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Retirement age calculator
Four inputs. One honest number, in today’s money, with your State Pension counted properly. It updates as you move the sliders.
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Updated for the 2026/27 tax year
How does this retirement age calculator work?
It finds the earliest age at which your savings, contributions and State Pension can fund your monthly spending all the way to age 95 - with every figure in today’s money.
Step 1
Grow the pot
Your current savings and monthly contributions compound under your chosen scenario, after fees and inflation, up to each candidate retirement age.
Step 2
Simulate retirement monthly
Your pot pays your full spending during the bridge years before your State Pension starts, then just tops it up afterwards.
Step 3
Find the earliest safe age
The age shown is the earliest one where your pot lasts to 95 without running dry.
Everything is in today’s money, so £2,200 a month means what £2,200 buys today, whether you are 34 or 84. That is deliberate: nominal projections produce huge, flattering numbers that quietly mean much less by the time you get there.
The whole calculation runs in your browser - nothing you type reaches our servers. It is the same engine that will power the MyRetireAge app, and the worked examples below are locked to it by automated tests, so the numbers you read here and the numbers the tool produces can never drift apart.
What does it assume, and why?
Deliberately cautious defaults, every one of them editable under “Adjust assumptions”. On Balanced, 5% growth less 2.5% inflation and 0.4% fees leaves a real return of about 2% a year - the return in purchasing power, not the number on your statement.
Growth scenarios
3 / 5 / 7%
Cautious, Balanced and Adventurous, before charges. Balanced is a reasonable long-run expectation for a diversified pension portfolio; Adventurous resembles an equity-heavy one. Flick between them - the movement is the honest picture.
Inflation
2.5% a year
Slightly above the Bank of England’s 2% target, reflecting that the UK has historically spent more time above target than below it.
Fees
0.4% a year
Roughly a low-cost index fund plus platform. Many older workplace pensions charge 0.75% or more - set your real figure and watch what those tenths cost.
State Pension
£12,547.60/yr
The full new State Pension - £241.30 a week in 2026/27 - from the age the government timetable sets for your date of birth: 66 rising to 67 for most people retiring soon, 68 if you were born after 5 April 1978.
Plan horizon
Age 95
Deliberately beyond average life expectancy, because an average is precisely the age half of us outlive. The State Pension continues for life regardless.
Spending target
£2,200/mo
Sits between the PLSA Retirement Living Standards for a single person: minimum £1,160 a month, moderate £2,725, comfortable £3,780 in the 2026 standards. Couples need less than double.
Both the State Pension amount and age are editable, and your personal forecast is free at gov.uk/check-state-pension.
What are the bridge years to State Pension age?
The bridge years are the years between the day you retire and the day your State Pension starts - years in which every pound you spend comes from your own pot.
Retire at 59 with a State Pension age of 68 and you have a nine-year bridge. Once the State Pension arrives it covers £1,046 a month of the load, and your withdrawals fall by that amount for the rest of your life.
The bridge is why early retirement is so much more expensive than it looks, and why most calculators that ignore it quietly mislead. One extra year of early retirement does not cost one year of spending - it costs a year of spending plus a year of missed contributions plus a year of missed growth, all at the most expensive end of the plan. It is also why the reverse is such good news: each year you keep working typically moves the answer by more than a year of saving alone would suggest.
Worked examples: when could you retire?
Three savers, run through the same engine as the calculator above - every figure locked to it by automated tests.
Sam, 34 - £85k saved, £850/mo
59 on Balanced
Sam saves across a workplace pension and an ISA and wants £2,200 a month in retirement. The pot reaches £472,191 in today’s money at 59 - enough to fund the nine-year bridge to a State Pension age of 68, then last to 95. Cautious says 67; Adventurous says 52. That spread is the honest uncertainty of a 25-year projection.
