I could live on £1000 a month comfortably. Though savings are essential I would say at least one years full pay equivalent as a minimum. I would never have or want a new car. Where Iive over the coming decades I would have the option to walk into town, use a taxi for shopping and in the future use a mobility scooter for longer journeys or take the bus.

At 67 I would have £2000 per month.

With the two of retired before state pension we will likely have double that. So we would actually have a very nice income.

Now comfortable living is BS to keep you working until you die. It is pure fear mongering by the right wing press. An example is having to take holidays during school holidays, you get rinsed. What a holiday off season you can go abroad for a tiny fraction of the school holiday cost. We have worked out we would be able to go on 4 holidays a year easily. I even saw a 2 week vacation full board for £250 pp the other day. Take your food costs off of that for two weeks and its even cheaper.

I personally have known in the past 3 years 2 people who died less than a year after retiring.

I have know a fair few others who have died way before retirement.

I have had experience of having a couple of years off with bills paid. I can not overstate enough how amazing it was just to do the things you want without having to work. I also have been semi retired for most of my 30s through to my 50s working low hours and having a lot of time off per year. It was amazing and I never felt I missed out on not having more income.

It is only the past 4 years I have worked more hours still with 13 weeks off per year.

What I will say is that material possessions do not have the same worth as having time off.

Going to a charity show and seeing all the crap people spent large sums of money on that is now worth a tiny fraction of what they paid really enforces this view.