Pension stuff, how's it all looking ? HAve you prepared ?

[Count Steer]

I did a huge spreadsheet, took all our current living costs (not including mortgage) which came to £34K/year when you include a couple of holidays and a couple of grand for contingencies plus a "reasonable" amount of discretionary spending each (£250/month each seemed reasonable). I increased it year on year by an estimated inflationary amount (just under 3%), which takes it £46K/year in ten years time and £57K in twenty years time, £73K/year in thirty years time and so on. The compounded effects of inflation are a bit scary!

Yeah. I forgot to mention inflation. For the lump sum scenario that lump probably shrinks while the costs keep rising (unless it's a jolly large lump ). Even 'inflation adjusted' pensions haven't really matched recent, real world, rises. (Reading today that food prices have actually risen 31% since, iirc, December 21 (equivalent to about 15 years before that). Car insurance and maintenance has jumped incrementally too).

[Mr Moofo]

I did a huge spreadsheet, took all our current living costs (not including mortgage) which came to £34K/year when you include a couple of holidays and a couple of grand for contingencies plus a "reasonable" amount of discretionary spending each (£250/month each seemed reasonable). I increased it year on year by an estimated inflationary amount (just under 3%), which takes it £46K/year in ten years time and £57K in twenty years time, £73K/year in thirty years time and so on. The compounded effects of inflation are a bit scary!

Yeah. I forgot to mention inflation. For the lump sum scenario that lump probably shrinks while the costs keep rising (unless it's a jolly large lump ). Even 'inflation adjusted' pensions haven't really matched recent, real world, rises. (Reading today that food prices have actually risen 31% since, iirc, December 21 (equivalent to about 15 years before that). Car insurance and maintenance has jumped incrementally too).

One slightly philosophical view - as you get older you also spend a lot less. Inflation is a bitch but high disposable income lifestyle decreases with age - once you get to 60 the thought of jumping on a flight to Ibiza for a 4 day bender of drink, drugs and carnal pleasures doesn't have the same appeal or priority as when in you 20s

[Count Steer]

I did a huge spreadsheet, took all our current living costs (not including mortgage) which came to £34K/year when you include a couple of holidays and a couple of grand for contingencies plus a "reasonable" amount of discretionary spending each (£250/month each seemed reasonable). I increased it year on year by an estimated inflationary amount (just under 3%), which takes it £46K/year in ten years time and £57K in twenty years time, £73K/year in thirty years time and so on. The compounded effects of inflation are a bit scary!

Yeah. I forgot to mention inflation. For the lump sum scenario that lump probably shrinks while the costs keep rising (unless it's a jolly large lump ). Even 'inflation adjusted' pensions haven't really matched recent, real world, rises. (Reading today that food prices have actually risen 31% since, iirc, December 21 (equivalent to about 15 years before that). Car insurance and maintenance has jumped incrementally too).

One slightly philosophical view - as you get older you also spend a lot less. Inflation is a bitch but high disposable income lifestyle decreases with age - once you get to 60 the thought of jumping on a flight to Ibiza for a 4 day bender of drink, drugs and carnal pleasures doesn't have the same appeal or priority as when in you 20s

We just save up for hips and knees instead.

[Horse]

One slightly philosophical view - as you get older you also spend a lot less. Inflation is a bitch but high disposable income lifestyle decreases with age

Pre-covid, perhaps. But, for me, my 'work' costs altered substantially. Being at home meant almost no travel costs. Even down to less electricity from not having to iron shirts.

But heating and lighting increased. And extras such as toilet paper ... ;

[Horse]

The only thing that gives me the hump is the £5k special allowance that disappears entirely once you earn a pound in income that comes from paid employment, so you can quite literally be worse off because you work.

Do you have a link for info on that?

All I can see on .gov is:
Your tax-free Personal Allowance
The standard Personal Allowance is £12,570, which is the amount of income you do not have to pay tax on.

Your Personal Allowance may be bigger if you claim Marriage Allowance or Blind Person’s Allowance. It’s smaller if your income is over £100,000.

I'm drawing a final salary type pension, and will get the state pension later this year.

But I also work part-time - and won't get anywhere near enough to cover £5k, whether as additional tax-free or anything else.

I'd definitely like to know more about 'the £5k special allowance'...

@Potter

[Taipan]

Yeah. I forgot to mention inflation. For the lump sum scenario that lump probably shrinks while the costs keep rising (unless it's a jolly large lump ). Even 'inflation adjusted' pensions haven't really matched recent, real world, rises. (Reading today that food prices have actually risen 31% since, iirc, December 21 (equivalent to about 15 years before that). Car insurance and maintenance has jumped incrementally too).

