How Much Do I Need to Retire?

Take your annual spending, subtract the guaranteed income you will receive from Social Security and any pension, then divide the gap by your withdrawal rate. At a 4% rate, a $40,000 gap implies about $1,000,000. This is why two people with identical salaries can need very different amounts.

It remains a reasonable starting point, not a guarantee. It came from historical US market data and assumes a roughly 30-year retirement with a balanced portfolio. Many planners now use 3.5% to be conservative, or vary the rate by year. Try both here and see how much the answer moves.

Yes, and it changes the number more than anything else. Social Security is inflation-adjusted lifetime income, so every $1,000 a year it provides is roughly $25,000 less you need saved at a 4% rate.

At a 4% withdrawal rate, $1,000,000 supports about $40,000 a year from savings. Add the average Social Security benefit for a retired couple, $3,208 a month in 2026 (SSA, 2026 fact sheet), about $38,500 a year, and total income is about $78,500. Whether that is enough depends entirely on what you spend.

You have a gap to bridge before Social Security starts, so those years draw more heavily on savings. That early sequence matters more than the average return, which is why retiring early usually needs a larger cushion than this simple multiple suggests.

Not directly. Enter your spending as an after-tax figure, or add your expected tax bill to spending. Withdrawals from a traditional IRA or 401(k) are taxable as ordinary income.