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.

I can't stand the people that always come on these threads to demand that we all defer to those with less and insist that anybody with more than 2p their bank account should be shamed for their privilege.

It's completely tone deaf.

It's not a boasting thread at all. It's a discussion thread on how much we need or think we need in retirement.

Having worked like a dog for 45 years (during which time there were some extremely skint and worrying times) I'm finding it a really useful read as I'm now planning when to 'step off' the treadmill too.

The bit that bothers me the most isn't the day to day costs of life but future costs of dentistry and healthcare.

Currently my teeth are fine (63 YO) but I know from older relatives that some dentistry in much older age can cost a fortune. I don't have an NHS dentist.

Also my aunt couldn't get a hip replacement done on the NHS in a timely manner despite being in terrible pain /restricted mobility and was just referred for physio as Dr said it wasn't serious enough. She was 88 and very fit for her age so an op was not a big problem. She chose to see a private consultant, paid 20k and it's transformed her life. I know it depends on the local trust but she had the means to choose to 'jump the queue'.

This isn't a bash NHS comment just a fact.

Understandably!

I'm bitter.

Today's workers are paying for the boomers. There are a lot more boomers to pay for.

The boomers have the benefit of being at the top of the pyramid scheme we've all been sold into. There were a lot less retirees for them to pay for during their working lives. They've messed up the housing market and hoard their wealth.

The rest of us just don't stand a chance without generational hand me downs.

It's hardly boasting that the Op lives on under 20k per year and manages to have a good life. It could be an inspiration to some people.

If someone has been frugal all their life and continues to do so in retirement whilst enjoying their life that's to be celebrated.

I couldn't live on that amount because my fixed costs are higher, because of the house I have chosen to live in. It's my choice, so it means my life is more expensive and I will have to work longer as a result.

I'm a grown up and know that so no need for envy or bitterness towards others who have made different choices

The Op isn't a boomer...too young. She isn't claiming state pension so you are not paying for them.

Excluding your mortgage could you live on under 20k p.a? That's the point the Op is making.

There were a lot less retirees for them to pay for during their working lives.

• true

They've messed up the housing market

• true to some extent, but I would argue that uncontrolled immigration adding 12 million people to the population since the Millennium has had a bigger impact. Do you actively vote for immigration controls? If not, you're a big part of the problem.

and hoard their wealth.

• People save for their retirement. They need capital to generate a return. That isn't 'hoarding', it's just sensible financial planning. It's completely normal and desirable for older people to have most wealth in society and for them to be self-sufficient in the retirement.

You can't have it both ways. You complain about the ratio of workers supporting pensioners, but then complain about 'hoarding'. If people didn't have wealth in their private pensions, you'd need to fully support them in their old age.

Rather than moaning about it, maybe make some sacrifices and save a bit more into your private pension and lifetime ISA?

Mortgage? You're having a laugh yeah? I've rented 2 homes on my street for the last 20 years. House prices have risen so much in that time I've been priced out.

As for OP, they might not be a boomer, but they now are not contributing anything and are indeed, hoarding wealth and counting down the clock to claiming their state pension that I and many others will pay for with zero guarantee that the system won't change dramatically by the time I claim a pension.

When I started working, we were all told that we would get our pension at 60. And while I sympathise with the women who now have to wait until they are 67, I'm still paying into a system that will probably have me working into my 80s at this rate.

To all of you saying about bragging and saying we are all loaded. When we retired my pension was £5500 per year ,that was after working for 39 years but mostly part time. My husbands was £16500 after a similar number of years contributing to his pension scheme. Hardly wealthy at all. And at the time interest on savings was very low. We have a lovely retirement with plenty of budget holidays. The things we don’t do as much anymore is eat out a lot, buy clothes and never waste money

Ahh, you're one of those blame everything on the migrants kind of people. The migrants that put more into the economy than they take out? Which can't be said for retirees.

Average house prices used to be 4x the average income. It's not the same playing field anymore and to suggest simply putting a little more into savings will solve this is delusional.

No it's not.

So you complain about paying other people's pensions, but object to the government taking action to make the system more affordable...

You've lived on your road since 2006, but didn't buy a home when they were cheaper and now complain that prices are high.

I'm guessing you're not saving and investing for your future, thus reducing your future burden upon the state, but you do complain about anybody that does and label them as boarders.

Make it make sense.

I can tell...

