How much to live on

Langtang

Greylocks said:

Durhamborn.

“always made sure i had a lot of time off on the sick etc”

Despicable behaviour. I hope you didn’t work in the NHS. I used to work 24 hour shifts and had to cover for sickness. 

As Greylocks says, covering for sickness is part & parcel of working shifts. I've worked 12 hour shifts for 30+ years. One of the most annoying things about it was getting to the last hour of a shift, only to get a call saying your back-to-back was sick, and wasn't coming in to relieve you. I then had to wait back until cover was found. Sometimes it wasn't found, and you had to just work on.

Sadly, it most usually happened on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday... which says it all, in my opinion.

Each to their own, I guess.

Great to see this thread revived, always enjoy following it.

Bobinyorkshire

These posts have been fantastic and have helped a lot to try to answer what seems like such as simple question. 

The thing I am struggling with is not so much ‘how much to live on’, but the leap of faith to take the plunge, finish work and use the savings (kept there for just in case 😀) to bridge the gap to nearer the NPA for my NHS pension. I’ve done the number, spreadsheets, bank statements etc which all consistently tell me it’s manageable, as we have no mortgage or finance and have only our youngest to support through Uni (I have allocated money for this). 

Our household income would £2800 when I take the pension and I can match this with SIPPs and savings up until this point (thanks to advice also received on this forum - thank you to those who responded). This will also ultimately be enhanced by state pension for both of us later, which would help us further (and help the children, especially as this will be their most expensive years).

Whilst I realise the point of this forum is about finance, there also appears to be (in my case) other less tangible reasons for my hesitancy and I can’t really explain why. 

I feel I have done all the pre-retirement recommendations (as I see them). I went to a lower grade of work in 2017 (and protected my pension), reduced my hours in 2018 and started new hobbies (swimming, photography etc). 

No explanation as to why I have these concerns, just saying……And thanks for listening.

[Deleted User]

Bobinyorkshire, All I am going to say is Good luck and go for it! 
You can always do some occasional casual non stressful work if you feel the need. My max two days a week casual zero hours contract does it for me!
Your income plans look good too.
Thank you so much for posting.

drummersdale

Bobinyorkshire said:

These posts have been fantastic and have helped a lot to try to answer what seems like such as simple question. 

The thing I am struggling with is not so much ‘how much to live on’, but the leap of faith to take the plunge, finish work and use the savings (kept there for just in case 😀) to bridge the gap to nearer the NPA for my NHS pension. I’ve done the number, spreadsheets, bank statements etc which all consistently tell me it’s manageable, as we have no mortgage or finance and have only our youngest to support through Uni (I have allocated money for this). 

Our household income would £2800 when I take the pension and I can match this with SIPPs and savings up until this point (thanks to advice also received on this forum - thank you to those who responded). This will also ultimately be enhanced by state pension for both of us later, which would help us further (and help the children, especially as this will be their most expensive years).

Whilst I realise the point of this forum is about finance, there also appears to be (in my case) other less tangible reasons for my hesitancy and I can’t really explain why. 

I feel I have done all the pre-retirement recommendations (as I see them). I went to a lower grade of work in 2017 (and protected my pension), reduced my hours in 2018 and started new hobbies (swimming, photography etc). 

No explanation as to why I have these concerns, just saying……And thanks for listening.

So is that £5600 a month income (you say £2800 that can be matched with SIPPS and savings) as if it is I would say definitely go now!

Bobinyorkshire

Oh no, wow that’s well outside my income 😀. The SIPPs and savings give me the £2800 per month in the interim until my pension kicks in and takes over in providing the £2800 per month

[Deleted User]

Bobinyorkshire. May I ask how old you are now? So SIPP only needs to last until NHS pension kicks in?

Bobinyorkshire

I’m 55 next year, so can use SIPP and savings then (to keep
it below PA). Then plan to take NHS pension with actuary reduction at 57 or 58 depending how long the money lasts 😂

blue.peter

Bobinyorkshire said:

No explanation as to why I have these concerns, just saying……And thanks for listening.

I suspect that the answer is something you said earlier in your post: it's a leap of faith. It's a big decision, one of the biggest of your life. There's always that nagging doubt "what if it goes wrong?" Well, what if it does? What's the worst that can happen? You don't have enough money? You get bored? So think about it - what is the worst that can happen? And what would the solution be? Go out and look for a part-time or short-term job, maybe? Would that really be the end of the world?

Now, I don't know much about your situation, but, for what it's worth, I'm living a very comfortable retirement on a lot less than your £2,800/month. (I assume that's net, but don't forget to knock tax off if it's gross.) I'm single, no mortgage, my house is in council tax band D. If you've checked all your numbers and have hobbies to occupy yourself, I can't see why you're likely to find it a problem.

(It wasn't such a big leap for me, but only because I had a stark choice. I was made redundant, so I either had to get another job or retire. As it happened, I had been made redundant before, about five years or so earlier. I was out of work for several months then, so I knew how much money I needed to live on and how I'd live in retirement. That had been something of a dry run for retirement, and had gone well. I didn't bother to look for another job. I've now been retired about six years, and don't regret it at all.)

gambleruk

Hi everyone, first time post on this thread but some of you might have read my tongue in cheek titled paupers thread on the pension forum, one thing to mention about Bobinyorkshire having concerns is like blue.peter said it is a huge decision, if covid had not happened I am pretty sure I would still be grinding the 9 to 5 lifestyle with little idea on when I was going to retire, all I knew was that I wanted to do it as soon as I could but never could find the time to plan ahead. I think so many people end up working much longer than they need to as they do not realise that they can afford to retire.

I feel so lucky to be given the chance to retire at 50 and if it does not work out for me then what I have I lost ? Except for a few more years of pension contributions into a very average works pension I have lost nothing and gained so much freedom in my life. My recommendation to anybody thinking about it is just do it if you already think you have the finances and your family fully supports your decision then go for it.

Bobinyorkshire

Thank you for your supportive and helpful posts, they are appreciated and do help. My original plan was to get to 56, but the prospect of another winter’s grind to work is ever present. Good to see so many of you have got to the ‘other side’ with no regrets. 😀