How Much Do You Need to Retire?
Your number depends on your spending, not someone else's. How to estimate it — and why inflation matters.
Last updated: 2026-07-20
There's no universal retirement number; yours depends on how much you plan to spend each year. But a few well-worn rules make the estimate approachable.
Start from your spending
Estimate your annual expenses in retirement. A common shortcut — the 4% rule — suggests you can withdraw about 4% of your savings in the first year and adjust for inflation after, which implies a nest egg of roughly 25 times your annual spending.
Adjust for inflation
A million dollars decades from now buys far less than a million today. Projecting your savings in real (inflation-adjusted) terms keeps the target honest, so you plan around actual purchasing power rather than a big nominal number.
Levers you control
- Savings rate — the percentage of income you invest is the strongest lever.
- Time — starting earlier lets compounding do more of the work.
- Spending — a lower retirement budget shrinks the number you need directly.
Estimate your target and sustainable withdrawals with the calculators below.