Retirement

Having spent 10+ years fine tuning the spreadsheet, which has involved 4 children going through uni & still has 4 bank of mum & dad house deposits to go, I have always wrestled with the question, how much income & capital will I need to really enjoy being retired? Currently commuting 3 hours a day to sit for 9 hours in an office in London is by far the cheapest way I spend my time, season ticket works out at £15 a day, lunch £5, the Metro is free, biggest luxury is YM to read once a month going home. Any other use of my time is far more expensive, even a day doing DIY has an £50 cc bill, whilst a days sailing costs me £300 (and that's before factoring depreciation to the annual cost calc). So the constant question is can I ever afford to retire? At least retire and do all the interesting things, travelling, sailing, visiting etc that make the prospect appealing?

Having browsed every website I can find on this subject I've failed to answer my question, actually this thread is better than many, & yes of course 'it all depends on the individual' but that doesn't move me forward.

And that's before the question; will I value or resent all that free time, do I currently lust after getting an extra few weeks of sailing, just because it's out of reach, if I had free time in abundance would it cease to be precious & fade in value? Like other unobtainable fruit in life is it the pursuit rather than the actuality which brings the most pleasure? I enjoy the stimulation & challenge of work, but there's just too much of it, leaving little time for anything else, especially sailing.

So after years thinking about these questions, at the age of 54 I've taken step 1, as of jan 1st I am working 80% of my time (not 4days a week!), so now the office holiday spreadsheet has 80 green blocks in my column for the year instead of everyone else's 33. That's a great feeling & so far the reduced payslip hasn't caused a crisis, fingers crossed. What is exciting is the planning & how to use those days, this year Portland Bill will not be a barrier, scilly here we come!

Might take a couple of years to see if this works, if I end up doing the same volume of work for less pay then it's a failure! But if it does & probably 60% is the ideal, then I could see myself working for at least another 20 years & keep the dreaded brain fade at bay
 
this is an interesting thread, i am 44, and i have pondered the idea of when can i feasibly retire....! my mortgage will be finished at 55. but i will not have enough in the pot to retire, my salary is used to fund the family and live the lifestyle i have created. i have an indexed linked pension from time served in the army, due to medical discharge ( very good advise) and no other private pension plan.
Some people say buy a second hose, but that brings its own pressures and yes you do get a return on the investment... ! if it all goes right

So here is the conundrum, do i cut back of life enjoyments now to create a bigger pension pot, for later in life or do i use the house as the pension pot when i am 60. i don't think there is a answer to my question, i don't wish to give up on life treats now, but i also want to have life treats later, in reality i cannot have both. so when thinking about it i have one thought always in the back of my mind.

There will be a time in life where you cant do what you enjoy, so enjoy what your doing now. tomorrow will bring its own challenges.
 
47, 5 kids, 2 at uni and a 3rd to join next year.

Small business, good years and bad years. Pension pot is meaningless and almost worthless.

SO I make sure I enjoy my "retirement time" a little bit every year. On paper it would be the boat or pension savings. I could save the boat money towards retirement but i'd still expect to be poor if I retired early.

Better to rearrange work to earn what is needed at the time. Balance the needs of money and leisure time. This year I need money more than time - so sailing is weekends only. Last year was different, who knows what will happen next year and why should I worry about it?
 
KAL said:
S'pose it depends what you're typing! Sounds intriguing - would love to know...
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Mostly bids for large IT systems. I write a bit of fiction for recreation, but the income from that would not pay to run a Wayfarer!
 
My partner retired 4 years ago at 65, I took early retirement 2 years ago at 61. He bought a new boat largely with his retirement lump sum, which I bought half of when we sold my house last year. The day after I retired (yes, literally!) we sailed off to the Baltic for four months. When we got back, we moved to nearer the boat (selling a commuter-area house and buying one in a cheaper area really helps the savings pot!). We have hardly had a leisurely day since then - apart from preparing for this summer's extended trip back to the Baltic, we are restoring a dinghy for a local sailing club at present, for example, and we get out sailing whenever we can during the winter.

I enjoyed my job, but retirement is great!
 
This has been an very interesting thread , and valued posts / opinions. balance of semi retirement / more free time seems to bounce off the thread to me. Basically a subject i have firmly on the table , if in doubt do nothing but you can drift and years roll in. a good friend retired 4 months ago in december , the provision he made was approx:

Private Pension £ 40,000.00 year
Family all independent
House and yacht all paid for
Aged 57
Small ex - employee pension of £6000.00 a year coming on at age 60 ( local authority )
Had beer on friday night with him : bored worries very day about money , misses the buzz of professional life.
Thats touched me big time.
 
cloud7 said:
Had beer on friday night with him : bored worries very day about money , misses the buzz of professional life.
Thats touched me big time.
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Sounds like he planned for the cash side of things, but not what to do with all that cash.
 
