A Paupers Pension Tale (Not many nuts to dig up)

Albermarle

Amateurretiree said:

Edit, 14000 pa NHS pension.

To buy a £14k pa pension , at age 60 ,inflation linked etc would currently cost in the region of £600K .
So with effectively £850K + state pensions , you are in the wrong ( Paupers ) thread 

Nick9967

Great thread, gives me comfort, very similar 53 , 10 years younger wife , she's happy working, house paid for (almost) £300k pot in 2 years (fingers crossed)  I'm happy to work part time for 4 or 5 years, going to downsize at 55 , take £100k buy a motorhome and love what life is left for us! chilling in the sunset on a campsite overlooking the sea , good bottle in hand !!!! Now that's worth risking a little for !  might turn round and b....r off to Southern France for a month ! why not ! kids you wanna come , na thanks , ok see ya in a month look after the house and feed the cat!!!!

Amateurretiree

Albermarle said:

Amateurretiree said:

Edit, 14000 pa NHS pension.

To buy a £14k pa pension , at age 60 ,inflation linked etc would currently cost in the region of £600K .
So with effectively £850K + state pensions , you are in the wrong ( Paupers ) thread 

Oh, just doesn’t feel like it when people are asking is a million enough to retire on!

Thanks anyway, makes me feel better!

Albermarle

Amateurretiree said:

Albermarle said:

Amateurretiree said:

Edit, 14000 pa NHS pension.

To buy a £14k pa pension , at age 60 ,inflation linked etc would currently cost in the region of £600K .
So with effectively £850K + state pensions , you are in the wrong ( Paupers ) thread 

Oh, just doesn’t feel like it when people are asking is a million enough to retire on!

Thanks anyway, makes me feel better!

Most people really underestimate how much is needed to provide a good sustainable income in retirement . Conversely those with a sustainable income, in the case a final salary pension also underestimate its true value .

A Million Pound pension pot on its own , will 'only ' produce around £35Kpa before tax if you want it to last .
The addition of State pension(s) adds to this of course .

Terron

[Deleted User] said:

A most refreshing thread. Great to hear the plans of a more typical member of the population. In the Over 50s Forum there is this thread which several of us have contributed too that you may find helpful.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6228191/how-much-to-live-on#latest

Most of us that contribute there are, in my opinion, more representative of the U.K. population. 

As for the ‘Which’ the amounts needed for various types of retirement will depend on your own spending patterns. As a single person my spending patterns would allow me a very  comfortable retirement on about £25000 a year rather than the nearly £30000 suggested. For example, I don’t need to budget several hundred a year for tobacco and alcohol nor do I spend as much on housing and insurances as they suggest. Definitely a case of each to his/her own.

I also agree they need to check their drawdown annuity figures. unless they are assuming both members of the couple have pension pots. 

I shall follow your thread with interest. Thanks again for providing some balance as well as hope for the majority!

Best wishes.

Which do a survey of what people actually spend - 6.300 retirees. The figures they gives are averages and you seem to have misread them. £19kpa is their figure for a single person living confortably. £30kpa is for a single person living a luxurious retirement. Both match my experience and I don't smoke or drink.

[Deleted User]

Terron I am saying that I could do nearly all of the things they suggest for a luxurious retirement on £25000 a year as a single person, rather than the £30000. I do not spend as much on insurances, the house and travel. However I spend more on food. Luxurious is subjective.

Terron

[Deleted User] said:

Terron I am saying that I could do nearly all of the things they suggest for a luxurious retirement on £25000 a year as a single person, rather than the £30000. I do not spend as much on insurances, the house and travel. However I spend more on food. Luxurious is subjective.

What is the point of saying you can do something in between for an in between amount? That is just obvious. Just as it is obvious that the lifestyles suggested are examples not prescriptions.

gambleruk

First of all many thanks to all the positive comments, I will admit I was a tad apprehensive when I first posted this as thought there might have been a few people who would have just been so negative about my plans. I once posted years ago when I had paid my mortgage off and basically all the replies were I should not have done that and paid into my pension instead, if I had done that then I certainly wouldn't be where I am now. It is an interesting point though, I could have worked for 5 more years and maybe doubled my pension pot but is a larger pension pot worth 5 years of freedom at a relevant youngish age ?

Just to throw some figures at you all which I did not do on my original post, our "number" is 12k per year to live comfortably and not having to worry about bills etc. We are lucky I suppose that we live in the North West in a lovely village with the countryside on our doorstep. I have found through the past 6 months that I am even managing to save £100/£200 per month as I originally estimated £400 per month for food but the wife works for one of our large supermarkets so with discount and cheap food she brings home I have been amazed on how little we have spent. We also still have our 19 year old son still living at home, thankfully he is working as well as studying still and is hell bent on moving out as soon as he can which will no doubt save us even more money in the long term.

Like I have already mentioned I am sure our costs will rise once the local pubs re open next week but I am looking forward to it and seeing it as a challenge to balance the books every month. Again I am lucky that my main hobbies are reading, running, walking the dogs, listening to music, all of which cost very little, I did put a pot of £1000 away from my redundancy money to use for buying and selling records which as been my main hobby for the past 5 years, if times really did become hard then I have my 1500 lps to fall back on which are increasing in value at a scary rate at the moment, hopefully never come to that of course. I also never switch the tv on during the day except at weekends for the footy, some days I never switch it on at all, I find it keeps me active not having it on and everything I need to do gets done. I did think the Winter months would have been tougher than what they were but they flew by and now if last Summer is anything to go by then it will be sat in the sunshine reading many a good book.

Lastly for the time being a big thanks to Baron_Dale for the link to the over 50's spending thread, really enjoyed reading how other people spend and save money. 

bluenose1

That’s really interesting that you can manage comfortably on £12,000 per annum. We also live in the North West and are lucky to have a nature reserve within 5 minutes walk of our house and the beach also  within walking distance. 

Just thinking why we couldn’t live on that amount.  Probably the main reason is my husbands golf membership, football season ticket, Tennis and squash club membership and gym/ swimming membership. Not forgetting a fiver twice a week to play 5 a side football....
First time I have added it up but think it is about £3,000 per year.  And I won’t even mention cost of Sky and BT Sports. 

We do have a joint gym membership so I benefit from that.  

We don’t put TV on of a day, though we do listen to audio books for free from the local library as well as podcasts whilst doing jobs around the house or walking etc. 

I have found loads of really good recipes on BBC Good Food site that I batch cook so that saves us money. Though we do like steak from the local butchers a few nights per week. Our food bill with an 18 year old at home is approx £4,800. Though I know when I retire this will reduce as my husband currently does most of the shopping.

Nebulous2

[Deleted User] said:

Terron I am saying that I could do nearly all of the things they suggest for a luxurious retirement on £25000 a year as a single person, rather than the £30000. I do not spend as much on insurances, the house and travel. However I spend more on food. Luxurious is subjective.

Going by the over 50's thread your expenses are not really those of a single person either, as you are sharing housing costs with someone else. Therefore it isn't surprising that you can fund a luxurious lifestyle on less money than someone who doesn't have anyone to share costs with.  

All credit to you for stopping work and enjoying yourself - but like the person whose defined benefit pension Albermarle commented on above, you are a long way from the pauper level.