How much do I need to retire?
Your retirement number from what you spend, what other income covers, and how much you plan to withdraw each year. Then how long your savings take to get there.
Your numbers
Today’s dollars, healthcare included.
Social Security, pensions, rent.
Rising with inflation.
Before inflation, after fees.
Result
Your retirement number
$850,000
$34,000 a year from savings ÷ 4.0%
At this pace you reach it at 59, in 19 years.
- Savings at 65
- $1,168,024
- Saving needed to reach it by 65
- $9,881 a year
- Return after inflation
- 3.4%
| Age | Your savings | Target |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | $200,000 | $850,000 |
| 42 | $251,131 | $850,000 |
| 44 | $305,815 | $850,000 |
| 46 | $364,296 | $850,000 |
| 48 | $426,839 | $850,000 |
| 50 | $493,726 | $850,000 |
| 52 | $565,260 | $850,000 |
| 54 | $641,762 | $850,000 |
| 56 | $723,577 | $850,000 |
| 58 | $811,076 | $850,000 |
| 60 | $904,652 | $850,000 |
| 62 | $1,004,727 | $850,000 |
| 64 | $1,111,754 | $850,000 |
| 65 | $1,168,024 | $850,000 |
RetirementPace is an educational tool, not financial, tax or legal advice. RetirementPace is not a registered investment adviser.
Track whether you stay on pace
A calculator answers today. Pace is whether you’re still on track next month and next year. Save this as a plan in the free planner (it stays in your browser), and soon record your real balances each month to see if you’re ahead or behind.
How it works
The target is the yearly spending your savings must cover (spending minus other income) divided by the withdrawal rate. At 4% that is 25 times the gap; at 3.5%, about 28.6 times; at 5%, 20 times.
Your savings then grow at the return after inflation. Each year’s savings are added through the year, so they earn half a year of growth in the year they go in, the same convention the planner uses. Everything is in today’s dollars.
This is a rule-of-thumb target, not a plan. It ignores taxes on withdrawals and the order in which good and bad years arrive. The retirement calculator models both.
Worked example
Spending $60,000 a year with $26,000 of Social Security leaves $34,000 a year for savings to cover. At a 4% withdrawal rate the target is $850,000. A 40-year-old with $200,000 saved, putting away $18,000 a year at 6% with 2.5% inflation, reaches it at 59.
Questions
What is a FIRE number?
FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early. Your FIRE number is the portfolio whose withdrawals would cover your spending for good. With a 4% withdrawal rate it is 25 times the yearly spending your savings must cover: the 4% rule turned around.
Should I use a 4% withdrawal rate?
Four percent comes from studies of US market history over 30-year retirements, starting with William Bengen in 1994. A longer retirement, or wanting more certainty, points to a lower rate; being willing to cut spending in bad years can support a higher one. The safe withdrawal rate calculator tests any rate against 1,000 simulated markets.
Why does other income lower the number?
Social Security, a pension or rental income you will receive anyway does not have to come out of savings. Only the gap between your spending and that income does, so only the gap is divided by the withdrawal rate.
Is the target in today’s dollars?
Yes. Every amount here is in today’s dollars, and the growth uses the return after inflation. In the year you retire the target will be a larger number of dollars, but it will buy the same.
What return should I enter?
A long-run average for your mix of investments, after fees. The default 6% is roughly what the planner’s assumptions give a portfolio of 70% stocks and 30% bonds. It is an assumption, not a forecast, and real returns arrive unevenly, which is what the retirement calculator’s Monte Carlo shows.