Are you going to retire at 66

You are living in fantasy land if you think this is realistic.

People are raising families and not earning this much today, so why would they need that much in retirement?

All the expenses you have while working are gone, off the top of my head a few savings to give you a idea of what i mean in a 48 week work year.

Fuel car to get to work €50 a week =€2400

coffee and lunch €15 per day =€3600

lets say €500 a year on work clothing

So just from this you wont be spending €7,700 a year for a single person, so double that for a working married couple for a shocking €15,400!!! money spent to go to work , a expenditure that will not exist when you retire!

When you retire you no longer commute to work, your probably putting only €30 of fuel into the one car each week, no need for two cars when both of you retire.

Take a step back and look at what you currently spend, remove work expenses and be shocked at the amount you spend getting to work and while at work, all expenses that will not exist in retirement.

Remember during covid people where working from home, after covid government wanted people back in office to work, as they where losing a fortune in tax , as fuel sales down, coffee shops empty, no one buying lunch. Thats you when you retire, you are not spending thousands a year unnecessary

It cant be under estimated the benefits of a good nights sleep, little mental and physical ailments you had while working just vanish with a few weeks of peaceful sleep. I go to bed anytime between 11pm and 1am , depending on what im doing, wake up 6-7 hours later fresh as a daisy, deep peaceful sleep every night.

When i wake up a 5am in the summer and it bright , i just get up, hear the neighbours car starting up as they head off for a long day in work, out to the garden to feed the birds, all is good in the world.

Sure why not, i'll cook the chicken in the fridge and have that on prebake crusty bread rolls for breakfast around 9ish, while thats cooking i give downstairs a quick tidy up and then hop on the exercise bike, knock a hour out watching TV, have a shower and take Chicken out of oven.

Sure its only 8am might as well nip down to Aldi and get the deposit money back for the bag of cans i have and do a bit of shopping, see even more poor bastards stuck in traffic heading of to work, anyway not my concern.

Get home have a lovely breakfast, now what will i do for the day? Get a phone call at 10, "Cheltenham is starting today, do you fancy going out for a pint" I do, see you in the pub at 1 then. So i potter around the house until 11 , then say sure i might as well get a hours nap in before the pub, lovely stuff, nap from 11 to little after 12.

Wake up feeling brand new and rearing to go, herself drops me to the pub and let the merriment begin, good time had by all, leave pub around 6, road packed with tired glum looking workers returning home shattered, I chuckle to my self, that was once me, but never again.

I go home eat what ever is put up in front of me an relax for the evening, have a few cans and watch movie, ahh sure why not ,I'll go to bed early , sound asleep at 10, sleep like a log until 6am, I wake up and hear the neighbours cars starting up , and i smile to myself, early retirement is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Get out as early as you can, you will not regret it.

You are lucky then, most are not, the long commute to work is a unfortunate reality for many, expensive in time and money.

Never mind the likes of restaurants or fast food outlets, the likes of Centras deli counters are rammed every lunch time workers buying a roll for lunch, these are real expenses for the majority of workers, consider yourself very fortunate.

As for clothing you work from home 2 days a week , you could wear pyjamas and no one would know, thats not a option for those leaving the house for work each day, most jobs require a certain level of attire, that costs money and that is a extra expense.

How many have to wear a suit to work and only every wear jean and t-shirt when not working? Id hazard a guess its a lot of people, a necessary expense that will not exist in retirement.

What use is money to you when you spend your time working earning it and have no time to spend it?

The man with €500 a week in his pocket and retired, is infinitely better off than the man working 40 hours a week plus commute who has €1000 in his pocket each week.

Dont ever equate money with happiness, it a mistake many only learn too late in life

As i said , you are lucky in your work situation , most are not unfortunately.

Not everyone works in a office with relaxed dress codes, working constructing you will destroy clothing at a constant rate, that needs replacing

Be honest ,you wear appropriate clothing from the waist up for calls at home, and are wearing shorts out of view.😀

When you actually think of the expenses you currently have they all add up to a tremendous sum of money that you will not be required to spend when you retire.

You got to take this into consideration when calculation what you need for retirement, the difference between what you would like to have as a pension and what you need is vast.

Now you must consider is it worth working harder and doing without when younger so you can pay for this pension you would like to have when you retire or actually set a real pension target and live as best a life life while you are working, not killing yourself to pay for a pension you dont need…. but would like.

As i said your lucky, you get the bus to and from work when not working from home, most cant do this.

5 days a week in and out of work from one of the many commuter towns, in truth €50 a week on fuel is probably on the low side.

Boil it all down to its essence, what do you need in retirement?

A nice warm home, nice furniture, a big TV for entertainment and a garden to potter around in.

A car to get you from A to B, no need for anything fancy

Nice clothing for when you want to go anywhere.

The price of a few pints whenever its takes your fancy

Lets say €5,000 in the bank ,just in case washing machine breaks, want to change the sofa.

A holiday here or abroad now and then.

Dont need to kill yourself when young to get a modest pension that will provide all this and more

That is true, and these expenses will not be there for them in retirement.