Retirement Advice

We are recently retired in the south east 20 miles from London. We own our house and both cars. We would struggle on that budget if it was to include holidays and hobbies. Are annual costs for living a comfortable life are about 36k pa plus holidays and hobbies. If you choose to live anywhere north of Northampton you could reduce the cost of housing and improve your finances that way. We would have moved but our family are all based here. As for future care home if needed the costs are huge and we would have to give up our house.

Your finances sound very healthy op so you are bound to get sniped out by some of those less off and a bit jealous, unfortunately. Happy retirement.

It depends on your lifestyle. It wouldn't be enough for me.

I don’t think people on here are purposely being nasty to you, it is just there are a lot of people in the UK just about managing on very low incomes and can only dream of having a nice detached house, 2 cars and £30,000 of tax free income. So it is just being mindful of that really. I am sure there has been a lot of good advise on here for you.

Costs in north Wales as follows on 2 bed home well insulated.
Band C Council Tax £146 pm (10 months)
Gas & Elec £50pm
Water metered £20pm
1 Car insurance £120pa no road tax - we bus whenever we can.
B&C insurance £150pa

All other expenditure is up the individual isn’t it - where they shop, entertainment etc so I wouldn’t comment other than to say I know people who can’t manage on £30000pa net and others who live very nicely on half that.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

You would be very comfortable on 30k if you are mortgage free.

We’ve just gone through a budgeting exercise because my husband wants to retire and we’ve discovered that his pension will not cover the bills. I found a great budget planner on the Money Saving Expert which makes you consider all of your expenditure. We live in a 2 bedroom bungalow and council tax is £225 per month. With heating, water, phone, internet, energy bills and a car (diabolical public transport here) etc we know we need £2,500 per month without food. I’d love to hear any money saving tips. I hope this forum can be used positively - I’m sure we can all make the world a better place for each other. Good luck with your new adventure. PS I do know some people who have moved to countries with a lower cost of living, too.

My one concern when I was contemplating retirement was finances and no one would tell me how much they had! In my opinion, with no mortgage and no debts, £30.000 will be sufficient for a comfortable, if not extravagant retirement. Of course, the wretched Brexit still has to pan out and we could all be facing 40% tariffs on imports, but at the moment, you’ll be ok.

Gabrielle- you are a nasty piece of work.

What a peach you sound plumcushion.

Can you think of a nice put down for me too?

Plenty of people live in the UK on a state pension. If you have more than triple that then its bound to be ok and you have nothing to worry about. Well done you.

.. and with it being a lump sum might I recommend you consider buying a small rental property to give you good income as returns on investment are currently very poor here. You will be able to pick something up for £100k up north that yields £500 pm

Hello that’s the sum we aim for and should be enough, but we fail to achieve it as we like the good life too much, so now we have added a £10k p a holiday budget separately and that seems to work. But £30k is doable.

Definately would be enough make sure you get good quality items but not overly expensive
A toyota instead of an Audi.
That sort of thing well done and welcome back all the best

Definitely have a car each; DH and I are often travelling in different directions at the same time for our hobbies.

We mainly need money for food, petrol, tv licence, Sky tv, internet/landline connection, mobile phones x2, Council Tax, gas, electricity, water, Car insurances, MOT and servicing costs, house/contents insurance, train travel and holidays.

I'd say the upper level of your proposed income will be fine but then your hobbies or holidays might be more expensive than ours!

Just to say, I know that 2 couples that I know tried the one car thing but it was amazing how often they wanted it at the same time. Both decided to buy a second small, cheap runaround.
It depends where you live and what alternative transport is available.

Plumcusion It sounds more than reasonable the amount you are thinking of you may be lucky and come out with a surplus without cutting down on your standard of living.
I would look to rent for 6mths and get a feel for the area you are interested in and give yourselves plenty of time to view properties that you can adapt as and when you need to,check where Drs/banks/train stations/motorways etc should all be within decent distance to your home.Best of luck.

Cornergran.
I agree, one car may be better but my DH wants us to have a car each. So I’ll go along with that. Time will tell.
Luckily we are moving to an area with lots of great infrastructure around us, but I appreciate your comments. Thanks

Thank you Gill
Jeez, there are some nasty folks on here. Gabrielle .....I have absolutely no idea what is a ‘comfortable situation’ in the UK. Which is why I was asking. Personally I would think the figure I’m thinking about is pretty average. Not extravagant. Just average.
Why would you want to be so bloody nasty and such a fantasist? If you’d said less as appropriate I’d have gone with that.
There is nothing about me that is a ‘show of’. Totally the opposite. And it’s an anonymous forum......who the hell am I showing off to.?

Thanks to the lovely folks on here.

Gabrielle- you are a nasty piece of work.

Well it didn't take long for the barbed comments from predictable posters. Plumcushion was asking advice and most people managed to give it, welcome plumcushion, keep us posted on your progress.

Lovely...Plumcushion but I suspect that you knew the info you asked us for, all before typing a single word and I have a feeling that it was to announce your 'comfortable situation' to the less well off amongst the GN family.
Nowt like being smug.

plumcushion I agree sniping is unnecessary bit I did your karma comment harsh. There are always a mix of responses, we don’t necessarily like them all. I don’t think I can offer any detailed comments that you would find helpful as one persons comfortable lifestyle can be viewed as untenable by another. I can only say that it seems a reasonable amount to me to live comfortably. As lulu suggests you may find one car is adequate depending on the public transport in your chosen area and how separately busy you both are. I would also second advice about access to public transport and good medical facilities if you wish to just move the once more. Wishing you well with your big move

The only question I would have is do you need 2 cars. We always had 2 but on retirement decided to try with one and with just a small amount of juggling it works well.

May karma snipe back at me at a vulnerable time in my life?

Because I suggested you set up a bloody spreadsheet?

You have no idea who on here is vulnerable, so I suggest you give your head a wobble before you start wishing ill on perfect strangers. I'm out.

The figure you quote sounds plenty for a decent standard of living, but of course, costs can vary depending where you choose to live - even in Yorkshire, house prices vary considerably depending where it is. I'm assuming from what you say, though, that the £30,000 is what you would have left per annum once house and cars are bought. We don't know what sort of hobbies/interests/pass times you are interested in, as obviously some hobbies and travel are expensive, others less so, but even so, the income you mention should allow you to live a comfortable life, especially as you say it's after tax. It's the obvious things you will have to factor into your calculations:
Council tax, food bills, house and contents & buildings insurance, car tax, MOT and car insurance, clothing, travel costs, petrol, hobbies, utility bills, tv licence, telephone & broadband, etc.
Most of these, you will be able to shop around for to get the best deal, Council tax will depend on location and house size, car tax will depend on the cars you choose, car insurance will vary according to the type of car.
Then, of course, there will be occasional spends, e.g. you might need a new boiler at some point, or new double glazing/doors, that kind of thing.
Hope this helps, and welcome back!

We live where you are moving to and our mortgage and cars are paid for.DH still works -self employed- so income can fluctuate. We hope to be living off slightly less than your amount but think we will have enough to be comfortable ,eat well and have a couple of holidays a year.We don't eat out much,but don't hold back if we want to .Plus we enjoy a lunch at one of the lovely farm shops as much as fancy,fine dining.We have a large garden which incurs some costs but it's our hobby.Plus pets.We feel fortunate.Not as well off as some of our friends but I can live without luxury cruises.And certainly in a better position than others.
We have some savings as a back up ,or for large one off purchases .There are loads of bargains to be had if you look for them too.Enjoy your retirement !