Pension penury

The money team has just finished a week living on the equivalent of the basic state pension and the experience has left us hungry, bored and determined to double our savings. 

I had a budget of just £52 for the week and my biggest problem was the food. I started valuing everything in terms of meals forgone. Small acts of frivolity like buying a pint or going to the cinema did not cost £8 or £2.50, they cost two fillet steaks and one M&S sticky toffee pudding.

Life also become painfully boring without any kind of surplus cash. The endless hours of television were mind numbing.

The experience of living without any money to spend on little luxuries has already made me increase my pension contributions.

For advice on your pension option and to read the full story of how the Money team survived on the basic state pension visit timesonline.co.uk/pension.