How much pension for a comfortable life?

Don't buy into your husband's worries abbey, sounds like this has been a lifetime concern for him and he is unlikely to change now. Retire now and enjoy your life, you are more than financially secure.

Enough is never enough for some
River . I mean having that £13k a year might make all the difference to the amount of 000000's in the bank book.

OMG, If I had that much in savings, I would not be working. Only ever had enough to cover emergencies.

This thread has me very

Now I am Really Depressed !

Thanks for the advice. However, I cannot retire.Part of the problem lies with the changes to the state pension.

I have only ever worked part time. Hubby worked full time. He was forced to retire early because his firm wanted to shed staff in 2008 ( just as the banks skint the country but not related) and made him retire rather than lose younger staff. Consequently he took a slightly reduced work pension.

As he was only 58, he had to sign on the dole ( first time ever in his life and he left school at 15 and went straight to work) and they humiliated him. One even told him he was "sacked" from the job centre" when he was three minutes late to sign ( bus issues - there are only two buses a day from here to the job centre and the afternoon one was late that day - he got a car after) and his benefits would be stopped - even though he was not claiming benefits and was only signing for NI contributions because he only had 42 years and needed 44 . This was under the old pension scheme of course.

Then he reached 60 and the gave him NI credits which more than met his 44 years, only for things to be changed in 2011 when he then required 30 years.

He was caught in the old pension trap where NI was changed from 44 years for a man to 30 years when he was early 60's.

We had always planned that he would retire at 65 and would get his work pension and married mans state pension which was about £170 a week(? forgot now). When it came he retired under revised rules with a state pension of £123 which he was told by the DWP was "£HIS" pension and was a single mans pension and me, as his wife, would have to work for a pension in my own right.

Then the rules changed again and instead of 30 years NI, I had to get 35 years NI to get a state pension. I wont have that unless I work until I am 66 ( my retirement age now).

This is where the shortfall and the problems lie. I now have to work to make up the shortfall because he his single mans pension and I have to get my single womans pension. There is no married couples pension anymore.

If I retire now I wont have enough NI contributions for my state pension. I was at college and didnt make contributions until in my 20's and my earliest jobs were below NI contribution level so I lost out on them( college years do not count for NI contributions for pension). But since I married and the rules were hubby got a married mans allowance my early missing years didn't matter (the DWP actually told me this in the 1990's when we were looking at pension arrangements for the first time. I was in my 30's still then)

Savings and inheritance do not count in any of this working out for my hubby.

He is also terrified I will lose my job before I am 66 and I wont have my income and will lose out on the state pension.

Therefore I cannot retire. I would have been retired last year had the rules remained with a married mans allowance, even though overall we would have actually had less money.

In his calculations hubby will not countenance any savings, monies for his works pension even.

I just want to know how much is enough to live on generally because his attitude is nothing is enough.

Savings and money in banks do not count. That is for "old age" according to hubby as we will need it to pay for care and medical bills then as there wont be any and there wont be an NHS - and even,there may not be any pension either.

So, I am stuck working, but would like to know what is comfortable as an income in retirement for two people with no debts and all paid up. I cant imagine it is £30K as most people working do not earn that.

Can you still buy years if you took time off for having children? I know I did.
I would make an appointment with a pensions advisor ,perhaps asking the Cab for a recommendation and both of you go. I think it's worth remembering that you could both go under a bus tomorrow and neither of you would benefit from your savings. I would make a big effort to do a list of expenses before you saw anyone remembering that heating costs more when you are home and days out are more frequent.

We manage on about £14000 a year. We have some savings but nothing like the amount you and your husband seem to have. We have no mortgage, run 2 cars, eat pretty well, have the odd few days away or a holiday if we feel like it and enjoy regular days out and trips to the theatre.
I totally agree with other posters, retire and enjoy your life.

I suspect most of us know someone who, like your husband, worried about having enough money for their old age. In my case it was a work colleague. He would boast about how much he had (owned 3 rental properties) and regularly counted out the money in his wallet in front of we junior staff. He never had less than £250 and this was 40 years ago. Three days before he was due to retire, he dropped dead on the shop floor. We had even organised his retirement party and bought his present!
Nobody knows what he future holds. You might both have another 20 good years ahead of you, I hope you do! On the other hand, one or other of you could be gone tomorrow.
That's my opinion for what it's worth.

You are not stuck working!, you can retire if you want to!, we have both 'chucked' in our jobs and are living on our savings, have a fab time, holidays when we want, meals out, etc., basically anything we want and we do it all (and treat our kids and grandchildren) on much less than £30,000 a year. We pay ourselves a monthly allowance which will more than last until he gets his state pension at 65 and I get mine at 66. We planned this as my Dad didn't even get to retirement age, but had a cardiac arrest at work age 57 doing extra shifts as we were a very poor family, this happening made us prefer not to die with loads of money in the bank, but to try to have a good carry on and not work ourselves to death, our kids will inherit what ever house we live in when we pop our clogs!

