# Is £500,000 enough to retire on?

> Whether £500,000 is enough depends almost entirely on when you stop and whether you still pay for housing. Here is what it buys in every case.

**Question:** Is £500,000 enough to retire on?

**Answer:** For most people who own their home, yes. £500,000 supports about **£2,435 a month** in today's money from 60 to 95, alongside a full State Pension from 67, or **£2,995 a month** if you stop at 67 instead. A couple with two full State Pensions can spend around £3,209 a month from 60 on the same pot.

- Author: Adam Akhlaq, founder of MyRetireAge
- Published: 2026-09-05
- Updated: 2026-09-05
- Canonical URL: https://myretireage.com/blog/is-500000-enough-to-retire-uk

## Key figures

- **£2,435 a month** - what £500,000 supports from 60 to 95
- **£2,995 a month** - the same pot if you stop at 67 instead
- **£3,209 a month** - for a couple with two full State Pensions, from 60
- **Age 92** - how long it lasts if you spend £2,500 a month from 60

## What £500,000 actually pays you

£500,000 is not an income, and the honest answer to "is it enough" starts by turning it into one. Spread from 60 to 95, with a full State Pension arriving at 67, it supports about **£2,435 a month** in today's money.

That figure is not £500,000 divided by 35 years. It assumes the pot keeps growing while you draw on it, that the State Pension takes over £12,548 a year of the load from 67 (£241 a week in 2026/27), and that the last pound is spent around your ninety-fifth birthday rather than left behind. Stop later and every one of those works harder for you: from 67 the same pot supports £2,995 a month.

- **£2,435 a month** - if you stop at 60. £29,222 a year, with 7 years funded by the pot alone before the State Pension starts.
- **£2,995 a month** - if you stop at 67. Seven more years of growth, seven fewer years of spending, and no gap to bridge.
- **£3,209 a month** - for a couple, from 60. Same £500,000, but two full State Pensions worth £25,095 a year join at 67.

Set that against the PLSA's Retirement Living Standards and you have your answer in one line. A moderate retirement for one person is around £2,725 a month and a comfortable one about £3,700. So £500,000 is a moderate retirement from 60, a slightly better one from 67, a comfortable one for a couple, and none of those if you are still paying rent.

## The age you stop changes the answer more than anything else

The same £500,000 produces very different lifestyles depending on when you start drawing it. Between 55 and 67 the gap is £836 a month.

*What £500,000 supports each month to age 95, by the age you stop*

| You stop at | One person | A couple | Bridge years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Age 55 | £2,159 a month | £2,798 a month | 12 |
| Age 57 | £2,260 a month | £2,948 a month | 10 |
| Age 60 | £2,435 a month | £3,209 a month | 7 |
| Age 62 | £2,570 a month | £3,409 a month | 5 |
| Age 65 | £2,807 a month | £3,762 a month | 2 |
| Age 67 | £2,995 a month | £4,041 a month | 0 |

*Balanced assumptions: 5% growth, 2.5% inflation, 0.4% fees, spending to 95. The couple column assumes two full State Pensions from 67 and one shared pot. Bridge years are the years you fund with no State Pension at all.*

Each year you wait is worth roughly £80 a month for the rest of your life, and the effect compounds twice: the pot grows for another year, and it has one fewer year to cover. That is why "am I ready?" is usually a better question than "is £500,000 enough?"

> £500,000 at 55 is £2,159 a month. The same £500,000 at 67 is £2,995.

## How long £500,000 lasts

The other way to ask the question is to fix your spending and see how far the pot stretches. Retiring at 60 with the State Pension arriving at 67, here is the age £500,000 runs out.

