What did you cut back on when you retired?

[Cocojazz]

I'm 60 and few years off retirement - DH is 4 years younger than me. We have a 16 year old son so I'd like to get him through the next few years of education before I finish work.

I have a good job with a decent pension but obviously it needs to see me through my retirement years.

So what I'd like to ask is, for those of you that have retired, what things did you have to cut back on to have the money to live on? I still want to be able to go to the gym as it will be important to keep myself healthy but I assume treats like pedicures and nice clothes etc. will have to be knocked on the head?

Thanks.

It depends on your pension vs your current income/expenditure , which presumably at 60 you must have a reasonable idea about. For us it's not going to make any difference other than that we will be using savings rather than continuing to save.

I think we spend a lot less in retirement on such things as a work wardrobe, fuel etc and less on food as we can take time to plan and eat well, rather than quick and easy. Cooking is less of a chore now.

We obviously don't save, but it's balanced out.

I retired earlier this year (57) and TBH haven't cut back at all as our income is still what is was while I was working.
No commuting costs or associated expenses. Plus for the last few years leading up to retirement I had been paying so much extra into my pension that my take-home pay was artificially reduced and we had been managing quite happily on that for some time.

Since retiring OH has picked up a little PT job and I am thinking of doing the same (about 16hrs or so) and with that, strange to say but we will be better off than before.
Goes without saying we have no mortgage and are well provided for with savings, investments etc.

A friend of mine is a barrister and her specialism is “when POAs go wrong”. As a result of that she looks at old peoples’ spending patterns a lot. What she said is that you spend a lot lot more in early retirement than later on. Most retirees over age of 75 and especially over 80 actually spend very little beyond ihousehold expenses, even if not deliberately economising. They may have expected to still be travelling a lot etc but most don’t, and increasingly their social lives revolve around cheap or free local activities. They even eat and drink less. They buy far fewer new clothes etc.

Anyway, just worth thinking about/ factoring in because even though we all think we’ll be the exception and still trekking. Annapurna while swilling Moet when we’re 84 we probably won’t

I retired at 60. I have much less travelling expenses, less car maintenance, fuel etc. I dress casually, buy new clothes occasionally but nowhere like when I was working. We eat simply, cook from scratch. I don't spend on beauty treatments, anything I want done, it's diy these days.

For entertainment we go to the movies about once a month and have a pub lunch afterwards. Go to National Trust places.

We live simply, but I never feel like we are missing out on anything.

That sounds really interesting, I'm currently fighting to get back £80k that disappeared from MIL's account in the last couple of years of her life. She was 94, housebound and had dementia....the CPS won't prosecute !

In answer to the OP, I'm spending a lot less on food because I have time to be a bit more organised. I also left the UK, but appreciate that's not possible for everyone !

Thanks all. I think we'll probably get used to the adjustments. I'm sure I will cook more and obviously not need work clothes. I think I will try and add more to my pension while I'm working just to give myself more of a cushion.

I am semi-retired and earn much less than I did when I worked full time. I find I spend less on the things I used to buy to compensate me for the long hours I worked. I drink less, buy less ready meals/coffees and magazines for the train ride/new tops to cheer me up/pedicure type stuff. It adds up to a huge saving over a month.

I've ditched the gym as my life now is more active now I'm not in a sedentary job and I don't need it.

I spend a lot supporting my kids (im 61 and have a dd just finishing school and a teenage son on his own currently on a minimum wage job).
Im trying to get a side hustle going that will replace some earnings, but I figure after the next five years, after my daughter leaves uni and gets a job and my son establishes himself more that expense will disappear, or at least shrink considerably. And I plan on having the same expenses as I do now in terms of me - facials, PT, eating out on occasion.

I didn't cut back, I was scooping an enormous percentage of my pay into pension in the years before retirement!

I’ve spent quite a while planning my outgoings and income to work out that retirement was possible and our income / savings are enough.

We haven’t had a takeaway / delivery since retiring where it used to be at least weekly. We have also spent less eating out as are taking advantage of special offers more frequently. Our grocery bills have gone down too as I am planning better and taking advantage of special offers.

We are spending a lot on travel, but getting better value for money as I am jumping on offers when they arise, we have got some great deals.

We’ve stopped the cleaner, getting ironing done and taking the cars to the wash / cleaner. We have chosen to spend less on gifts to one another. I am using a council gym.

Clothing is much cheaper as I now only have one wardrobe. No commuting costs and work lunches / socialising saves a lot.

Nothing we have cut down on feels painful at all, it’s very worth it! Life feels luxurious!

Some interesting comments here. I'm not retired but have dropped from full time to 2 days a week now my mortgage is paid- my income halved. But I was confident doing this because I track my spending- I'm a spreadsheet queen and I know what I spend on what. Similar to others I cook more and I have fewer treats to compensate for long days, I buy fewer clothes, take fewer taxis and things. I walk a lot and do a relatively cheap dog sport with my dog. And my work related costs have dropped.

I don't find any of this a hardship, in fact part of me is kind of upset I wasted so much money over the years! But the 'treat' now is a gift to myself, so I feel less need for other treats

I'm retiring shortly and can't really imagine cutting back on anything ... in fact as I will have more time to travel, see friends etc I am likely to spend more. I don't have any work related costs .. barely any commuting costs, (can walk .. very little petrol used if I do drive), dress very casually so no 'workwear clothes'. Never had a cleaner or spent excess money on eating out etc, My DH is already retired and his 'hobbies' cost money ... but fortunately we planned and saved for retirement so have sufficient pensions to maintain the same sort of lifestyle.

