Half to 2/3rds of your last salary just doesn't work

Pipthecat

On the need front, I found this to be good food for thought.   Home - PLSA - Retirement Living Standards

Nebulous2

There is a lengthy thread on here, which has dropped off the radar, called "The Number" 

Pensions Planning: The NUMBER — MoneySavingExpert Forum

You need to work out where you need to be, before you consider how you are going to get there. 

p00hsticks

Cus said:

chubsta said:

For the last few years I have recorded every outgoing on a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much money I have been spending, and have a million calculations worked out which show my expected income once retired from pension, investments etc. I also have an 'anticipated costs' sheet as mentioned by someone else which has all of my current work-related expenses, such as travel costs etc taken off as they will not apply when retired.
I then save everything I earn above what my pension will be (building up a nice pot in the process of course which can be accessed once retired) and attempt to live each month on what my expected post-retirement income will be. Each month I still manage to save a decent sum out of this as well.
So I have proven to myself that I can live on less than what my pension will be without dipping into my reserves, which of course will be able to be dipped into for emergencies should that be required.
Everyone is different in terms of their requirements once retired - some people like to go on big foreign holidays, that doesn't factor at all for me, so there is no catch-all formula which works.

The only thing which works for everyone is plan your retirement years in advance, and be honest with how much you will need - perhaps it would be worth working that extra couple of years so you can afford a new car every 5 years once retired if that is a priority to you, but there is no point working that extra couple of years if the money is just going to sit there and never be used.

But.... plan, and try to live off the amount of money you will get in retirement for a couple of years before you retire if you possible can, PROVE you will be ok, it gives peace of mind.

One difficulty I have is doing the budgeting with a partner and kids who have no interest in the idea of my retirement 

Kids - while many never completely get rid of them, that's another potential large part of your working age budget that's not necessarily needed by the time you retire....

Scot_39

The tools and methods above - but only you know the answer.

But this years food and energy inflation blown my old figures out of the window - so planning only gets you so far.

The biggest variable though is your expectations - and what you might be willing to give up -

             fancier cars, expensive meals out, how many holidays, for how long and where etc

             quitting work saves on some costs - but hobbies to replace that work time vary hugely in costs

Look at the lboro links - the three levels - give some pointers - so try and guess where your expectations lie.

Some people find it easy to cut back for quality of life reasons - others get hooked on high income - and work forever.

And note the huge impact in 1 years - and that probably excludes recent inflation spikes.

Marcon

Cus said:

chubsta said:

For the last few years I have recorded every outgoing on a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much money I have been spending, and have a million calculations worked out which show my expected income once retired from pension, investments etc. I also have an 'anticipated costs' sheet as mentioned by someone else which has all of my current work-related expenses, such as travel costs etc taken off as they will not apply when retired.
I then save everything I earn above what my pension will be (building up a nice pot in the process of course which can be accessed once retired) and attempt to live each month on what my expected post-retirement income will be. Each month I still manage to save a decent sum out of this as well.
So I have proven to myself that I can live on less than what my pension will be without dipping into my reserves, which of course will be able to be dipped into for emergencies should that be required.
Everyone is different in terms of their requirements once retired - some people like to go on big foreign holidays, that doesn't factor at all for me, so there is no catch-all formula which works.

The only thing which works for everyone is plan your retirement years in advance, and be honest with how much you will need - perhaps it would be worth working that extra couple of years so you can afford a new car every 5 years once retired if that is a priority to you, but there is no point working that extra couple of years if the money is just going to sit there and never be used.

But.... plan, and try to live off the amount of money you will get in retirement for a couple of years before you retire if you possible can, PROVE you will be ok, it gives peace of mind.

One difficulty I have is doing the budgeting with a partner and kids who have no interest in the idea of my retirement 

Maybe you need to make it relevant to them - uncomfortably so! Some repeated references to 'needing information about what you're prepared to give up/cut back on once the household income drops' can be useful...

Albermarle

For the last few years I have recorded every outgoing on a spreadsheet so I know exactly how much money I have been spending, and have a million calculations worked out which show my expected income once retired from pension, investments etc

Being someone who is not so diligent in recording a lot of details on spreadsheets etc. I just did an approx estimate of spending when still working, by hand ( I know very old fashioned) . I used knowledge of bill costs and credit card spending + average annual  household maintenance , holiday costs, adult child support and a guesstimate of OH's personal spending !

I increased this for retirement a bit, as my costs were likely to go up ( would have to give up company car and a few other perks)

It took me about one hour, and now retired , I checked it again and spending was originally a bit less on most things but a bit higher on holidays. Then this year of course it has gone up 10% +

I think the point I am trying to make is that even if you are not that way inclined to making detailed records, an approx idea of expenditure/where the money goes, is a big step forward from having little idea . Also with so many potential variables in future it does question the usefulness of trying to pin everything down to the last penny. Of course if you were on an extremely tight budget, then it would be a different matter.