How much savings nest egg is needed in retirement?

Gillybob ONS reported recently that the income of the average pensioner household is £29,500, which equates very closely to mymadeupname pension income.

But an average is an average, many people will be getting less than that, some very much less, but others will be getting more, very much more.

On an income of £2,100, there is plenty of room for economies if money gets tight and you should be able to save some if you had worries about this capital.

Basic state pension, is basic state pension, but it is variable and I have a friend whose weekly state pension is £200 a week and DH's is certainly in excess of the basic figure. Mine is around the basic level but, I did not work the 40 years so that this figure is only reached with the addition of the extra pension I get from extra payments taken from me for Graduated Pension and SERPS.

There is a very rough calculation that says that to maintain your life style in retirement, you need approximately 2/3 of the disposable income you had when at work. What this doesn't take account of is that your life style may change significantly! I would only use it as a rough guide.

It is relatively easy to work out day-to-day expenditure, allowing for some changes, like being home in the day. We then sat down and did a list of what we might dip into savings for. We actually built our own house, so we knew we had future proofed it, and installed new appliances.

Our list was something like:
one more car
one more caravan
wedding gifts for close relatives
rainy day savings

OP - it's a bit unclear to me at what point your pensions will kick in. It also seems that you need to look very carefully at your bungalow.

Gillybob - you highlight the difference becoming evident that those now in their 60s / 70s often divide into those who have good pensions from the public sector or big old-fashioned organisations like banks and insurance companies; and those with smaller pensions, especially the self-employed.

Basic State Pension is about £6,500 a year, so £13,000 of OP's calculations is what most couples would expect without any workplace / private pension. I know there are still a few of our generation who opted only to pay the 'married woman's stamp' which makes a difference.

We are in dimilar situation. My husband too early retirement and is lucky to have a pension of about 1500/month. I am still working and have more than 10 years ahead so want to stop and enjoy time together. We find it very difficult to figure what will be a decent income so we don't have to change much of the lifestyle we currently enjoy and is not eroded by inflation in the coming years. The figure we came up with is 3000/month for both of us with no mortgage to pay but this should allow us holidays abroad, some help with looking after grandchildren, footbal season tickets and ongoing home improvements.

£2100per month pension really ? Is that all?

My DH and I both work full time (well he works double full time to be fair) and we don’t get anything like that to live on, never mind being mortgage and debt free.

Not sure if this is some kind of wind up OP, but if it isn’t, you should count yourself damned lucky !

We both have cars ?

Well done on planning ahead we are in London, mortgage and debt free, 69 and 67 yrs out income is a few thousand less than yours and I've been retired 10 yrs OH 2+ yrs and we do have a small amount of savings . We've found we do manage on our income for everything at the moment our savings not being used. We both have card and manage holidays in the UK. If you can save more than do so but I think we all cut our cloth as they say and you will be fine .

I'm very happy for you! My income working full time doesn't even come to that!