My complaint is not about paying other people's pensions. My complaint is about the system that moves the goalposts. Ponzi schemes are illegal, yet we are all clearly living under a government sponsored one.

I moved to my street as a student, do you know many students who can afford to buy their own homes? I certainly don't.

Over the course of 20 years, the house prices have risen to be out of my reach. If I was paying rent and saving for a home 4 or even 5 times my income, as previous generations have, then perhaps I would own my own home now.

There's a lot of talk on this thread about living a frugal life. OP stated they have savings and investments and are not spending as much as they have budgeted for. That's hoarding. They could be out supporting small local businesses with at least some of that money. Give themselves a small yearly budget to go for a coffee or some avocado on toast. Instead of letting it sit with the corporate banks making more money for the OP.

I blamed exponential house price increases upon the population increasing by 12 million people. That's simple supply and demand.

It's a fact that the overwhelming majority of the population rise was due to immigration.

With regards to migrants putting in more than they take out, that's certainly true for highly skilled and highly paid immigrants.

The OBR calculates that each low skilled immigrant costs the taxpayer £500k if they live to age 80, rising to £1 million if they live until they're 100.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/dc15199c80312779

That's quite the burden that's been imported, wouldn't you agree?

Something tells me that you consider supporting low skilled immigrants to be 'noble', but supporting British OAPs onerous.

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-in-the-uk/

@ThisCosyGreenGuide perhaps you could start another thread to discuss your specific circumstances because many people have been able to buy houses since the early 2000's. Including younger people who didn't get help with deposits.

However the general point being made is that excluding housing costs (rent or mortgage) and work related costs the Op is able to live on under 20k p.a.

If people who earn an average salary, pay continually into a pension (with employer contributions) they will get a pension pot to provide similar income so it's very achievable.

My son bought his when he was 23...

I wondered when the hard right would turn up on this thread, blaming things on immigrants (like their family are all pure-bred beaker people).

If you want to know what fucked up housing, look no further than the Tory's right-to-buy and banning councils from spending the income on building more social housing.

That's hoarding. They could be out supporting small local businesses with at least some of that money

So living a simple life without excessive consumption is hoarding? Providing for your later life care, instead of leaning on the state is hoarding?

The Op says they have always been a saver and that has given them financial security to stop work earlier. That's the lesson most people will take from this.

Genuine question as I'm politically homeless so no agenda. why didn't Labour who got into power from 1997 to 2010 reverse RTB?

Why isn't it top of their housing agenda now?

However I think we have strayed very far off the Ops post so perhaps this should be on another thread!!

Pensions are less good these days, CoL is much higher and mortgage/rent has doubled compared to what many of the posters will have paid. Or maybe some were high earners so saved more/paid off early?

Times are just much tougher now.

The PP who said earlier if you don't gamble, you'll be fine, well I don't have any vices and im fairly frugal but due to my ex H departing for another woman, my mortgage had been pushed out for another 15 years, when it was almost paid off.

So im now really poor and won't have a bean to help my kids through uni. (And my pension is tiny).

I think a lot of women must be in this situation given that 42% of marriages end in divorce.

At some point over the last few years ‘retirement savings’ became redefined as ‘wealth’ which ‘is bad’ and ‘must be taxed’.

Also having had a mortgage for 30 years and paid it off has been redefined as ‘lucky’.

Having savings for retirement is not wealth hoarding. Ppl in their 50s and 60s need this ‘wealth’ to last 40 years so they don’t need to rely on the state ( which in any case is becoming increasingly unreliable).

@researchers3 I'm not sure of your age but if you have 15-20years to go until retirement then model the affects of compound growth on a pension. Or use AI.

When you are in the middle of child rearing with a big mortgage or high rents, retirement seems like a dream. However the long slog of steady income and paying into retirement will make it possible. The UK hasn't had the same concept of investment saving as the USA but that is slowly changing.

I've read it's more like 14K basic minimum; over 30K comfortable and over 40K for doing pretty well. But it depends on so many things. Are you travelling abroad a few times a year and around the UK at lot, as well as eating out, theatre and cinema, gym memberships, one or 2 cars etc? Or are you at home in the garden happily to grow from cuttings and eat simple homemade meals with no interest in airports and happy to take the bus? There's a world of difference. DH and I have paid everything off. Once I've paid my £500 into the joint account each month to pay for bills and food (sometimes we'll top it up with bigger bills), I could easily get by some months on a couple of hundred quid extra. The reality is though I'm bringing in about £33K per annum which would be described as comfortable.