm happy with that.  😁

[Deleted User]

Dear all.
I have decided to stop perusing these forums for at least the foreseeable future. Not only am I spending too much time reading them, but to some extent they are hindering my plans to move on with semi/full retirement. I need to be confident in what I am trying to do with my remaining years, rather than full of self doubts. I tend to wander over to the main pension board too often and compare myself unfavourably, even though the rational me knows it’s ridiculous.
Having said that, I have to comment that this particular thread has been a wonderful and reassuring read.
I will not delete my account so I can return in the future if needs be. Likewise my posts will remain just in case they may be useful or encouragement to someone out there. Thanks for all your responses and comments. Hopefully this thread will continue as I feel it supports those with more typical retirement finances. Best wishes to all.

Gin_and_Milk

I know Baron_Dale won't see this, but I also find that this is a very reassuring thread, as the numbers are more within my range!  I realise that DC pots worth hundreds of thousands doesn't give a very high wage once you break it down into monthly payments over a number of years, but no two ways about it, some people will be retiring on far more than what I earn now (and fair play to them).
I'm on target to retire at 60 on £19K, I can't really afford to go sooner unfortunately.  It would be significantly more than that if I retired at 67, but some things are more important than money, and I want to have enough time to enjoy retirement.

QrizB

I'm sorry to see you go @[Deleted User] but I can nunderstand your reasons.

Hope you can come back once your plans are more settled!

Langtang

Just wanted to come out of lurkdom to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed all your posts @[Deleted User]

This thread is excellent, and I feel far more comfortable posting here - so I understand your predicament. I hope you reconsider at some point in the future, but if not then good luck and I am confident that it will all work out well for you.

Just to go off on a slight tangerine, does anyone else worry that we're going to have a job backfilling all the jobs that are to be vacated by people (me, hopefully) retiring early? I remember there being a worry a few years back in the Oil and Gas industry, that everyone was coming up to retirement at the same time, and there just wasn't the new talent coming up (mainly because these jobs were (seen as) jobs for life)