Welcome to our budget planner
Ever wondered how much you'll need to live on when you retire?
One of the largest expenses you're likely to have at the moment is a mortgage or rent. If you're lucky enough to own your own home outright by the time you retire, this will have a large impact on how much you'll need at retirement. This is the first question we will ask you.
The budget planner will show you an average amount that you'll need per year to live comfortably, based on national statistics for over 65s in the UK. If you think the average amount to live on is too high or too low for your circumstances, you're able to change these numbers. For ease we have created three categories of spending: bare essentials, having fun and other spending.
How does it work?
Simply enter the amounts, in today’s terms, you think you're likely to spend in retirement each year and our budget planner will automatically work out the income you’re going to need to meet these costs.
To help you see if you're on track with your retirement savings, the budget planner automatically includes the current full State Pension payment. You can add in the value of your Atlas pension and any other pensions and savings you may have. It shows you any gap or excess between what you need and what you have.
But don’t panic! As we can only predict your State Pension, you're likely to see a gap between your estimated spending and income at first. This should start to close once you enter your savings and pension amounts. Also, these numbers are based on a household cost so, depending on your circumstances when your retire, you could include the income from a partner or spouse.
Get started!
The figures already included are the average amounts needed for each household based on national statistics for over 65s in the UK. You can amend these figures to better suit your own lifestyle by dragging the wheel or clicking the Detailed breakdown button.
We’ve included the current State Pension amount, so if you’re planning to retire early you may want to look at your income with and without this amount included.
When the background goes green, you've got enough income to cover your outgoings.
Next steps
If you find that you might not have enough income at your chosen retirement date, you should think about:
- Reviewing your current finances and seeing if you could increase your saving plans (including saving into your Atlas pension account) to boost your future income.
- Looking at the Retirement Living Standards website to get a better idea of what the cost of retirement might look like for different standards of living.
- Finding free advice and guides to help improve your finances through the MoneyHelper.
- Getting independent financial advice to help you better understand your financial circumstances.