🏖️ Retirement Savings Calculator
How much do you need to retire comfortably? This calculator projects your retirement pot based on your current savings, monthly contribution and expected return, and gives an indication of the monthly income that pot could provide.
Expected retirement pot
£382,166.77
Indicative monthly income (4% rule)
£1,273.89
Years to retirement
32
Calculate the years until retirement: 67 − 35 = 32 years
Grow the current pot and contributions to that age: = £382,166.77
Formula
Pot = (Current pot × (1+i)^n) + Contribution × (((1+i)^n − 1) ÷ i) · Monthly income ≈ Pot × 4% ÷ 12
The pot growth uses the same compound-interest formula as saving, applied to the years until your retirement age. The indicative monthly income uses the 4% rule: a widely cited US rule of thumb stating you can withdraw roughly 4% of your pot per year without depleting it over a long retirement.
What the variables mean
- pot
- Your total retirement pot at retirement age
- 4%-regel
- Rule of thumb: withdrawing 4% of your pot per year is generally sustainable long-term
Steps
- 1Enter your current age, retirement age and current retirement savings.
- 2Enter your monthly contribution and expected annual return.
- 3Read off the projected pot and the indicative monthly income.
Effect of starting earlier (€300/month, 5% return)
| Starting age | Years saving until 67 | Pot at 67 |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 42 | €513,000 |
| 35 | 32 | €283,000 |
| 45 | 22 | €144,000 |
| 55 | 12 | €59,000 |
Illustrates the power of starting early; assumes €300/month at 5% return with no existing savings.
warnings
- This is an indicative, heavily simplified projection. It does not account for state pension, employer pension, inflation or tax. Consult a financial adviser for retirement planning.
commonMistakes
- Looking only at the final amount without accounting for inflation, which reduces that amount's purchasing power over decades.
- Forgetting that employer pension schemes and state pension are separate from this kind of personal savings.
- Assuming a constant return every year, when markets actually fluctuate.
useCases
- Getting a rough estimate of your personal retirement pot alongside your employer pension.
- Visualising the effect of starting extra retirement saving earlier.
- Comparing different scenarios of monthly contribution or return against each other.