Couldn't agree more Katey. Life is for living. Non of us know what's round the corner. I believe in doing things I want to do whilst I still can. I'm in a lucky positioning that I retired 5 years ago and now just do supply teaching when it suits me. I still enjoy the odd days I work but would stop in a heartbeat if I didn't want to carry on. I've told the kids I'm spending their inheritance and they will get the house when we die( in many years time. I hope!!)

You certainly don't "have to work." Why slave away at a job you do not like in order to accumulate enough contributions to boost your pension? - what you gain per week will be peanuts!

Sounds quite bonkers to me frankly!

We jumped off various wheels and took the risk that our pensions would be smaller (as indeed they are) and how glad I am that we did - OH now has PD and our jolly retirement has faded into the mist. We had time to do some of the things we wanted before illness curtailed this a bit. He is now 70 and I am 68 and we are not able to rush about doing nice things as much as we would have wished.

Why are you chaining yourself to this job when you actually have capital behind you - and it sounds as though it would be enough to keep you solvent for a bit till the pension kicks in and then to sub that pension.

I think your OH is making a right meal of this - get out and enjoy yourselves while you can for goodness sake! - you do not know what is around the corner!

What are you saving for? You can't spend it in the tomb. I'm living on a lot less than any of the amounts you mention but I'm happy and have everything I want.

I have to agree that you should be able to live pretty well on less than £30K. DH and I get less than that between us and on that we find that we have a good lifestyle, run a good car, go out for meals and outings, the occasional weekend away, holidays, pay for things that need doing to the house, and we still manage to save out of it. There is always a surplus in our current account that we move into a "safety net" account. The only time we have broken into our main savings was to use some of the money to move to a better house. It wasn't earning anything anyway and we still have a decent cushion. We had this same conversation recently with a friend who was fretting about his upcoming retirement. He would get significantly more than we get but still didn't think it would be enough. I don't think it is uncommon as people approach retirement. Now he has actually retired, he sees differently. Don't overthink things - get on and enjoy your lives.

Are you going to let this worrypot of a husband stop you enjoying this phase of your life? The next phase is decrepitude with plenty of sedentary time to wish you had got on with life while you could!! heaven's above, anyone would think we were immortal!

Just do it, abbey. We manage perfectly well on a lot less than you have, but you can't put a price on that wonderful feeling of freedom. Of putting your head on the pillow at night with a contented sigh because you don't have to get up and force yourself off to that job ever again. And no, we none of us know what's round the corner. Live life while you can.

One word of practical advice. Get yourself a pension statement from the DWP. The whole situation now is so complicated and you need to know what you are in line for. Because I was opted out for many years, I would have got more under the old system than under the new one, so will be paid according to the old system. My "new system" forecast probably wouldn't come up to that level even if I did (perish the thought!) go back to work until I reach state pension age at 66.

abbey If you have enough money to buy two houses if you wanted to, then you have enough to invest safely and possibly get £10,000 a year without losing your capital. With his £18K that is damn near his target of £30K. What are you waiting for? Retire and enjoy one another's company while you can. There are no pockets in shrouds.

See a financial advisor.

See a good financial advisor and arrange an income without depleting your capital. You can take up to 5% of interest without paying tax. This is what I did.

Hubby has an issue that is affecting your quality of life.
If you want to retire do so. Stand your ground. Your wishes matter !!

I'd look closely at a DWP pension forecast. It isn't all or nothing! Working extra years makes little real difference.
Sorry if it sounds harsh but it's hard to feel sympathy for a couple with a decent income and substantial savings when it's obvious that so many of us live comfortably on far less. How can he 'make you' go on working? Make up your mind and if you want to retire then do it. He isn't paying any attention to your feelings so stop pandering to his!

Hear, hear mcem!

This is either a wind up or a 'look how much money I've got' nobody can be this naive.

Yes petra the same thoughts crossed my mind too!

Two current accounts, each with 20K in them.

Sigh...if only!

Of course you can retire!

Most people manage very comfortably on far less in retirement.
We have a reasonable income but not much savings due to enforced early retirement because of ill health.

petra I did wonder

I think you have nothing to worry about - except that your DH doesn't want you to retire. I did find it difficult when I retired to get my head around no longer earning money, and then this money appearing in my bank account without having to work for it. I felt strangely out of control. Perhaps he feels the same,

Or is he concerned how you would manage being 'under each other's feet' all the time? Insisting that you intend to volunteer somewhere may help?

My OH had me worried to bits about poverty in retirement , now he is incapacitated and I have the finances to sort . We are well above the breadline ! but frugality is in bread in me now and the kids are trying to get me to spend lol