Your situation
Two halves of one question
The first half is accumulation: what you already have, plus what you add each month, growing until you stop working. The second half is what that pot pays out — and the answer changes a lot depending on how many years it has to last.
The last decade does the heaviest lifting
Because growth compounds, the largest gains come at the end, when the balance is biggest. That is why starting earlier beats saving harder later: the years you add at the beginning are the ones that get to compound the longest.
Everything here is in today’s money
No inflation is applied, so a figure thirty years out will buy noticeably less than the same figure buys now. If you want a realistic sense of it, enter a return reduced by your expected inflation and read the result as purchasing power rather than as an amount.
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Frequently asked questions
Q. What return should I assume?
Lower than you hope. A long horizon makes the assumption powerful, and a number chosen optimistically produces a plan that quietly under-saves. Running it twice, once pessimistically, is more useful than getting the single number right.
Q. Why does the monthly payout differ so much between 20 and 30 years?
Because the same pot is divided over half again as many months. This is a straight division with no return during retirement, which is deliberately conservative — money still invested would stretch further.
Q. Are pensions and state benefits included?
No. This covers only what you save yourself. Whatever you expect from a state or workplace scheme sits on top of this figure and follows rules specific to your country.