From Acorns Financial Planning - Latest Posts #Living StandardsFrom Acorns Financial Planning - Latest Posts #Living Standardshttps://www.fromacornsfp.com/blogs/tag/Living-StandardsFri, 13 Feb 2026 05:40:45 -0800http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[What is a good retirement income?]]>https://www.fromacornsfp.com/blogs/post/what-is-a-good-retirement-incomeWe dig deeper into the question of what is a good level of retirement income?]]>
Retirement Income

What is a good retirement income?

Let’s dig deeper into the question of what is a good level of retirement income? There is no doubt; the question is complicated as you may looking as much as 40 years into the future. Your goals will inevitably change throughout the years as your standard of living increases. We also know that life has a way of throwing spanners in the works. Unfortunately, we don’t know which spanners life will throw at us. But that is a question for another day.

For now, let’s focus on working out how much is enough for you to retire.

Where do I start?

Most people have no idea of how much they will need in retirement or where to start thinking about the question. Thankfully, there is some excellent research by Loughborough University and The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, published as the Retirement Living Standards. They have found that 77% of savers don’t know how much they will need in retirement, and only 16% of savers can give a figure. The scary figure is that more than half of people believe that the amount they save via the company auto-enrolment pension scheme is enough.

The standards they published are a fantastic starting point for discussions on how much of an annual income you need to financially independent or retire. I have found that this research has been a great help to most of my clients. The standards show what retirement life could look like at three different Retirement Income levels and breaks these down in detail.


For most of us, we will want to aim for at least the Comfortable Retirement Income in our early ‘active’ retirement years. If you are a high earner, you are liable to have loftier ambitions. As you age, lose mobility and enter into a more sedentary lifestyle, you may feel that a ‘Moderate Retirement Income’ may suffice. Regarding the ‘Minimum Retirement Income’, I do not think you would be reading this post if it satisfied your ambitions.


At From Acorns Financial Planning, we use the Retirement Living Standards as a starting point in our Cashflow Forecasting. We use Cashflow Forecasting software to model your entire financial future, running multiple scenarios. Cashflow Planning is an invaluable element of our service and helps you release if you are on track for your desired lifestyle.


If you would like answers to the questions, “What is a good retirement income?” then please contact us on 02886440475 or schedule an initial consultation here.


Retirement Living Standards. ‘Home - PLSA - Retirement Living Standards’. Accessed 3 May 2021. https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/.

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