Enter your ages, what you have saved, what you add each month and the return you expect. The calculator projects your pot at retirement, shows it in today’s money after inflation, and works out the monthly saving needed to hit the income you want.
| Age | Pot | In today’s money |
|---|
Your current savings grow at the expected return, compounded monthly, and each monthly contribution is added and grows for the time it’s invested. Starting at 35 with 50,000 saved, adding 500 a month at 6% a year gives a pot of roughly 775,000 by 65.
Inflation shrinks what that money buys, so the pot is also shown in today’s money by dividing by (1 + inflation)years. The withdrawal rate turns a pot into a yearly income: the well-known "4% rule" suggests withdrawing 4% of the pot in the first year, which historically has lasted around 30 years in many markets.
To reach an income target, the calculator divides the income you want by the withdrawal rate to find the pot you need (40,000 ÷ 4% = 1,000,000 in today’s money), grows that target by inflation to your retirement date, then solves for the monthly saving that gets you there.
A common rule of thumb is income wanted ÷ withdrawal rate. At a 4% withdrawal rate, every 10,000 a year of income needs about 250,000 saved, on top of any state or workplace pension.
A guideline from US research that withdrawing 4% of your pot in the first year of retirement, then adjusting for inflation, has historically lasted about 30 years. Many planners now use 3–4% to be more cautious.
Long-run stock-heavy portfolios have averaged roughly 5–7% a year after fees but before inflation; bond-heavy ones less. Using a modest figure and checking a lower one too gives a more realistic range.
Because a million in 30 years will buy much less than a million today. At 2.5% inflation, prices roughly double every 28 years, so today’s-money figures are easier to compare with your current spending.
No. Subtract any expected pension or state benefit from the income you want before entering it, so the calculator only covers the part your savings need to fund.
