What would a retirement on £3,145 a month look like?

[serin]

DH has retired. He is 10 years older than me and wants me to retire as well. His reckoning is that if I work another 10 years he will be 77! Just 3 years off 80 and it won't give him long to have the freedom to travel much as a couple etc.
If I retired tomrw our joint income would be £3145 per month. If I took my small private pension it would be £3800 in total.
Does that sound like a reasonable amount to live on or am I deluded?

We own the house outright and do have some savings. Our DC have flown the nest.
I grew up in absolute poverty and even whilst our children were small there were times we were really struggling. I think this has affected my attitude to money and I'm terrified of not having a steady income and returning to egg on toast every night.

Does £3800 seem ok as a long term situation? My friends are of a similar age, some retired and some not, money is never discussed so I have nothing to compare with.

You can’t really get a fair answer without knowing your outgoings. Do you spunk a few hundred quid a week in Waitrose? Or do you shop at Aldi?
Do you plan on expensive travel or more modest?

I find the Epic Retirement page on FB helpful.
Have a think about your current outgoings and what you need to live on then what you spend your money on.

Wow!!!!!

That's what I thought too

What do you have to pay for from that amount? List it and you’ll know. What are you worried about? Aside from the fact it’s more than many families have with mortgage/ rent, it’s impossible to say without knowing outgoings

That's a really good income if you have no mortgage or other debts. You'd need to work out how much your bills and essential spends are per month, but you should have a good bit of fun money left over each month. And if you wanted to, you could probably pick up casual/temp work to suit you.

Part time if you’re not ready to retire fully but want to do stuff together?

Sounds great to me. No doubt many posters will be telling you not to switch the heating on though. It’s plenty with no mortgage or other debts. You could definitely afford luxuries on that!

Depends how that compares to your current income if you carried on working? What’s the difference?

Pots of money. Go for it!

Sounds a huge amount to me.

There are some figures on this site to help you see what different amounts allow you in terms of lifestyle:

https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk

Obviously things change over the years (in terms of travel/leisure aspirations etc) but there is also healthcare to think about

It’s equivalent to earning £51,000 gross. Your net monthly income would be the same.

does it rise with inflation?

Not to be morbid, but what is your income like if your husband dies? Just that between him being ten years older and women having slightly longer life expectancies, you might have some years on your own and need to know you will have enough.

Does that make you 57 now? Do you want to retire? Could you go part time instead to give more opportunities for travel?

And as others have said, you need to look at your numbers - what is your income now and how much do you have left each month? If you’re planning big trips it might not go that far.

Read “die with zero”

only you know what retirement would look like on that. Work out what you spend including everything and taking out work expenses, and see if it’s enough.

Early retirement uk is a fab Facebook page.

Ultimately this will depend what your costs are but it sounds like loads to me.

If we do an imaginary budget:

Food £400 (Running total 400)
Gas and electricity £200 (RT 600)
Water £50 (RT 650)
Council tax £250 (RT 900)
Internet and TV licence £50 (RT 950)
Mobile phones £50 (RT 1,000)
Other subscriptions and insurance £100 (RT 1,100)
Car tax, car insurance and MOT costs £200 (RT 1,300)
Petrol £100 (RT 1,400)

Even if you add a cleaner for £200 a month plus gym membership and some holidays and meals out and putting a bit aside in savings for a replacement car eventually and birthdays and Christmas, it still feels like it must be going to be quite a comfortable retirement. I've been pretty generous with my estimates above - most of my bills are half those rates.

Are you joking.
I mean, this is more money per month than mine and DH's combined income and we both work, him fill time and me part time so I can look after our children the rest of the time.
And we have a mortgage to pay.
Wow. Just wow at having all that money every month with no mortgage outgoings and no kids to feed/clothe.
I actually can't believe what you're asking.

Are people missing that the £3,145 is joint income? So £1,572.50 per person?

Just coming at this from a different angle.

Your husband chose to marry someone much younger. It cannot be a surprise to him that you have more working years left.

Don’t you find it a bit… presumptious of him to assume you can just be told to do this.

What do you want to do, giving as little consideration to his preferences as he has to yours?

Would working part time flexibly be a possibility (e.g. I have a colleague who works 20 hours a week, but it is compressed so that she is away all of Jun-Sep and all of December.)

What would happen financially if he died suddenly in 2 or 3 years

We'd be down about £800 a month.
I usually put around that amount into savings and that's the worry, not having the security to be able to do that.
Knowing that effectively our earning days are over.
We tend to live quite modestly though, I appreciate a Waitrose shop but only go there a couple of times a year! It's Aldi all the way usually.

No

Hugely reduced. I would get about £1, 800 until I picked up stare pension which would take it to about £2700.

Yes 57.
My job involves manual handling and it is stressful and exhausting but I think being at home all the time might be soul destroying. I'd have to do voluntary work or something.

Am I right to understand that you don't think you can survive on nearly a thousand pounds a week?