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How much do you need in savings to feel comfortable?


sugarfree
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Humble apologies if anyone else has already written this (I don't want to read all the replies at the moment).

To feel comfortable, you probably need about 10% more than you've got! (Serious answer.... no matter what you've got I'm sure you'll only need a bit more to feel comfortable).
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PPP.

You are one of the select few who havnt posed the question repeatedly.

My present value is rather net at the moment [:P]

I am enjoying the journey because as I near the destination the more I realise it is not where I want to be!! 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Perhaps most of those replying to sugarfree's original question are indeed already retired and so have a fairly clear idea of their monthly income and expenditure? For younger people, it's not so clearcut.

(Assuming I live that long, and statistically the odds are that I will) I have another twenty-five years to go before I retire (possibly more, depending on how various European governments change their retirement rules), and I lie in bed at night and worry about this very issue. I too *should* have a "reasonable" pension here in France, based on final salary, but I don't feel I can rely on that alone - policies change, and already new employees in my organisation enjoy less favourable terms for pension calculation than I received a decade ago. (Look at what's happened to Ford / Mirror Group pensioners in the UK.)

In short, sugarfree, my approach between now and retirement will be to save as much as possible given my family circumstances (I have young children), and to invest in a range of options. Of course no one knows what tomorrow holds, but I'd rather make provision for a comfortable old age than find myself at 85 with regrets that I didn't save more. And if I don't live that long, at least the children should get whatever the French taxman leaves them...  

    

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Seems as if people with very different approaches to life have posted on this thread.

Some, like Chancer live in the moment, (hence the name no doubt.) Others look to the future, and try to secure it for themselves and their families. Neither are fools. They just have different approaches to life. And there are probably others who operate in both ways at different times, being open to opportunities that arise, but making plans.

Important though to remember the wise words of one Robert Burns:

The best laid schemes of mice and men

Gang aft agley 

And lea' us not but grief and pain

For promised joy.

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We have never had any spare money. We managed to bring up three sons by both working hard and instilling in them the work ethic too; we enjoyed family holidays when they were younger, and even when they were older, when we didn't think they would want to be with the 'oldies'! They all stayed on at school for 'A' levels, one became a recuitment consultant, one went on to college for a BTech in Electronics and the youngest went to university and got a first class honours degress in Maths. When we moved to France, without the children, OH was able to work as his skills were transferable (panel beater - a car is a car is a car etc!). We renovated our first home here, but I had to go back to the UK for two years so that we could do so. We sold that so that we could be mortgage free and are now half way through renovating our second home. OH is now registered as an AE and when he doesn't have work money is very tight.

However, the day I was packing up to come back to France after my 2 year stint (27th Dec 2005) we heard the shocking news that a good friend had suddenly died on Boxing Day. Her husband had always been the most caution person with regards to money, also earned a lot and they were much more comfortably off than us. They always promised that "one day" they would come and see us in France. That "one day" never came. I was so upset that she would never see our French home, it was always something for the future. Well, her future never came and now her husband is living alone not knowing what to do with himself and completely at a loss.

We still have no money, as in savings, OH is working part time as and when, we grow our own veg, have chickens which give us eggs and we have a quality of life our friends could only dream about. What the future will bring I know not, but having seen what happened to our friends I prefer to live for the moment.

Sorry for the long posting but just wanted to put my point of view.

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RR, I wish I could put things as elegantly as you do!

You are soooo right about money, quality of life etc.  We count ourselves lucky to be able to live where we do and the modest but extremely comfortable (IMHO) lifestyle that we have chosen.

As far as I'm concerned, it's not about the absolute amount of money or whatever that you have.  It's what you feel happy about and what you can manage on, if sometimes with some belt-tightening.

Abundance is what flows through your life.  You get your pension (or whatever other income) and you spend it and it enables you to eat and clothe yourself and keep a roof over your head and you pass some of that on to others...the man who comes to mend your roof, the marchant from whom you buy your veg, whatever, and it's all like a bit of a carousel.

And, that's plenty good enough.  What does it benefit  you to have thousands, hundreds of thousands? in the bank that you do not see and have no immediate need for.

No, give me my health, a lovely day to walk my dog, some items of food in the pantry to juggle about with to see what I could cook that I might enjoy eating and some people around me that I could share that food with and the view from my veranda with and I am content.

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I've seen a couple who lived in our commune with big UK pensions monthly but they lived frugally, never spent anything unless they had to or it was a status symbol and leeched off others to pay for things. Didn't do them any good in the end because he dropped down dead inthe garden trying to save a few euros doing a car repair and she had to sellup because the house was too big (6 bedrooms and 4.5acresof land for just them two) and is now in one of those warden controlled units back inthe UK. You can't tell me money bought them happiness and you certainly can't take it with you either.
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Similarly(?)(spelling-sorry), it took us a while to be able to say 'what is the future'? The OH has worked all his life on the railway (well the working bit), he had a suicide as a driver and over a few years it took it's toll. My mother was diagnosed and died of cancer and the younger daughter was then diagnosed epileptic.

When my health went a bit pear shaped and I lost the business I'd built up over 20 years - it was time to cut and run we felt for the sake our our sanity.

So we are now here, living day to day, loving it, working hard with bees, gardens and renovations. Health improved, but not needing the luxuries we needed in UK - friends and family far more important!

But - we have enough to live on! Small pension and small savings.
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We are all different[:)] but it is always nice to know there is some money in the bank to deal with unforeseen emergencies. We don't have an expensive life style and enjoy the simple things like walking the dogs, looking after the horses and pottering in the garden. We are also fortunate to have good health and are better off than a lot of people. I know from personal experience how soul destroying it is to live having to count every penny and still not be able to make ends meet. As Mr Micawber said a small deficit soon results in misery.
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[quote user="Rob Roy"]Just one question - what are savings?[8-)][blink][/quote]D*mn.  I've just trawled through pages of this thread with this thought uppermost in my mindand you got there first, Rob.  If your income is sufficient (assuming of course that it is guaranteed, as mine is) then why keep cash in the bank for somebody else to get their grubby mits on when you kick it?

There was a moment a couple of weeks ago when I wasn't sure if I might only have a few months to go.  I was planning which Porsche to buy.[Www]

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For those who retire early without the luxury and rarity of a healthy index linked pension, such is human nature, that they probably do not worry about what might happen financially in ten or twenty years. Basically, you are taking the gamble that you will die before your savings run out, or are totally eroded away by inflation.

For those that do outlive their savings, a return to the UK is the usual result.
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[quote user="cooperlola"]

[quote user="Rob Roy"]Just one question - what are savings?[8-)][blink][/quote]D*mn.  I've just trawled through pages of this thread with this thought uppermost in my mindand you got there first, Rob.  If your income is sufficient (assuming of course that it is guaranteed, as mine is) then why keep cash in the bank for somebody else to get their grubby mits on when you kick it?

There was a moment a couple of weeks ago when I wasn't sure if I might only have a few months to go.  I was planning which Porsche to buy.[Www]

[/quote]

Well, you could have saved our 944 from last week's auction at Sandown Park, Coops!  [:D]

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