According to Prudential's Class of 2011 survey, the average person retiring this year expects to have an estimated total annual income of £16,559 including any private pension and State Pension, with 19% of 2011’s new pensioners expecting to live on less than £10,000 a year.

The survey goes on to say that just 39% believe they have saved enough for a comfortable retirement. Men are more optimistic than women with 48 per cent of males believing they have saved enough compared with 30 per cent of females.

Prudential's press release can be read by clicking here.

These figures are very worrying, particularly given that many people retiring today will have some final salary pension benefits within their retirement "pot". With more and more of these schemes now closed to new members, younger generations are going to have to take much greater personal responsibility for their own retirement, which is not easy given the many other pressures on household finances.

It's not all doom and gloom though! If you would like to put a plan in place for your own retirement, please get in touch and we can try to help.