*The age £500,000 is exhausted, drawing from 60*

| Monthly spending | Pot runs out at | Years it lasts |
| --- | --- | --- |
| £2,000 a month - lean | Never runs out | Indefinite |
| £2,200 a month - moderate-ish | Age 106 | 46 years |
| £2,500 a month - comfortable-ish | Age 92 | 32 years |
| £2,725 a month - PLSA moderate | Age 87 | 27 years |
| £3,000 a month - generous | Age 82 | 22 years |
| £3,500 a month - high | Age 76 | 16 years |

*Balanced assumptions, State Pension of £12,548 a year from 67. Spending is in today's money and rises with inflation each year.*

The cliff between the rows is the point of the table. At £2,039 a month or less the pot is never exhausted at all - growth plus the State Pension covers the withdrawals indefinitely. At £2,500 a month it runs dry at 92, and at £3,500 a month at 76, which is far too early to be a plan.

A PLSA moderate lifestyle of £2,725 a month from 60 exhausts the pot at 87 - fine on average life expectancy, uncomfortable if you are healthy at 85 and looking at the balance. That difference between "lasts long enough" and "lasts as long as I might" is the whole reason we plan to 95 rather than to an average. The same table for every pot size, from £100,000 to £750,000, is in [How long will my pension last?](/blog/how-long-will-my-pension-last-uk)

## Where £500,000 is comfortable, and where it is not

Three people with exactly the same pot, and three different answers. Housing and the stopping age do almost all of the work.

**Owns their home outright, stops at 67: Enough** with a margin

With no housing costs, £500,000 supports £2,995 a month from 67 - comfortably above the PLSA's moderate £2,725, though still short of their comfortable £3,700. The margin matters more than the spending: they can absorb a bad decade of returns and still be fine.

**Still renting at £900 a month, wants to stop at 60: Not enough** £1,190 a month short

A moderate lifestyle plus rent is £3,625 a month, and £500,000 supports £2,435 from 60. Sustaining that spending from 60 would take a pot of about £858,056. Housing, not investing, is the thing to fix.

**A couple with two full State Pensions, stopping at 65: Just enough** for a moderate retirement

Their shared £500,000 supports £3,762 a month from 65, against the PLSA's moderate couple figure of £3,750. Two State Pensions are the reason: £25,095 a year of inflation-linked income that no pot has to produce.

## Try it with your own pot and spending

Your pot is unlikely to be exactly £500,000 and your spending is definitely not exactly ours. Change either and watch the year it runs out move.

**Interactive: [See how long £500,000 would last for you](https://myretireage.com/pension-drawdown-calculator-uk?pot=500000)** - Prefilled with £500,000 from age 60 at £2,200 a month. Drag the spending up and the depletion age falls away quickly - that sensitivity is the single most useful thing to see before you commit to a retirement date.

## £500,000 against the 4% rule

The 4% rule says £500,000 gives you £20,000 a year, or £1,667 a month. Our engine says £2,435 a month from 60. Both are right, because they are answering different questions.

The 4% rule comes from US research into portfolios that had to survive any 30-year window with money still in them. It ignores the State Pension entirely, and it never spends the pot down. Our figure adds £12,548 a year from 67 and finishes at 95 with the pot at zero, which is what most people actually want their money to do.

The practical difference is £768 a month - the difference between a lean retirement and a moderate one. Use 4% as a floor if leaving an inheritance matters to you, and treat our number as the ceiling of what the same pot can responsibly do.

## The bridge years decide it

Almost every difference in this article traces back to the same thing: the years between stopping work and your State Pension starting, when the pot pays for everything on its own.

Retire at 60 with a State Pension age of 67 and you have 7 of those years. Spending £2,200 a month across them costs £184,800 with nothing arriving to replace it, which is why a £500,000 pot is down to about £377,557 by the time the State Pension finally starts.

That single fact explains the £559-a-month gap between stopping at 60 and stopping at 67. Nothing about the lifestyle changes between those two rows. The pot simply has to carry 7 years unaided in one of them, and none in the other.

> **If your State Pension age is 68**
>
> Anyone born from April 1978 onwards waits an extra year, which is one more year of the pot working alone. On these assumptions £500,000 then supports £2,399 a month from 60 rather than £2,435. Your own State Pension age is [free to check on gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age).

