u/Newbie-1997again

So as I say in the title, I was having a chat this week with some mates about how much do you need in retirement etc. I said I would want what I have now minus the mortgage!

These figures aren’t mine, but used for the example.

Calculation I was given was as follows:
Net monthly income now - £3,700
Share of mortgage payment - £850
(Total mortgage is double, but wife pays same amount)
So I would want to £2,950 a month net.

If you do that figure £2,950 x 12 (month of the year)
£35,400.

You then multiply this by 25

£35,400 X 25 = £885,000.00

Because £885,000 X 4% =£35,400

4% being deemed a safe withdrawal rate in retirement.

This doesn’t take into account state pension or tax etc, but as an overall figure to aim for in my pension pot I really liked it as it’s such a simple way of working it out!

It’s very general, doesn’t take into account personal situation, growth when you retire etc, but as just a starting point I like it.

Thought I would share, some people might not like it, but hopefully someone finds this useful.

Can annuities still be used effectively?

For a bit of context I am a 29m and my partner 29f are planning to retire early. Her parents were both public sector police and NHS with guaranteed income of £34,000 gross from his police pension and about £46,500 with his state pension that came into payment last year.
She has about £12,000 a year from NHS and full state but not for another 4 years.

Point being that once both at SPA they will have sufficient guaranteed income of circa £71,000 PA gross.

We will never have that. I was talking about annuities and how it might be financially viable to use them for some guaranteed income to make sure bills are being met so that we can spend the rest of the money?

The other thing around this what I learnt is that apparently purchasing an annuity doesn’t impact your tax free cash allowance. So hypothetically at 57 (if it doesn’t change before then for us) I could buy an annuity with some of my pension, and then take up to the tax free cash allowance? Given I would probably need a pot of circa £1,500,000 in today’s terms to do this, but my main question is is this the right logic or have I missed something here?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, a bit of an odd question, and I am sure a lot of people already have this with people they train with, but is there any online virtual community / support groups for people who are training for Ironman?

I’m coming from a running background and joined a swimming club, but they are all separate. There aren’t any tri clubs locally to me (live in rural England)

I have posted previously and aiming to do a half next year and then a full the following year. At the moment I am riding my old road bike, but would like to upgrade (nothing too crazy) and not really sure what to look for / what questions to ask etc, so a group would be so helpful for this!

I was looking for something like a zoom or teams kind of get together with people who are training to ask questions / share best practice!

I know here is great and people are so helpful, but would be nice to be able to ask questions!

Quick edit: To add to this it would also be nice to make friends around the world who you never know might get to race with and against in the future!

Hi guys, I could do with some help please and it’s one of those really boring age old questions around Z2.

I am not a cyclist and never have been, but have always generally been sporty. Things like Z2 was always irrelevant when I just wanted to play football etc. However, have since done some half marathons and now 2 full marathons and love the endurance stuff. Aiming to do a 70.3 Ironman next year and the year after aiming for a full then in 2029.

Anyway, long story short, I have been cycling 4/5 days a week for 3 weeks now and yesterday did a very gentle cycle for half an hour to turn my legs over. Recently got a Garmin to help with the training but after looking at what I presumed was a Z2 workout was actually basically at the top end of Z3?!

So average heart rate was 146 and top of zone 3 for me was 152bpm.

Having looked at the other workouts some are way higher, but all feel almost conversational which is what I thought was the aim.

Is this just because I am incredibly unfit right now, or should I keep on going like this for the foreseeable?

I guess my main question is should I just keep on going as is for now, and then once a bit fitter this will be something to review then? I just don’t want to mess myself up this early on by getting it wrong.

Not sure if relevant, but things like my VO2 max is 47 (so pretty average) and I am a 29M if that is

Hi everyone, I hope you can give me (29M) a bit of guidance / support as not sure exactly how to manage this situation.

