Average pension pot by age

We’re often told to save more for retirement, but have you ever stopped to think about how your pension pot compares to your peers?

Saving for retirement can be difficult when you’ve got so many other competing priorities for your money, such as paying a mortgage or putting kids through private school. The state pension will pay you a base income (about £11,975 a year if you qualify for the full new state pension), but this is not enough for a comfortable retirement.

The state pension age will rise to 68 over the next few decades – and could increase further depending on a state pension age review currently being carried out – making it even more vital to build your own nest egg so you can retire when you want to, rather than relying on the state pension to kick in.

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According to Pensions UK (formerly the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association), a “comfortable retirement” costs £43,900 a year for a single person, or £60,600 a year for a two-person household. This allows for spending on luxuries such as regular beauty treatments, theatre trips and a fortnight’s holiday in Europe each year.

For this level of retirement, Pensions UK calculates that someone living alone would need a pension pot of about £540,000 to £800,000, if using it to buy an annuity for a guaranteed income. For two people sharing bills, it falls to £300,000 to £460,000 each.

Self-employed workers have it particularly hard, and could be more at risk of pensioner poverty. While employees benefit from auto-enrolment and receive employer contributions into their pension, freelancers must open and pay into a pension by themself.

Older people may also be more worried about their pension savings. According to a survey by debt advice service MoneyPlus, 74% of those aged 45-60 said they were worried about their financial situation in retirement, with nearly a third saying they were relying on an inheritance to support themselves later in life.

This compares to 62% of Generation Z (aged 18 to 28), with 23% saying they were relying on an inheritance.

Regardless of your age and any concerns you have about saving for retirement, looking at how much others in the same age bracket are putting away can highlight some trends and show us how we’re doing versus the average.

But, remember that everyone’s circumstances are different – for example, in terms of salary and retirement goals. Average pension balances can be skewed by super savers with high balances or low-paid workers starting out with small amounts.

If your pension pot is higher than the average for your age group, don’t assume you’re all set to achieve your retirement goals. Regardless of how you compare to your peers, are you actually on track to afford your own dream retirement?

There’s nearly always more that can be done to boost your pension further, such as switching your pension to a cheaper provider. Research shows that high fees could erode your pension pot by as much as £70,000 over 30 years.

If you’re hoping to finish work and retire early, you will also likely need a larger pension than average, or other types of wealth that can produce an income.

If your pension savings are lower than average for your age group, try not to get stressed. Think about whether your pension savings are on track to meet your goals for later life. If they are, keep calm and carry on. If they’re not, now’s a great time to think about what you can do to enhance your nest egg.

Even if your retirement is many years away, the steps you take today can make a big difference to your quality of life in the future.

Average pension pot by age

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has data on how much the average pension pot is worth for seven age groups.

Source: Pension wealth: wealth in Great Britain, 2020-2022, ONS, published January 2025. Only includes people with pension wealth, those that have zero pension savings are excluded in the figures.

Unsurprisingly, the youngest people have the smallest pension pots. Those aged 16 to 24 have average pension wealth of £5,500.

This figure then more than triples to £18,800 once we get into the 25 to 34 age bracket, where the vast majority of people are working.

The average amount roughly doubles to £39,500 for the 35-44 age group. Average pension wealth peaks when savers are aged between 55 and 74, with about £140,000 tucked away for retirement.

It then falls to £59,700 for those aged 75 and over as they start to spend their savings in retirement.

The ONS also highlights the gender pension gap, with men having more in their pensions than women at every age group. For example, the average man aged 45 to 54 has £108,100 in pension wealth. But the average woman only has £57,900.

Pension pots have actually got bigger for the younger generations over the past few years, according to the ONS, while they have got smaller for older people. This could be due to auto-enrolment boosting pension wealth for young workers.

At the same time, baby boomers with fat pension pots are starting to fall out of the statistics and are being replaced by a growing number of people approaching retirement who don't have final salary schemes.

For example, the average pension wealth has doubled for a 25 to 34-year old from 2018-20 to 2020-22 (from £9,500 to £18,800). But for a 65 to 74-year old, the figure has dropped from £190,000 to £145,900 over the same time period.

Some pension providers have also done research into how much pension pots are worth for different age groups. Fidelity surveyed 2,000 UK non-retired adults in May last year to find out their total pension wealth.

Fidelity's figures reveal a similar, sizeable gender pension gap.

Meanwhile, PensionBee gave the following figures to MoneyWeek showing the average pension of its customers:

• Aged 18-29: £3,609
• Aged 30-39: £10,372
• Aged 40-49: £23,807
• Aged 50 and over: £42,503

The size of your pension pot is often directly related to your net worth – you can discover the average net worth by age using our guide.

According to MoneyPlus, a useful rule of thumb in terms of how much to put away in a pension is to save half of your age as a percentage of your salary – for example, if you’re 20, aim for 10%. “Even the smallest contributions add up over the next 40 years of work, so it’s always best to start as soon as you can,” it says.

Based on the UK average salary of £37,500, MoneyPlus calculates that Generation Z (aged 18 to 28) should have between £12,500 and £25,000 of pension wealth, if they’re aiming for a “moderate retirement”. This is a step down from the “comfortable retirement” but a step above the “minimum” level.

Millennials (aged 29 to 44) should aim to have between £105,000 and £140,000 in their pensions, while Generation X (45 to 60) should have £200,000 to £280,000 if they’re targeting a moderate retirement lifestyle. Those wanting more luxuries and holidays (and therefore a “comfortable retirement”) will need to build up bigger pots than these figures.

Don’t panic if you’re lagging your age group

What may look like a low pension balance today can grow in value over time with steady saving, tax relief, investment gains and compounding.

“Trying to build up a good level of pension savings can feel like a big mountain to climb but it is precisely the regular drip feed of contributions mixed with long-term investment growth that can see the amount you build up really grow over the years,” comments Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Taking regular actions like increasing contributions as and when you have extra cash – for instance if you get a pay rise – can make a huge difference. Using pension calculators can also give you some insight into how much you are on track to receive and the impact of boosting your contributions on your retirement income.”

Lisa Picardo, chief business officer UK at PensionBee, echoes this advice: “The first course of action should be to check in on your current pension contributions and consider raising them by 1 or 2% if you can afford to do so. As pensions benefit from compound interest, even making small regular or one-off contributions now can significantly increase the size of a pension pot over time.”

She adds that it's encouraging to see that younger savers are forecast to accumulate larger pension pots than previous generations, “but the persistence of the gender pension gap is extremely disappointing”.

Picardo notes: “It is vital that female savers are supported in saving as much as possible into their pension from early on in their careers, as we know the pension gap only widens with age. For those with caring responsibilities, it’s important to continue paying into your pension in whatever quantity you can. This could also mean asking a partner to pay into your pension for you if it makes sense to do so.”

We have more on this topic in Can you pay into someone else’s pension – and how much can you pay?

If you're wondering what the average savings amounts are by age, MoneyWeek has produced a helpful guide.