How much cash you need to replicate the state pension

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How much you’d need to save to replace the state pension

Most if not all Britons expect the government to look after them when they retire, in the form of the state pension. That’s the guaranteed cash benefit every Brit becomes entitled to at age 66. The state pension is currently worth £221.20 per week.

That’s £11,502.40 a year. The pension goes up each year via the infamous “triple lock”: a percentage increase that is the equivalent of the rise in average wages, or the inflation rate, or 2.5% — whichever of the three is greatest.

• So, the state pension will be nice to have — it’s free money! — but it won’t be enough to live on.

This is one of the reasons we created Moneyin2: You’re going to need a backup plan.

One way to look at this is …