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Retirement


A few reports say that £40-£45k for a couple gives a comfortable living with some luxuries. But back through the thread we have done a closer look at some of these claims, and they talk about a high spend for clothes as a few just pointed out, then daft stuff like a new kitchen every 8-10 years.

One exercise I plan to do at some point (and definitely do it again before retirement), is not to look at my salary but look at my take home wage. Then knock off mortgage payments from that, then take off what I put in savings, what I pay commuting, what we give to the kids etc. Basically remove all the spends that are either investing for the future or that I will not have any more.

Once I have that, there is a good starting figure to think that losing all those outgoings, I could live exactly the same life on that lower wage. Anything else and you are starting to talk about what lifestyle changes you want.

There is also the consideration of front loading your retirement. Mine will be a mixture of savings & investments, state pension and private pension. At 80+ the two pensions will easily be enough, so blowing the savings and investments earlier and enjoying myself is probably the best way to do it.
We took 5 random months from the last 3 yrs and logged every bank transaction splitting it down into categories. Sounds a bit anal but it was an eye opener to see how much we spend on shite and with a bit more thought how much we could live on without being too frugal. It's very worthwhile doing imo as retirement planning picks up pace.
 
My Mum (Mam) is 88 and still jumps on the bus to go shopping.
Needs to bloody slow down. Suffers from anxiety, gets lonely has to be doing something (bloody moved that to me).
Call her a few times a day which drives me nuts but I know She lives for the calls. My Brother luckily is local thus sees her regularly.

Back to the retirement theme. She lives like She is still in the war.
Only yesterday all worried that her washing machine is packing up. Then She states as bright as a button, “I bought it on the 23rd of June 1999.”🤣
Easily survives on the state pension and a very small private one.

My mam is 90 and similar. Still doing well physically and mentally for her age but constantly worrying about everything. I keep telling her to get her money spent on anything which makes her life easier as I don't need it.

I have full access to her accounts (through Power of Attorney) and even though she only has the state pension, a small widow's one from my dad's old scheme and a few thousand in savings, she is in a better financial position than many working people half her age. If her pension was increased to £20,000 a year she wouldn't know what to do with it.
 
Everyone does that, avoiding tax I mean, not hiding earnings. if you can claim for something then claim it.
Ok calm down, so defensive…. They are my mates and like many SE trades people they don’t pay their way. Still my mates though (actually most not many ;) don’t worry I am not in HRMC)
 
Ok calm down, so defensive…. They are my mates and like many SE trades people they don’t pay their way. Still my mates though (actually most not many ;) don’t worry I am not in HRMC)
I'm not being defensive, just pointing out the many things about the self employed you have got completely wrong. Everything from furlough to NI contributions, it seems you have no idea how self employment/assessment works.
The self employed overall contribute more to the tax system than those on paye yet you think they don't pay their way. At first I put your ill informed posts down to ignorance but now I think it's just bigotry.
 
Women only got 7 years warning in the 2011 pension act.
I was thinking about this this morning.

I wonder what pension companies would do in this situation? I can claim my private pension (with reductions) when I reach 10 years of my state pension age. So I can claim from 57 but I only get around 64% of it per year (DB) if I do. If when I hit 58 the pension age switches to 70, I can no longer claim my private pension, so the company would have to decide to either keep it going for me for longer or cut me off and give me it back in 2 years time. But I would still have the lump sum.
 
I was thinking about this this morning.

I wonder what pension companies would do in this situation? I can claim my private pension (with reductions) when I reach 10 years of my state pension age. So I can claim from 57 but I only get around 64% of it per year (DB) if I do. If when I hit 58 the pension age switches to 70, I can no longer claim my private pension, so the company would have to decide to either keep it going for me for longer or cut me off and give me it back in 2 years time. But I would still have the lump sum.

I'm in the transition period of when the minimum age increases from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028

As I understand it, I will be 55 in 2027 so I could access my occupational pensions then BUT if I don't do it before 6 April 28 then I will have to wait until I am 57 in 2029.

Doesn't really make a difference to me as I am very unlikely to want to access the pensions before 2029 but it might be a consideration for other people my age.
 
I'm not being defensive, just pointing out the many things about the self employed you have got completely wrong. Everything from furlough to NI contributions, it seems you have no idea how self employment/assessment works.
The self employed overall contribute more to the tax system than those on paye yet you think they don't pay their way. At first I put your ill informed posts down to ignorance but now I think it's just bigotry.
Absolutely bollocks … and as I said calm down. BTW are you SE?
Absolutely bollocks … and as I said calm down. BTW are you SE?
I see and hear with my own eyes man. Also the amount of people I have worked on my house / car for cash in hand is evidence enough… let alone what my SE mates say.
 
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Absolutely bollocks … and as I said calm down. BTW are you SE?

I see and hear with my own eyes man. Also the amount of people I have worked on my house / car for cash in hand is evidence enough… let alone what my SE mates say.
You said your self employed brother in law claimed furlough but didn't get the full amount because he didn't pay his NI. As I pointed out the self employed couldn't claim furlough so one of you is lying. You also claimed the self employed didn't pay NI, also impossible.
It isn't illegal to work cash in hand or have you contacted their accountants and found out they haven't paid the tax?
So you have no problem paying cash to hopefully get the job done cheaper but you call out people working for cash! Bit of a hypocrite aren't you?
 
I'm in the transition period of when the minimum age increases from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028

As I understand it, I will be 55 in 2027 so I could access my occupational pensions then BUT if I don't do it before 6 April 28 then I will have to wait until I am 57 in 2029.

Doesn't really make a difference to me as I am very unlikely to want to access the pensions before 2029 but it might be a consideration for other people my age.
If it does change, the big difference for me will be the early claim penalties.

I can claim from 57, with around a 36% reduction in the annual amount which can be claimed. I'd like to go at 58 where that will change to a 33% reduction, but might hold off claiming pension until I'm 60 where it will be around a 27% reduction. If the age shifts then I'll probably go at the same time, but will get less private pension and have to wait longer to get the state pension.
 
You also claimed the self employed didn't pay NI, also impossible.
When I was self employed I took a salary of about £8k per year and the rest of my income as dividends. Paid zero NI for the duration of my SE years. No income tax and only corporation tax at 19% on the divi's. Also stashed loads in my SIPP.
 
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