Welcome to our budget planner
Ever wondered how much you'll need to live on when you retire?
One of the largest expenses you are likely to have at the moment is a mortgage or rent. If you are lucky enough to own your own home outright by the time you retire this will have a large impact on how much you will need at retirement. This is the first question we will ask you.
The budget planner will provide an average amount that you will need to live comfortably per year based on national statistics for over 65s in the UK. If you think the average amount to live on is too high or too low for your circumstances, you are able to change these numbers too! For ease we have created three categories of spending; essential spending, having fun and other spending.
Simply enter the amounts, in today’s terms, you think you're likely to spend in retirement each year and our budget planner will automatically work out the income you’re going to need to meet these costs.
To help you see if you are on track with your retirement savings, the budget planner will tell you what the full state pension payment is currently and then it’s time for you to add in the value of your pension and any other pensions and savings you may have. It will let you know any gap or excess between what you need and what you have.
But don’t panic, as we can only predict your state pension you are likely to have a gap between your estimated spending and income at first! This should start to close once you enter your savings and pension amounts. Also these numbers are based on a household cost so, depending on your circumstances when your retire, you may be able to include the income from a partner or spouse.
Get started!
The figures already included are the average amounts needed for each household based on national statistics for over 65s in the UK. You can amend these figures to better suit your own lifestyle by dragging the wheel or clicking the Detailed breakdown button.
We’ve included the current State Pension amount, so if you’re planning to retire early you may want to look at your income with and without this amount included.
When the background goes green, you've got enough income to cover your outgoings.
Next steps
If you find that you might not have enough income at your chosen retirement date, you should think about:
- Getting independent financial advice to help you better understand your financial circumstances.
- Finding free advice and guides to help improve your finances through the Money Advice Service.
- Looking at the Retirement Living Standards website to get a better idea of what the cost of retirement might look like for different standards of living.
- Reviewing your current finances and seeing if you could increase your saving plans to boost your future income.