If you are a sixty year old woman or thereabouts?

[Anychocolatesleft111]

I work 4/5 atm. And I am considering reducing my hrs even further, hence the following question… .

If you are a 60 year old woman, do you mind me asking please how much do you need to live on per year, once all of the monthly bills are paid off and all the necessities of life are bought and paid for?

[I know it depends on what you consider a luxury or a necessity? Clothing for example can be basic jeans and a coat to designer gear, so how do you define the “necessary”element? ]

But roughly, how much do you need for hobbies, books, cosmetics, haircuts, travel, clothes (other than basic clothes), entertainment, eating out, gifts for others, bits of cash to give to adult dc, nephews and nieces, and the occasional odd-job man?

I am fortunate to have private medical insurance as long as my dh is working and will have a private pension once I stop working completely.

Would anyone be kind enough to give me a ball park figure?

I am really scrimping and saving atm so that our DDs can go through university and am managing to live on very little atm, but that’s not realistic going forward. Also I am finding my current job quite tiring and have the option to drop another day?

I’d be v grateful for any guidance please?

Last year DH and I spent 28k on essentials and leisure pursuits. We have zero housing costs as mortgage free and run one car that passed its MOT with zero issues and we only pay £20 road tax due to some sort of loophole involving diesel cars.

I was retired already and DH retired at the very end of last year. It’s going to be a few months of pottering for DH, he still does a little work on occasion as is an external examiner for a University and his old employer wants him to do some teaching as no one else can do it. I do some voluntary work and as DS says ‘you just go out to lunch all the time don’t you Mum’ plus I belong to some walking groups. Then we are buying a motorhome, which is going to be our biggest expense and buggering off for a few months at a time. DS will look after the house and cat. We have enough to have a comfortable retirement.

DH has made the Mother of all spreadsheets, it has our guaranteed income plus investment returns and inflation permutations. It’s a real thing of beauty.

Have a look at this

www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/

@Anychocolatesleft111 It sounds like you are both really in control of things which is great. Can I ask about the diesel tax situation ?

The 'diesel tax situation' is probably in relation to how all cars were taxed between the early 2000s and about 2017.

Many of the low CO2 emissions cars were in very low tax bands so tax is £30 per year or lower.

Of course the Government then realised they weren't making any money from RFL so a lot of newer cars cost a lot more - nearly £200.

Worth being aware of if you're in the market for a car of this age.

I'm intrigued, what type of writing do you do? Are you famous?

I write women's fiction/contemporary romance. As for 'famous'... if you know me, you know me. I'm not a huge name but I do quite well. But writing earnings can be inconsistent (win an award and you're laughing - I've done it) but the reading public can be fickle and some months are better than others. But once I give up the day job I will be free to do talks/teaching etc which will hopefully help to bump up the earnings until my State pension kicks in, when I will be able to afford to concentrate on the writing until I can't do it any more.

I’m in my sixties. Had my kids young so they are long gone with children of their own and stable jobs and homes. Mortgage paid off, no borrowing etc. We are retired and our outgoings are really low. However friends who married later, or had late families and have children still at home have the higher bills so can’t retire yet.