FIRE Girls Pension Diary - Aim High & Dream Big

Firegirl

Thanks for sharing your figures @swindiff.

Very detailed

jimi_man

swindiff said:

My current spending and spending in retirement are planned to be pretty similar, just spent in different areas once retired.

Current Spend
Mortgage		£603.00
Nationwide Account Fee		£13.00
Gas & Electric		£250.00
Car Tax		£15.75
Broadband		£64.05
Council Tax		£168.00
Gym Membership		£43.98
Water Rates		£19.00
TV License		£13.25
Mobile Phone Tariff's		£16.00
Cleaning		£70.00
Sky TV		£48.74
Spotify		£10.99
Phone Loan		£17.98
Home Insurance		£20.00
Car insurance (x2)		£32.00
Fuel		£100.00
SIPP		£240.00
Groceries		£600.00
Car Maintenance		£100.00
Fun Money / Incidentals		£1,000.00
Holidays		£300.00
Nat West CC		£94.05
Santander CC		£55.44
Tesco Bank CC		£88.39
Virgin CC		£47.30
Monthly Total		£4,030.92
Annual Total		£48,371.03

The credit cards skew this number a bit, they are all 0% balance transfer cards and the money is sat in an account earning 5%

My Number (retired)
Car Lease		£500.00
Council tax		£168.00
Gas & Electric		£250.00
Sky TV		£48.74
Water Rates		£19.00
Fuel		£60.00
Mobile Phones		£60.00
Home Insurance		£20.00
Car Insurance		£20.00
Car Maintenance		£100.00
TV License		£13.25
Groceries		£600.00
Holidays		£600.00
Property Maintenance		£500.00
Fun Money / Incidentals		£1,000.00
Gym membership		£43.98
Nationwide Account Fee		£13.00
Car Tax		£15.75
Broadband		£64.05
Cleaning		£70.00
Spotify		£10.99
Monthly Total		£4,176.76
Annual Total		£50,121.12

We currently have 2 cars.  Mine is a 10 year old Hyundai.  The plan is to sell that and lease something nice once retired.  We will keep the wife's car as a little runabout giving us access to 2 cars when needed. House is pretty modern, so not really spending anything currently on property maintenance, but budgeting for that in the future.

Interesting figures, though I suspect that these figures in retirement, requiring over £50k net, (with getting on for nearly £2k a month in entertainment budget) are just hugely way off what the average MSE user will experience. Nice to see both ends of the spectrum though, with Sea_Shell and GamblerUK at one end and this sort of spending at the other. As long as people don’t look at these figures and think that this is what you need for retirement and get depressed! 

swindiff

Clearly we don't "need" that much, there are areas where I could dramatically cut our spending if needed.  We are fortunate that we will both have full state pension and a DB pension, although my wife's is fairly modest.  We will then have DC pensions to bolster those and help bridge the gap between our aspirational retirement age and NRA

Pat38493

jimi_man said:

swindiff said:

My current spending and spending in retirement are planned to be pretty similar, just spent in different areas once retired.

Current Spend
Mortgage		£603.00
Nationwide Account Fee		£13.00
Gas & Electric		£250.00
Car Tax		£15.75
Broadband		£64.05
Council Tax		£168.00
Gym Membership		£43.98
Water Rates		£19.00
TV License		£13.25
Mobile Phone Tariff's		£16.00
Cleaning		£70.00
Sky TV		£48.74
Spotify		£10.99
Phone Loan		£17.98
Home Insurance		£20.00
Car insurance (x2)		£32.00
Fuel		£100.00
SIPP		£240.00
Groceries		£600.00
Car Maintenance		£100.00
Fun Money / Incidentals		£1,000.00
Holidays		£300.00
Nat West CC		£94.05
Santander CC		£55.44
Tesco Bank CC		£88.39
Virgin CC		£47.30
Monthly Total		£4,030.92
Annual Total		£48,371.03

The credit cards skew this number a bit, they are all 0% balance transfer cards and the money is sat in an account earning 5%

My Number (retired)
Car Lease		£500.00
Council tax		£168.00
Gas & Electric		£250.00
Sky TV		£48.74
Water Rates		£19.00
Fuel		£60.00
Mobile Phones		£60.00
Home Insurance		£20.00
Car Insurance		£20.00
Car Maintenance		£100.00
TV License		£13.25
Groceries		£600.00
Holidays		£600.00
Property Maintenance		£500.00
Fun Money / Incidentals		£1,000.00
Gym membership		£43.98
Nationwide Account Fee		£13.00
Car Tax		£15.75
Broadband		£64.05
Cleaning		£70.00
Spotify		£10.99
Monthly Total		£4,176.76
Annual Total		£50,121.12

We currently have 2 cars.  Mine is a 10 year old Hyundai.  The plan is to sell that and lease something nice once retired.  We will keep the wife's car as a little runabout giving us access to 2 cars when needed. House is pretty modern, so not really spending anything currently on property maintenance, but budgeting for that in the future.

