If you are retired and have a good life, can I ask how much pension you draw?

[User5512]

I tried some calculators and they all gave me vastly different numbers.

I’d like to know (roughly) how much money does a couple need to have a good life in retirement.

If you are retired, would you be kind enough to give me a rough idea of your lifestyle and how much pension you get?

thanks :)

DH and I have defined benefits pensions and will receive 40k per annum between us, I also have a teeny private pension that will give me about 1k PA. No mortgage and we have a decent amount invested, obviously that’s variable. We will both have 35 full years NI, I already have mine and he is close. So when state pension age we will receive 60k plus the return on our investments, over the last year that was almost 20k. We are 55 and 57 and will be retired in 3 years max, before if I can persuade DH to leave his job earlier but he is on a big project that he wants to see to conclusion.

I'm so sorry.

All the money in the world is useless without someone to share it with.

I’m afraid that’s a common misconception. If you have a full state pension you’re not eligible for pension credits. Never mind if you have a small occupational pension as well. Pension credit is a top up for anyone who has a shortfall in their state pension. Eg if you have £10 shortfall you’ll get £10 pension credit to top it up to full state pension.

My full state pension is below £11k per annum and I don’t qualify for pension credit.

Marking place

The full state pension of £203.85 per week for a single person (until April 2024) is too high to qualify for Pension Credit. That is only intended to bring anyone with an income below £201.05 per week up to the full state pension equivalent.

I get the full state pension plus about £280 a month from an old work pension. I am not eligible for Pension Credit, nor any reduction other than the 25% single occupancy on my council tax.

We were talking about this tonight (after talking about the mortgage last night!). If things go well (no breaks in work before retirement) and the mortgage is paid off when it should be, we reckon about 50k. We live in an expensive area and have to factor in compulsory health insurance.

I was a bit shocked by the article on the news. I am retired and widowed. My income with both my state pension and NHS pension is about £19000 pa. I run a car and feel quite comfortable. Apparently I have only a minimum standard of living, not even moderate! With no rent or mortgage I think I’m doing okay.

What prompted us considering retiring early was the death of 2 friends within the last couple of years in their early fifties, I had known one since I was 12 as she was a school friend.

Utterly ludicrous statement.
I spent about a third of what I earned in my final years of work. Now retired I spend about a quarter of what I earned.
As a single person the last few years I spent about £24K pa, and managed a skiing holiday, a couple of UK/European holiday, and a long haul holiday.
I don’t have a flash car, I don’t buy designer clothes, and I have a great life.

Then you imagine wrong. Pension credits won’t give you more than the State Pension. Obviously.

We save a big chunk towards our pensions and another big chunk towards mortgage. We only spend about £4K a month on other bills and living expenses (2 adults, 2 teens)

and this is why the answers will be very skewed - the fact you say you only spend about £4K a month after paying your mortgage. It clearly puts you into a bracket of people that are used to having considerable spending power each month, so your expectations of what is 'comfortable' are going to be very different from a family whose income has never been anywhere near your family income.

2/3 is not a bad 'rough estimate' and certainly better than a figure in £.
You only have to be on MN a short time to read threads about what people spend on anything from Groceries to Haircuts, to Coffees out, to season tickets to things, to face creams, to handbags to see what a huge difference people have in their 'expectations' of what a normal spend are.

Don't forget of course that most people don't have expensive teens to feed and clothe once they are retired.

Reading this thread as a millennial like 👀

The 4% rule suggests £500K to give you £20K pa, plus State Pension at £10K, making £30K.

I can see my expenses increasing when I retire. Going to work is cheaper for me!

So going to just keep working for as long as I can. I am planning to transition to ad hoc working over the last 5 years of my big career job so I can still have spends and enjoy all the non financial benefits of working.

I spotted this too. It’s a significant point.

We have no mortgage and no debt.

We have an annual pension of £50k, DH has a final salary of £35k plus state, I have two tiny pensions we also have about £200,00 in savings and investments. I was a child bride so still have another seven years before state pension, when that happens we will have a retirement income of £60k.

If DH predeceases me I will get 2/ thirds survivors pension plus all the savings and investments.

Get a fucking pension.
A job with a good one and pay into it now. Or get a LISA and chip into that. I didn't have that as an option as I was disabled Nd then had kids. Nothing like a LISA on offer and only shitty jobs with no pension..
You have time.

Also depends of course if you are talking about your weekly / monthly living expenses, or if you are factoring some fantastic 2 month holidays or traveling the world.
Depends if you have savings put by for replacing the car / roof / boiler / other big expenses or if you are thinking about them coming out of your monthly income
Depends if you are going to take up some expensive hobby now you have time, or be going out to lunch 4x a week.

About 60K. Not through my efforts, through my husband.

Well, I will be one of the many women who will really struggle. My earning and saving power was heavily impacted by becoming a lone parent when my dc was a baby. I have no idea how I will live. I do have a small house so I expect I will need to sell it.

During lockdown, when I had no commuting, no need of work clothes and few trips anywhere, DS and I lived on £2500 cash a month, covering a £450 mortgage.

So for a single without mortgage, I'm assuming £2,000 a month for a basic retirement and £2,500 for a life including a couple weeks holidays a year.

But I'm the sort to grow my own veg & cook from scratch because I enjoy it, so I probably spend a bit less than some.

I've 43 years NI paid and a private pension pot from 38 years post grad full time work. It's is in line with the 'moderate retirement' listed in today's article, so I hope we'll be ok. I'm tired and close to giving up.

I think this question has SO many variables, that it is quite hard to answer (although I will attempt to below). What I found useful was to do a spreadsheet of what was going to come in when, and I would suggest you do this even if your numbers are approximate. I already know that I am fortunate - done 35 years of work and always paid in, more than most on some occasions. I have an old DB pension that closed years ago, and I will get the option of taking 25% out tax free at 60, then an annuity. When the new DC scheme came in, I paid far more into my pension than was "normal" for the last few years, eventually managing to get around 400k in. I could not take any of it before 55 (despite being retired), but since then I have watched it like a hawk (daily) and took the tax free lump sum of 25% when it was riding high (the variation is remarkable, some days as low as 390K, a week or two later as high as 410k, yes it is only 25%, but that is £5k instant advantage). When I took the lump sum, I paid off my mortgage, saving me £600 a month instantly, and have some to tide me over until I take my DB pension at 60. If not, I will draw down on the remaining DC pension, but probably less than the next tax bracket. At 60 I will get another "dump" of money, the 25% tax free, and then I will get an annuity. At 67, I will get state pension of around £10k. On my own, I thought I have few outgoings, I will always be fine, I have children and grandchildren though and I will be giving money to them. I also did an audit of my spend recently, and (other than travel) it is actually quite high on a load of stuff that I don't use, but the kids do (netflix, amazon prime, virgin media, disney plus). Sorry, I have rambled , but I would do the following a) know exactly what you are getting when b) if you can spare a bit more to put in now, do it, you get a tax break for this (and it can reduce your bill further if you still have children under 18 iro child benefit) and c) know your outgoings, and pay off any debts, and if you are going to take a tax free lump sum (and most should) use it to pay off mortgage etc. Hoping this helps xx

Per year???

Right? 😂 I’m terrified…

We get about £45k net but I also still work as well, so pretty comfortable.