The cost of retirement
Have you thought about the kind of retirement you want to have? Do you have any idea how much income you might need?
Our Lifestyle Calculator below offers a quick and easy way of finding out how much income you might need to enjoy the lifestyle you want, when you start taking your benefits.
While the figures are not a guarantee, they could give you something to aim for, and help you take action if you think you might not have enough for when you stop work.
You can see how your pension savings stack up against your Lifestyle Calculator results by checking your Annual Benefit Statement or requesting an estimate in your online account.
- Final Salary and RBP members - https://uniper.myesps.co.uk
- UPP members - https://retirement.fidelity.co.uk/
If you are still paying into your pension, you can also find further information about boosting your savings on the following pages:
Lifestyle calculator
Lifestyle calculator
Most of us do not actually imagine having a Ferrari or a second home on the Costa del Sol when we retire. It is more likely that, in life after work, we will want to continue the lifestyle we have enjoyed while working.
If retirement is still a long way off, picturing what kind of lifestyle you would like might be hard. But having a rough idea will help you work out if you’re saving enough for the future.
Our lifestyle calculator is a quick and easy tool to help you work out how much income you might need, to enjoy the lifestyle you hope for.
Step 3: Personalise your wants & needs
MODERATE
Roughly speaking, a will need about a year to achieve a standard of living at retirement.
This figure is based on a ‘basket’ of common goods and services shown below. Using it as a starting point, if you think you would spend more, or less, simply change the weekly amounts to create a personal target.
MY BASKET
NOTE: The amounts in the orange blocks are the annual cost of each category. To change the amounts to suit your needs, edit the weekly breakdowns and the calculator will work out the annual costs and update the overall total.
HOUSE
FOOD & DRINK
CLOTHING & PERSONAL
HELPING OTHERS
TRANSPORT
HOLIDAYS & LEISURE
OTHER
RESET BASKET
Next steps...
MODERATE
Here’s a summary of what you chose
Based on a basket of common goods and services, for a hoping to achieve a standard of living at retirement, you will need about a year.
This is a rough guide to help give you a target to aim for.
Your personal target to aim for is:
Your personal target to aim for is:
By changing the amounts in the basket of goods and services, you have created a personal target to aim for based on your individual wants and needs.This doesn’t mean it can’t change in the future, but knowing now how much you might need later is a great step towards being able to work out if your current level of saving will be enough.
Using your target, here’s some other things to think about next:
Could you save more?
Remember, you could have 30-40 years of retirement to fund, so will your current level of saving be enough to meet your target? If it looks like you might have a shortfall, think about whether you could afford to save more. You can find out how to do that on the pages linked below:
- Final Salary members – boosting your benefits
- RBP members – boosting your benefits
- UPP members – boosting your benefits
- UPP members – boosting your benefits
Contributing a little more now can make a real difference in the long term.
Check your State Pension
Private and State Pensions, combined with other savings, could go a long way towards making up the costs for many people. You can find out how much you are estimated to get from the State Pension on the government website.
Get further guidance
MoneyHelper is a government service offering free guidance on financial matters, including pensions. You can find guides on the website and talk to the team via web chat. You can also find other sources of support via our help and advice page.