Retired couples need an average of £17,000 a year to cover spending on essentials such as groceries and bills.
The figure rises to £25,000 when you include spending on leisure activities and goes up to £40,000 a year after tax for those looking to live a luxury lifestyle including long-haul holidays.
A survey by Which? of more than 6000 people on their spending in retirement found that single person households spend an average 70 per cent to 75 per cent of the outlay of two people, but only benefit from roughly half of the state pension entitlement and tax-free allowances of couples.
This puts a single person’s targets for
an essential, comfortable and luxury lifestyle at £12,000, £19,000 and £30,000 respectively.
The state pension is based on a typical £134.25 per person a week income (joint £13,962 annually) and tax-free personal allowances of £12,500 each.
Which? calculations show that once this is factored in couples would need a gross annual income of £3040 from private pensions to get an essential net income of £17,000 a year.
This rises to £11,040 to ensure comfortable retirement and £29,790 for a luxury one.
For a single-person household this would be £5020, £13,635 and £27,395.
Jenny Ross, Which? Money Editor, said: “If you are yet to retire, think very carefully about reducing your pension contributions or opting out altogether, as this could set back your retirement plans.”