One slightly philosophical view - as you get older you also spend a lot less. Inflation is a bitch but high disposable income lifestyle decreases with age - once you get to 60 the thought of jumping on a flight to Ibiza for a 4 day bender of drink, drugs and carnal pleasures doesn't have the same appeal or priority as when in you 20s

We just save up for hips and knees instead.

I’m ahead of the game there!

[JackyJoll]

The only thing that gives me the hump is the £5k special allowance that disappears entirely once you earn a pound in income that comes from paid employment, so you can quite literally be worse off because you work.

Do you have a link for info on that?

All I can see on .gov is:
Your tax-free Personal Allowance
The standard Personal Allowance is £12,570, which is the amount of income you do not have to pay tax on.

Your Personal Allowance may be bigger if you claim Marriage Allowance or Blind Person’s Allowance. It’s smaller if your income is over £100,000.

I'm drawing a final salary type pension, and will get the state pension later this year.

But I also work part-time - and won't get anywhere near enough to cover £5k, whether as additional tax-free or anything else.

Can anyone claim Blind Person’s Allowance or do you have to be blind?

[Taipan]

Council tax plus tax for all the vehicles is total of €800.
Zero heating bill.

Food is cheap and we don't need to buy lots of clothes.
Don't need holidays to the sun
Fuel is €1.30

We had to move away from UK to retire early

My mare retired early (injured fireman ffs!) and moved to Murcia and said pretty much the same thing. It’s much cheaper to live there,than here, so your money goes further. I’d go for the weather, but stay for the savings!

[Pirahna]

Council tax plus tax for all the vehicles is total of €800.
Zero heating bill.

Food is cheap and we don't need to buy lots of clothes.
Don't need holidays to the sun
Fuel is €1.30

We had to move away from UK to retire early

My mare retired early (injured fireman ffs!) and moved to Murcia and said pretty much the same thing. It’s much cheaper to live there,than here, so your money goes further. I’d go for the weather, but stay for the savings!

Car tax is paid to the local council so gets included on the council tax bill (suma). Both of my vehicles were registered last year so no tax is due on them until this year. My council tax last year was €316.01, plus another €43.18 for bins (I don't get bin collections, this pays for the big paladin bins that are dotted around in various places). The council tax on my old UK house is over 10 times this.

Despite such a low rate of council tax there is a steady stream of free cultural events, the roads are in great shape, everything seems to work.

[Yambo]

I don't know what you guys are earning now or were earning immediately before retirement but jeez, you think £60k a year for doing nothing is just about right?

Wow

My state pension is paid directly into my Turkish bank (I have to suffer the rate of exchange on the day but that is currently in my favour). The pension is lower than the minimum state pension quoted by the government as I'm 4 months too old for that and I was opted out of SERPS for 23 years (not voluntarily) while playing soldiers.

However, I can live quite comfortably on that meagre amount. OK, I'm single with no mortgage, my regular bills - water, electric, phone/internet are no way as expensive as in the UK but I can have a beer or two when I want to, eat out once a week with M and pay the bill and still buy a pile of sanding discs for prepping my boats for summer. I enjoy life.

My other pensions, one of them is only £53 a month pays for holidays, hobbies, hip replacements etc. I don't have a car though because it would just be sat there most of the time bleeding money. I work around the shit winter bus service or get a lift into town in some other expats status symbol.

I really don't think a lot of you guys understand retirement or at least, we see it completely differently.

[Horse]

I'd definitely like to know more about 'the £5k special allowance'...

@Potter

You need to get a proper advisor, but this will give you a start.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savin ... allowance/

"If you earn less than £17,570, the starting savings rate allows you to earn up to £5,000 in savings interest completely tax-free. This is in addition to your personal income tax allowance and personal savings allowance.

How much of the £5,000 allowance you get depends on how much you earn and can be quite comple"

From those, it's not an absolute 'earn a single paid penny' cut-out that you implied.

Isn't it the case that earning means 'income', e.g. pension payments are taxable if over the basic limit?

[Count Steer]

I don't know what you guys are earning now or were earning immediately before retirement but jeez, you think £60k a year for doing nothing is just about right?

Wow

LOL. It's not for 'doing nothing' it's money arising from doing rather a lot. State and company pensions aside (which aren't 'free', we put money in) a fair chunk of ours is money we earned and saved. Pleasure deferred if you like.

We studied/trained and worked hard, moved jobs, moved locations, earned decent money and planned ahead. (Managed to enjoy ourselves most of the time too ). I see no reason why that means we should be living on gruel in a hovel.

PS Oh yeah we paid and still pay taxes, so we aren't a total drain on society.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I think it's called textured insect protein actually. You should be greatful for your Amazon allocated Prime Hovel too.

[weeksy]

I don't know what you guys are earning now or were earning immediately before retirement but jeez, you think £60k a year for doing nothing is just about right?

