Pleasantly surprised how cheap retirement is..

[Reproician]

Two years ago I was earning £70k and living very nicely on it.

Then stuff happened and I decided to take very early retirement. I have good pensions to come in 5 years' time, but meantime have some casual work which earns £4k pa and investment income of about £12k. I planned to live off savings to fill the gap and budgeted up to £20k pa.

Now, I realise I am very fortunate and I am definitely not claiming poverty. I realise being well set up and then moving to a lower income is entirely different to a lifetime lived on a low income. My mortgage is paid off etc, but I am finding I only need to draw on the saving for one off big purchases. I've drawn £6k altogether in 2 years.

I'm still living a good life. I still spend without thinking to hard on the things I want, I still have a busy social life, I still travel multiple times a year.

Being able to be fully flexible means everything is cheaper. I can at the time of the week/month/year when flights are cheapest etc. And the money I must have been spending on clothes, food, travel for work etc. PlusbI think when you're working hard there's a tendency to spend on "treats" that you don't feel the need for when lofe is.lore relaxed.

Just me and an adult son at home. He pays some keep, but I don't make any profit out of him.

So the state pension will be just pocket money?

To offer an insight into retirement which will be helpful to some people. It’s not smug its factual. Why is anyone who is doing ok seen as smug.

Well not exactly pocket money but we'll be really comfortable.

An extra £24-30k, extremely comfortable! No wonder the triple lock is under scrutiny. There don’t seem to be many mumsnetters struggling or just getting by, on here

For contrast, two of my friends are still working, they both rent. One has about £100 a month private pension and the other has zero. They will both only have the state pension to live on and pay rent from.

Being able to travel anytime off peak is huge - I take regular short haul flights to visit my DD and DGS - rarely paying more than £20 a flight. I've saved a fortune on work clothes, lunches, coffees, breakfasts, and after work socialising.

That said I spend more money on other things but all within budget and it's a choice - I could live much more economically than I do

It might help to pay the portion of salary that is taxed at 40% into a pension at the least - then you will get that 40% gross back again.

£45k is hilarious. Some families of 4 don't earn that much.

£19k is my teachers pension currently. Last year I did some supply and earned £5000 as a top up. I've got £55k saved in ISA's, no mortgage and kids are self sufficient.

Run a car, just been on a cruise and heading to Thailand in November for a month backpacking. We don't eat takeaways (haven't bought one for two years) rarely eat out and cook from scratch.

DP is still working but our finances are totally separate.

9 years until state pension and then I'll be even more comfortable.

May I ask what your evening job is?

But why should you. This is your time!

Jobs are definitely in London only for my field, OH can look anywhere, my family are in london or Essex which is also commutable. We can get a bit of a cheaper house in essex, but not by much given we need to be on train line and near my aging parents.

Interestingly when we spend holidays there its surprisingly expensive compared to our London lifestyle as we have to drive everywhere and pay for activities and parking every time. Whilst we have a car (for visiting parents), we mostly walk/use buses, and are constantly at various free parks, activities and museums in London. That makes me think the 'saving' of moving to a cheaper house will be balanced out by higher day to day costs and hassle, all to retire early somewhere we don't really have friends anymore.

Really tough balancing act!

When we both retired age 57 we thought we would have to dib into savings for holidays, car insurance etc. 7 years on we have been on holiday abroad 4/5 times a year and a couple of uk weekends (except Covid when we did all uk when allowed). We have never needed to touch the savings at all except for some big ticket home improvements.
We have about 2250 net in pensions between us plus 400 savings interest per month. No mortgage. Direct debits are 530, food about 600 per month that leaves 1520 for everything else, fun, holidays, clothes etc. We never spend more than 400/500 per person on holidays and stay in lovely apartments and eat out every night. I agree with the OP being retired is a lot cheaper than you think it will be. Once we get the old age pension we will be positively rolling in it

@Pleasedontdothat
Do you need/use the size of the house and the fields for your job and/or the business your DD is setting up? Do you have horses in the fields? I think if the answer to those questions is no, then I would be considering downsizing sooner rather than later. It’s not good to be consistently using your savings to meet your monthly expenditure at a time when you want to be adding to them.

