How much do you need to live on in retirement?

Depends what you want to do! It’s certainly the case that it is pretty scary to see savings diminish and to no longer have the means to replenish them except by cutting back somewhere.

I think you would be better asking a Financial advisor
You need to take your lifestyle into account , do you live simply or do you go cruising ?
How are you managing to get your state pension at 60 ?

It’s not my state pension Aggie, it’s my NHS pension which I am opting to take at 60. I’m not one for cruises and can live fairly frugally. I have an allotment, cycle, enjoy a couple of trips to Europe a year and while my health is good I aim to hike as much as possible. But realistically, there are likely to be some extra expenses eg I might need a car at some point. Some ballparks form those who are there would be useful.
Your point Midget is what I was thinking- life is going to throw some curveballs eg the current Ukraine linked inflationary situation which people would not have predicted 18 months ago.

Sorry Midgey not Midget!

I could manage on around £1700 ...not sure I could go any lower unless I used savings....hoping to fully retire at 60 on that ( retired and returned on 2 days at 57)

You could test it - since none of us will know or have the same lifestyle - by living on on what you believe you will have, less a percentage to allow for inflation, for six months to a year.

Everybody is so different in their needs and wants.

Best may be to find current outgoings for the last year - food, heat, water, TV. Petrol, MOT, insurance, and car maintenance. Clothes, shoes, hair, makeup, nails, gifts, dental, health, eyes. Home maintenance and assorted expenses. Pets. Exercise. Travel. Gifts. And whatever else I have forgotten.

Add all to a total, divide by 12, add 25% for one-offs and inflation. You may come close to monthly needs using math from the past year.

When I was with my out our monies pre retirement I did lots of spreadsheet s. It was the only way for me to get every last thing down on paper. All the little bills like monthly window clean hairdressing, milk bill, as well as the main utilities.

Also look to BigBertha1

I forgot windows, cleaner, gardener, drinks. Look hard to past costs.

Don't forget that some expenses may change if you spend more time at home - heating, for instance. My friend, from work, retired before me.

She found her 'workwear' budget ceased (and she had loads of blouses and formal skirts that were never worn again). Her leisure shopping habits increased and shifted to sportswear, art and home accessories, along with more lunches out, though.

Her petrol costs remained high, from going out much more than before. Another surprise was the same food expenses - as she had no desire to save money by cooking from scratch!

I have recently performed this exercise by setting up a spreadsheet and analysing the lasts year’s bank and credit account statements.
I wanted to know what we had actually spent rather than guessing or estimating the costs.
Some of the totals were quite shocking to see written down.

Only you know your lifestyle and running costs of your home.
The cost of our big family home is very different to my son’s one bedroom flat for instance.
Good luck with it.

I have always taken advantage of the bank’s annual monthly savings accounts which give little interest but it’s been a way of putting money away each year, knowing I can manage without it but having a lump sum at the end of the year for any extra expenses or treats.

I did a test run of a few months but realistically I actually became widowed a few years in and then it was a whole new scenario of much less income, I had not accounted for that

I am another who lost out on `missed` childbearing years and did not realise until it was too late to claim anything. I learnt to live with it

Personally, I realise that the current year may well be better than future years so I have also set up a regular saver, which will eventually go into my savings account.

I still need to do the spreadsheets and yes, as notagran says, the figures can be shocking and a wake up call but it is worth doing the spreadsheets from time to time, not as just a one-off. I did mine a few weeks ago, hence the current regular saver

We retired early at the beginning of the year, and have been taken aback by just how much money we are getting through, especially as the cost of living crisis took us (and everyone else) by surprise! Our savings have reduced at an alarming rate - fortunately we will both get our State Pensions next year, which will supplement our private pensions and savings, to give us an acceptable standard of living. My advice to anyone planning their future retirement would be three-fold: save, save, and then save some more!

We seem to need the same amount of money as we had when MrOops was working! The savings are dropping alarmingly and I’m going to have to sit him down and have a talk along with the dreaded Spread Sheets after Christmas and try to reign him in.

Don’t forget MissMoneyPenny that the income from your Rental property on top of your Pension will put you into the Tax Man’s clutches. So you will have to do your sums with the tax taken into account.
I’m not sure what Tax breaks there will be in the future for Buy to Lets (none!) so you might have to look into your Crystal Ball and see what other costs you might have, especially when we get a change of Government, which will probably happen sooner than later. Plus the cost of maintaining the property, plus your own, on what will be your new fixed income.

Of course it’s all doable and better to go into it having planned it all now to cope with the inevitable price rises that seem to be happening daily rather than yearly.
It might pay you to sort your own home out, plus the Rental, now whilst you are working so that any major costly works will have been done before your income drops.

I found that my income was better than I thought because I no longer had to pay the various subs to my professional body, unions etc. I have NHS pension and State pension but it's lower than I thought because apparently I 'contracted out' at one point which I have no recollection of.
I do try to save each month but somehow something always comes along to deplete my savings.

Surely it depends on where you live, eg London is very expensive.

Good point Chardy

Aveline

I found that my income was better than I thought because I no longer had to pay the various subs to my professional body, unions etc. I have NHS pension and State pension but it's lower than I thought because apparently I 'contracted out' at one point which I have no recollection of.
I do try to save each month but somehow something always comes along to deplete my savings.

You must have contracted out, if you're receiving NHS pension. You din't pay full NICs.

Chardy

Surely it depends on where you live, eg London is very expensive.

Sort of, but not.
I swapped London for Devon but certain things are far more expensive here. Take water bills and traveling around as just two examples.
I have no pension yet, I would probably around £3k a month to enjoy a goodish lifestyle.

growstuff I seemed to pay in a fortune in superannuation and national insurance. I did check and this contracting out was only for a few years. I didn't understand it and never questioned it although I wouldn't have known who to ask. Meanwhile I'm so grateful to my Dad for making me join the superannuation scheme in my 20s. I thought it was daft at the time but it meant I could be free at 60.

growstuff

Aveline

I found that my income was better than I thought because I no longer had to pay the various subs to my professional body, unions etc. I have NHS pension and State pension but it's lower than I thought because apparently I 'contracted out' at one point which I have no recollection of.
I do try to save each month but somehow something always comes along to deplete my savings.

You must have contracted out, if you're receiving NHS pension. You din't pay full NICs.

It wasn’t an individual choice though, it was done for all NHS employees (along with other public sector staff). I suppose the thinking was that we were getting a pension from the NHS so needed less from the state. The same will apply to Missmoneypenny, although the terms of the NHS pension have changed to the detriment of staff.

The years between retiring early and the onset of your state pension are tough in my experience, because you want to get the best out of life while you’re relatively young and fit, which drains your resources - not working sounds fun in theory, but I’m sure it isn’t if you have no funds to do what you’d like to.

I’d echo the advice to save as much as you can before you retire, try to live on the amount your retirement income will be, and make sure your home is fully maintained to avoid any big hit house expenses for as long as you can. I’m still saving for new windows, and it is much harder to save once your income drops.

The thing is, it is what it is. People live on less than you or more. To get £900 in rental is a big boost and you have all that money in that flat as effectively saving but you could sell.
There will be lots of people just getting governments pension for a couple. If you look how much that is you can see how much better off you are than many, plus if course your flat..
If it not enough you would work until your 70 and get more.

Chardy

Surely it depends on where you live, eg London is very expensive.

If you own your home I'm not sure London is very expensive People I know live perfectly well in London without a car and public transport is good and cheap. Out in the stick bus services are rapidly disappearing and older people really do need to keep a car on the road.