Retirement Calculator ☆ Save

Start with what you already have

Before projecting a private pot, find out what is already building. Most formal employment involves a mandatory contribution to a national scheme or provident fund — and most contributors have never requested a statement or checked what it will actually pay.

Two actions worth taking, both free:

• Request your contribution statement and check it against the jobs you have actually held. Gaps are common — an employer who deducted but never remitted, or a period recorded under a mistyped identity number. A gap found in your thirties is usually fixable; the same gap found at retirement rarely is;
• Find out what the scheme actually provides — retirement, invalidity and survivor benefits are frequently unclaimed simply because families do not know they exist.

Then treat it as a floor, not a plan. Mandatory schemes are usually capped at a contribution ceiling, which means they cannot fund the retirement of a middle or higher earner. Everything above the floor is your job — which is what this calculator is for.

Time matters more than the rate

Change the years in the calculator and watch the outcome move. Retirement projections are dominated by how long money compounds, not by the return you assume.

Test the same contribution over twenty and thirty years in the compound interest calculator. The decade you did not use costs more than any fee difference you will ever negotiate.

The three things that shrink the result

1. Cashing out when you change jobs

The single most damaging retirement decision available. Withdrawing at resignation usually triggers tax and — far worse — restarts the compounding clock on money that had decades to run. Preserve or transfer it instead.

2. Inflation

The projection shows nominal amounts. A pot that looks large today may not feel large in thirty years, so be conservative with your assumed return and think in terms of what the income will buy.

Where your market has a history of currency instability, this is the dominant risk — and an argument for holding long-horizon savings in the most stable unit available to you.

3. Fees

Fees matter over decades. Rather than reacting to a slogan about how much they cost, run your own projection at two fee levels and compare — a real number is both more accurate and more motivating.

How much is enough?

The useful question is not "what is the pot?" but "what monthly income will it sustain, and for how long?" — which is what the calculator models. Two sanity checks:

• Your actual expected expenses, not a rule of thumb. Some costs fall in retirement (commuting, supporting children, the home loan); healthcare usually rises;
• Longevity. A pot that lasts twenty years is not one that lasts thirty. Plan for a long retirement — running out has no remedy at 85.

Building it in the right order

1. Employer contributions first, especially where they are matched — a match is an immediate guaranteed return nothing else offers;
2. Clear expensive debt. Consumer credit typically costs far more than investments reliably earn — see the debt payoff planner;
3. An emergency fund, so a shock does not force you to raid long-term savings — project it in the savings calculator;
4. Use any tax-advantaged retirement vehicle your market offers — the tax relief is usually the largest single boost available;
5. Increase contributions with every raise, before the money joins your spending.

Frequently asked questions

What return should I assume?

Deliberately conservative, and after fees. If the plan only works at an optimistic rate, it is not a plan.

Is the national scheme enough?

Almost never — contributions are usually capped well below what a comfortable retirement requires. Treat it as a floor.

I am starting late. Is it worth it?

Yes. The levers are contribute more, work longer, or spend less in retirement — and starting today is strictly better than starting next year.

What if I am self-employed?

You are often outside the mandatory scheme entirely, with no state retirement or survivor cover behind you. That makes building your own more urgent, not less.

What happens if I change jobs?

Preserve or transfer rather than withdraw. Withdrawing is taxed and costs decades of growth.

Projections assume constant returns and uninterrupted contributions; real outcomes vary. Scheme rules, contribution ceilings and tax treatment differ by market — confirm locally. General information, not financial advice.