Hey AI! Can ChatGPT help you manage your money?

We asked ChatGPT some common finance questions - and then ran its responses past a few human experts. Shane Hickey reports

- Shane Hickey reports

Artificial intelligence seems to have touched every part of our lives. But can it help us manage our money? We put some common personal finance questions to the free version of ChatGPT, one of the most well-known AI chatbots, and asked for its help.

Then we gave the answers to some human experts and asked them what they thought.

Pensions

We asked: I am 35 years old and want to ensure I have a comfortable retirement. I earn about £35,000 a year and have a workplace pension, in which I have saved £20,000. My employer contributes 4% of salary. I would like to retire at 60 and want to ensure I have enough in my pension pot to not worry later in life. Do I need to save more?

ChatGPT said*: A comfortable single-person retirement requires roughly £43,000 a year of spending (in today's money) while a moderate lifestyle might need £31,000 a year. Covering £43,000 a year over a 20- to 30-year retirement implies a very large pension pot of about £793,000 in addition to the state pension. A moderate £31,000 a year needs £478,000 in savings.

Your state pension will kick in at 67 and is about £12,000 a year, much less than the £43,000 needed for comfort and it does not arrive until seven years after you retire. This "pre-state pension gap" could well exceed £150,000. You must plan to fund all expenses for seven years on your own savings.