This is interesting. I don't think we'll cut back on anything as we spend very little on ourselves as it is. Not into clothes, cars, coffee out etc etc. We used to spend a lot on this sort of thing but decided to cut back a little while ago as we belatedly realised it was such a waste of money.

Our expenses will be a third of what they are now as we're paying school fees and uni costs. Once those are out of the equation and with mortgage paid off I think we could very comfortably live on £40k pa. We'll be spending winters abroad in a warm climate so no heating bills and a very low general cost of living. Will have to maintain a house here but will probably only be here for 5 months a year.

This includes money for traveling but that will probably reduce as we get older and we could probably then live on possibly £30k pa.

My parents are late 70s/early 80s and they live well on £15-16k pa. They downsized into a flat which is very well insulated and they barely had the on all winter. Don't eat much, have freedom passes, don't spend on clothes, social life is at friends houses playing bridge (!) and they like going for walks. No netflix sky etc.

We just have one car now as we didn’t need to have two that is about the only major thing I can think off.

We were discussing this at work this week. I’m semi retired, and now earn much less than I did when working full time - my income has reduced by about £2K a month and DHs by about £500 a month as he’s dropped a day.
We downsized when I retired so was able to pay off our mortgage early, renovate the new house and put some money into long term savings ISAs. Having a smaller house also meant we have lower household bills.
We have cut back on food shopping as I have much more time to meal plan and shop wisely. We dont eat less, but we throw away MUCH less food at the end of the week! Rather than cutting back on things like beauty treatments, I spend more as I have time to enjoy them. We eat out less, and buy fewer take aways, again because previously we just couldn't be bothered to cook from scratch.
the biggest saving is having children who are no longer financially dependent on us 😂

I didn’t cut back - quite the reverse, I had a load of extra holidays, a new kitchen and bathroom, and gave both DDs mortgage deposits from my pension lump sum!
I saw a financial adviser when DH died in my thirties, and he sorted out critical illness and life cover so my baby and toddler would be provided for, then got
me into a private pension with guaranteed annuity on top of my occupational one and state one. Up until Covid hit, I was having a ball. Now I still have the money, but am limited a bit by long Covid as to how much I can enjoy it.

We were on X after tax, when the pension kicked in we were going to lose the savings element of our income.

About a year or so before DH retired, I started scooping out the savings element and ensuring we could live on our new income which thanks to a final salary and state pension we have swapped like for like.

We have two substantial pots of savings, one is a long term investment, (we still need to draw the 25% tax free from that so we are on a watch and wait mission with that, watching it grow and then we will pounce,) we retired debt free and mortgage free so the other large one is a rainy day fund and then we have £50 k in a cloudy day fund, so out of that comes new fence, new soffits, paint, paper, new sofas etc., and a element earmarked for helping DS 22 out fund and also holidays and city breaks for DH and I.

Life is good thank God, we were very broke in our 40s. 🙏

One of us is retired, one still working. Nominally the worker earns more but because the pensioner isn't paying pension contributions, NI or a student loan the actual money coming in the bank account is more!

Plus we have a primary aged child so no childcare costs as one person at home.

I think the biggies are to pay off debt , make sure ideally you haven't got car payments or huge credit card balances etc as these sap funds on fixed incomes - buy any essential 'needs' when still working such as new bed/s , new sofa, washer etc - good stuff that will last.

Not get into a habit (unless of course it's easily affordable) of lunch out multiple times a week for something to do
Enjoy some cheap habits like reading or nice walks or do a bit of volunteering

I think work in itself can actually be a suprising sapper of cash- better clothes, make up, getting your hair done more often, contributions to presents, buying lunch on the hoof, travel costs etc

I retired at 60, lucky to get a good package, (kicked out lol), but those were the days! Pension (actuarially reduced) kicked in immediately and was a good one. Not mega bucks but sufficient for my needs. I am single and live alone, had paid off debts and mortgage before leaving. I changed the gas guzzler I used to get to work etc. for a little runaround. I use public transport a lot more now that I am not time constrained on a commute.

My outgoings are not much apart from the stuff everyone has to pay for, like food utilities, insurance, house maintenance etc.

I am not rich, so I watch what I spend and use surplus to travel both at home and abroad. Being able to go during school terms reduces the cost significantly. I didn't bother with another job but did a lot of volunteer things. Illness has weakened me a bit in the last two years, but I'm getting my mojo back now. Life is short I feel so to hell with it, I intend to spend on decent home improvements now that I feel better and have the energy.

BTW I absolutely adore retirement, I wouldn't work again if someone paid me a million to do it.

I’ve been “practicing” retirement income in the same way some PPs have done. Putting a lot into pensions so that my take home pay for now is less than I will have as total pension when I retire in a year or so. It’s been fine, still doing everything I did before - gyms, spa, travel, etc.

@Amboseli I'm really interested in your living abroad for part of the year. I'm a gardener and work the summer months in Britain so the winter is my opportunity to escape and will be ideal as I'm starting to find the British winters brutal. Do you have a home abroad? Just interested in how you find splitting the year between two places and how it works for you.

I'm loving this thread. Everyone sounds so contented with their lot.

You'll be surprised at how.much you save by not going to work. All the things you spend out on as either treats after a hard week or timesaving measures.

Also I couldn't quite believe how flush I was once DC were finally (more or less) financially independent.