As a retired person could you live on £10,000 a year.?

[allamberedover]

To cover bills but not housing costs.

Yes i could, I don’t plan to, but it is an option

You wouldn't retire. DM has under 9k state pension and still works part time. She is 76.

I’d have to move house. £800 a month would just cover council tax and bills on our house.

For one person in a low bills property, yes it is possible, plenty do. Very little in the way of luxuries though so I would aim for more.

If this was your only income - you'd be entitled to benefits surely ??

Some interesting contributions above. Only a couple of things to add.
Not sure why people are spending £100 plus a month on a phone contract. I just bought a new Motorola phone for about £250 and my GiffGaff calls and data goodybag is £6 month and it's plenty even though I use my phone a lot. You can have a more expensive bag with even more stuff for £10 pm. If you can afford the initial outlay of buying a phone, save yourself some money.
Take no notice of the guides on what you need to have a basic, comfortable, well off lifestyle in retirement. Comfortable and well off figures are a definite exaggeration.They are mainly produced by wealth management companies who want people to invest with them.

I've recently retired, live in a low rent property and manage perfectly well on state pension so yes. If I discounted the rent amount, I'd easily be able to live on £10,000 pa including being able to afford my small car.

And it's possible to pick up just a few hours work per month for extras if you want holidays/small savings/treats, I've done it.

But as always, it depends upon your idea of retirement. You wouldn't be going on several foreign holidays per year unless you had substantial savings too....but I have lots of friends all across the country and go off to stay with them.

I don't eat out much and certainly don't have lots of takeaways etc., but do manage to treat myself to the odd theatre ticket, gardens open, county show and so forth, so certainly get out and about. National Trust is also worth it, one of the few who allow membership to be paid monthly, comes to only £8 each month and provides masses of free days out all through the year (assuming you drive).

Council tax is so different from place to place! I pay 125 a month after a single person discount. Under 20 for water - on meter. 60 on average for gas and electric, 25 for house insurance. If I had 10.000 a year I'd drop the TV licence and get mobile data on the phone - so squeezing in at maybe 260. But my council would give me another 30 off the tax if my income was only 10.000

All this is based on being a single person living like a single person - small two-bed terrace, got water metered, don't ration energy use but only need so much of it. Netflix, BBC and broadband would go if I were economising, but I only got broadband for working from home anyway - mobile internet is just fine.

I don't drive, and I don't live where I need to drive. That's not possible for everyone but because I've always been childless and usually single, there'd be no big lifestyle change to get me living cheaply.

My DS lives on his own, his electric is £100, water £30, WiFi around £40, council tax £110, various TV apps he’s always swapping around, phone £10, food less than £200 per month. So an approximate total of £500, he doesn’t have a car.

I probably could when retired and mortgage paid off. But I sure as hell wouldn’t want to which is why I’ve always paid a big proportion of my salary every month into my occupational pension and I also stack plenty into a private pension too.

Sounds pretty similar - that's about what I spend on food. I have gas heating and hot water which pushes that bill down. So assuming I got that council tax discount I'd be looking at about 450 a month on these essentials.

If I were OP's friend living in London, I might be quite optimistic - council tax is relatively low in some London boroughs, transport would be free after 60, and you'd be well connected to lots of free activities. The major worry would be home repairs, so a good insurance policy and boiler protection would be a must.

I agree it would be hard if you missed your last bus etc, but don't agree with the novelty wearing off, unless of course you don't like walking. As seasoned walkers weather doesn't ruin our walk, it rarely rains all day, every day. I work and earn a decent salary at the minute, but don't require coffee or ice cream on my walks, we always take what we need with us. There are absolutely gorgeous trails out there, and you meet like minded people on them, plenty of rambling groups too so people don't have to go alone.

Vinted, second-hand mobiles, and charity shops and online traders for furniture and white goods would be very much your friend in this scenario - and so handy living in London, for shopping and delivery.

I would prefer to start out with an emergency fund but if I couldn't, I'd make sure to have an emergency credit card before my income dropped, and to plan to put 100 a month into savings / repayments if necessary.

I live in an area of outstanding natural beauty. I have walked day in, day out, for years around some of the most beautiful coastline and hills in the UK, with my dogs. I assure you that the novelty wears off pretty quickly — particularly when you can't afford to do anything else.

I lived in actual paradise with Crystal clear turquoise Waters, White sandy beaches.
Endless summers, Beautiful heat that’s not too humid not too dry.

It gets boring

People aren’t factoring or budgeting for pets though and I would imagine as a elderly person even if you’re married a dog might be quite nice to have around

£250 -£350 on bills?? My council tax on a 3 bed ordinary house is £328 monthly, so add on all the other bills - fuel, insurances, water and sewerage etc and it’s more like £600.

Sure, but I am assuming OP's friend is single or they would have two sets of pensions or benefits, and that they have no dependents. So they would be in a position to downsize if they're not living in a small house or flat.

Council tax is a weird thing though - if I lived in a house this size in Westminster I'd be paying less council tax! And I pay more than some people I know whose houses are at least triple mine in value. So you may be in an expensive area for your tax band - who knows. OP's friend should definitely consider this - it seems to be most people's largest fixed cost after mortgage or rent.

My bills are small for a small two bed house with a single occupant, and the only insurance I pay is house and contents, so for me, under 300 is reality, without economising

Pets are a luxury. Someone on 10k a year can't afford them.

I am on less than 10k a year and have pets. You learnt to budget. Plus I had my pets before I was on benefits. I was not going to give them up. They keep me going.

This was my point. I can’t imagine life without my pets and I would imagine they would be extremely beneficial to somebody in that position.

Yeah and the prevous poster is wrong as someone on 10k can afford a pet.

What about when they need the vet? Pet insurance doesn't cover everything and there's no spare in that budget for insurance anyway. I would do my best to keep an existing pet as best I could on that income, but I certainly wouldn't get a new pet in those circumstances. It isn't fair to the animal as you couldn't afford it's medical care.

I no longer have insurance as it was getting to be well over £100pm. My pet is also very old so I would not do anything heroic anyway.

That's high council tax . A band F house in my area.