Skip to main content
  • What We Do
    • Investment Management
    • Financial Planning
    • Trust and Tax
    • International investment
    • Greenbank - Ethical and sustainable investment
    • Asset Management
    • PERSONAL INJURY AND COURT OF PROTECTION
  • Our Clients
    • Individuals and Families
    • Charities
    • Financial Advisers
    • Professional INTERMEDIARIES
    • Entrepreneurs
  • About Group
    • About us
      • Rathbones Group
      • Saunderson House
      • Our Purpose
      • Partnerships
      • Our Offices
      • Events
        • All events
        • Financial awareness courses
      • Our story
    • Responsibility
      • Responsible Business
      • Responsible Investment
      • Climate Reporting
      • Reports
    • Investors
      • Investor Relations
      • Reports and Results
      • Shareholder Information
      • Investment Case
      • Financial Calendar
      • Share Price Information
      • Contacts and Offices
    • Governance
      • Group executive committee
      • Board Committees
      • Directors
      • Policies
      • Articles of association
      • Corporate Governance
    • Media Centre
    • Careers
      • Vacancies
      • Investing in our people
      • Working at Rathbones
      • Your Career
      • Early Careers
    • Our People
  • RATHBONES
  • Insights
    • Knowledge and Insight
    • Rathbones Review Winter 2025
    • Know Where Life Can Take You
    • Insights
      • Investment insights
      • Investment Reports
        • Polls apart: Navigating America’s divisive election
        • Investing for the next decade
        • Peace of mind in a dangerous world
        • Building a more sustainable future
        • The Cloud Revolution
      • Financial Planning Insights
      • Financial Wellbeing Research
      • Responsible investment insights
      • Earth Convention
    • Podcasts
      • Financial Planning Unlocked
      • Inspired Minds
      • Inspired Sounds
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Our Offices
  • Client Portals
    • About our client portals
    • MyRathbones Login
    • Rathbones Financial Planning Online Login
Home Home

Search

  • What We Do
    • Investment Management
    • Financial Planning
    • Trust and Tax
    • International investment
    • Greenbank - Ethical and sustainable investment
    • Asset Management
    • PERSONAL INJURY AND COURT OF PROTECTION
  • Our Clients
    • Individuals and Families
    • Charities
    • Financial Advisers
    • Professional INTERMEDIARIES
    • Entrepreneurs
  • About Group
    • About us
      • Rathbones Group
      • Saunderson House
      • Our Purpose
      • Partnerships
      • Our Offices
      • Events
        • All events
        • Financial awareness courses
      • Our story
    • Responsibility
      • Responsible Business
      • Responsible Investment
      • Climate Reporting
      • Reports
    • Investors
      • Investor Relations
      • Reports and Results
      • Shareholder Information
      • Investment Case
      • Financial Calendar
      • Share Price Information
      • Contacts and Offices
    • Governance
      • Group executive committee
      • Board Committees
      • Directors
      • Policies
      • Articles of association
      • Corporate Governance
    • Media Centre
    • Careers
      • Vacancies
      • Investing in our people
      • Working at Rathbones
      • Your Career
      • Early Careers
    • Our People
  • RATHBONES
  • Insights
    • Knowledge and Insight
    • Rathbones Review Winter 2025
    • Know Where Life Can Take You
    • Insights
      • Investment insights
      • Investment Reports
        • Polls apart: Navigating America’s divisive election
        • Investing for the next decade
        • Peace of mind in a dangerous world
        • Building a more sustainable future
        • The Cloud Revolution
      • Financial Planning Insights
      • Financial Wellbeing Research
      • Responsible investment insights
      • Earth Convention
    • Podcasts
      • Financial Planning Unlocked
      • Inspired Minds
      • Inspired Sounds
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Our Offices
  • Client Portals
    • About our client portals
    • MyRathbones Login
    • Rathbones Financial Planning Online Login
Home

Search

How much will you need for a financially secure retirement?

It's never too early or late to plan for your golden years by setting some goals to make the most of your savings and investments.

8 August 2023

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Knowledge and Insight
  3. How much will you need for a financially secure retirement?

Article last updated 15 August 2024.

VIEW PDF VERSION

When thinking about how to plan a financially prudent retirement, identifying your key numbers is a good place to start. Here are some of the main points for you to consider.

How long will my retirement last?

It’s an impossible question to answer but the Office for National Statistics features a life expectancy calculator to give you an idea of how many years your pension savings may need to generate an income. For example, on average a man aged 45 today is likely to live until 84 and a woman until 87, and in some cases well beyond those ages.

A man aged 45 today

A woman aged 45 today

Average life expectancy: 84

1 in 4 chance of reaching 93

1 in 10 chance of reaching 98

Average life expectancy: 87

1 in 4 chance of reaching 95

 1 in 10 chance of reaching 99

Source: ONS.

How much annual income could I need to fund my lifestyle?

Your answer will depend on the income you are used to and what you want to do in retirement.

As a guide, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has worked out how much on average a couple or single person will need to support their retirement each year, whether their living standards are minimum, moderate or comfortable. Don’t forget that these figures are rising steadily due to inflation, and will vary depending on your personal circumstances and where you live.

Minimum

Moderate

Comfortable

Single: £14,400

Couple: £22,400

Single: £31,300

Couple: £43,100

Single: £43,100

Couple: £59,000

Source: www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk

How much income could my savings provide after I’ve retired?

An online pension calculator can help you forecast the pension income you may receive when you retire. It will take into account your pension along with your State Pension and any other savings or investments you may have.

