Cloud Cuckoo Land

daveyjp

The report is more about the income required to continue a lifestyle you my be accustomed to whilst working so to do this you need to plan your pension income. Many people never earn huge amounts and are used to stretching the income to cover the basics, once retirement comes they will continue to stretch the budget as thats what they know and are probably very good at,

Others earn well and have a couple of new cars every 3 years, large property, a few holidays a year, eat out a lot, meet friends for lunch 2-3 times a week, have hobbies etc.  If they expect to continue this lifestyle the report is saying they need the income stated, if they don't have it they will move from comfortable to stretching the budget.

Some people don't see this.  A family friend has lived in the Middle East for 30 years earning very well, but it wasn't until about 10 years ago when in their mid 40s they realised they had no pension provision for when they leave the Middle East.  They had plenty of savings to addess this and have done so, but others live in the Middle East, earn millions and after 40 years have little to show for it.

dealyboy

The stand out point for me is that expenditure incurred to retain the home i.e. mortgage or rent is on top of their figures.

Kim1965

The median full time wage is about 30k, its difficult to see how this correlates to 31k for a reasonable retirement. Providing a person is not renting and is mortgage free and debt free. 

Moonwolf

I think it is relative, my partner has mobility issues and we have done one river cruise which was ideal but quite expensive.  Two of those a year and we would be in that range. (and there were people on that cruise who did four or five a year.  

Also, and I have this argument a lot. I like eating out and what others would call "wasting" money.  Is £100 a head including wine really better than £50 a head or £25 a head with beer?  I think that is entirely down to personal taste and not logic.  Would I spend £200 or £300 a head?  Possibly.

On the other hand I am happy with a 1L Fiesta while I know others really spend their money on cars and others have no expensive tastes or get their buzz from saving.

westv

zagfles said:

artyboy said:

I know this is an MSE site and some people seem to be frugal more as a badge of honour rather than out of necessity, but personally I want to enjoy my retirement in a way that will involve spending quite a bit on travel, eating out, treating family etc.

So I do not consider these figures at all excessive.

Chacun à son goût...

We do all those things and spend about £35k a year. That's for a couple including grown kids part time and at least 4 foreign holidays a year. I think the key is to cut out the often expensive superficial fluff which doesn't add much value, and not to assume a correlation between price and quality.

The term "foreign holiday" can mean a lot of things. We spend around £2k on a week's holiday B&B in a nice 4 star hotel. Others would spend that a day (LOL!!) whereas for others it would pay for a month's holiday.

artyboy

westv said:

zagfles said:

artyboy said:

I know this is an MSE site and some people seem to be frugal more as a badge of honour rather than out of necessity, but personally I want to enjoy my retirement in a way that will involve spending quite a bit on travel, eating out, treating family etc.

So I do not consider these figures at all excessive.

Chacun à son goût...

We do all those things and spend about £35k a year. That's for a couple including grown kids part time and at least 4 foreign holidays a year. I think the key is to cut out the often expensive superficial fluff which doesn't add much value, and not to assume a correlation between price and quality.

The term "foreign holiday" can mean a lot of things. We spend around £2k on a week's holiday B&B in a nice 4 star hotel. Others would spend that a day (LOL!!) whereas for others it would pay for a month's holiday.

Indeed, £2k could well be the cost of just one of the long haul flights in business/first that form part of one of those foreign holidays. 

Phossy

westv said:

Are can't remember if these figures are gross or net. 
At the moment our number is around £36,000 net a year but we won't have any grandchildren to sponge off us!

They are expenditure, so net

westv

The thread title could have been more useful.

FIREDreamer

westv said:

The thread title could have been more useful.

Probably, but it couldn’t be more appropriate! 😀

What planet do those people live on?

Eldi_Dos

daveyjp said:

Some people don't see this.  A family friend has lived in the Middle East for 30 years earning very well, but it wasn't until about 10 years ago when in their mid 40s they realised they had no pension provision for when they leave the Middle East.  They had plenty of savings to addess this and have done so, but others live in the Middle East, earn millions and after 40 years have little to show for it.

Not many expats will do that length of time out there, they soon realise that the lifestyle and climatic condition's are not conducive to a long retirement, so set a target and work to that.