Interesting figures, though I suspect that these figures in retirement, requiring over £50k net, (with getting on for nearly £2k a month in entertainment budget) are just hugely way off what the average MSE user will experience. Nice to see both ends of the spectrum though, with Sea_Shell and GamblerUK at one end and this sort of spending at the other. As long as people don’t look at these figures and think that this is what you need for retirement and get depressed! 

One of the weird things about retirement planning is that it can expose the different priorities of a couple.  We are also high income high spending - my current long term retirement projection for us as a couple if £67K per year (higher in first 2 years due to mortgage not cleared yet and one off expenses).  We have a combination of DB and DC.  Wife already retired early on full NHS MHO pension.

Our current annual spend on holiday is about £14K, and it was even a lot higher than that when we had to take the kids on holiday at peak times.  In the post retirement planning, holidays is by far the largest line item, being more than the double of anything else.

I suspect our attitudes are
Me - If we make my half of that 14K optional luxury spending or substantially reduce it, I can retire tomorrow as it will cut 14K off the required spend.  When I'm retired every day will be a holiday so I don't need to take a lot of expensive holidays anymore.
Wife - The holiday budget is a red line item we should retain at all costs even if it means eating bread and water.
(OK I might be exaggerating a bit to make the point).

Hence, although I would not put it this way to her, you could argue that I am only still working today to pay for my wife's holidays! 

She now wants to buy a caravan but that's another story!

swindiff

My best estimate on income given that some of the data will be variable.

MallyGirl

Pat38493 said:

One of the weird things about retirement planning is that it can expose the different priorities of a couple.  We are also high income high spending - my current long term retirement projection for us as a couple if £67K per year (higher in first 2 years due to mortgage not cleared yet and one off expenses).  We have a combination of DB and DC.  Wife already retired early on full NHS MHO pension.

Our current annual spend on holiday is about £14K, and it was even a lot higher than that when we had to take the kids on holiday at peak times.  In the post retirement planning, holidays is by far the largest line item, being more than the double of anything else.

I suspect our attitudes are
Me - If we make my half of that 14K optional luxury spending or substantially reduce it, I can retire tomorrow as it will cut 14K off the required spend.  When I'm retired every day will be a holiday so I don't need to take a lot of expensive holidays anymore.
Wife - The holiday budget is a red line item we should retain at all costs even if it means eating bread and water.
(OK I might be exaggerating a bit to make the point).

Hence, although I would not put it this way to her, you could argue that I am only still working today to pay for my wife's holidays! 

She now wants to buy a caravan but that's another story!

Sounds like my OH and me. I would go earlier and budget for less spending but he is not prepared to retire until a certain standard of living can be achieved. Our figures are higher than most and we will be taking some big ticket holidays in the early years once we are not constrained by work. I have a small £3.5k pa DB pension but everything else is DC for us both which means we need to be surer on the plan. We have already bought the camper van!

michaels

My DW has not worked since our eldest was born.  I would be happy to retire now and spend less - she is less keen on that plan for some reason

jimi_man

Pat38493 said:

jimi_man said:

swindiff said:

My current spending and spending in retirement are planned to be pretty similar, just spent in different areas once retired.

Current Spend
Mortgage		£603.00
Nationwide Account Fee		£13.00
Gas & Electric		£250.00
Car Tax		£15.75
Broadband		£64.05
Council Tax		£168.00
Gym Membership		£43.98
Water Rates		£19.00
TV License		£13.25
Mobile Phone Tariff's		£16.00
Cleaning		£70.00
Sky TV		£48.74
Spotify		£10.99
Phone Loan		£17.98
Home Insurance		£20.00
Car insurance (x2)		£32.00
Fuel		£100.00
SIPP		£240.00
Groceries		£600.00
Car Maintenance		£100.00
Fun Money / Incidentals		£1,000.00
Holidays		£300.00
Nat West CC		£94.05
Santander CC		£55.44
Tesco Bank CC		£88.39
Virgin CC		£47.30
Monthly Total		£4,030.92
Annual Total		£48,371.03

