How much pension for a comfortable life?

As they tend to do!

I only want to enough money to sort out emergency repairs and other bad things that may come along.

......but you can save that for the birds and bees, she wants Money !

The best things in life are free

No inheritances to look forward to!!!

Same sort of thing but from a person without a fortune and a small state pension (me!) How much should I try to save for contingencies? Fortunately got no mortgage but the house will need 2/3 thousand for repairs and I need to keep a car as I'm in the sticks here.

ZZZZZZ

???

Abbey, with every post you submit you dig the hole deeper.... you'll be in Australia soon.
willsmadnan if abbey does do that she will find that her pension does not rise and remains at the same level as the day she dug through.
Healthcare has to be paid for too.

Chin up abbey and count your blessings:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s00cex6vi-o

You've had enough of working.
You have enough money to live comfortably.
You've had enough 'discussion' here.
Enough of the gloating!!
I (and I suspect others) have had enough of this ridiculous thread.

Retire!

We read about people who leave behind big sums of money but during their lives no-one guessed they were rich. I find your 'fortune' story fascinating Abbey because it illustrates how such a situation can come about.

For myself, I try to balance capital growth and income to achieve my worry-free retirement. I think £28k for 2 people is fine, £30k is better and you could save from that, but as a single person aim for at least £20k. Retirement can get quite boring so you need some luxuries, breaks, interests. Some capital as a cushion gives a good feeling of security but as others have said 'seize the day', you can't take it with you.

I sort of get where you're coming from, abbey in that I would like to live only on my pensions and leave my savings in case they are needed for my care. However, they are minimal compared to yours, any inheritance I received was tiny and I do have children to leave any money to. You have sufficient income to lead a very, very comfortable life now, without the need to use your state pension. Maybe you should donate the pension to charity, then you could live off your inheritance without feeling guilty.

Abbey, with every post you submit you dig the hole deeper.... you'll be in Australia soon. For heaven's sakes, get yourself a passport, quit your boring job and take off for a few months somewhere.... anywhere. Leave the old man working on his financial spread sheet and have some fun. You can't take it with you when you shuffle off, and none of us know how soon the Grim Reaper will come for us. You may think you can control everything, but you've no control over the inevitable.. .. none of us have.

Can you imagine the mindset of someone who would rather leave money to HMRC rather than the 1000s of small charities who are doing so much good and receive no help.

Presumably tax is payable on the multi-thousand pounds savings? And that bill will grow every year, as your fortune accrues. Hope you've taken that into account as well!

I was suspicious of this thread right from the beginning .

We spent some years in Africa, so do not receive full government pensions. So we both set up private pensions to cover the shortfall. Sadly, we lost a great deal because the pensions were with a pension company (I will not mention which one) that almost collapsed. When I retired, seven years after my husband, I was terrified we would not manage. Our income is currently just over £20,000 annually (no mortgage any more) and we not only manage well enough, with the odd holiday, monthly gym membership, and belonging to our local bowls club, we also manage to save each month. We have a car, but rarely use it as we also love cycling. You will find a whole new world out there and should be enjoying it together while you can.

An income of £30000 per annum is beyond the reach of most retired people , your Husband is paranoid

A poster mentioned the family inheriting the house, but unless provision has been made to safeguard it, it may, in the end be needed to cover care fees. Equally, spend some of your inheritance/savings rather than that also all go on care.

I do hope you have made a will if you see others as vultures ready to enjoy your inheritances. This is your right and husbands. Please do so if you have not already done so

£30K is much more than my DH and I will have to live on when he retires.

I have been on gransnet for many years and i do not think I have ever seen such a mad thread!!

Your original question was how much PENSION was enough for your both to live on. It is the wrong question - you should be asking how much MONEY is enough to live on.

A colleague of mine was left a decent legacy from her parents and she would not us it when she retired because she felt her parents had worked their socks off to get it. Within two years of retirement she sadly died of cancer, and I don't think her children had the same compunction about spending it!