Question for those already retired - how did your holiday and entertainment expenses evolve...?

saucer

Pat38493 said:

coyrls said:

I'm not going to be much help as you've chosen categories where our spending has varied wildly both pre- and post-retirement (to say nothing of the wildcard COVID years).  For planning purposes, I wouldn't factor in much of a change as the ability to save money is offset by the increased opportunities to spend money.  You can take comfort from the fact that these are discretionary categories and so you can adjust your spend as necessary.

To answer the question above about what is my retirement income - it's not fully decided yet but we are looking at various scenarios in the range of 60-72K net income as a couple - my wife already retired early on NHS pension.  I could stop work next summer (2024) but depending on investment performance, there would be a small risk of having to reduce spending at some point.  If I work another couple of years we would be pretty sure to be able to spend at least what we are spending today on these categories without running out of money (at least according to historical modelling and sense checking).  We also have the intention to downsize our house in a few years (not only for pension reasons but just because it will be too big for the two of us), but if I worked another 2 years we would have the remaining option to not downsize the house even in worst case scenarios.

Surely by any measure you are going to be in a very comfortable situation? What I would be asking myself is how  many years of relatively good health will I sacrifice working to boost my finances later on

westv

Prism said:

westv said:

We like to eat out but we try to choose places that don't have mediocre food, cramped seating or kids running around. 

I agree. Some of these comments about eating mediocre food puzzle me a bit. Maybe we are lucky where we live but there are multiple lovely non chain pubs and restaurants within walking distance (5k) or a 10 min drive. They serve amazing food that I couldn't easily make myself. The only type we don't bother is are Indian restaurants, as I can make those dishes better mysef

  .....

barnstar2077

westv said:

Prism said:

westv said:

We like to eat out but we try to choose places that don't have mediocre food, cramped seating or kids running around. 

I agree. Some of these comments about eating mediocre food puzzle me a bit. Maybe we are lucky where we live but there are multiple lovely non chain pubs and restaurants within walking distance (5k) or a 10 min drive. They serve amazing food that I couldn't easily make myself. The only type we don't bother is are Indian restaurants, as I can make those dishes better mysef

  .....

I think this refers to meters and not kilometres (and not five thousand miles for that matter :  )

So, about three miles, or within an hours walk. 

katejo

Pat38493 said:

Hi - I'm just wondering if I can get some feedback from those who are already retired on what you spent on items like:
- Holidays
- Entertainment (weekends away, shows, festivals, day outings etc).
- Eating out.

What I'm really hoping to get some feedback on is whether you ended up spending more, less, or roughly the same on these items after retiring.

This is one of my big ticket items - my spending on holidays for the last year was over £8K (and that's just "my half" of the spend).  Then there was nearly £3K on entertainment/outings and over 2.5K on "Food & Drink" which is a category mainly used for eating out as my wife pays for most of the household food.

My gut feel is that I should be able to reduce this budget after retirement because a) I can pick and choose more carefully bargain prices rather than having convenient dates drive my spend and b) Even the last year of spending included one holiday where we took the kids in school holiday time and c) This included a 3.5 week retirement holiday for my wife that cost over £8K on its own.

On the other hand, maybe you want to take more holidays when retired just because "I can".

I am interested to hear any real world experiences here of what you expected to happen and what really happened so far.

Also interested in this. I am now 60 and can access part of my SAUL pension if I want to. I am currently looking at reducing hours slightly first before going completely. Holidays is one of the main things which I am hoping to do when I have more freedom of time to do it but....

cfw1994

Pat38493 said:

Hi - I'm just wondering if I can get some feedback from those who are already retired on what you spent on items like:
- Holidays
- Entertainment (weekends away, shows, festivals, day outings etc).
- Eating out.

What I'm really hoping to get some feedback on is whether you ended up spending more, less, or roughly the same on these items after retiring.

This is one of my big ticket items - my spending on holidays for the last year was over £8K (and that's just "my half" of the spend).  Then there was nearly £3K on entertainment/outings and over 2.5K on "Food & Drink" which is a category mainly used for eating out as my wife pays for most of the household food.

My gut feel is that I should be able to reduce this budget after retirement because a) I can pick and choose more carefully bargain prices rather than having convenient dates drive my spend and b) Even the last year of spending included one holiday where we took the kids in school holiday time and c) This included a 3.5 week retirement holiday for my wife that cost over £8K on its own.

On the other hand, maybe you want to take more holidays when retired just because "I can".

I am interested to hear any real world experiences here of what you expected to happen and what really happened so far.

