How much to live on

Apintplease

thriftylynny said:

Thank you Baron_Dale & Savvy_Sue , you are both perfectly right ..from now on i am going to look at what i have achieved (positives) rather than the 'if only's' (negatives). Feel much better after your comments i have to say ! I also managed to give my daughter a leg up onto the property market when i downsized so another thing to be proud of plus an ISA value set aside for my son at some future date ..then that's it no more Bank of Mum !! Your figures are indeed spot on Baron_Dale & all being well of course my intention is to have a couple of nice holidays a year once SP kicks in ...eventually that is . Until then i will admit that i actually really enjoy a simpler life & the challenges it brings !!

We sold a tiny house in SW London and moved 500 miles to rural NI - a huge house and gardens with a pretty small mortgage which we paid off when mortgage rates became less then interest in savings

Looking back, our old house is now worth near on half  a million, double what this house is worth so maybe we too can look back and say we jumped at the wrong time and beat ourselves up

But that would have been 15 more years of the treadmill of slogging to pay for the privilege of living in London

Working as we both do for 3 days a week NMW gives us more than enough to live on now we live a simpler life. The kids are ok, son is in the process of buying in Sydney (omg you dont want to know the prices out there ), daughter is married, having another child, content with renting and content with her lot, the grandchildren want for nothing. She has never been aspirational , she's alway wanted to be a wife and a mum and keep a nice house.

Moving to SP plus my PP (NHS) will increase our income slightly if we decide to retire completely but I cant see that happening . Even the BIL who is loaded and has always made shrewd investments  and officially retired at 55 still works a couple of days a week at 65 and his wife has also returned to the classroom as a nursery assistant. Out of our peer group only one couple we know have fully retired now, but do voluntary work

And when the time does come to retire fully and this house and land becomes too much and a bungalow near services beckons, the down grade then will pay for the extras we might want.

203846930

I have not even looked into equity release yet, I have thought about it as there is no-one to come after me but I will leave it until I really need the money or find out for sure that I am going to pop off.
House is valued at about £80k last time I bothered to look.

Xbigman

Just looking at costs. These are 2021 to 2022 tax year figures.

Food                                   1976
C Tax                                  1225
Gas and Electric                   480
Water                                    205
Mobile                                    20
Mobile broadband                 216
Xmas/Birthdays                     140
Xmas costs                             30
Spending money                   520
ebike maint.                            80


Total                                    4892
Pension                               4013
Shortfall                               1245

Shortfall is made up by some dividends (about 770) and running my cash down over the next 9 years.

I have money set aside for a new boiler, new ebike, set of white goods, house maint and a small emergency fund. 
Its very doable as long as I'm sensible.

Not in my figures is the money available from paying into a SIPP each year and claiming the tax back. There's a big thread about this on the retirement board (the paying 2880 into a pension one) which is well worth a look for those on small retirement incomes who are NON tax payers. I haven't included it in my figures because I haven't done it yet and the pension rules might change and it have to stop so I don't want to plan for money that might not arrive later. If I do get that money in I plan to add the first few years of it to my emergency fund and then in future years use most of it for extra spending money. 


Darren

[Deleted User]

Xbigman, thank you for your breakdown. Impressive gas/electricity costs! What type of property do you have may I ask? As said above we pay about 3 times yours annually.

billn

My wife and I need more full years NI payments to get the maximum state pension possible ( both in jobs that were opted out) and intend buying them back, however we are waiting until as late as possible just incase the goalposts move again and the number of quaifying years needed gets changed, we know this will cost more as the price goes up each year with inflation but it will be a lot less than paying for extra years and still not qualifying.

Silvertabby

billn said:

My wife and I need more full years NI payments to get the maximum state pension possible ( both in jobs that were opted out) and intend buying them back, however we are waiting until as late as possible just incase the goalposts move again and the number of quaifying years needed gets changed, we know this will cost more as the price goes up each year with inflation but it will be a lot less than paying for extra years and still not qualifying.

I do hope you mean 'contracted out' rather than 'opted out' !

The number of qualifying years is unlikely to reduce.  Even if they increase (and there are no rumours of that to the best of my knowledge) then every extra (post 2016/17) year will benefit you.

I've already bought 2 years and will buy another 2 before this April (SPA 2022).  

scottish_lassy

Thanks so much everyone for your input.  My plan of action now is to do as Baron_Dale suggests and check my Government Gateway information re my contracted out years.  Then I am going to get all adjustments made to house (guy in house as i speak doing measurements for drawings for an en-suite).    I do have a spreadsheet which I will amend to a retirement living sheet.

[Deleted User]

scottish_Lassy, would be useful to hear more about how your pensions are stacking up in respect to how much  you need and future plans.

I also feel it would be useful to keep this going so others can add information, discuss their plans as well as it being a source of useful information for others.

KxMx

[Deleted User] said:

Xbigman, thank you for your breakdown. Impressive gas/electricity costs! What type of property do you have may I ask? As said above we pay about 3 times yours annually.

I'm interested too as live in a 3 bed mid terrace and pay approximately £800 annually which I thought was on the low side compared to most figures I've seen.

We heat every room but don't use a timer, it gets put on for 30-90 minutes as and when we need it, which now at the height of winter is 3 times daily.

Edited: D'oh I haven't lived in a semi for 15 years

billn

Silvertabby said:

I do hope you mean 'contracted out' rather than 'opted out' !

The number of qualifying years is unlikely to reduce.  Even if they increase (and there are no rumours of that to the best of my knowledge) then every extra (post 2016/17) year will benefit you.

I've already bought 2 years and will buy another 2 before this April (SPA 2022).  

Sorry you are correct to say contracted out although neither me or my wife can remember being told that we had been contracted out but this thread isn't the place for that discussion (I think it has been done to death on the pensions forum). I haven't heard any talk of an increase in qualifying years but I didn't hear anything when it went from 30 to 35 years but with the current situation I wouldn't rule anything out (and no I am not govenment bashing).

My SPA is 2024 so a bit to go.