How much to live on

Daffodil1234

Thank you jevbanx1 - interesting to hear your situation and the plan to use the lump sum to boost up the pension until SPA.  Very similar plan in mind for my spouse.  Like others, I agree that not working "one more year" can be beneficial for mental health / stress.

moving_forward

It's all detailed below the transport heading. £100 towards new car £150 fuel etc. This is likely to change when we retire but home fuel will increase.
Yes there's two of us. We are band D council tax.

jevbanx1

Thanks Daffodil.
My partner died in 2016 12 weeks after my sister. My mum had lived with us for 20 years and was also frail. After the two deaths, mum went into a terminal decline and the loss and stress all but killed me. 
I had at the time been actively pursuing part time work as they both, mum and my partner, had been Ill for many years. Anyway, returning to work kept me sane. I was still planning to leave work but then COVID hit and with some home working for a short period, before we were mandated back to the office, gave me a breathing space and I  thought I'd carry on as long as I could. Christmas this last year saw me hit a wall, and I returned to work after the Christmas break determined to put my papers in at the 6 month point, IE the earliest I could submit my request to retire. When all the bills began to rocket, my manager laughed saying to staff that I'd pretty quickly now  withdraw my request...
I have to retire sometime, and life is all too short. Roll on August. Good luck to you and your spouse.
Jan 

otb666

Well we have both retired now No debts, managing within 1900 pm (1500 husband 400 me).  I am waiting for a small tax rebate in july before i transfer some of my tax allowance to hubbys.  I fixed my gas electric til feb 24 paying 186.00pm.  The food budget 600pm we are able to keep to.  The bills are 600pm now And our other spends are 600pm.  The car /house insurance and mot service in total 950 came out of our savings £60k, We are aware our budget is tight but adequate and we have 400pm available in other spends we can forego if necessary.  I thought we would be more relaxed about spending but prefer to keep an eye on things Although we did treat ourselves to a spa/hotel stay which costs 200 (one night) which was lush Its hard to get away from budgets with the TV continually going on about cost of living crisis

Time4T_Accounts

Thinking about the ‘one more year’ question : I packed in work 4 years ago, at the age of 60.  It was a job I enjoyed, but there was (and is) other stuff that work was getting in the way of doing.  At the start of each  week I still have that Monday morning feeling- except that it’s now a very positive feeling, often with a smile.  I have no regrets over finishing work, and would heartily recommend it if finances permit.

[Deleted User]

I hope everyone is well. I am just returned from a week in Cyprus. Absolutely wonderful visiting my favourite places and restaurants after a 4 year gap. Great flights and a very smooth experience through both airports.
I have cancelled the planned cruise in late August/Early September as it would have been too strenuous for my older relative.
I am looking at alternatives for myself. I need to be away from home for the start of the new term so I do not weaken about fully retiring ! 
Finances are still in good shape. I have 23 more days of work before July 22nd !

otb666 great to hear from you. Your budgets are going well with a decent back up in the bank too. Well done!

MovingForwards

How about another week / 10 days in Cyprus, if that doesn't convince you to retire, nothing will at this stage @[Deleted User] 😃

I'm having a few months of saving, while looking for a new job. Once I've got one, and had my first new pay, I'll revisit my SIPP / ER plans and crack on with building those up. 

With utility increases I had budgeted £65pm, for 9 months of the year, new bill in and I had over budgeted by nearly £5.

jennystarpepper

@[Deleted User] , Balearic islands maybe, they will cut a couple of hours off flying time. I like Ibiza weather in September.

[Deleted User]

A couple of my savings accounts have had their anniversaries and have been renamed with extremely low interest rates. Yesterday I closed last year’s regular saver and opened a new one where I can deposit £200 a month at 2.5% which is double last year’s 1.25%.

I now have to decide what to do with my Cash ISA. whose interest rate has now gone from 0.80%to 0.10%. As I will never reach the £1000 a year interest before tax is payable with my total savings according to MSE I don’t really need a Cash ISA. I can actually get higher interest ordinary savings accounts. I will sort this out tomorrow. I may just transfer some of it to my loyalty saver and the rest to the future travel fund. 

I am wary of longer fixed term products as I get older which is daft but hey ho!

I will keep my low risk S&S ISA which is ticking along steadily if slowly to which I send £100 a month. This counts as my long term savings which is sufficient for me.

My other savings accounts are ok for the moment. I have one (loyalty saver) that has funds for all the annual bills and contingency, another for voluntary NI payments( I may close this  and use loyalty saver for these payments) and another for future travel plans. All of these are added to monthly.

I also have a second current account as a back up. This is added to monthly and is used primarily for spending on Christmas, Birthdays and Clothes.

My final savings if you like, are a few thousand in Premium Bonds. I usually make a £100 or so a year on those. Hopefully one day more! The good thing is that these can be cashed in fairly quickly should a crisis occur!😳

Finally I have a joint account with an older relative that we both add to monthly. This covers everything household such as utilities, food and fuel plus some charitable donations. It also gives both of us travel, mobile phone and breakdown cover at a very good price.

Have a pleasant Bank Holiday Monday!

DairyQueen

@[Deleted User] have you considered a 'bond ladder' for your cash savings? Fixed term of different durations would take advantage of rates as they rise.