Cashflow modelling allows you to see how long your pension could last and how much you should aim for in terms of income and savings. It applies a scientific approach to providing a road map that illustrates how likely you are to achieve your objectives, and what planning may be required to make these objectives more achievable.

In order to determine your key numbers and set your goals for retirement, it could be really helpful to work with a financial planner. They will assess the potential longevity of your target savings figure and help you work out the steps required to get there by taking into account living expenses, healthcare costs and other issues through cashflow modelling.

Make the most of your pension

Keeping on top of your retirement savings is something a financial planner can assist you with, including areas like:

Maximising your contributions: whether it’s a workplace plan or personal pension, contributing the maximum each year and finding out whether you can make additional voluntary contributions is one of the best ways to maximise your retirement pot. In workplace pension plans, your employer will usually match your contributions up to a certain amount.

Consolidating your pensions: if you’ve built up several pensions, it can be simpler to combine them into one pot, which could cut down on paperwork and administration. But it’s important to seek professional advice to ensure that any decisions make good financial sense.

How can a financial planner help keep your plans on track?

While a pension is a common tax-efficient way to save for retirement, there are still some restrictions around when and how you can access the money when the time comes.

Here are some of the things a financial planner can do to help:
— Determine how much you can afford to save towards retirement
— Understand your different pension pots and how these can contribute to your future retirement strategy
— Work out how much income you’ll need and explore ways to boost your retirement pot, incorporating other forms of investment and savings you might have
— Set an investment strategy that’s appropriate for your objectives and adjust it as you approach retirement
— Examine your finances using a comprehensive approach, from budgeting, income and expenditure to addressing loans.

A financial planner can also help you explore other ways to save and invest tax-efficiently if you want to have access to your money before 55 or don’t want to draw down on your pension early in retirement.

Working out all the numbers involved with retiring can be complicated. Our financial planners and investment managers are here to help you develop a strategy that builds a robust retirement savings plan based on your requirements.

A picture of retirement

Phil is 48 years old, living and working in central London as a successful business consultant. He earns around £110,000 a year and has a mortgage of £150,000 on his flat, which is worth around £1 million. Now divorced, he lives with his 17-year-old daughter, who splits her time between her parents’ homes.

Phil’s current financial needs are well provided for, but he has some long-term goals he’s working towards. He hopes to buy a holiday home at 55, and then retire at 60 and live half the year abroad.

Our financial planners will use cashflow analysis to map Phil’s needs and goals against his savings and assets. They interpret the results and will build a plan to help Phil work towards achieving his retirement goals and helping him to understand if any need to be adjusted or reprioritised.

 

Did you know?

The 2023 Spring Budget made saving into a pension more attractive with the following changes:
—Pension annual allowance rose from £40,000 to £60,000.
—Pension lifetime allowance (LTA) tax charge scrapped (previously applied to most people with pension savings exceeding £1.073 million).
—Money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) raised to £10,000 from £4,000.

 

Key takeaways

—Retirement planning should start by defining your key numbers, like how much money you’ll need to have saved and how long it may need to last.
—There are lots of things you can do to maximise your pension savings while you’re still working and earning so that you can retire in comfort.
—Starting to think about your retirement early will provide a longer period to invest and can help build your pension pot to a greater level.
—A financial planner can help you design a strategy for your retirement and ensure your money is working hard for you.

Source: www.gov.uk 

If you would like to find out more about any of the topics discussed above, or to arrange an initial meeting to discuss your situation, please get in touch with us.

VIEW PDF VERSION

Popular Articles

image of shipping containers in a shipping yard from above
4 April 2025

Trump’s tariffs: how should investors respond?

Stock markets have reacted badly to the worse than expected news on US trade policy. We favour a more conservative asset allocation in response – but it’s possible to be too gloomy.

Find out more

5 mins

Golden crown on black background
7 April 2025

Review of the week: The emperor's new tariffs

Markets are tumbling fast in response to US tariffs that will upend global trade. Perhaps more dangerous than the policy itself is just how silly it makes the administration look.

Find out more

9 mins

Black wire-framed spectacles, a white calculator and a gold pen lie on a light blue accounting ring-binder folder
6 May 2025

Review of the week: End of an era

Arguably the best investor of all time has decided to retire at the end of the year. Meanwhile, UK interest rates are forecast to fall in a bid to prop up the economy.

Find out more

6 mins

MOST READ
  1. Trump’s tariffs: how should investors respond?

  2. Review of the week: The emperor's new tariffs

  3. Review of the week: End of an era

  4. Review of the week: Gloves off?

  5. A spring statement on fiscal discipline

Let's Talk

Ready to start a conversation? Please complete our enquiry form, we look forward to speaking with you.

Enquire
  • Important Information
    • Modern Slavery Statement
    • Important information
    • Complaints
    • Privacy
    • Accessibility
    • Climate Reporting
    • Cookies
    • Cookie Preferences
    • Sitemap
  • Other information
    • Financial Services Compensation Scheme
    • Financial Ombudsman Service
    • Scam Smart
    • Keeping our clients safe
    • MiFID II Cost and Charges FAQ
    • Statement of Cost and Charges
    • Banking Services
    • Interest Rates
    • Consumer Duty Manufacturer Request for Information
Address

Rathbones Group Plc
30 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7QN

© 2025 Rathbones Group Plc
Incorporated and registered in England and Wales.
Registered number 01000403

Follow us
Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Youtube

The value of your investments and the income from them may go down as well as up, and you could get back less than you invested.