There are some questions you can start asking yourself now to help you decide how much will be enough:

1. How do you want to spend your time in retirement? The sort of lifestyle you want will be the main budgeting consideration.
2. Will you still have the same responsibilities – a mortgage to pay, a car to run, debt to repay?
3. What will you want more of in retirement? Think about things like holidays, meals out, and treating your loved ones.

Working out how much money you’ll need in retirement sounds like it might be simple enough, but it can difficult to imagine what your life will look like in retirement, especially if it seems a while off yet.
 
It’s often assumed that we’ll need the same level of income in retirement as we get from our annual salaries, but this is unlikely to be the case.

1. Start by thinking about whether you’ll have paid off the big things, like your mortgage, your car, your debt by the point you take your money. Then consider what you currently pay for that you might not need when you stop work – things like your daily travel, weekday lunches, etc.
2. Then have a think about the new things you might want to pay for – time away, treating family, new hobbies and past times. How much might these things cost you?
3. Once you’ve got a better idea of these things, try using a budget tool to help you work out how much you’ll need in retirement, like this one provided by MoneyHelper. You can also go to MyCitiPension > My Projected Pension and use the budget planner there.