Retirement - Live Life or Penny Pinch

sevenhills

MikeJXE said:

I'm 82 now and in reasonably good health, so last Christmas because I don't need it i gave my 2 kids and 4 grandkids £10,000 each and the look on their faces was priceless.

My 95 year old relative struggles to give them £20 at Christmas, even though he has £70k in the bank.
Always a saver, his thoughts are very narrow in his old age. Glad your are happy for your relatives.

Ibrahim5

I retired with a planning spreadsheet that all worked well. In the early years my outgoings are at least £20k more than incomings but that reduces as the years go by. I can spend more but seeing your wealth go down that quickly is a bit scary. At the start my investments were growing so well I was standing still but now my wealth is dropping at that rate I am finding it difficult not to economise even though I don't need to. Last night I redid my long term spreadsheet. It's surprising how much my direct debits have gone up in the last 5 years.

MikeJXE

Ibrahim5 said:

I retired with a planning spreadsheet that all worked well. In the early years my outgoings are at least £20k more than incomings but that reduces as the years go by. I can spend more but seeing your wealth go down that quickly is a bit scary. At the start my investments were growing so well I was standing still but now my wealth is dropping at that rate I am finding it difficult not to economise even though I don't need to. Last night I redid my long term spreadsheet. It's surprising how much my direct debits have gone up in the last 5 years.

Thats what is happening with my friend, his investments are tanking. He was into finance as his everyday job, retired with a big pension or drawdown whatever you call it. In the recent good years he spent big but now he can't and it's driving him crazy, He has a spreadsheet for everything under the sun and spends most of his day updating them. It's nuts and the path to an early grave. 

eastcorkram

TadleyBaggie said:

Linton said:

TadleyBaggie said:

I saw my in-laws penny pinching into their late 80's, then dying within weeks of each other, leaving a large estate. They could have such a better retirement, I won't make that mistake.

Not if they had spent it all by their early 70's on extravagances they could barely remember.  

It wasn't like that, their income into later years was all "steady", final salary pension plus state pension. They were saving around £1K a month, even spending half of that extra per month would have left them with a comfortable savings later on.

On what though? If someone advised me that I should , or could, spend an extra £500 a month, I wouldn't have a clue what to do with it. 

ader42

I intend on moderate spending at the start of retirement (good amounts of travel) - followed by moderate spending switched to helping my son out instead of travel. Not going to live frugally until I’m 85 if I can help it.  

Novice_investor101

I’m 41 & making the most of every tax relief/free money works scheme going to maximise my retirement pots (DC pension, LISA, ISA, matching shares) so I can retire somewhere between 55-60. 65 would be my latest, but I’d be happy if I could drop to part time work from 60. 

Im lucky to have a DB pension from age 65 & will have full SP that, in today’s money, will pay over my personal allowance from age 68 onwards, so I’ll be using my DC to enjoy life from retirement date to mid 70’s, when I expect I’d slow down a bit & then live off the base guaranteed income & a bit of drawdown or buy an annuity as I’d likely have no one to leave anything to. 

Mortgage will be paid off, no kids to worry about. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell up & move somewhere more rural & a small but nicer house when I finally retire properly. That’s the dream, anyway. 

Kim1965

Spivo46 said:

With a Medium sized pension (300 to 400k) at retirement that you know won't last till you are 100. Do you enjoy retirement for 20 years or live a very modest life knowing you will have some pension left when you are very old and unlikely to enjoy it?? Isn't retirement for living?

If you have 300 to 400k at sp age as a couple. Two full state pensions and 4% withdrawal gives 32k pa. IS this enough?
 As i see it, you do not know how long yiu will live. So anything other than a cautious drawdown, could see a pensioner left without. No such issues if you have db pensions. 

michaels

What is the OPs cut off point? 

I suspect I could have had more fun spending £10 when I was 20 than I would get out of the same spend today and perhaps in another 30 years time it will bring me proportionately less extra enjoyment - but I don't really know - I suspect being 85 and not able to afford heating or a cleaner or whatever would be a real downer in terms of quality of life.

It almost sounds like a live for today person trying to justify themselves when they can see that logic dictates otherwise.

JGB1955

Going forward we've decided to spend £10,000 a year on holidays.  BUT after a life of parsimony it really takes a great leap of faith to budget in a 70th birthday meal in Dubai at (maybe... but probably more than) £500.  It's our first post-pension-Covid adventure... 5 weeks away - can't wait!

SouthCoastBoy

For those with dc pensions it definitely is a conundrum, so many variables. Personally I will front load my spending, if I get to 85 and run out of money so be it. I'm starting to enter my twilight years, 58 soon so need to make the most of it, never know when the grim reaper is going to turn up