I don’t have epilepsy, but my partner and future wife (29F) does and it has certainly been getting worse recently. She hasn’t had an awake fit in like 7 years, but does have lots of night seizures that have been getting worse and worse.
For some further context she also suffers from severe depression (this was worse in the past.) She is currently taking sertraline (highest dose they will supply not sure what it is) and Brivicracitan (sorry if spelt incorrectly) 50mg twice per day.

We have been up to the hospital recently and she has had a new ECG & MRI scan which we are still waiting on the results of.

I am having an issue with that she is always worried about it and is well aware that one of her biggest triggers is stress and lack of sleep.

I am worried as she likes a drink (like will have 2/3 glasses of wine every night at least from Thursday to Sunday) and then if she has a stressful day at work will just open a bottle of wine Monday to Wednesday as well.
She basically denies this to the doctors, and says maybe have a glass of wine at the weekend which is so underselling it. Whenever I try and bring it up with her she just says she drinks when she is feeling down even though she knows this doesn’t help.

I got us a joint membership at a fancy gym nearby with spa and sauna and everything hoping that I could encourage her to join me there instead of having a drink, and she does go, but will always pick a drink instead.

She then will sleep in (as in we went to bed at
10:00pm last night and she didn’t wake up until 13:30 today, so 15:30 hours of sleep.) and then fell out with me because I didn’t wake her up. The only reason I didn’t is because I thought if she was still asleep she must need it.

Sorry this has turned into a bit of a rant, but want to support her the best I can, but currently just feel a bit neglected whenever I have tried to do the best to help. It’s suppose to be from a place of love, but just tired and frustrated and to feel like to help someone they have to want to help themselves.

Anyone been in a similar position / have any advice of things to try?

Hi all, not sure this is the right place for this, but could do with a bit of advice.

I started a new job about 5 weeks ago. Had handed my notice in from my previous employer and had 6 weeks of gardening leave before starting here.

In that time I assumed that new company had got references etc all sorted as I hadn’t heard anything. Then last, the lady from HR has told me that they have not received this reference and that they need it ASAP.

I work in financial services and so they need 6 years worth and have got all the other references back without any issues.

I have tried phoning the head office. My old manager has left so can’t go direct to him and I even got the email address of the head of HR at the old company and emailed them (cc’ing in new employer) to ask what is going on to no avail.

Could a company let me go if they are unable to get this reference back despite doing all I can to get it?

Hey guys, I’m not sure if this is the best place to post this, but wanted to get some help / feedback on my training plan as a newbie / someone who has never done an Ironman before.

I’m aiming to complete my first 70.3 next May (so 12 months time) and then would like to do a full the following year (if we also assume May so 2 years)

Generally I am pretty fit for the average person and have run lots of half marathons and 2 marathons, best time being 3:15 for the full.

Run at the moment around 50-60km a week and have just got this itch to train harder, but always been difficult to motivate myself without the bigger goal hence wanting to start doing Ironman! Also, do between 2/3 strength sessions a week, full body for like 45 minutes nothing too intense. I swim a bit as well, but normally a gentle 1km 2/3 times a week, but no cycling.

My proposed training schedule is as follows:

Monday:
Long run (15km - 25km)
Swim (1km)

Tuesday:
Gym session or Yoga (depending on how body feels)
Cycle (40km)

Wednesday:
Run (sprints 800m X 10)
Swim (1km)

Thursday:
Rest day / Yoga

Friday:
Cycle (60km - 80km)
Gym session

Saturday:
Run (tempo 1 hour)
Swim (2km)

Sunday:
Cycle (40km)
Gym session / yoga
Swim (1km)

I guess my questions are, is this sustainable? (it feels okay 2 weeks in)
Should I be including anything else in?
Like I say not planning to race for another year anyway.
Should i increase distances or do these look okay for now?

Sorry if this is really messy how it is asked! Other things that might be relevant. My next race is a half marathon in a couple of weeks (end of May) and the only other thing I have booked this year is Berlin Marathon in September and hoping to run a sub 3 hour (fingers crossed.)

Last thing, I’m a 29 year old male who has always been fairly fit and want to push myself, so please let me know what else / who else to make this work! Thanks again. LM