Britons now need a six-figure sum to get them through their retirement years, Life Trust has shown.
Savers beware: it costs an average of £413,000 per household to retire in the UK.
This is the main finding of a report released today by pensions specialist Life Trust, which also found that a single person will need to have £326,700 put by in order to see them through. Moreover, the insurer said that increasing longevity would make these costs rise still further in the future: with retirees costing a total of £708,000 if they lived to 100.
Current life expectancies stand at 85 among men and 88 among women - ages which are expected to rise further in years to come.
A further contributory factor to this upwards cost trend is general inflation, which has risen markedly since the beginning of the credit crunch last summer. The government's benchmark rate currently stands at 3.3 per cent, a full 1.3 per cent above target and a figure which is widely expected to hit four per cent by the end of the year, as food and fuel prices continue to increase.
This is especially worrying, due to Life Trust calculating its retirement figures on a predicted inflation rate of just 2.3 per cent.
Andy Briscoe, chief executive of Life Trust, said: "People are living longer, healthier lives. This is great news but only if people have the finances in place to really enjoy their post-career years. The combination of rising life expectancy and the impact of inflation over time can have huge financial implications, and this report allows us, for the first time, to see the scale of these trends.
"With more and more people reaching 90 and beyond, and with 90 becoming the new 70 in terms of healthy ageing, it has never been more necessary for the industry and individuals to understand the true cost of modern retirement."
Life Trust released the report today in collaboration with the centre for economics and business research.
Compare savings accounts via money.co.uk
