I've been reviewing mine and my Husband's collective plans for retirement. We are late 30s and are projected to have enough to sustain our current living standard (have accounted for inflation) thanks to compounding, at the current state pension age of 68 for us. The mortgage would be paid off and I haven't factored in receiving a state pension.
Savings are diverse and a mix of DB and various pension funds and a SiPP.
We are comfortable financially but do a lot of work budgeting and do make hard choices and sacrifices. Lucky enough to go on 1 holiday a year and run two cars. We will also likely downsize in older years to release more capital. Child does lots of expensive extra curricular and we plan to continue to invest in them in this way as well as saving for them.
I'm struggling to justify maintaining the high level of pension savings we make given the limitations on pensions withdrawal ages. We could also increase our current lifestyle. We don't plan on moving anytime soon and don't need to so this would likely be an extra holiday or experiences for us as a family. We have adequate but not extravagant savings plans for our child.
Anything we contribute from now to pensions will be towards retiring early.
I'm keen to hear from those who have retired. How do you know when you have the right balance between living in the now and enjoying life and making sure you have enough for the future?
I don't won't to live a more luxurious retired life at the expense of present life if I can avoid. I'm unclear how well balanced we currently are and projections are not guaranteed. We are still at the point where if our income stopped, after a year this would be an issue.
Does anyone think they saved too much or did anyone misjudge it and end up short? Should I focus more now on S&SI even though we'd lose a huge amount of tax relief as one of us is a higher rate tax payer? Did you realise that you needed access to cash with fewer restrictions?