Pensions: how much should you be saving for retirement?
New research suggests you should have pension savings worth seven times your annual salary by the time you reach your 60s.
Do you know how much you should be setting aside for a comfortable retirement?
Kimmie Greene of financial software firm Intuit recently put together an interesting set of guiding principles for savers (albeit in the US).
She believes those in their 20s should start saving 25% of their overall gross pay, aim to have the equivalent of their annual salary saved up during their 30s and steadily up your targets from there, ending with seven times your annual salary in your 60s.
We're not all the same, of course. Some will have large families, for example, while others will never have children.
Some people value nice holidays and fine dining, while others are happy staying at home and ordering a takeaway on a Friday night.
But all of us can benefit from understanding how good we are with our money and what more we need to do to secure a decent pension pot.
The sooner you start the better
A pension calculator, such as this one from online investment platform Nutmeg, is a good place to start your savings journey.
Using their parameters, you can see that saving £490 per month from age 25 could pay you an income of around £25,000 per year when you stop working.
But wait until you're 35 to get started and you'll need to save £723 each month to get that amount.
Kickstarting your pension 10 years later still, at age 45, and you'll need to put away £1,169 each month to hit your target.
The message is pretty clear. You're never too young to start saving towards your retirement.
It's your future income, so the more you can save now the more you're likely to get back later on. And even a little can help a lot.
Not always about how much you earn.
Interestingly, big earners don't always have huge pensions. In fact, many high-earners are frivolous spenders who are no strangers to debt.
The authors of The Millionaire Next Door found this to be a very common scenario.
After years of research they came up with a calculation to measure a person’s target net wealth:
Target net wealth equals Age multiplied by Annual Pre-Tax Income divided by 10
For example, the target net wealth of a 35-year old earning £50,000 per year would be £175,000 (35 x 50000 / 10).
Try it for yourself and see if your total wealth (your savings, pensions, property equity, investments, car, personal items, etc) is above or below target.
A formula for building wealth
Even if you aren't on track right now, adopting good savings habits today can help.
This is where another rule of thumb comes in handy.
The 50-20-30 rule says that 50% of your post-tax income should go on necessities (living accommodation, bills, food), 20% should be saved (including pension payments) and 30% is for lifestyle choices (gym membership, holidays, restaurants, and so on).
Just as it's never too early to start, it's never too late to make amends.
As Martin Stead, CEO of Nutmeg, explains: “Many people in their 40s, 50s and 60s may look at their pension pots and feel a sense of disappointment or frustration.
“If that's you, you're not alone. The vast majority of UK adults have a lot less saved up than they think they'll actually need.
“But you can do something about it, whatever your age. It's important to start with a plan.
“Work out how much you've got today, how much you'll want in retirement and what you need to do to get there.”
How are your retirement savings coming along? Vote in our poll below and see how you compare to other loveMONEY readers.
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