How is everyone saving for retirement without sacrificing a ridiculous amount of paycheque?

Start it early, earn interest over decades. But to be honest, even then you'll want to do "more" than the standard pensions offered to you. It's just simple maths. You put £15k in and add 36 years of interest.... it's basically not even enough to pay three years at £30k salary (try a compound interest calculator to run the sums). That's before you take account that interest rates will fall, inflation will rise, investments may fail, administrative and regulatory costs for actually managing the pension, etc. Just by inflation, £30k in 36 years time is going to be worth approximately the same compared to 36 years prior. In effect, £30k a year during your retirement will be like trying to live on £11,000 today. (Bank of England Inflation Calculator, and try going back 36 years). Add on your state pension and it's still not that much! Basically, pensions are quickly becoming unsustainable unless you start working and saving into a pension from age 18, earn good money, retire late, and greatly cut your expectations. Last time I calculated it, it would barely cover my basic bills in retirement, and that's assuming I still have my house at that point (without a house, literally I wouldn't only be able to rent if I have housing benefit from the council and live in a council house). You're not missing anything. Yours and my generation has inherited a shite deal and the government are doing everything they can to not increase state pension but make you responsible for it (automatic workplace pension enrolment, etc.). They know that in the long term, it's entirely unsustainable. Just simple maths. If you want a standard of living equivalent to £30k today, you would need a pension of about £81k. To get that you would need to be putting away nearly three times your plan (including the extra £500 per month), for the rest of your working life. Fact is people are living far longer after retirement, things are costing more, people are earning and saving less, and property is becoming harder and harder to come by (and was more than a substantial contribution to many people's retirement). I realised age 20 that a pension was all but worthless to me in retirement. State pension is barely worth bothering with, in fact. Future generations are going to have to solve the problem and sacrifice a lot of their own to tend to our generations in old age (or huge deprivation all over the country will be commonplace in retirement). I earn less than you, have more in my pension, which has been running 10 years longer than yours. And I think I may be able to cover basic expenses in retirement and, by that point, own my own home (which potentially gives substantial contributions to my retirement that would make it comfortable). You'll want to get an estimate from your pension provider, and I think you may have more money in retirement than you expect - on paper at least. But pretty much there is no sustainable way for the majority of people to save for a pension that would give them the equivalent of £30k now in retirement.