‘i Miss The Buzz Of Work And Wish I’d Saved More’: What It’s Really Like To Retire

Retired film editor Mike Lithgow, 72, spends Fridays racing his sail-boat around the jutting coastline near his Cornwall home.

It’s a costly hobby, and his private pension – about £10,000 a year – plus the annual state pension of £12,547 currently, only gives him about £1,800 a month to play with.

It’s not enough to keep the boat on the water for much longer, he says.

“Sailing is always expensive. Things break, and just keeping the boat is the biggest expense, what with the mooring costs. I’ll probably have to get rid of it in the next couple of years and save a bit of money that way,” Mike says.

Another luxury – the Spanish holiday home where he enjoys escaping British winters with Belinda, his wife of more than 40 years, and a former teacher – is likely to also face the chopping block.

“We’re putting it on the market because it’s going to be too much maintenance and cost,” Mike says.

The couple are content, but the rising cost of living, at home and abroad, is eating into their spare cash.

Cost of a comfortable retirement

Nearly a third (31 per cent) of retirees say their standard of living is worse now than before they retired, compared with just one in five (20 per cent) who say it is better, according to research from pensions provider Standard Life.

Many retirees say they underestimated both the cost and length of retirement, with 17 per cent saying they need more money than expected and 16 per cent saying retirement would last longer than they originally thought.

Looking back, three in ten (30 per cent) wish they had saved more. Lithgow is among them.

“I’d have paid more into my personal pension,” says Mike, who manages his savings through the wealth platform BestInvest. “I didn’t start my pension until I was about 42. It would have been useful to have a larger pot.”

People saving for retirement believe, on average, they need £350,000 to achieve a comfortable retirement, according to research from investment platform Interactive Investor.

But this is around £350,000 less than the latest figures suggested by Pensions UK, an industry body, for a comfortable retirement, which estimates £702,500 is needed for a one-person household.

A single person would need £45,400 a year for a comfortable retirement lifestyle, Pensions UK says, and a couple would need £62,700 between them. This includes the state pension, which is currently £12,570 a year for someone who gets the full amount, but the rest must be funded from other savings.

In reality, more is needed once you factor in tax. The figures also do not take into account housing costs.

Later life loneliness

Lithgow misses his old pace of life, after years spent in the fast-faced, tight-deadlined world of documentary film-making in London.

“I do miss the Soho buzz, the buzz of the work. Although at the time it feels like pressure, it’s a good kind of pressure, that keeps you feeling alive,” he says. “Your sense of time shifts considerably once you’re retired.”

A quarter (24 per cent) of respondents to a separate survey by Standard Life said they feel lonely or socially disconnected from others when not working. As a result, many are considering returning to work, or have already done so.

Tony Fuller, 66, from Hertfordshire, has retired three times from three different careers. Each time he returned to work, seeking a new challenge to stave off the boredom and stay connected.

A police officer for 30 years from age 18, he was then a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) until 2020, before setting up his own small consultancy business, which he finished at Christmas.

“I think you need to approach retirement in the same way you approach a job,” says Tony. “Plan for it, engage with it, and don’t just let retirement appear then not know what to do with it”.

“You have much less cash available, but a lot more time, and it’s time that’s the valuable thing as you get older,” he says.

Between his final salary police pension and the state pension, Tony’s income is around £6,000 a month. He also has investments with Best Invest. He has not yet accessed his private pension from PwC, which he had hoped to pass on free of inheritance tax to his two children – but new rules, which come into effect from April 2027, will now prevent that.

While Tony no longer works, he fills his time with voluntary roles. “I’m a chairman of a charity, I do non-executive stuff, and I’m a parish councillor, so I do a lot of unpaid roles to fill that gap and maintain that sense of purpose I had when working,” he says.

Adam Vanstone, chartered financial planner at Chester Rose Financial Planning, says perspectives on retirement are often shaped by outdated thinking that “you reach a certain age, you give up work, you claim your pension, and you spend more time on hobbies”.

He adds: “This needs to be challenged, as modern retirement is a very different landscape.” These days, retirement plans are often more gradual, with a slow wind-down from work rather than a hard stop.

Ian Futcher, financial planner at Quilter, adds: “After years of routine, purpose, and income, the transition can feel like stepping off a cliff. It’s not just about money, it’s about identity, structure, and mental health.

“That’s why more people are now choosing to phase in to retirement, gradually reducing their hours or taking on part-time or consultancy roles. This approach can ease the emotional transition and help maintain financial stability.”

‘I finally feel like I have a purpose’

Shadid Aziz has been planning for retirement since he was 24 years old. Now 77, his main goal is to give back to society.

“When I was 24, I said to my wife, ‘I want to talk about retirement’, and she looked at me and said, ‘for God’s sake, let me feel young for a few years!” recalls Shadid. “But it was one of the best decisions I ever made.”

The couple, who live in Swindon, have a monthly pension income of £4,000 between them, plus £9,000-a-month rental income from five buy-to-let properties (£6,000 after mortgage costs).

Shadid had a long career as a project manager for BT in London, but the stress of the role meant one day, after a run of 80-hour weeks, he found himself lost, confused and crying in his local Tesco.

“I couldn’t remember who I was, where I was; I was just sort of floating around. The police took me home, and my wife took me to my GP, who was disgusted by the number of hours I was working,” he recalls.

A psychiatrist came to the conclusion “I was just falling apart, because for so many years I’d been working under such intense pressure”, Shadid says. He was retired on medical grounds.

Five years later, he began retraining as an immigration lawyer. “At 55 I was a student again, attending evening classes at Reading college. So much for me being bored,” says Shadid, who now considers himself “semi-retired”.

He admits managing asylum cases is “distressing”, but says he got the feeling he was helping people.

He now volunteers at Citizens Advice Bureau and made a recent volunteering trip to Gaza, to provide three meals a day for 1,000 people for two weeks in a refugee camp.

“I feel like I have a purpose,” he says. “I actually help human beings. That is what achievement is in your life, in your retirement. How many humans did you help?”