Will you be able to afford the retirement you want? This is Money podcast

What do you see for your pension? Is it getting out of the rat race early to travel the world, stepping back gradually and playing a little golf, or working until retirement age and then spending time spoiling the grandkids?

We’re all going to have a different picture in our heads of what our retirement years might look like, but whatever that is, it’s important to think about another question: Could you afford to do those things?

Although most of us will save for retirement, we often have no idea how much income it will have to bring in when we retire and how big the pot should be.

Jumping into that gap is the now-regular report from the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association, which helps paint a picture of what a minimal, moderate, and comfortable retirement would look like — and crucially what it would cost.

In this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert and This is Money’s retirement and investment editor Tanya Jefferies dive into the report and see what it found.

How do those pension standards translate into reality, how much will the AOW cover, how much on top of that will people need and why has the minimum pension income skyrocketed by 20 percent – ​​well above official inflation?

Simon speaks to Sam North, of eToro, for our weekly market update, who explains how the US inflation rate came in above expectations and why the FTSE 100 has started the year well.

Later in the podcast, the team looks at estate tax, why it’s netting more people, how high house prices mean more families are seeing hundreds of thousands pocketed by the IRS, and what can be done to lower the much-hated tax. work better and feel fairer.

And finally, does using cash help you budget or is it a false economy. Simon says it’s the last for him, but what do Georgie and Tanya think?