How much will you actually spend in retirement?

The direct answer

Your retirement spending is unlikely to be exactly the same as your spending while working. Some costs may fall, such as commuting or pension contributions. Others may rise, especially travel, hobbies, home maintenance, health-related costs, family support or replacing work benefits.

A better starting point is to split spending into core costs, lifestyle costs and occasional large costs. Then test that total against your pensions, savings and State Pension.

Use spending categories, not just a single guess

• Housing: rent, mortgage, service charges, repairs and utilities.
• Everyday life: food, insurance, transport, subscriptions and bills.
• Lifestyle: holidays, meals out, hobbies, gifts and family help.
• Irregular costs: cars, home improvements, dental work or care support.

Retirement Living Standards are context, not a target

The Retirement Living Standards estimate annual spending of £13,900, £32,700 and £45,400 for a single-person household. For couples, the figures are £22,500, £45,400 and £62,700.

They assume the household owns its home outright, so rent or mortgage costs can make your own number materially higher.

A simple worked example

Imagine someone currently spends £3,400 a month while working. They remove £250 of commuting costs and £400 of pension contributions, but add £300 for travel and hobbies. Their retirement target becomes about £3,050 a month before any one-off costs. That is a better calculator input than either their current spending or a generic benchmark.

Common questions

Related reading