Priya, 45 - £160k saved, £1,200/mo
62 on Balanced
Priya wants a more comfortable £2,500 a month. Balanced says 62 with a pot of £517,302 and a six-year bridge to her State Pension at 68. She needs a bigger pot than Sam for a later retirement - her extra £300 a month of spending costs more than her extra savings earn.
Marcus, 55 - £310k saved, £1,500/mo
59 on Balanced
Marcus plans a modest £2,000 a month. Balanced puts retirement at 59 with £410,991 - an eight-year bridge to his State Pension at 67. On Cautious it moves to 62. At his horizon the scenarios sit closer together: less time for compounding means less spread, for better and worse.
How can you retire earlier?
Four levers move the number, in roughly this order of power.
- Spend less in retirementEvery £100 a month you trim from the target removes years of bridge funding at a stroke.
- Save more nowEspecially anything with an employer match - an instant, guaranteed return no market offers. Our disposable income calculator shows how much room your salary really has.
- Cut feesMoving a fund from 1% to 0.4% costs nothing in lifestyle and compounds for decades.
- Check your State Pension recordGaps in your National Insurance record can often be filled cheaply, and each missing year costs you roughly £358 a year for life.
Common questions
Does this include my State Pension?
Yes. We assume the full new State Pension (£241.30 a week, £12,547.60 a year in 2026/27) from your State Pension age, which we work out from your age using the government timetable. If your National Insurance record is short, set your own figure under “Adjust assumptions” - your exact forecast is free on gov.uk.
What is the bridge to State Pension age?
The years between the day you retire and the day your State Pension starts. During the bridge your pot carries your full spending on its own, which is why retiring even one year earlier can need a surprisingly bigger pot. We show the bridge explicitly in the chart and the results.
Can I actually take my pension at the age shown?
Not always from a pension. The normal minimum pension age is 55 today and rises to 57 on 6 April 2028, and the State Pension comes later still. If the calculator shows an age below your pension access age, the early years would need to come from ISAs or other savings you can reach at any age. The maths of when you can afford to stop working is the same either way.
How much do I need to retire at 60 in the UK?
It depends almost entirely on your monthly spending and how many years sit between 60 and your State Pension age. As a worked example: spending £2,200 a month in today’s money with a State Pension age of 68 means funding an 8-year bridge alone, which our default assumptions price at roughly £440,000. Move the sliders to your own numbers - the answer changes quickly with spending, and our guide to retiring at 60 walks through the full case.
What growth rate should I assume?
Nobody knows the future, so we give you three: Cautious at 3%, Balanced at 5% and Adventurous at 7% a year before inflation and fees. Balanced is a reasonable long-run expectation for a diversified pension portfolio; Adventurous looks more like an equity-heavy portfolio; Cautious suits low-risk investors or shorter horizons. You can set any rate you like under “Adjust assumptions”.
Why is everything in today's money?
Because £500,000 in thirty years won’t buy what it buys today. We subtract inflation from growth so every number on this page means what it would mean right now: £2,200 a month is today’s £2,200 lifestyle, at any age. It’s the only honest way to compare a retirement decades away with the life you know.
Does it account for tax on my pension income?
Not yet. Treat your monthly spending as the amount you need after tax, and remember that pension withdrawals above the 25% tax-free portion are taxable income. If much of your spending will come from a pension rather than ISAs, add a margin - roughly 10-15% for spending around the personal allowance and basic rate band.
What happens after age 95?
We require your pot to last to 95, comfortably beyond average life expectancy, with your State Pension continuing for life on top. Planning to an average instead would give half of us an unfunded decade. If your pot still holds money at 95, the age shown is conservative rather than optimistic.
Does this calculator work for couples?
Yes - run it with your combined savings, combined monthly contributions and your household spending target. Couples typically need well under double a single person's budget, because shared homes are efficient. We assume one State Pension, so a household where both partners have full records will find the answer conservative.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent to our servers. If you choose to email yourself the results, we send your email address and the link to your scenario - that’s the only data that leaves the page, and only when you ask.
Keep reading
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