Need To Save Quarter of Salary for Comfortable Retirement

The Pension and Lifetime Savings Association has published its Retirement Living Standards (RLS) and have designed a tool for retirement planning and pension saving which gives you a minimum, moderate or comfortable retirement lifestyle goal the report is based on consumer research.

In a recent research the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) found that

• 48% of respondents said “they were not confident they are saving enough for retirement”.
• 44% of respondents said they could benefit from a helpful tool for planning and pension saving”.

Savings Goal 1 (minimum RLS of £10,200pa)

If you and your employer pay the 8% contributions specified under Automatic Enrolment (AE) for workplace pensions, and you have a full National Insurance record, meaning you will receive a full State Pension when you retire.

70% of respondents to the IFoA research said they contribute the bare minimum into their pension; it is suspected in many cases this means they are on target for just the “minimum RLS”.

Savings Goal 2 (moderate RLS of £20,200pa)

Requires a contribution of around one quarter (26%) of the average full-time earnings, currently about £800 per month.  Very few people are saving at that level, and so there is a danger many will not achieve the retirement income they aspire to.

Savings Goal 3 (comfortable RLS of £33,000pa)

You need to put aside more than twice the amount needed for “moderate”.  That's half your salary.

The RLS for London is higher, but London salaries will help to meet the correspondingly higher contribution requirements.

Comment

We always say to any client planning their retirement that life expectancy is usually around 20 years after state pension age or 30 years if you retire say at 57.  Given that you are saving for a retirement of up to 30 years, you need to start planning 30 years out e.g.  at least between ages of 27 and 37. 

Could you save enough money this year to not work next year?  THat is the reality of retirement can you save enough money over 20-30 years to not work for the following 20-30 years.

Take a look at our suggested contributions and our financial calculators.