Stockpiling for retirement?

[TheDutchHouse]

Is that a thing?

I may have to retire in the coming two years , working out my finances it would appear I’ll go from living to surviving due to a drop in income.

which made me wonder if I should stockpile little extras to make the transition easier, such as toiletries, cleaning supplies etc

also get new glasses whilst I can afford, maybe update any technology.

Had anyone else done this ?

I stockpiled before going on maternity leave. Toiletries, cleaning products, nappies, wipes anything that was non perishable was bulk bought and stored away while I was still on full pay. I'm not sure how that would work for retirement though because that's potentially forever rather than a fixed time like maternity leave. I would think saving the money each week would probably give you a better return than buying 48 extra bottles of fairy liquid.

You say you are at retirement age already, do you mean state retirement age ie about 66 years ?
Do you qualify for any state pension at all, you can check via the Government Gateway ?
I don’t think you get much extra if you delay taking it, so taking that now and saving it would help you to have a nest egg for when you actually retire. You do have to apply for it, it doesn’t just get paid out so that might be an idea.
Small amounts into an ISA soon add up to a meaningful amount

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

No. I'm retired and it never occurred to me to stockpile anything. Maybe see a financial adviser, but stockpiling things would just be silly.

No, that would be silly and doesn't save you money. If you can afford to stockpile, you can afford to save & I would always choose the saving option. Why 'prepay' effectively?

It's not unusual however for people to get their house in order before retirement, though that isn't entirely logical either!

Buy things when you see them on offer instead of when you need them, otherwise just save the money you'd have spent instead.

Only reason not to do this would be if by saving money you're losing entitlement to pension credit due to low income/savings. Then it might be worth buying 'things' instead of saving money.

But I'd question how much of a cushion you're building by stockpiling toilet roll, toiletries and the like. If they're a significant expense, you'd be better off looking at how much you're using, changing to cheaper brands, buying on offer etc because the cost of those things for a retired household must be fairly trivial.

Living on what would be your retirement income now and saving the excess would be a good exercise. Also a good review of your finances to make sure you've got the best price on everything and aren't leaking money away. Also check your NI record and put as much away in your pension as you can afford.

That’s really helpful thank you , I didn’t realise some of that information

Thank you all for replying, lots to digest .
As having to give up work is happening faster than I anticipated I think I may of panicked.
But the one thing I’ll take away from this is to live for a while on the amount that would be my pension and re look at it again.
I also didn’t realise I’d be entitled to anything above my pension so I’ll look into that too.

Pension credit entitlement is dependent on income and savings, and you won't be entitled if you have a full state pension and/or a private pension. If you do have missing NI contributions, it's worth checking if you can pay to top up, sometimes it costs hardly anything, eg if you just fell short of the weekly contributions in a particular year.

Worth having a look on the Moneysaving Expert site for advice, they cover NI contributions, pension credit and other entitlements.

How old are you and do you have a partner? The way you are talking, it sounds like you might be below state pension age? Do you have a private pension? if the retirement is due to ill health, that may make you entitled to other help.

I’m over retirement age , on own.
No pension other than state. I have private rental accommodation that WA helped me get a few years ago .

Are you already drawing your state pension? Do you have full years for it?

Also have a look at over 55’s housing near you as it is normally very much cheaper to rent

As you rent you will get help with your rent and council tax. You can get a certificate for help with costs towards opticians and dental care. I can't remember the name for the certicate, but look up NHS help for this.
Do you have yor bus pass yet? I use mine a lot and it's great for getting out and about.
If you are on the "new" state pension you aren't entitled to pension credit, but under the old one you are.

Check out online all the help that you are entitled to.

My friend will only get full State pension when she retires. She rents, will she get any help with it?

Try using one of the benefit calculators:
https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/
or
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/

Not necessarily stockpiling but start cutting back your spending - I was advised 10% py. Given you are two years off retirement you might want to scale down a bit more.When I went to a pre-retirement course we were told that ‘everyone has more money than they expect’ when they retire. I don’t know what I did with my money when I was working but I am pleased to say that I have found this to be true.

This.

I don't understand why it's better to spend money buying something now rather than put the money in a savings account or, even better, a pension.

Unless it's a big one off purchase that's going to go up in cost by a large amount in the near future.

@TheDutchHousehave you looked into pension credits? You might be eligible. Well done for bravely escaping the DV

No, just put the money away for when you need those things. Had a family member do this - the number of times I heard “when I retire I won’t be able to afford x, y, z” - it all got either binned (an entire old fashioned larder cupboard 90% full of out of date tins/packets/jars) or at the charity shop - brand new bedding, curtains, coloured bloody toilet roll. It’s just going to clutter up your home and make cleaning more difficult. Just put the money in a bank account and don’t touch it. All the cheap options for bedding/cleaning supplies have been around for years and will still be around when you retire. The stuff will weigh you down.

It’s not surprising that you’re super vigilant after what you’ve survived so far. I’m sorry the test results weren’t good, I hope you get a chance to talk them through with your GP.

The best resource we have is each other. I really recommend the U3A if you are going to be retired. Their activities always aim to be low cost. My in-laws and my dad in particular made friends at the U3A. So eg book clubs will be based on what you can borrow at the library. But if you don’t want to join them, the library is still a good thing.

Stockpiling works if it’s stuff you really will need, that will last, and whose price is expected to rise more than interest - which would would get if you save the money instead

Look at how much you can save now, how low you can go

think about how you can trade time for money - we are doing a couple of music festivals as volunteers - so basically free in return for a few hours work

what volunteer roles can you do that mean you can build a vibrant but cheap social life ?

Stockpiling cash maybe…

The only thing worth stockpiling is money. 200 tins of beans doesn't earn interest and will end up being thrown away, when you decide you hate beans.

There's a lot to be said for making "big ticket" purchases/repairs sooner rather than later if you know they'll be needed. Just to "fix in" at today's prices rather than end up paying more in a few years' time due to inflation. Obviously not for anything that depreciates or becomes obsolete too quickly as you'll end up having to repeat the spend in a few years' time anyway.

For normal "consumables" of day to day items, then best to bulk buy anyway, regardless of retirement as you'll save today by bulk buying loo rolls, cosmetics, etc - anything that doesn't "go off" too quickly that you know you'll use before use by dates or natural deterioration/degradation due to poor storage/heat/cold, etc. Impending retirement doesn't change that.

Cash loses value over time, even more so if our crap economic conditions means higher interest rates, worsening exchange rates etc. Even money in savings accounts paying decent interest rates usually can't keep up with inflation and adverse exchange rates.