Wow

LOL. It's not for 'doing nothing' it's money arising from doing rather a lot. State and company pensions aside (which aren't 'free', we put money in) a fair chunk of ours is money we earned and saved. Pleasure deferred if you like.

We studied/trained and worked hard, moved jobs, moved locations, earned decent money and planned ahead. (Managed to enjoy ourselves most of the time too ). I see no reason why that means we should be living on gruel in a hovel.

PS Oh yeah we paid and still pay taxes, so we aren't a total drain on society.

I think it's simpler than that mate in truth, the pension is 'savings' so you're only spending your savings, not spending something 'free' ... It's all savings we've accumulated over the last 20-40 years. Everyone (until recently) had the option whether to enter into a pension, so it was a choice thing for us to 'save'... I'm notoriously bad at saving, so this was a god-send for me.

[Count Steer]

I think it's called textured insect protein actually. You should be greatful for your Amazon allocated Prime Hovel too.

I'm pitching for a heated Prime hovel - with a view....but I'll have to sign up for Audible, Amazon Music, Amazon Business and Amazon Groceries and commit to writing 300 dodgy product reviews a week to get on the waiting list.

[Yambo]

LOL. It's not for 'doing nothing' it's money arising from doing rather a lot. State and company pensions aside (which aren't 'free', we put money in) a fair chunk of ours is money we earned and saved. Pleasure deferred if you like.

We studied/trained and worked hard, moved jobs, moved locations, earned decent money and planned ahead. (Managed to enjoy ourselves most of the time too ). I see no reason why that means we should be living on gruel in a hovel.

PS Oh yeah we paid and still pay taxes, so we aren't a total drain on society.

I'm well aware of all that, (my army pension was non contributory ) and I still pay taxes but that wasn't the point. Why you think that you're going to need an income of £60k a year during retirement is laughable. If you've been earning enough to provide a £5k a month pension (fair play to you!) then I would suggest you'll have most of what you need for retirement; no mortgage, car, insulated big house (may be too big for retirement when you only bump into the wife now and again) good social scene etc. What you gonna do with all that cash?

Just about all of the expats in this village are retired, most of them on way, way better pensions than mine. A neighbour of mine (single woman in her 70s) came here and stuck a £million in the bank - she'd worked in a bank in the City (Chase possibly) bought 4 properties, new car etc etc etc. Of course, her £1m is no longer worth that due to serious inflation here but she's still loaded. She's also one of the most unhappiest people I know. Sits in her big house (hers is a triplex, mine a duplex) all day with the aircon going cos it's chilly in winter and too hot in summer. Rarely goes out.

Another is called 'First Responder'. I think he managed photography shoots for Kays catalogue or some such thing. He has a big house more to the back of the village and is certainly not short of a bob or two. The 'First Responder' nickname? He sits on facebook all day and when someone posts something, anything, he is the first person to make a comment. What a sad fucker.

There are others with big pots of money and decent monthly incomes - they keep a couple of bars open during the winter. They have no life and although they have a car "so that I can go out when I want to" they rarely buy petrol. Quite a few of them tell me they envy my lifestyle - I'm usually busy doing something boats or doing things for others (I don't take payment) like today, I'll be helping another expat put his outboard motor back together. He's selling the boat because he can't find the time to use it enough. He's too busy watching films on the TV and telling me about them when we have a beer on a Friday evening.

The rest probably all have a nice pot of money in the bank to fall back on and a decent enough monthly income but they still, like me, buy their fruit and veg in the market on a Monday - the cheap option. But fair play to them, they managed to not die just after retiring so they can spend their time in a great place doing fuck all and waiting to die, still wealthy.

Now of course, you won't be like them just as they would have said before "I won't be like that". But time will tell.

Retirement is what you make it but in general, it doesn't need a lot of money. It needs a decent attitude.

I don't have a pot of money to fall back on btw, I get a monthly income from 3 pensions (one of them currently just £53 a month). But I'm a lot better off, happier and healthier that the fat cats.

[weeksy]

LOL. It's not for 'doing nothing' it's money arising from doing rather a lot. State and company pensions aside (which aren't 'free', we put money in) a fair chunk of ours is money we earned and saved. Pleasure deferred if you like.

We studied/trained and worked hard, moved jobs, moved locations, earned decent money and planned ahead. (Managed to enjoy ourselves most of the time too ). I see no reason why that means we should be living on gruel in a hovel.

PS Oh yeah we paid and still pay taxes, so we aren't a total drain on society.

I'm well aware of all that, (my army pension was non contributory ) and I still pay taxes but that wasn't the point. Why you think that you're going to need an income of £60k a year during retirement is laughable. If you've been earning enough to provide a £5k a month pension (fair play to you!) then I would suggest you'll have most of what you need for retirement; no mortgage, car, insulated big house (may be too big for retirement when you only bump into the wife now and again) good social scene etc. What you gonna do with all that cash?

