{"id":379841,"date":"2026-04-03T11:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/379841\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:07:08","slug":"how-much-would-someone-need-in-an-isa-to-double-the-state-pension-and-target-a-24436-annual-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/379841\/","title":{"rendered":"How much would someone need in an ISA to double the state pension and target a \u00a324,436 annual income?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Calendar<\/p>\n

Image source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

For those with a full record of National Insurance contributions, the current State Pension is \u00a3230.25 a week, equivalent to \u00a311,973 a year.<\/p>\n

But according to industry experts, a single person\u2019s likely to need \u00a313,400 a year to provide for a basic retirement. To help make up this shortfall (and more), I reckon a Stocks and Shares ISA\u2019s worth considering. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Crunching the numbers<\/p>\n

According to the Office for National Statistics, more than half of all 23-year-old men are in full-time employment. For women, the majority are employed at the age of 24. And those who are currently in their mid-20s will have to work until they are 68 before they can access the state pension.<\/p>\n

This means most people will have around 45 years to plan for their retirement. This is a long time<\/a> and by starting early, I think it\u2019s possible to build a sizeable investment pot for later in life.<\/p>\n

For example, someone putting \u00a375 a month into a Stocks and Shares ISA \u2014 at an annual growth rate of 6% \u2014 would build a portfolio of \u00a3207,733 after 45 years. At this point, a collection of dividend shares paying 6% would produce an annual income of \u00a312,463. This is approximately \u00a3500 more than the current State Pension. Combined, the two income streams would generate \u00a324,436 a year.<\/p>\n

But is it really possible to earn 6% from dividends? Well, with the right shares, I think it is.<\/p>\n

For example, the FTSE 100<\/a> is currently (2 April) home to eight stocks yielding more than this.<\/p>\n

One of these is Aviva (LSE:AV.<\/a>), the insurance, wealth, and retirement group. For 2025, it declared a dividend of 39.3p. In cash terms, this is 78% higher than in 2021. And it means the stock\u2019s yielding 6.5% at the moment. This is a better return than the 6% used in the example above.<\/p>\n

Buyer beware?<\/p>\n

However, savvy investors know that above-average yields could be a warning that the City\u2019s expecting a cut.<\/p>\n

Indeed, this could be the case if problems in the Middle East continue and the group\u2019s enormous investment portfolio fails to generate the anticipated returns. Like all of us with exposure to the stock market, I suspect its equities have taken a bit of a hit lately. <\/p>\n

Also, its car insurance business (notably, it owns Direct Line) could be affected if AI-powered tools make it easier for customers to shop around looking for cheaper deals.<\/p>\n

Right place, right time<\/p>\n

However, for now at least, the group appears to be going in the right direction. And I think it\u2019s well positioned to capitalise on some interesting industry trends that seem to be emerging. <\/p>\n

Younger people appear to be buying more private health insurance than their parents as dissatisfaction with the NHS grows. And they are taking more of an interest in their retirement planning.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the group reported a 25% improvement in operating profit and a 14% increase in earnings per share compared to a year earlier. With a 12-month target that\u2019s 16% higher than today\u2019s share price, analysts believe investors have yet to fully factor in the group\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, I think Aviva\u2019s one of many UK shares that could be considered by those looking to build a diversified portfolio of income stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image source: Getty Images For those with a full record of National Insurance contributions, the current State Pension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":{"0":"post-379841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}