Cardiff tops retirement poll
How much you need to retire in comfort can vary wildly depending on your location.
The issue of paying for retirement has been at the forefront of the news recently, due in no small part to the severe changes the Government has made to pensions. The amount of tax-free income you can put into a pension each year will be sharply cut, from £255,000 to £50,000 in April.
The change will only affect around 100,000 pension savers a year, and has won praise for its simplicity, compared to proposed changes by the previous government.
However, it has brought the fact that the UK faces pension difficulties back to the attention of many. And while it’s important to ensure you have a decent amount of money put aside in a pension for when the time comes to retire, where you retire to can have a big impact on just how much money you will need to remain comfortable.
It pays to retire in Wales!
MGM Advantage, a retirement income specialist, has put together some very interesting research looking at the 20 largest cities in the UK, the average life expectancy for retirees in that region, and how much you’d need to retire there.
Let’s have a look at how the UK’s top 20 major cities performed according to the research.
Now there’s no great surprise that London comes bottom of this particular league table, though the scale of the difference between London and Cardiff – an astonishing £8,939 a year – is pretty remarkable.
And it all comes down to the cost of living. According to MGM’s research, the cost of living in Cardiff is 11.53% less than the UK’s average, whereas London boasts living costs of 18.49% above the UK’s national average.
The trouble is, while such regional variations play a huge difference in just how much money you’ll need when you retire, things like the State Pension and pension credits do not at present take location into account.
If you want to ensure you have enough cash set aside in your pension to retire to a decent standard of living, the onus is on you to lay the groundwork. Here’s a few other things you should consider in order to bump up your retirement pot.
21/10/2010
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