Just about all of the expats in this village are retired, most of them on way, way better pensions than mine. A neighbour of mine (single woman in her 70s) came here and stuck a £million in the bank - she'd worked in a bank in the City (Chase possibly) bought 4 properties, new car etc etc etc. Of course, her £1m is no longer worth that due to serious inflation here but she's still loaded. She's also one of the most unhappiest people I know. Sits in her big house (hers is a triplex, mine a duplex) all day with the aircon going cos it's chilly in winter and too hot in summer. Rarely goes out.

Another is called 'First Responder'. I think he managed photography shoots for Kays catalogue or some such thing. He has a big house more to the back of the village and is certainly not short of a bob or two. The 'First Responder' nickname? He sits on facebook all day and when someone posts something, anything, he is the first person to make a comment. What a sad fucker.

There are others with big pots of money and decent monthly incomes - they keep a couple of bars open during the winter. They have no life and although they have a car "so that I can go out when I want to" they rarely buy petrol. Quite a few of them tell me they envy my lifestyle - I'm usually busy doing something boats or doing things for others (I don't take payment) like today, I'll be helping another expat put his outboard motor back together. He's selling the boat because he can't find the time to use it enough. He's too busy watching films on the TV and telling me about them when we have a beer on a Friday evening.

The rest probably all have a nice pot of money in the bank to fall back on and a decent enough monthly income but they still, like me, buy their fruit and veg in the market on a Monday - the cheap option. But fair play to them, they managed to not die just after retiring so they can spend their time in a great place doing fuck all and waiting to die, still wealthy.

Now of course, you won't be like them just as they would have said before "I won't be like that". But time will tell.

Retirement is what you make it but in general, it doesn't need a lot of money. It needs a decent attitude.

I don't have a pot of money to fall back on btw, I get a monthly income from 3 pensions (one of them currently just £53 a month). But I'm a lot better off, happier and healthier that the fat cats.

That does to an extent depend upon where you live though i'd say. For example in the UK i expect the initial unavoidable bills are potentially higher than where you are. Things like our council tax is £250 a month, TV licence £25 a month, heating bills i expect a lot more than you as is gas and water i'd guess too.
Moving to some little island/place in the middle of cheapsville does have a certain appeal though i'd agree... I can't see Mrs Weeksy going with the idea.

[Horse]

I'm notoriously bad at saving, so this was a god-send for me.

I only joined the company final salary scheme on a whim. Happened to ask my manager about it coincidentally during the two week 'window' for joining.

At that time, 3% contribution

[Bustaspoke]

Last year,my first year of retirement, I spent £14000.We all have different lifestyles & expenses,I'm not high maintenance & no debts so I don't need much.
My only regret is that it took me until I was 61 before I could finish,but at least I've got there .

[Count Steer]

LOL. It's not for 'doing nothing' it's money arising from doing rather a lot. State and company pensions aside (which aren't 'free', we put money in) a fair chunk of ours is money we earned and saved. Pleasure deferred if you like.

We studied/trained and worked hard, moved jobs, moved locations, earned decent money and planned ahead. (Managed to enjoy ourselves most of the time too ). I see no reason why that means we should be living on gruel in a hovel.

PS Oh yeah we paid and still pay taxes, so we aren't a total drain on society.

I'm well aware of all that, (my army pension was non contributory ) and I still pay taxes but that wasn't the point. Why you think that you're going to need an income of £60k a year during retirement is laughable. If you've been earning enough to provide a £5k a month pension (fair play to you!) then I would suggest you'll have most of what you need for retirement; no mortgage, car, insulated big house (may be too big for retirement when you only bump into the wife now and again) good social scene etc. What you gonna do with all that cash?

A bit of context, I've been retired for 15 years. Knocked it on the head some years before pension age, didn't plan to as was going to go self-employed/contract but thought meh...I was enjoying it. Burrowed into savings until company pension kicked in and wife was doing freelance writing and stuff which helped.

Don't have a big house (but probably need a new roof on this one), got 2 cars, one 2017 and the 'shopping trolley' is 2022. Not bothered about big holidays but spend a fair bit on residential courses learning new skills, polishing up old ones. Not bored.

We're, I'll use the word again, 'comfy'. If I had to pay for a new roof or car tomorrow, I could. Part of being comfy is having that sort of cushion...ie I don't worry about money, just look after it and make sure there's 'enough'. What that is to me and others will vary. We could live happily on less, and have done, but I'm OK with living happily with more. I cut my coat according to my cloth as they say.

There are, as you say, many unhappy people with a lot more, but I expect there are a few v happy ones too.

(Now I'm off to a talk on medieval clothing...pip pip!).