I rarely drop onto these hallowed boards….once the squirrelled nuts thread wound down, and I stepped away from the office early in 2021, I’ve never been busier 🤣

Hard to be precise on spend: I would say it is about what we spent before, but we have perhaps done more “stuff”.  Next up are a couple of music festivals which we have done a few times now, with friends: good times!

You are *very* right that you can pick and chose timings much easier, aim for bargains, etc etc.  we will likely spend the expensive summer season at home, relaxing in our garden, exhausted from travels 😎

Prime example: in May last year we spotted the 50 years of Interrail, 50% off sale: never to be repeated, & I only spotted it on the last day (thanks to Martin’s MSE email). 

I interrailed back in ‘87,  so I was quite keen to give it a go.

We made a rash decision to grab a 2 month first class pass (not much more than a 1 month standard, with the sale deal 😉).  

At the time, we had a lot of caring duties with a very frail MiL heading towards a care home 😳 

I felt we might get away for a couple of weeks, fly home, deal with things, go out again 🤷‍♂️

As things turned out, she made the decision for us, sadly passing away last summer…..giving us a full 2 months to fill 😱

Mrs MikeIOW, as well as grieving, has dealt with the estate, and applied for probate in November.  A hefty amount of admin, but as the ‘capable one’ of her siblings, it was always going to be her task.
In the end, it was granted just a couple of days after we had set off to Europe 👀
Turns out she is a great travelling soulmate too: very adept at checking local train companies in advance for potential issues, fine company and I'm pretty sure she loved it as much as I did!
We returned a couple of weeks ago after an absolutely amazing 2 months, from Leicester to Ljubljana, Valencia to Vienna, Berlin to the Black Sea.   Caught up with friends in Spain, Slovakia, Poland and Germany 👍   

Now half-planning to turn my FindPenguins ‘diary’ into a book (it appears I have 20k words: anyone interested? 🤪)
Set ourselves a budget range, & ended up just above the middle of it 💪

We do like going out with friends, but it is less often for us to dine out now: everyone has an eye on costs these days: more likely to do lunch than dinner, which is also often cheaper.  Or walks.  Or BBQs.

The hardest people to schedule time with are other retired pals!

My firm advice to people here is to plan a spread of things you can do with your time (holidays, activities, household jobs), then retire as soon as you can to crack on with it 😎 
Remember, none of us get out alive from this gig, & I’ve yet to read a headstone that read “wished he had spent longer at work”: nurture friends and family, make the most of your time on Planet Earth 🤷‍♂️

ianthy

We are into our 3rd year of retirement. Expenditure on holidays have increased - we have more time and we have also upgraded our flights and accommodation too. We will stay in a good quality Airbnb for stays of 3+ nights, otherwise it's a 4/5* hotel. We book 1 big long haul trip per year .. Japan is next year. Then a number of short/med haul trips and weekends. Flights - short haul biz and long haul premium econ. Post C-19 being squeezed in economy just fills me with dread. We have a holiday home in Europe, which allows us long stays without high accommodation costs. We budget for £20k per annum for holidays.

Dining out/Entertainment has been less - I think this reflects the time away travelling 4+ months a year. Maybe once a month in the UK, we will go into Central London and try a new restaurant, but otherwise we are happy to dine in our walk to  to our local Cote Brasserie for lunch. 

Pat38493

ianthy said:

We are into our 3rd year of retirement. Expenditure on holidays have increased - we have more time and we have also upgraded our flights and accommodation too. We will stay in a good quality Airbnb for stays of 3+ nights, otherwise it's a 4/5* hotel. We book 1 big long haul trip per year .. Japan is next year. Then a number of short/med haul trips and weekends. Flights - short haul biz and long haul premium econ. Post C-19 being squeezed in economy just fills me with dread. We have a holiday home in Europe, which allows us long stays without high accommodation costs. We budget for £20k per annum for holidays.

Dining out/Entertainment has been less - I think this reflects the time away travelling 4+ months a year. Maybe once a month in the UK, we will go into Central London and try a new restaurant, but otherwise we are happy to dine in our walk to  to our local Cote Brasserie for lunch. 

Interesting - does holidays represent your biggest spend then?  Even now holidays is my biggest spend other than mortgage costs which will go away either at retirement or soon after.

Also I assume that eating out whilst being on holiday is covered in the £20K holiday cost rather than under dining out.

michaels

I hope people at least stop to think about the carbon footprint of their holiday choices even if they then decide to go ahead anyway.

Albermarle

michaels said:

I hope people at least stop to think about the carbon footprint of their holiday choices even if they then decide to go ahead anyway.

You can always live in hope....

westv

michaels said:

I hope people at least stop to think about the carbon footprint of their holiday choices even if they then decide to go ahead anyway.

I always use public transport to fly to my holiday destinations.