Apart from your pension income each month what other savings will you have?

[decionsdecisions62]

I'm 57 and trying to plan to retire at 62. I've worked out in addition to our pensions with are all DB and will cover our day to day needs we will only really have £60k savings. I just wanted to get a feel about what actual pots others have.

Don't hate me. 😬

Same age & almost exactly same in savings..2 kids in uni so currently no chance of any extra. Will a couple of saving years just before we retire

Likewise here, looking at the retirement date options and thinking what would suit.

However the size of pot /size of regular pension is irrelevant, unless people tell you their predicted spend / any outgoings.

if you are looking to find out what an "average" single /couple might spend in retirement, the PLSA figures are very useful : for example they suggest for a couple outside of London, the amount cou;d be £19,900; or £34,000; or £54,500 per year, depending on amount of income and choices.
https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/

If you want to see what people have got in savings, the Money Saving Expert forum is also very useful - lots of threads on there.

It's less about day to day spending as I think we have that covered with out regular defined benefit pensions.It's more back up savings pots I'm interested in. How much do people like to keep aside - just incase funds etc.

Realistically, probably as much or as little as they can afford.

You need to think about what you want to spend money on during retirement, especially the early years when presumably you're still healthy and fit enough for an active lifestyle.

Will you get the full state pension at 67? Does your early pension really just cover day to day spending, no spare for hobbies, travel etc?

What do you want to do with your time between the ages of 62-67? How much might that cost, before factoring in house maintenance, car replacement, funeral costs etc?

I'm at that stage where I need to know that too.

My DB should, in theory cover my day to day costs, and there is buffer in that to adjust my lifestyle.

However what about a new kitchen or a new car?

I have a separate personal pension for that aspect of things that I can draw down upon if required and am adding to that currently.

There's also making your savings work hard and the option of downsizing to reduce day to day to enable to save, and add to the savings.

We anticipate our day to day spending being covered by rental income and a small DB pension. We also have a DC pension currently worth about £500k and will keep adding to it until 2030 when we retire. Should be worth £650-700k by then. Probably a bit more.

We'll start saving into ISAs once DC finish uni in 2026. Will draw from ISA/DC pension from age 60-67 if we need extra funds until state pension age. We'll also downsize at some point and give the excess funds to DC for a house deposit.

Fingers crossed the plan works out. It's still a way off and anything could happen between now and 2030. (I'm a worrier)

I am working out how much to save to cover a couple of replacement cars, a boiler, a house maintenance pot etc.

Will downsizing be a possibility?

Any possibility of any inheritance?

In the end, full state plus enough to live off from a DB pension will be at least do-able.

Agree @plexie It's the period from 62 to 67 that I'm trying to plan for but it's the most tricky as in I think we will need more £ then and want to do more travelling. I should have £35 we can turn into an annuity to cover those years.

Currently saving £2k a month (kids adults, mortgage paid off) plus £40k a year into pension, very fortunate. Looking good for retiring when he hits 62, I will continue working pt between trips, we have plans, he may work a bit too at some points, retirement doesn't have to be absolute

It won't help much, some will have nothing and others a million or two. It's what's going out that's the issue. Assuming you cover regular expenses with your pension, 60k invested should make you feel that you can cope with most emergencies and enough to have some good holidays or whatever you want to do initially. Most people spend more when they first retire but this slows down over time. Work out your budget and go from there.

@gotomomo I think we'll carry on working after retiring. DH has a small side hustle which he does alongside his day job. It's got a lot of potential to be very lucrative if he could devote more time to it.

It's a hobby/passion turned into a business and after retiring from our jobs and travelling etc we're going to build up his business. I'm really looking forward to it, and it's not about earning money but for DH its doing something he loves and for me having something constructive to do day to day.

I think we will have similar in savings. two full state pensions and 2 private pensions ( not great) should cover us for day to day living, no housing costs. The savings will be for emergencies

Oh goodness this is something I am thinking about too. Currently we will have about 55k between us in pensions, not counting any state pension. We have another 17 years to work but four kids to put through uni so not sure how much saving can be done. But I shall try.

As a teacher I expect to supply teach once I retire. Let's see...

Similar here although I have at least another 15 years until retirement (earliest would be age 60). Planning to repay mortgage at age 57 with tax free lump sum from DC and from that point put the equivalent money into ISAs. DD would (in theory) finish Uni when we're both in our 60th year so potentially another few years of loading up the ISAs before retirement which I'm forecasting between 60 and 65. Ideally we would live on ISAs until they run out before touching the pots.
Small DB scheme which I scraped into in old job worth around £10k a year at the moment but can access from 60 (or earlier with reduced amount)

Like you, DH and I have DB pensions that cover our normal expenses. Five years before I retired we had less than 60k in other savings and investments between us, but in those five years we managed to put quite a lot aside. And if you get a tax free lump sum when you take your DB pension that gives you an instant cash cushion unless you have it earmarked for a major purchase (we didn't). The hardest thing I'm finding is getting my head round the idea of starting to spend down our savings and have the sort of holidays we've talked about for years.

