It is a dog’s life for retired men. Adjusting from ‘loss of a stable work routine’, the associated sense of purpose and importance, to getting used to the boredom of waking up and sunning yourself like a lizard and staying at home daily.

A rise in borrowing costs has wiped off more than £545bn from the value of defined benefit private sector pensions in nine months.

The market value of private sector defined benefit and hybrid pensions plunged from £1.8 trillion in December 2021 to just under £1.3 trillion at the end of September 2022 – a drop of 30pc, according to the Office for National Statistics.