A study of the over-40s found that two thirds already have some idea of how they would like to spend their retirement years.

The average Brit intends to go on three holidays a year, one of which is abroad, run a car and also fill their time with a host of new hobbies and activities.

According to Aviva, which carried out the survey, retirees will need an income of around £15,000 a year to sustain their planned lifestyle, the same figure reported by NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) last month.

However, the Aviva report found that three in ten over-40s have no plan in place to fund their retirement.

And even among those that have a financial plan, 64 per cent admit it’s probably not going to be enough to cover everything they want to do.

More than three quarters of over-40s said they are worried about being able to afford all they have already planned during their retirement.

And another 64 per cent are concerned about simply paying for day-to-day living costs.

It also emerged that more than half don’t really have any idea what sort of sum they need to save in order to be able to achieve the kind of retirement fund they are hoping for.

Clive Bolton, managing director of retirement solutions, said: “It’s all very well to have an idea of what you want to do after you finish working, but many people underestimate how much money they will need. Your state pension is unlikely to cover everything you want to do during your retirement, so it’s important to have some kind of financial plan in place to provide additional funds.”