Our DB pensions will cover our normal expenses & pay for holidays. We should have 150k savings to cover unexpected expenses such as roof, boiler, new car etc.

@Heatherbell1978 we're on the same track! We were planning on paying off the mortgage from tax free lump sum but will actually pay it off next year, have cashed in some investments.

Then it's maxing out pensions and ISAs until we stop, also age 60 which I'm happy with. I love my job and working in general.

My DB pension isn't worth as much as yours and I'm thinking of taking the transfer value and putting it into my DC pot. Although DBs are good in some respects, they will never beat inflation which you can do with DC and can also pass it onto the DCs. Will see.

Best of luck with your plans, the time will fly and you'll be there before you know it! The trick imo is to also enjoy your life in the here and now and build in doing the things you enjoy daily/weekly/monthly so you're not totally focused on retirement being the time when you can really start to live the life you want.

There's no guarantee of tomorrow so one must seize the day. That's my philosophy anyway!

I've become hyper focused on all of this in recent years as we're trying to work out if we can afford private secondary fees for 2 DC...in some respects being a geriatric mum helps here (!) as we'll be 57 in DS' final school year (youngest). So that offers a bit of breathing space at the end of the fees tunnel but we'd need to still be able to fund retirement pot on top of fees!
Funny enough I got a transfer value for the DB pot the other day - £200k - so I am considering it for the flexibility and the fact it can get passed on. But it seems to be a big no no! I wonder if that's based on people cashing in much bigger amounts though.

It's a big no no because people are very rarely better off transferring out so the regulators insist you get professional advice and very few advisers will touch such a transaction because they'll be liable to huge fines for wrong advice if it goes wrong.

I retired at 56 from teaching. I only had to get to 60 before getting my Teachers Pension. I also had a small pension pot I had saved up separately. That was about £65k. I drew down my 25 percent tax free. Then drew down between £4 - £6k each year. I also had some btl income. Once I reached 60 and got my Teachers Pension I changed remaining pot into an annuity I get every month. I still get btl income which has also increased. I am now 62 and will get a full state pension at 67. My DH is in a similar position to you. He has a civil service pension much of which will be payable next year when he is 60. He also has a very small £23 secondary pot. Some of his pension won't be available until he is 67 as civil service changed rules after a lot of years. He'll get £17k a year from 60 but a further £13k from 67. If he retires next year he will have to go 7 years before he can get rest of his Civil service pension and only £23 pot so only about £3 a year available to drawdown. He will get a decent lump sum. He will get full state pension at 67 too. He's thinking of working part time until he's 62 so then won't need to start drawing down the £23k until then. By then it would be as lost £5 per annum. Basically we'll be quite well off but not until we're 67. We've paid off our mortgage too.

Took early retirement this year (57) as the chance was there and I grabbed it with both hands. OH still works 2-days as they are only 55.

My DB & DC pensions have already kicked in and will see all day to day expenses & hobbies covered (new house, no mortgage or loans etc) with a decent amount of spare cash each month.
OH will start their pension in a couple of years when they stop PT work.
Things will get better in 10-years time when the SP kicks in.
Savings wise we currently have about £280k in cash, investments, PB's etc which should cover large purchases (cars, household upgrades etc).

You never know what the future holds but I hope we are comfortable. 🤞

If your pension just covers your day to day needs with no spare to save I would be very nervous with just £60k in savings . Imo £60k goes nowhere , what about capital expenditure, new car , boiler , house repairs over a possible 35 year period if you are 57.
I'm on my own so have no one else's contribution in the pot .
I have a SIPP which I'll leave until I retire , I'm currently saving into an isa for the gap between when I retire and state pension age , I have a small DC pension with current employer , I also have a BTL income , a main property which I could also downsize if need be . I wanted a variety of income so not all my eggs were in one basket .

Pensions that started at 55 (last year), 200k in savings, a lot of equity and two rented out flats.

@decionsdecisions62 The ball park figure that FAs suggest is that to live a fairly basic lifestyle post-retirement, you need a net income of £25K. This would allow for some cheap holidays but no cruises.

You don't say how much your pensions will be so it's impossible to advise you.
If they are less than £25K you may find yourself dipping into your savings.

If they are much more, you may be able to save each month to add to your savings pot.

£60K in savings is nothing, to be honest, if you live to your late 80s or older.

I don't want to say what we have in savings but it's multiple times what you have. My DP took the max lump sum on retirement of £250K and we already had a lot of savings already. I am not yet retired.

You'd be wise to invest in an independent FA to help you.

I definitely won't be going on any cruises. The thought of those being trapped in one of those bacterial hot houses just makes me 🤮 happy with our campervan holidays.

I think I might work a couple of days a week until 64/65 as that will still give me a salary of £32k and allow me to carry on saving. Plus of late I've begun to wonder if I will take that well to just stopping working.