Retirement Planning Calculator

United Kingdom rules and figures

• The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week, or £12,547.60 over 52 weeks. It needs 35 qualifying years of National Insurance.
• State Pension age is 66, rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028, and it is legislated to rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046.
• The government said it does not plan to change the later rise to 68.
• Automatic enrolment minimums are 5% from the employee and 3% from the employer, 8% in total, on qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year.
• Those figures are legal minimums, and a scheme can pay more than that.

Sources: GOV.UK: The new State Pension, what you will get (checked 2026-11-08); GOV.UK: Workplace pensions, what you, your employer and the government pay (checked 2026-11-08); GOV.UK: State Pension age review 2023 (checked 2026-11-08)

How the retirement planning calculator works

Your savings and monthly deposits grow at the return you enter, compounded monthly, up to your retirement age. The income you want is raised with inflation for the same years. The State Pension, also raised with inflation, is subtracted, and what remains is divided by 0.04 to give the pot required.

pot required = (wanted income × (1 + inflation)^years − State Pension × (1 + inflation)^years) ÷ 0.04, compared with the projected pot

• Retirement age starts at 66, the State Pension age used here, and the pension box starts at £12,547.60 a year.
• The State Pension counts only if your retirement age is at or after its start age; retire earlier and it is left out.
• Enter a yearly salary to add workplace pension contributions. The boxes start at 5% from you and 3% from your employer.
• The percentages are applied to the whole salary, whereas the legal minimums are worked out on part of it, so adjust them if your scheme differs.
• Everything is expressed in future pounds, so compare the monthly income shown with the inflated target rather than today's prices.

How to use the retirement planning calculator

1. Enter your ages. Enter your age today and the age you expect to stop work. The second box opens at 66, the State Pension age used here.
2. Add savings and deposits. Enter what you hold in pensions now, including workplace and personal schemes, and what you add each month.
3. Add your workplace pension. Optionally enter a salary and check the employee and employer percentages.
4. Set return, inflation and income. Pick the growth and inflation rates you expect, then name the yearly income you are aiming for at current prices.
5. Read the gap. Compare your projected pot with the pot required, and open the Analysis tab for the extra monthly saving.

Example: Age 30 to 66 with a £35,000 salary, £15,000 saved and £200 a month at 6%

The 5% and 3% workplace rates add £233.33 a month to the £200, so £433.33 a month goes in for 36 years. Savings grow to £129,369 and deposits to £660,798, a pot of £790,167. A £30,000 goal with 2.5% inflation becomes £72,976, of which the State Pension covers £30,522, leaving a required pot of £1,061,339 and a shortfall of £271,172, or about £178 more a month. Without the State Pension, the required pot would be £1,824,401.

When something else is a better fit

• When you only want to watch a pot grow, use the Investment Return Calculator.
• When you want to see how pay and pension deductions combine, use the Payroll Calculator.
• When you need your own State Pension forecast, use the forecast on GOV.UK.

Questions about the retirement planning calculator