£1k left per month in retirement after all bills paid

[Lm1981]

I know every persons requirement is different but generally speaking if you had home all paid off and in retirement you had all your monthly bills covered with £1k left over to do whatever with is that an ok position to be in?
(person in question isn’t to bothered about foreign holidays as done all that in their working years , mainly a few day trips out , meal here and there etc)

God, how the other half live. Who cares if they need to buy a washing machine or Hoover out of that. All their bills are taken care of so they could spend the whole lot on whatever they need and not have to worry.

I think it is hard to figure out how much you need. Pension income doesn't generally go up, aside from state pension, so inflation will have a horrible impact on income so as someone said up thread that is an important consideration. £1k free spending money though is a lot. I have that for all bills and spends after mortgage paid, but am not retired so don't need to entertain myself to the same degree.

I think it also depends on what they expect their spends to be on that.

They should be fine.

But everyone has a different idea of what a good standard of living is after bills when working or retired.

With my pension amount even factoring in inflation I shouldn’t have to touch my savings even if I ended up alone. We did all financial risks, including if one of us dies before retirement. The other calculation is how it would work out if we split up. I mean that leaves me with the least and that’s when savings would need to be used and in the brutal reality of life if DH died it would be better fiscally than if we broke up and the same for him due to asset splitting.

I have so many friends divorcing now because we are just at the age late forties to late fifties where the kids are leaving home. One divorced 2 years ago, 2 currently divorcing and one in marriage counselling. It’s bloody petrifying how many relationships have faltered over the last few years plus one was widowed which was obviously terrible.

When I retire, even with my small private pension (which is enough to prevent me getting pension credit) I will have £1k a month BEFORE bills. And I'm expecting to manage. As long as your housing is paid for. Different if you are in a flat and have service charges or are paying private rent, then you are literally fucked. But if you have somewhere to live then its doable.

Having £1k left after bills is a luxury - what planet are you/they on?!

If food is already accounted for then £1k per month should be plenty - I would expect to be able to have a couple of holidays a year from that, plus the odd day out and meet friends for coffee etc .

Should be fine! I think they have to bear in mind that during working life they probably saved and paid off a house - so they may have had more incoming but more outgoing (even if some was for a saving cushion)

Realistically they can have a nice life and not save anymore, 1000 a month isn't a small amount really if that's just money to play with surely?

They can always plead poverty on their local Facebook site and get given white goods for free. That’s fairly standard on our local group. They’ll survive OP. Charlie Bingham ready meals every night isn’t so bad.

Is this a joke? £1000 just to do as you please?? All bills paid and £100.000 in savings?
Some people don't even have £1000 per month to live on and having to pay bills/ food out of that... with little kids.
Honestly got to be a joke.. if retirement age surely they have enough knowledge to work it out.
This is a bragging post.

That sounds absolutely fine they could have lots of fun with that

These questions always vex me, and I wonder what the person posting is trying to achieve as it’s entirely dependant on an individuals expectations and standard of living. Assuming that the house and car are paid for, all bills, utilities, groceries and other household expenses are covered the £1,000 ‘spending’ money might be plenty for someone who likes going for walks and gardening.

But if you like buying clothes, to go out for lunch once a week with friends, dinner once a week, take a trip to the theatre every couple of weeks, have long weekend break a month in a European country, and 2 or 3 longer haul holidays for 2 or 3 weeks a year, while also treating children/nieces/nephews or whatever, then £1k is going to be tight, even if it’s a weekly not monthly amount!

I couldn’t manage, but my grandmother when in her 80s would have struggled to spend half that (in todays money) I think. So in summary, it depends

And on the next thread.. People being evicted and kids dying from mould on their bedroom walls.
Some people need to get a grip and live within their means and stop bragging.

'They' just worry; 'I' hear so many

Are you sure you're not just inventing this to sow discord between the generations?

It was a genuine question, it’s a couple. 1 has pension the other doesn’t.

I wouldn't be unhappy with having £1k left after all my bills were paid. It's more than I have now.

Whether it's enough for someone else depends on their standard of living and expectations.

Just spotted your followup...£1k for 2 people might be a bit tight. It really does depend on what other savings/income there is.

I'd say that's conforrable

The current state pension is £203.85 per week.
£10,600.20 per year, plus the £10 Christmas bonus and whatever winter fuel payment is made that year.

Unless you want to live a champagne and caviar lifestyle, you have enough to live a comfortable life on!

Obviously it is plenty to live on and spend on "unnecessaries", but I think people are being a tad harsh. I used to visit a well-off elderly lady as part of a befriending scheme who would never put her heating on as she was terrified of spending money, and only allowed herself one hot drink a day. My own mother, who had plenty of money in investments, thought she was in penury if the stock market went down. Eventually her money did nearly all go on care home fees, but before then she denied herself small pleasures because she had persuaded herself she couldn't afford them. I think worrying about money is something that can occur as one gets older when one loses the capacity to earn and one's income feels out of one's own control.

Interesting article in today's Telegraph about living on £11k p.a. as a retired person (& not yet receiving state pension).

Retired here too.

After all expense I have around £300 left per month - which gets saved for one holiday, unexpected car expenses, house repairs.

I have no mortgage but all the regular house expenses.

I do have around £10k in shares, £10k in ISAs and £2k in premium bonds - but those are rainy day monies not to be touched.

It’s more than a lot of working families with children have as disposable income, and most of those don’t have £100k in savings to fall back on.

My parents who are retired have found they spent quite a bit when they first retired but now they are older they have less energy or inclination to do things so spend much less.

I would be over the moon if I had £1000 each month after all my bills. Until recently, I had never had any savings for my entire adult life and had never ended the month with anything left over. For a large part of my life I was in debt, albeit manageable. I really don't think most people in the real world have the level of savings that people on Mumsnet claim to have, and most people would think that £1000 per month after bills is a small fortune.

If you start factoring in care needs that will soon go. Just putting carer visits in place for elderly DM and it will be about £500 a week. But she’s had a good few years healthy retirement already.

I think those of us who've made do with normal or minimum wage jobs have come to an acceptance that we will get what we're given and like it as we age.
I have absolutely no prospect of being able to increase my income to the degree that I'll be able to do more than contribute a little to what care I get.
It's a frightening thought but many posters on MN aren't representative of the general population who are simply struggling to keep a roof over their head and stay out of debt.

What happens about unexpected bills? The boiler blows up. The roof needs fixing. The bathroom needs replacing. The house needs decorating etc. What about annual costs - christmas, birthdays, insurances etc.

£1000 a month sounds a lot, but if its the only income with no ability to earn anymore - there are lots of ‘incidentals’ that could need to be paid for which are not everyday household bills (speaking from experience as have recently had to unexpectedly fork out £8k in roof repairs)