Joe45 wrote:Over the past 4 years in the run up to my recent retirement I’ve kept a track of my expenditure. Non-discretionary spend has been pretty consistent, namely £500 per month each for supermarket, other shopping and utilities. So £18k a year. I am mortgage free.
It's a long time ago since I retired, but I looked at my expenditure for a few years beforehand. I retired from full-time work at State Pension Age, having paid off my mortgage in that year. The obvious differences were no more NICs to pay, no pension to contribute to, and a lot less car mileage (I had been doing about 30,000 miles per year in a company car). I had a Toyota MR2 as well as the wife's smaller car, and I changed the MR2 to a mid-size saloon because of the need to carry luggage beyond what would fit behind the seat in the Toyota. I had been doing under 2,000 miles per year in the MR2 until I retired, then did about 3,000 in the next 6 months before I swapped it. Then I did about 10,000 miles per year while I was doing part time work and then it dropped to about 6,000 miles per year, where it has remained until the present crisis.
Holidays accounted for a significant expenditure, with a major trip to the USA in 1999 using my air miles from KLM/Northwest. Cruising can take up a fair amount, depending on how long the cruise is and what sort of accommodation you book.
Just how much you spend depends on your lifestyle and whether you are giving money to grandchildren, which I have done regularly since each was born. Clothes are more easily handled with no need for formal attire most of the time, but the DJ comes out a few times a year in normal times. Slacks and casual outerwear is what needs replacing as they wear out. Like you, £500 or so covers a month's supermarket shopping. Our utilities are obviously higher than yours, running at about £400 per month for Rates, Water, Sewerage, Gas, Electricity and Telephone. I have a considerable number of standing orders and direct debits to various organisations. I think they are breeding.
I knew what my income would be and it has always been more than adequate. If you know what you are spending money on, you can afford to splash out now and then.
TJH