"A £20,000 pension isn't an unreasonable aspiration for someone earning £35,000, but is likely to require significant sacrifices," said Ian Naismith, head of pensions development at Scottish Widows.
Mike Morrison, the head of pensions development at AXA Winterthur, says the findings ring true: "They are in agreement that for a basic but acceptable standard of living you would need £14,400 annually, or £1,200 per month".
The prime minister, Theresa May, is expected to make more appointments on Thursday morning, including jobs at the education, health, work and pensions, international development, energy and agriculture departments.
The issues mainly involve ballooning city pensions, economic development and the annual Urban Beach Weekend, which attracts legions of raucous partiers who sometimes face off with the police and residents.
While serving as Interim Mayor, Lee championed balancing the budget to keep San Francisco safe, solvent and successful, reforming City pensions, economic development, job creation and public safety as his top priorities.
Robin Ellison, the head of strategic development, pensions, at law firm Pinsent Masons, says: "Saving 15 per cent per year is the absolute minimum people need to think about".
Other moderates appointed without a contest were Emma Reynolds (health), John Woodcock (defence), Barry Sheerman (environment), Tristram Hunt (communities and local government), Gavin Shuker (transport), Stephen Timms (work and pensions), Ivan Lewis (international development), Shabana Mahmood (justice), Caroline Flint (energy and climate change) and Peter Kyle (business).
Elena Salgado, the finance minister, said the spending cuts would spare only a few areas — education, antiterrorism, research and development, pension payments and unemployment assistance.
The global financial crisis has also worsened Yemen's situation, increasing unemployment and limiting the power of the state — which has announced it will cut expenditures in half in 2009 — to retain loyalty through pension payments and development projects.
In April former Shanghai party chairman Chen Liangyu was convicted of having accepted nearly $340,000 in bribes in connection with a scheme to divert money from pension funds into development projects; he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
In a similar vein, Robin Ellison, head of strategic development for pensions at solicitor Pinsent Masons, is concerned about some aspects of the current package of pension reforms.
