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One in four retirees has less than £1,000 available for 'rainy day' emergencies, a study has found.
Research into the finances and lifestyles of 1,000 retired people found the average person had just £1,343 put away for emergencies.
More than half the retirees studied would be "stumped" if they had to pay for unexpected house repairs or specialist medical care despite a lifetime of working.
And the survey, by financial services giant MetLife, revealed most do not get long to enjoy their retirement once they stop work.
The 'retirement glow' can last up to 13 months - the average time given by respondents before the novelty wore off.
One in five admitted their day to day finances are far from comfortable having less than #500 set aside for unforeseen expenses.
Many retirees were disillusioned and found life is much harder after finishing work than they imagined.
Finances prove the trickiest aspect to manage, while boredom is the second biggest barrier to retirement happiness, results showed.
Dominic Grinstead, Managing Director, MetLife UK, said: "It is very worrying that more than half of pensioners would be stumped if they had to find the money for a major bill.
"Unexpected demands in retirement are a major risk - around one in four say they have suffered financial shocks which have forced them to cut back.
"Retirement ought to be a time to relax after a lifetime of working hard but sadly the survey shows the retirement glow does not last long before the money worries return."
And a fifth said they aren't financially comfortable day to day.
One in ten admitted they had fallen out with their partner over money worries with the cost of energy bills and food the most likely item to provoke an argument.
More than half of those polled were unsure if they could cope being faced with a large, unforeseen expense such as healthcare costs or home repairs.
In fact, one in seven said they simply wouldn't be able to manage with any unexpected increase in their expenditure.
The average respondent was found to be living on #297 a week, yet one in eight were getting by on less than #100 per week.
And unforeseen expenditures really take their toll- as many as a quarter had experienced a 'financial nightmare' which threw their finances into disarray.
More than a quarter of the 1,000 retirees polled said their standard of living had decreased since retiring.
Just 12 per cent said life had got better since quitting work, while six in ten notice no change in quality of life either way.
Dominic Grinstead added: "Pensioners need certainty in retirement and flexibility with their finances so they can cope with unexpected bills and have some spare money to enjoy themselves too.
"That is why we have designed our new Retirement Portfolio to deliver a guaranteed income for life which has the potential to increase with positive investment performance while enabling people to dip into their savings if they need to."
ENDS