The credit cards skew this number a bit, they are all 0% balance transfer cards and the money is sat in an account earning 5%

My Number (retired)
Car Lease		£500.00
Council tax		£168.00
Gas & Electric		£250.00
Sky TV		£48.74
Water Rates		£19.00
Fuel		£60.00
Mobile Phones		£60.00
Home Insurance		£20.00
Car Insurance		£20.00
Car Maintenance		£100.00
TV License		£13.25
Groceries		£600.00
Holidays		£600.00
Property Maintenance		£500.00
Fun Money / Incidentals		£1,000.00
Gym membership		£43.98
Nationwide Account Fee		£13.00
Car Tax		£15.75
Broadband		£64.05
Cleaning		£70.00
Spotify		£10.99
Monthly Total		£4,176.76
Annual Total		£50,121.12

We currently have 2 cars.  Mine is a 10 year old Hyundai.  The plan is to sell that and lease something nice once retired.  We will keep the wife's car as a little runabout giving us access to 2 cars when needed. House is pretty modern, so not really spending anything currently on property maintenance, but budgeting for that in the future.

Interesting figures, though I suspect that these figures in retirement, requiring over £50k net, (with getting on for nearly £2k a month in entertainment budget) are just hugely way off what the average MSE user will experience. Nice to see both ends of the spectrum though, with Sea_Shell and GamblerUK at one end and this sort of spending at the other. As long as people don’t look at these figures and think that this is what you need for retirement and get depressed! 

One of the weird things about retirement planning is that it can expose the different priorities of a couple.  We are also high income high spending - my current long term retirement projection for us as a couple if £67K per year (higher in first 2 years due to mortgage not cleared yet and one off expenses).  We have a combination of DB and DC.  Wife already retired early on full NHS MHO pension.

Our current annual spend on holiday is about £14K, and it was even a lot higher than that when we had to take the kids on holiday at peak times.  In the post retirement planning, holidays is by far the largest line item, being more than the double of anything else.

I suspect our attitudes are
Me - If we make my half of that 14K optional luxury spending or substantially reduce it, I can retire tomorrow as it will cut 14K off the required spend.  When I'm retired every day will be a holiday so I don't need to take a lot of expensive holidays anymore.
Wife - The holiday budget is a red line item we should retain at all costs even if it means eating bread and water.
(OK I might be exaggerating a bit to make the point).

Hence, although I would not put it this way to her, you could argue that I am only still working today to pay for my wife's holidays! 

She now wants to buy a caravan but that's another story!

I should say that my post was not a criticism in any way, far from it. We also budget a lot for holidays. Like you, we have come up trumps in the DB pension lottery and with full state pensions at 67 (just over 8 years away) we have around £68k a year - about £5k net a month. We have a target figure of around £3200 a month, which probably £1000 of which goes towards holidays - quite similar to you. 

I have a slight conundrum at present, my pension which I’ve been getting since 51, coupled with the state pension is pretty much equal to the HR threshold. Consequently with index linking and the frozen threshold means that any SIPP I take after that will be at HR tax, so I’ve decided to take as much as I can out of it over the next 8 years. A nice problem to have I guess

enthusiasticsaver

Holidays is a strange one in retirement and I know some people who like @Sea_Shell are not really bothered about them as they see retirement as one long holiday and don’t need to escape the pressure of work. Most of our friends who are retired but don’t travel like to stay at home, keep to their own routines and don’t really travel a lot. Obviously less money is needed to cover outgoings if they are quite content. 

We fall into a second category where we have always enjoyed travelling, seeing new places etc etc but while working and bringing up a family we were limited on time. We did travel quite extensively pre retirement as we were never subscribers of putting everything into pensions for the future given my Dad died very young with no retirement at all. If you enjoy travel you need a higher retirement income unless you have a plan like many do of camping, motor homes, budget holidays which you can do out of season or uk breaks although those are not always cheaper.

We subscribe to the plan of doing long haul travel in the early years of retirement. COVID affected us and then my husband was diagnosed with heart issues so needed surgery but we are now starting to make plans again. 

Firegirl

I just had a look at 1 weeks spending on my personal account!  Well it’s an eye opener!

Groceries - £80
Kids hair cut and food after - £40
Kids Lunch - £45
Kids Pocket Money - £20
Coffee & Food Me - £26
Save the Change - £4

Synopsis - Kids are expensive