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.

and @LovelyLuluu Average stay in a care home is 2 years and not everyone requires one. So 3 years is generous for funding that level of care, However we do plan for needing increasing amounts for gardeners/decorators/maintenance /chiropody when we cant cut our nails. Old age is expensive whether you are in a home or not.

Sabbaticals sound like a great idea but you cant guarantee you'll be in paid employment afterwards. Going back to work requires a decent standard of health.

If you'd want to do voluntary work for your own sake and the idea of having nothing for savings scares you I'd suggest instead getting a paid part time job (less manual) and putting everything from that into savings. That feels like it would meet your need to keep active and give you a bit extra each month.

How do people get to retirement age without being able to work out their own bloody budgets? This never ceases to amaze me.

How can someone be so unknowledgeable about their own lifestyle and standards and finance that they have to ask complete strangers, who no nothing about their lives, 'can I live on this budget?' ( which is invariably quite generous - these threads are never about seeking budgeting tips to live on genuinely very low incomes).

These threads are so frequent, they really do astound me.

As so many have said, sit down with your spreadsheet and workout all your outgoings, build in a bit of contingency for when the car breaks down or the roof needs repairing. Remember to add inflation on a cumulative basis each year. Look at the income totals remember to take income tax off those incomes if it applies. Then you'll probably find that 'on paper' you're looking pretty chipper! But then you've got to get your head around going from being an accumulator + saver to being a spender. Also what will be your purpose and do you want to spend loads of time with your partner or have you got other interests that you would like to follow. That's not to say you dont like him but going from connecting with each other in the evenings and at weekends is different from spending all of the week with each other. I think it's the psychological and emotional aspects of your retirement that you will need to get to grips with.

I guess you don’t mean this but frankly I could do without hearing about the struggles of someone on over £3k/month. If you have taken time out to care for kids or elderly relatives as I have then monthly pension will be in three figures.

Another thing to consider is what would things look like if you were to divorce in the future? If you are giving up pension potential by retiring early and end up on your own what would your income be? Even with no mortgage/rent/debts £3,800 per month doesn’t go as far as you think. Travel isn’t cheap and if you haven’t been used to assigning much of your monthly budget to travel it may be you actually can’t afford it. There’s also many more hours in the day to spend money when retired. Part time for a good few years would probably be a better option.

That is a generous pension but the OP needs to work out what her income would be when her DH dies.

My DH died the month I turned 66. We were all set for a comfortable retirement, taking in to account his state pension, his private pension, and my state pension and tiny private pension. On that sad day our income suddenly dropped.

The month after he died I received my first state pension payment, and 50% of DH's private pension. My total monthly income after tax is now £1,350.
I manage fine.

But then I'm not spending it like we would have done, on restaurants, weekends away, going on cruises or travelling the world, which would have happened if DH was still here.

No, we're not - and still think it's a fantastic amount for retirement

My NHS pension is £16,000 pa pre tax. My DP earns about the same ( very pt), obviously could earn more if he chose to go ft.
. We have a school age child.
We are both a long way off our state pension - he is closer.
House is paid for and no debt.
We are managing fine. Have 2 cars.
We both have savings to cover emergencies, house updates, and to dip in to treat ourselves if required (seperate savings because I'm a spender and he isn't).
I don't feel restricted in any way. I could buy a house, cash, if we split up (36 yr relationship). However if that happened, I would need a part time job to still feel comfortable, and able to support DC in the future.
We don't have extravagant holidays - a 2 week summer hol.
I have hobbies but they don't break the bank. I also keep fit, but attend a council type gym/pool rather than an expensive one. Other exercise costs about £80 a month on top of that.
We both see friends regularly and aren't restricted in what we do with them.
I don't have to think "can I afford this" in terms of clothes etc - but I do spend less than I used to - think Next, Zara, type of wardrobe.
My hair is inexpensive (hopefully I'll suit grey 😅 and keep it that way when it happens). I don't buy expensive skin care,but I escaped that trap years ago.
We don't eat out as a family or couple anymore. But that is through choice. Might change again. I do with friends.
DC is a young teen, who is currently cheap to keep. Not materialistic at all. We have put monthly savings away for DC, since birth.
We'll use our own savings to fund any future UNI or/and house deposits for him.
I usually have a small amount left from my pension every month.
Interest from savings last year was greater than any withdrawals.
If I didn't have savings, I wouldn't feel comfortable and wouldn't have felt able to retire.
DPs private pension will be tiny - I think he'll work until state pension age. However he has more savings than me and spends a lot less on himself, so maybe not.
So that's what it looks like on a lot less than you'll have OP. Does that help?

