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How to prepare for retirement if you live alone

If you are going to live alone in retirement, planning ahead is crucial as you don't have another income as a fall-back
November 4, 2021
  • If you live alone in retirement you may need over half of what a couple require
  • It is important to plan ahead and there are many online resources to help you do this
  • The state pension is likely to form the basis of your retirement income

The number of people living alone has rocketed to around 8m over the past decade, according to the Office for National Statistics. The fastest-growing age group living alone is the over-65s, but retirement can be financially tough if you’re living alone. Becky O’Connor, head of pensions and savings at investment platform interactive investor, says: “Planning for retirement is even more crucial in this scenario as you can't fall back on another person’s income to get you through. The income you need is higher, too, as couples benefit from economies of scale on costs such as food and energy.”

You need a pension income of about £49,700 a year for a comfortable retirement as a couple and substantially more than half of this – £33,600 – as a single person, according to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association. And with inflation predicted to rise to more than 4 per cent in 2022, the amount of income you need in retirement to meet living expenses is expected to continue rising.

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