Camelia said:
Sounds like he planned for the cash side of things, but not what to do with all that cash.
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I would have been of the opinion that his £40,000 a year would be fine for himself and wife , plus 3 years tap up of another £6,000 , = £46,000 .plus at 66 there is the consideration of the state pension to add which effectively could be viewed as an inflation correct measure . no loans , or family to support . i looked at him 4 months ago and said lucky guy.
I know he likes good things in life but surely even on the middle branket of very good quality retirement he is making a big deal out of what should be an very happy time.
 
maby said:
Mostly bids for large IT systems. I write a bit of fiction for recreation, but the income from that would not pay to run a Wayfarer!
Click to expand...
I can see the similarity - in my experience most bids for large IT systems are work of pure fiction (or even fantasy) :)
 
cloud7 said:
This has been an very interesting thread , and valued posts / opinions. balance of semi retirement / more free time seems to bounce off the thread to me. Basically a subject i have firmly on the table , if in doubt do nothing but you can drift and years roll in. a good friend retired 4 months ago in december , the provision he made was approx:

Private Pension £ 40,000.00 year
Family all independent
House and yacht all paid for
Aged 57
Small ex - employee pension of £6000.00 a year coming on at age 60 ( local authority )
Had beer on friday night with him : bored worries very day about money , misses the buzz of professional life.
Thats touched me big time.
Click to expand...

He is in a better place than First Mate and I financially, but obviously has made no plan.

We have a joint retirement income of a little over 32k PA. Some of this-about half-is rental income and should keep pace with inflation.

We started planning 15 years ago, and chose sailing as a pastime to replace our previous petrol head activities.

The only fly in the ointment is that my Father is still alive at 91, but with Altzhiemers.

If we visit three times a day or once a year, he is unable to remember.

It has been a hard choice, but due to physical problems First Mate and I have decided that we must look to our future, not Dads. We may not be able to maintain and sail our lovely boat for much longer, so we must do it while we can.

Dad is well looked after, in a really nice Care Home, and could still be with us in ten years time. I will probably be unable to walk by then.

We are currently in Southern Spain, getting some sun-my internal metalwork cannot take British winters anymore.

While here, we met with several friends who are our age. Only now are they looking at their retirement options.

Two have stated bluntly that they cannot afford to retire and will keep working.

Another is appalled how poorly his pension has performed, and is worrying.

None of them say they are prepared to do what we did and seriously downsize.

Our expenses are much less,the house is easier to maintain, no garden to look after= more money and time for travel and sailing.

Retirement is a big step and it requires thought and planning.

Many of our peers have not done this. I get the impression they are apprehensive about it.

They should not be-it's great!
 
cloud7 said:
I would have been of the opinion that his £40,000 a year would be fine for himself and wife , plus 3 years tap up of another £6,000 , = £46,000 .plus at 66 there is the consideration of the state pension to add which effectively could be viewed as an inflation correct measure . no loans , or family to support . i looked at him 4 months ago and said lucky guy.
I know he likes good things in life but surely even on the middle branket of very good quality retirement he is making a big deal out of what should be an very happy time.
Click to expand...

This is a Sailing Forum site - the running costs of a relatively moderate sized boat can take a big chunk out of £40k
 
I packed in working at 56. I wasn't enjoying my job (IT Support), the job changed, not me.
Mortgage was paid off, kids out of Uni and I had two pensions that kicked in at 55.
I did a careful calculation of my out goings and decided that my wife and I could just about get by on the pensions with savings as a backup, we live modestly and don't buy 'new' cars. I found that I was still saving, so that was a bonus!
Now that my OAP has kicked in, that goes straight to savings or boat fund as I like to call it :)
I don't miss work, that seed was implanted when I took 6 months out in 95 and again in 98, I now enjoy my summer cruises and hate winter.
The money should outlast us but if it runs out when I'm 85/88 I will be too old to worry about it :)
 
"This has been an very interesting thread , and valued posts / opinions. balance of semi retirement / more free time seems to bounce off the thread to me. Basically a subject i have firmly on the table , if in doubt do nothing but you can drift and years roll in. a good friend retired 4 months ago in december , the provision he made was approx:

Private Pension £ 40,000.00 year
Family all independent
House and yacht all paid for
Aged 57
Small ex - employee pension of £6000.00 a year coming on at age 60 ( local authority )
Had beer on friday night with him : bored worries very day about money , misses the buzz of professional life.
Thats touched me big time. "



First I posted, then I thought: I have got this wrong, it can't possibly be right, and I deleted the post.

Then I realised I was right in the first place, his pension is not £6000 per year it is £40000 + £60000.....so here it is again



£46k in retirement?

Forty Six Thousand pounds in retirement.

And he is worried about money. Tough life.


Seriously, your mate could be heading into depression. He needs to take steps.
 
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Call me lazy, but at 56 I want to work less! I am a surgeon in the NHS and no longer look forward to going to work. I do look forwards to my sailing. Last year I took 3 months sabbatical to test out how I and SWMBO would fare sailing for 3 months around Sicily, Italy and then the Adriatic. Did I miss work? No!

Although I do not want to retire completely I would like to have more time off to sail in the summer. This is never going to happen as a full-time NHS employee so I plan to leave the NHS and then work mainly in the winter months and the very hot mid-summer. I am lucky that I can do sessional NHS work as well as some other private stuff.

TudoeSailor
 
As a very rough estimate I guess a couple can live comfortably on £20K a year, assuming the house is paid for. That would cover housing, food, car and basic social/holiday/entertainment - how does that fit with other people's estimates - I have a niggling suspicion it may be a bit low.

Then you need to add on top the costs of the hobbies to take the place of the work - running a boat would add a lot on top of that...
 
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