## What turns £500,000 from tight into comfortable

Six changes that move the answer, and what each is worth in monthly spending against the £2,435 a month the pot supports from 60.

1. **Work to 65 instead of 60: £372 a month more** - The least popular lever and the most effective one you fully control. Five more years takes what £500,000 supports from £2,435 to £2,807 a month, and a partial version works too - even stopping at 62 is worth £134 a month.
2. **Keep some income coming in: pound for pound** - Consultancy, two days a week, or a lodger. Any income that is not your pot is income your pot does not have to produce, so £500 a month of it is £500 a month more to spend - £2,935 instead of £2,435. It matters most in the bridge years, when it also keeps you from selling investments early.
3. **Remove housing costs before you stop** - Every £900 a month of rent or mortgage is £900 a month of the pot's output already spoken for. Clearing a mortgage or downsizing changes the answer to this article more reliably than any investment decision.
4. **Plan as a household, not as two people** - A couple sharing £500,000 can spend £3,209 a month from 60 rather than £2,435, because two full State Pensions bring in £25,095 a year between them from 67.
5. **Fill the gaps in your National Insurance record** - The full State Pension needs 35 qualifying years. On 30 years, £500,000 supports £2,324 a month from 60 instead of £2,435 - a permanent cut for something that is often cheap to fix. Checking is [free on gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension).
6. **Cut your fees** - We assume 0.4% a year. Paying 1% instead is a drag on every year of a 35-year drawdown, and it is one of the few things on this list you can change this afternoon and never think about again.

## The assumptions behind £2,435 a month

Every figure here rests on a guess about growth and a guess about how long you live. Both are worth seeing rather than hiding.

*What £500,000 supports from 60, by growth scenario*

| Scenario | Growth before inflation | Monthly spending supported |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cautious | 3% | £2,042 a month |
| Balanced | 5% | £2,435 a month |
| Adventurous | 7% | £2,899 a month |

*All three assume 2.5% inflation and 0.4% fees, and all are in today's money.*

That is a range of £857 a month on the same £500,000, decided by something nobody controls. If the cautious row would still be liveable, the plan is robust. If only the adventurous row works, it is not a plan yet.

*What £500,000 supports from 60, by how long you plan for*

| Plan to age | Monthly spending supported |
| --- | --- |
| 85 | £2,822 a month |
| 90 | £2,595 a month |
| 95 | £2,435 a month |
| 100 | £2,316 a month |

*We use 95 as standard, because planning to average life expectancy leaves half of us with an unfunded decade.*

> **Everything here is in today's money**
>
> We subtract inflation from growth, so £2,435 a month means the lifestyle £2,435 buys right now, in every year of the plan. The nominal figure you would actually withdraw in 2050 is far larger, and buys exactly the same shopping.

## What this calculation leaves out

Four things could move the answer materially, and none of them are in the numbers above.

- **Tax.** Usually 25% of a pension - up to £125,000 on this pot - can be taken tax free, and the rest is taxed as income when you draw it. Treat £2,435 a month as after-tax spending, and add roughly 10 to 15% if most of it will come from taxable pension withdrawals rather than ISAs.
- **The order returns arrive in.** A steady £2,435 a month assumes steady growth. A bad first five years is far more damaging than the same five years at 80, because you sell units to live on while they are cheap. Holding one to two years of spending in cash is the usual defence.
- **Care costs.** Later-life care can consume a pot this size on its own, and none of these figures include it.
- **Access.** The normal minimum pension age is 55, rising to 57 on 6 April 2028. Retiring before then means the first years cannot come from a pension at all - they have to come from ISAs or other savings you can reach at any age.

None of that makes the exercise pointless. £500,000 is a good pot, and knowing it buys roughly £2,435 a month from 60 or £2,995 from 67 is enough to decide whether you are close, and what to change if you are not.

