Single people will need £225k more in their pension pot

Searching for a moderate level of comfort in retirement? It’s a lot harder to achieve if you’re single, and you may need to add thousands more to get the retirement you want

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The single person’s financial penalty is real – from booking holiday stays to heating a home, single people often have to pay more than it would cost a couple sharing.

New research shows how this extends to retirement, meaning if you’re single, you’ll need to pump more into their pension savings to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

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PLSA Retirement Living Standard

Pot needed for Single Pensioners

Pot needed for Pensioner Couples (per person)

Difference

Minimum

£54,500

N/A – enough on two state pensions

£54,500

Moderate

£439,000

£214,000

£225,000

Comfortable

£709,000

£398,000

£311,000

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is an experienced financial and business journalist. Formerly on staff at the Daily Telegraph, her freelance work now appears in the money pages of all the national newspapers. She endeavours to make money issues easy to understand for everyone, and to do justice to the people who regularly trust her to tell their stories. She lives by the sea in Aberystwyth. You can find her tweeting @thatlaurawrites