Poll: Pre vs post retirement disposable income (actual or planned)

strawb_shortcake

MarlowMallard said:

Interesting. At this point (24 votes) it's totalling 80% with same-or-more after retirement, including me.   

I suspect compared to the general UK population, this is strongly biased upwards, because people who post on here are much more interested in long-term saving/investing, while the large cohort who took out interest-only mortgages to post the new PCP Evoque on their social media aren't here. 

My parents have never been high earners, they are savers but have never invested besides perhaps one pension. But they feel they are wealthier in retirement than they've ever been despite having busy social lives. They really are not your typical MSE reader you describe, but are sensible. Their friends that find it difficult financially are those that have always lived pay day to pay day

I'm 43 and my concern about retirement is that I always spend more on weekends and leave from work. 

As a couple we are on track to have 2 full State pensions, plus my DB pension, I think is currently forecast £35-42k depending on when i retire. This is compared to my circa  £50k salary now. Mortgage is £500 a month and should be paid off in 10 years. I know I need to be sensible with what I do with the £500 once the mortgage has gone

Cobbler_tone

strawb_shortcake said:

MarlowMallard said:

Interesting. At this point (24 votes) it's totalling 80% with same-or-more after retirement, including me.   

I suspect compared to the general UK population, this is strongly biased upwards, because people who post on here are much more interested in long-term saving/investing, while the large cohort who took out interest-only mortgages to post the new PCP Evoque on their social media aren't here. 

As a couple we are on track to have 2 full State pensions, plus my DB pension, I think is currently forecast £35-42k depending on when i retire. This is compared to my circa  £50k salary now. Mortgage is £500 a month and should be paid off in 10 years. I know I need to be sensible with what I do with the £500 once the mortgage has gone

I always look at salary being broadly irrelevant when considering retirement. It is purely what net income you have now and what net income you want in retirement. My net pay is a (comfortable) £2,000 a month (clearly hasn't always been but retirement focused - cutting my IC in half), my salary is £68k. Maybe it is healthy to treat the last couple of years as a 'trial run'.
Having a mortgage/rent or not takes the complexity out of it, so I understand why some make that an aim to pay it off early, despite what the maths might say. Once you can just factor in the costs of bills, cars, pets, hobbies and whatever else you want to throw in, it becomes a lot clearer. 
At 43, your thinking is miles ahead of mine at that your age! I was probably focused fully on net income. At 43 and greater responsibilities it is more of a balancing act.

P.S. my parents are probably very similar to yours. Typical working class and more money than they know what to do with. They've never shared the busy social lives though.

kimwp

I'm aiming for double what I spend now, because I'll have less capacity to work if I need income, be more likely to need to outsource tasks, and I don't want to worry about switching the heating on. 

QrizB

I'm not retired yet, although I'm getting closer!

I'm expecting my post-tax disposable income after retirement to be roughly the same as pre-retirement, once you allow for not having to fund the two kids that I'm putting through university.

So for example if my income is currently £40k pa, of which £10k is going towards uni costs, in retirement it'll be £30k pa.

Mrs QrizB is likely to be slightly better off once retired as she's currently a low earner and grosses less than the full NSP she's already qualified for.

Bostonerimus1

The retirement income I declare to the tax folks is about 1.5x the income I declared when I was working full time. This is for long term tax planning reasons. My spending in retirement is similar to my spending when I was working, but it now mostly comes from pensions and rental income rather than wages.

BikingBud

Cobbler_tone said:

strawb_shortcake said:

MarlowMallard said:

Interesting. At this point (24 votes) it's totalling 80% with same-or-more after retirement, including me.   

I suspect compared to the general UK population, this is strongly biased upwards, because people who post on here are much more interested in long-term saving/investing, while the large cohort who took out interest-only mortgages to post the new PCP Evoque on their social media aren't here. 

As a couple we are on track to have 2 full State pensions, plus my DB pension, I think is currently forecast £35-42k depending on when i retire. This is compared to my circa  £50k salary now. Mortgage is £500 a month and should be paid off in 10 years. I know I need to be sensible with what I do with the £500 once the mortgage has gone

I always look at salary being broadly irrelevant when considering retirement. It is purely what net income you have now and what net income you want in retirement. My net pay is a (comfortable) £2,000 a month (clearly hasn't always been but retirement focused - cutting my IC in half), my salary is £68k. Maybe it is healthy to treat the last couple of years as a 'trial run'.
Having a mortgage/rent or not takes the complexity out of it, so I understand why some make that an aim to pay it off early, despite what the maths might say. Once you can just factor in the costs of bills, cars, pets, hobbies and whatever else you want to throw in, it becomes a lot clearer. 
At 43, your thinking is miles ahead of mine at that your age! I was probably focused fully on net income. At 43 and greater responsibilities it is more of a balancing act.

P.S. my parents are probably very similar to yours. Typical working class and more money than they know what to do with. They've never shared the busy social lives though.

Creating in my case £21k headroom after paying off the mortgage is a massive incentive to pay off as that time is now yours to spend as you wish.

The best measure of wealth, time and health.

Random47

I'm not going until my pension equals my take home pay which will merge to this point in few years at around £3K per month (it considers that I currently over pay into AVC and pension, so that cost will stop once taking from pension).

kimwp

Random47 said:

I'm not going until my pension equals my take home pay which will merge to this point in few years at around £3K per month (it considers that I currently over pay into AVC and pension, so that cost will stop once taking from pension).

What risks (sequencing risk etc) are you dialling into that?

SouthCoastBoy

My pension income will be £2400 per mth around half my current income, however as it is all dc it could be more if I wished. Once I get to state pension age I will keep current income the same at £2400 per mth, inflation adjusted.

My wife's pension I ncome will be around 1/3 Rd higher once she reaches state pension age, all db, before that it will be around 30% less

My figures after tax, wife's figures before tax

Random47

kimwp said:

Random47 said:

I'm not going until my pension equals my take home pay which will merge to this point in few years at around £3K per month (it considers that I currently over pay into AVC and pension, so that cost will stop once taking from pension).

What risks (sequencing risk etc) are you dialling into that?

None, I live on the edge....
(it will all be DB & inflation linked)