As someone retired, I'd say that income sounds very doable, with enough for travel. However the worry is your own financial position if you are left on your own before state pension age. Depending on the normal retirement age of your private pension scheme, you may have a significantly reduced income from it if you take it early. They reduce by about 5% for every year taken early, but check for yours. I'd suggest NOT taking that early, even if you don't pay any more into it, but without it you should be fine with savings.

If you feel ready to try a work-free life (I love it), why not plan to give up work for a year or two, enjoy travelling together and re-evaluate. If you decide you want a bit extra income or the rhythm of working then you could find part time work instead of voluntary.

If either of you hits health problems you may regret having carried on working. You are less likely to regret stopping work as, in theory, you can go back to some kind of work, unless you are in a fast moving career you love that you might struggle to get back into.

Is this a joke.... mortgage free and no dependent DC...and over 3k a month. Do you realise how many families are paying mortgage/rent and raising kids on less. And £3.8k per month after tax is equivalent to about a £80k salary....I'm sure you'll manage.

Astounded! Is the Poster being serious!

Can you compromise and work part time or casual? Still have money coming in but more flexibility.

It seems a lot to me - income 2k a month, mortgage to pay , sub 2 kids at uni and I manage to save a few hundred a month !

As PP have stated, it depends on lifestyle / outgoing of course .

BUT, you can not put a price on health and whilst you both have it enjoy it. YOu just do not knw what is round the corner !

My dad has dementia (diagnosed aged 72)
Whilst he and my mum have done some lovely stuff in retirement, they had many more plans which will sadly be un fulfilled !

Well my actual costs for one are:

Food £200 (Running total 200)
Gas and electricity £70 (RT 270)
Water £25 (RT 295)
Council tax £100 (RT 395)
Internet and TV licence £50 (RT 445)
Mobile phones £10 (RT 455)
Other subscriptions and insurance £60 (RT 515)
Car tax, car insurance and MOT costs £80 (RT 595)
Petrol £60 (RT 660)

So I think they were pretty reasonable estimates. Especially given that during retirement you're not actually obligated to live in an expensive part of the country any more if you don't wish to. Obviously you'd need to allow for all the other costs of living on top of that - I actually spend substantially more per month because I go on 5 holidays a year and have an expensive gym membership and buy people nice birthday gifts. But my base cost of living is really pretty low.

gobsmacked !!!

Is this just your own pension, or wouldn't you be entitled to some of his if he died early?

Do you have any costs associated with work that you then wouldn't have? Could you do some casual part time work to bring in a small amount and keep your savings up (e.g. working during holiday times, when you wouldn't need to holiday yourself as you can do it in term time).
Do you have savings to do a year or two of holidays without eating in to your monthly income?
Could you agree to take 1-2 years off to spend time together, but return to work a bit later?

£3800 is a great retirement income. I'd properly look at the numbers though, see what you'd be entitled to if he died and maybe hold off claiming your own pension for now if holding off means you can take a larger income in a few years.

Tbh, hes right - there's no point frittering away his retirement income while you're working and then not being able to enjoy retirement yourself in 10 years. Life is for living.

Depends on your lifestyle. Do you wear expensive clothes or High St? (And do you buy clothes often rather than every ten years as they wear out?) Do you eat in proper restaurants at £50+ a head or cheaper ones?
Do you drink expensive wine or are you more into mugs of tea?
You would have a LOT of spare time so your spending habits/lifestyle become a lot more important - not working is very expensive!
From 75/80 most people spend relatively very little as they become less bothered about consumerism. Although some crack on.

It’s good even for London if you have your mortgage paid off and have other savings and kids are grown up.

I think that’s a lot of money monthly and better than leaving retirement too late to enjoy having a good time together. I’m widowed and retired. I have £1700 per month and as I have no housing costs it feels comfortable. If you want very expensive holidays it might feel tighter but you don’t know what his health will be like after 77 and you could miss out if you delay retirement too long.

Yeah c'mon enough of this debate..its loads..get a job in a supermarket part time if not.

It sounds like a lot to me without a mortgage to pay, we don't bring in much more than that and a third goes on our mortgage. Not retired yet but we won't need that much when we do.
Why not try it and see.

Why take the time to read threads on the Retirement board if you’re going to get your pants in a twist with people posting numbers like this?

That's a huge amount to me and i get by on a fraction of that amount and I have 2 dc. Suppose it depends on your outgoings.

I’m astounded by the number of posters who are bothering to read the Retirement board and are then getting sarky about numbers being discussed. Seriously, why bother if you have nothing constructive to say?

I think I’d bet my pension that it’s shown up on trending and they just can’t wait to deliver a pithy response, not even realising that it’s the Retirement board, not bloody AIBU.