Are you richer/poorer than you thought?

[88V8]

I calculated jointly... and I was surprised how high... as commented, most people must be better at spending than accumulating.

I hope in the process they enjoy their lives. I sometimes feel that I am not good at deriving pleasure from our wealth, or perhaps we are just content to doddle along in a fairly frugal manner, and so the full extent of our wealth is largely irrelevant. Certainly it is not since the very early days of our marriage that we have lived anywhere close to our income, and fortunately we are of like mind in that respect.

Anyway, interesting outcome.

Like Funduffer I took our gross pensions, state and private, and divided by 5%.

V8

[GrahamPlatt]

Oops. Voted <5% before realising that pension should be entered gross, not just the annual income therefrom. That makes some difference!

[elkay]

No surprises for me, as should be the case given that I had a financial review in the past year wheremy finances were scrutinised closely to determine whether or not I should be allowed to transfer out some of my final salary pension.

What caught my interest was the effect of being part of a couple. If my wife died tomorrow, my net worth percentile would jump by c. 20%. Yet my living expenses would only reduce marginally. In reality, I wouldn't be in a much stronger position.

LK

[DrFfybes]

What caught my interest was the effect of being part of a couple. If my wife died tomorrow, my net worth percentile would jump by c. 20%. Yet my living expenses would only reduce marginally. In reality, I wouldn't be in a much stronger position.
LK

So when we were both working we "felt" richer than we do now. I suppose the thought of a ression with large increase in outgoings due to inflation and utilities bills is likely to cause increased outflows at a time income is likely to fall.

This is a major flaw in these surveys. The bulk of our regular income comes from MrsF's DB pension, of which I would get a third should anything, erm, happen, to her. Something she reminds me of often

So the question on whether to use these pensions is tricky - on a personal level the answer is "yes", but as a couple then you need to factor in a reduction and certainly 'our' net worth would drop by several hundred£K if MrsF died.

And as Gerry says, when you know can go out and earn more, it is a lot easier to cope mentally. As covered elsewere, the process of switching from accumulation to decumulation (or at least withdrawal) is difficult for those who have always saved.

Paul

[elkay]

...
So the question on whether to use these pensions is tricky - on a personal level the answer is "yes", but as a couple then you need to factor in a reduction and certainly 'our' net worth would drop by several hundred£K if MrsF died.
...
Paul

I was looking at it from a different perspective. My private pensions are >10x the value of my wife's. I assumed that whilst married, we each effectively have a half share in the others. So if she died, my pension would all become my own. Hence significant improvement in my net worth.

Also, how should state pension be reflected in net worth? If included , it would move me up several points.

LK