Working out how much income you’ll need in retirement is all about how you might spend your time - the responsibilities you may have, and the lifestyle you’re hoping for.

Do you know how much you might need?

If the answer’s no, you’re not alone. Now’s a good time to start thinking about it and asking yourself some key questions to help you plan.

What would you really like to do when you reduce hours or stop working? Do you have a wish list? It’s useful to think about what your life might look like when you stop working, so you can see how your finances can help you realise your goals.

Here are five key questions to ask yourself at this stage. You don’t need to know all the answers yet, but it’s a good idea to start thinking about them now:

1. How much money do you think you’ll need in retirement?
2. What will you no longer have to pay for?
3. What will you have to pay for that you don’t spend money on now?
4. Will you want to do more, or less as the years go by?
5. Will you want to save some of your income for later in your life?

Retirement Spending Planner

The Planner helps you start thinking about how much you might spend in retirement, and on what. When you get to retirement, you may find that this has changed or your priorities are different, but this is a good place to start.

You’ll have a couple of brief questions to answer, and then you’ll get a list of spending categories to help you plan.

The figures populated in the planner are from the Office of National Statistics – they’re there to get you thinking. If they don’t look right to you, you can update them using the slider until they feel more accurate for you. And if there are categories you don’t need, you can delete them.