## How to check your own numbers

1. **Add up every pot you have** - Old workplace pensions, the current one, SIPPs and ISAs. Defined benefit pensions are different - treat their income as a second State Pension and subtract it from your spending rather than adding a pot.
2. **Get your State Pension forecast** - Free on [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension). It shows what you are actually on track to receive, which matters here: a shortfall of five qualifying years costs about £111 a month of spending from this pot.
3. **Set spending to your real budget, housing included** - Then run it in the [drawdown calculator](/pension-drawdown-calculator-uk) and look at the depletion age, not the monthly figure. If it lands before 90, the plan needs a change somewhere.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is £500,000 enough to retire on?

For most homeowners, yes. £500,000 supports about £2,435 a month in today's money from 60 to 95, or £2,995 a month from 67, alongside a full State Pension. That is a moderate lifestyle for one person with no rent or mortgage, and it is not enough for a comfortable one from 60.

### How long will £500,000 last in retirement?

Drawing from 60 with the State Pension from 67: it lasts to 92 at £2,500 a month, to 87 at £2,725 a month, and to 82 at £3,000 a month. Below about £2,039 a month it is never exhausted, because growth and the State Pension cover the withdrawals.

### How much income will £500,000 give me?

About £2,435 a month - £29,222 a year - if you stop at 60 and spend the pot down by 95, including the State Pension from 67. Stopping at 67 raises it to £2,995 a month. An annuity would pay differently, and guarantees the income for life instead.

### Is £500,000 enough to retire at 60?

Yes for a moderate lifestyle if you own your home: it supports £2,435 a month to 95, with 7 years funded by the pot alone before the State Pension starts. Add rent or a mortgage and it stops working - a moderate lifestyle plus £900 of housing would need about £858,056.

### Can I retire at 55 with £500,000?

It supports about £2,159 a month to 95, which is £836 a month less than the same pot at 67. You would also have 12 years before any State Pension, and the normal minimum pension age rises to 57 in April 2028, so retiring at 55 after that needs ISAs or other savings to bridge the first years.

### Is £500,000 enough for a couple to retire on?

It goes further for a couple, not less far: two full State Pensions are £25,095 a year of income no pot has to produce. A shared £500,000 supports about £3,209 a month from 60 or £4,041 from 67, against the PLSA's moderate couple figure of £3,750.

### What does the 4% rule say about £500,000?

It gives £20,000 a year, or £1,667 a month, rising with inflation. That is £768 a month less than our figure, because the 4% rule ignores the State Pension and is designed to leave the pot intact rather than spend it.

### How much tax will I pay on a £500,000 pension?

Usually 25% - up to £125,000 - can be taken tax free, and the rest is taxed as income at your normal rates, with the £12,570 personal allowance applying in 2026/27. Drawing steadily rather than in large lump sums usually keeps more of it in the basic-rate band.

### Is £500,000 enough if I still have a mortgage?

Usually not at 60. Housing is the largest cost the living standards leave out, and £900 a month of it is £900 a month straight off the £2,435 the pot supports. Clearing the mortgage before you stop is worth more than almost any change to how the pot is invested.

### Do these figures account for inflation?

Yes. Every figure is in today's money: we subtract inflation from growth, so £2,435 a month means the lifestyle £2,435 buys today, in every year of the plan. The amount you actually withdraw would rise each year to keep pace.

## Sources

- [The new State Pension: what you'll get](https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get) - GOV.UK
- [Check your State Pension forecast](https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension) - GOV.UK
- [Tax when you get a pension](https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-pension) - GOV.UK
- [Retirement Living Standards](https://www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/) - Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association

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This article is guidance, not financial advice. Every figure is produced by the same engine that powers our free calculators, stated in today's money on the assumptions named above, and checked against 2026/27 rates. Your own position will differ - if a decision this size is close, speak to a regulated financial adviser.