Mumsnet is not a true picture of the whole country. The people in their 70s who have no private pensions and are struggling on state pension alone are not on MN. The majority of posters chatting retirement on here are those who have been able to take early retirement in their late 50s/early 60s because of workplace pensions or private pensions where they saved some of the income they worked for each month. Many early retirees are also in the position that they are eating into their savings, or using a large proportion of their pension pot in order to fund themselves until state pension kicks in at 67. Others have been able to do this due to inheritance.

You should know that a lot of people on MN are higher earners. This is irrelevant to the older people who were not.

Things I spent a lot of money on when working
Lunches from work canteen instead of making my own (no time!)
Leaving work late so getting takeaways instead of cooking
Leaving work late and getting food from M&S local instead of weekly shop at standard supermarket
Buying lots of expensive clothes to look the part

Things I save money on in retirement
Shopping at Lidl - fab!
Cooking from scratch
Batch cooking and freezing meals
Buying clothes from Vinted

I still manage to have a lunch / coffee out regularly. Time is precious and I love retirement!

I’m planning to retire this time next year when I reach sixty. I’m amazed over the last few years how little I spend anyway. My hobbies are cheap, sea swimming, walking, painting … the paintings I sell cover the materials. I own my house. I don’t really like eating out very much (where I live the offerings are pretty basic), I don’t drink or smoke …when I was in my thirties and forties I was always broke! Raising DDs alone, buying the IT bags, travel, new car etc … I’m much happier with a simple life of needs not wants. Thank you Marie Kondo 😂

Well, as a widow, I wouldn’t say anything is cheap. But I do as I do, and press on. 🤷‍♀️

But if you put all that money into a pension and / or S&S Isa then you could retire sooner!

London is a suprisingly cheap place to retire to. Free travel on trains, buses and trams (after 9:30am and all weekends). Loads of free museums, galleries, talks, walks, discounted or cheap eats, just general mooching or people watching. Local nice cinema has £4 tickets on a mid week day so I’ll be going every week and will bring my own wine and snacks. So much choice that you could never be bored.

I’m looking forward to travelling far and wide around places in London I rarely get to just for the hell ofbit. I’ll be on the top deck of a bus at the front whilst the kids are at school.

@Allseeingallknowing The triple lock benefits those who never earned enough to pay into a private pension or only have a small private pension. They are generally older and mumsnet was not around when their children were small so not likely to be here.

The people who have private pensions will find at least 20% of their state pension disappearing in tax.

The triple lock will become less important as more people have private pensions. At present 1 in 6 pensioners live in poverty.

What is the point of this post? Is it to brag, is it to make others feel inadequate?

And envious!

I use Vinted for clothes and resell them after a few wearings. It’s kind of swap shops and I’m better dressed now than ever . I only buy quality brands too.

Well… here I am, and I am not one of the poorest pensioners by any means. I have a small private pension.

The triple lock ensures that pensions rise at the same rate as that of the working population rather than getting poorer and poorer compared to tbd working population.

The % increase on the basic pension amount is a lot less in cash terms than that increase as the % rise in wages.

Women of pension age now worked the majority of their lives before an employers pension contribution was compulsory. The gender pay gap was greater for more of their working lives.

If you are single you bear all the overheads on one pension.

I saved towards retirement but Covid did for my job and I had to use savings to cover extra years before state pension kicked in.

I am super thrifty and do get by, but I know a lot of people who are wearing worn out clothes, very frugal with the heating (as an I, and all of us tbf)

MN is populated by many people who are far more comfortable than average.

Be careful: emphasising the importance of the state pension will hopefully serve you well when it is your turn.

Whittle it down: it will never go back up.

No Western Gvt has put an end to the state pension.

Lots of working people don’t even earn £45k net. In a £60k salary it’s not even £45k net. Average salary isn’t even £45k gross