Whats your magic number?

Thanks @bostonerimus. That makes me feel a bit better to know i'm on the right track. As i'm 41 and my official retirement date is 67 at the moment but i believe this will move to 68 soon, its still a fair way off so bit too early to start looking at my number as things will likely cost more by the time i get there.

Having a rough ballpark is a good start. I think the calculator predicts roughly 18k pension from my pension scheme and then 8.5k from state pension so should be in the right ball park. This includes me taking 25% and no partner at this time so no 50% to be left to anyone etc hence it increases a bit more. I only have my property and no other property at this time. I will inherit my parents place eventually but hopefully not for a long while yet. Then depending on my age, it may be best to just sell it as i'm not sure i'd want the hassle of renting it out etc when i'm say 60+ especially as i'm not local so cant' easily just pop round if any issues etc.

Kev

232607 wrote: »

Don't take much notice of online pension predictions. For various reasons they are hopelessly pessimistic. It is highly likely your end result will be much higher.
At your age you could afford to take a more aggressive investment approach & ride the ups & downs as well as contribute as much as you can afford.
Having said that, yes a higher salary does help.

Back to the original question....My No is £650K & I need returns of 6% over the next 3,1/2 years to get there at 55. Doable but not guaranteed.
I intend to take £50K out as fun money at the start then draw out 6% (36K) PA. This is at the top end but I do have a DB at 65 and the upper end SP at 67 that will take a lot of pressure off.
I also have a plan B...I.E. if it's depleting to quick then return to work and or reduce the draw out amount. Hope not!!! :j

Thanks, i am currently contributing 10% and my employer contributes 8%. This has been probably the last 5 years or so. Before that I didn't contribute and the paid 10% but there has been changes to the pension hence I now contribute 10% and company 8% as 8% is the max they will pay. My current pot is £130k which hopefully means i'm on target I think my risk level is set to 5 out of 10 so bang in the middle.

I'm in the company scheme and left it in the default fund as i'm not too familiar with investments and don't want to choose a fund and then it looses money etc so I've left it as is n the default fund.

Kev

crv1963 wrote: »

It is easy to be disheartened Kev, but work out three things, what you need as retirement income? Once you have that, how can you achieve it? Then what age do you want to retire?


Work out your outgoings, look to see the best way for you of saving for it. No not everyone is a HR taxpayer, but it must help! Hoping that I get to HRT before I do retire!


You don't need an overly frugal lifestyle, but you don't need to waste either- I spent 16k over 8 years in Costa Coffee before I came to realise this, now if I go once every 6 months or so, take packed lunch to work, still like a few pints, malt whisky and smoked salmon sandwiches, just they're a treat not a daily occurrence. Everything in moderation with the odd treat.


If I was 41 again I'd cut out the unneeded, save that "dead money" into a pension/ ISA/ I'd stick with nice not over board holidays and keep my social life.


Have a look at the What's Your Number thread- link posted by someone before us on this thread, things are achievable!

Thanks. I don't believe I waste money as such I mean I don't go on holidays every year, maybe go on hols once every 5 years and they are UK 1 week holidays which drive to and drive home, don't go abroad really. I do go to Costa each day for lunch so yes bit price but then I look at it that I don't drink, don't smoke, don't take drugs, do go on expensive holidays abroad, all UK hols and as I say only every few years. I can work out what my expenses are in terms of property etc but I don't know what I want to do in retirement so can't really say what that number will be yet. I suspect maybe couple of holidays each year in the early years prob within the UK, maybe week or maybe just long weekend. Probably days out to various places but not easy to predict a cost for these.

In general I would say I don't lead a lavish lifestyle, i'm not one to buy designer clothes, jewellery etc. I do however tend to get a decent mobile phone every 2-3 years, have spend a fair bit on a nice car but i'm coming round to the idea of swapping it out for a more general type car, the car is very nice but the maintenance and insurance is through the roof. At the moment car has a service plan so that's all ok but i'm considering trading it in end of the year/beginning of next for something a bit less expensive and not expensive to maintain as now I have a property, it's not overly practical. Its very nice to drive etc, will be shame to see it go but i don't see any promotions etc coming in work to offset the cost so might just cut my losses and trade-in whilst i will still get a fair bit back on the car.

Apart from that, I just live day to day, have couple of takeaways each week, maybe a meal out once a month - that's about it really so i don't think i waste money per-say.

I'm currently saving into 2 x regular savers, don't have a ISA as rates are soo low its not worth tying money up for especially as I may need it if worst happens etc. I've pretty much set myself a goal to always keep x in the bank and so far I've not dropped below it. I'm hoping to start making some over payments on my mortgage this year to try and reduce the impact of potential interest rate rises when my fixed term runs out in 2020.

Kev

kev2009 wrote: »

Thanks, i am currently contributing 10% and my employer contributes 8%. This has been probably the last 5 years or so. Before that I didn't contribute and the paid 10% but there has been changes to the pension hence I now contribute 10% and company 8% as 8% is the max they will pay. My current pot is £130k which hopefully means i'm on target I think my risk level is set to 5 out of 10 so bang in the middle.

I'm in the company scheme and left it in the default fund as i'm not too familiar with investments and don't want to choose a fund and then it looses money etc so I've left it as is n the default fund.

Kev

Any default fund is likely to be very causious for your age & probably won't produce the best result. May be have a read of a book...Tim Hale, Smarter Investing. It's the principles of the books that you need to understand not the techy stuff. It is written in simple terms.
It will probably give you the confidence to do something different, if not nothing lost (other than the cost of the book).

I'd say I could retire now on £650k
That would provide over £25k a year at a 4% draw down which I think is plenty for me.

My current net worth is nowhere near this however so my main focus at the moment is getting as much as possible stuffed away into various investments. Pensions, S&S ISA's etc