What this calculator does
Our retirement savings calculator explains how to work out whether you're on track for the retirement you want, using the same building blocks that professional retirement calculators use: your current pension pot, how much you're paying in, expected investment growth, and how many years you have left until retirement. It walks through the maths with a real example so you can see exactly how each number pulls the outcome up or down.
A simple compound-growth estimate of what a pension pot could grow to by retirement.
Illustrative only. Real investment returns vary year to year and are never guaranteed, and this doesn't account for charges, inflation, or contribution changes over time. It is not a substitute for a personalised projection from your pension provider.
There's no single magic number that suits everyone, because what counts as "enough" depends entirely on the lifestyle you want and what other income you'll have, such as the State Pension. That said, industry rules of thumb are a useful starting point. The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association publishes Retirement Living Standards that suggest, very roughly, a single person needs around £13,000 a year for a minimum standard of living, £24,000 for moderate, and £43,000 for comfortable (figures are reviewed periodically and vary by region). Your job with this calculator is to work backwards from a target income like that to a target pot size, and then check whether your current savings rate gets you there.
A common guideline is that you'll need a pension pot of roughly 20-25 times your desired annual income on top of the State Pension, if you plan to draw it down over a typical retirement — though this varies with how you take your income, investment returns, and how long your money needs to last.
Our calculator uses standard compound growth maths, which is also what most workplace pension providers use in their own projections:
Start with your current pot value, and add your ongoing contributions (including tax relief and any employer contributions).
Apply an assumed annual growth rate, net of charges, compounded each year until your target retirement date.
Adjust for inflation if you want to see the result in "today's money" rather than future pounds, since a bigger future number can be misleading if prices have risen a lot by the time you retire.
Compare the projected pot to your target pot size, based on your desired retirement income.
Growth rate assumptions matter enormously and are inherently uncertain — a typical planning assumption might be 4-5% a year net of charges for a balanced portfolio, but real returns vary year to year and nobody can guarantee future performance.
Priya is 40, has a pension pot worth £45,000, and pays in £300 a month (£3,600 a year) including her employer's contribution and tax relief. She plans to retire at 67, giving her 27 years to grow her pot, and we'll assume 5% annual growth net of charges.
Using compound growth on the existing £45,000 plus 27 years of £3,600 contributions at 5% a year, Priya's pot could grow to somewhere around £370,000 by retirement (this is a simplified illustration; actual providers' projections also account for charges, contribution increases, and different growth phases). If her target, based on a comfortable retirement income alongside her State Pension, is around £300,000-£350,000, she looks broadly on track — though she may still want a buffer for unplanned costs like care.
If your projected pot comfortably clears your target, that's reassuring, but it's still worth stress-testing against a lower growth assumption to see how sensitive the outcome is. If your projection falls short, you have several realistic levers: increasing your monthly contribution (even a modest rise compounds significantly over a decade or more), delaying retirement by a year or two, checking whether your employer would match a higher contribution, or reviewing whether your pension is invested appropriately for your time horizon. Small changes made early tend to have a far bigger effect than large changes made late, purely because of how compounding works over time.
Using an unrealistically high growth rate, which makes a shortfall look like a surplus on paper.
Forgetting to include the State Pension as part of overall retirement income when setting a savings target.
Not accounting for charges, which quietly erode returns over decades if left unchecked.
Ignoring inflation, so a projected pot looks bigger in future pounds than it will actually be worth in spending power.
Leaving old workplace pensions untracked or forgotten, understating your true total savings.
Not revisiting the plan every few years as contributions, salary, and life circumstances change.
A common guideline is to save around 12-15% of your salary a year, including employer contributions, though the right figure depends on when you started, your target income, and how many years you have left to save.
Many advisers use a cautious 4-5% a year net of charges for balanced growth portfolios, but it's sensible to check the outcome under both a lower and a higher assumption rather than relying on a single figure.
No, this calculator focuses on your private and workplace pension savings. You should add your expected State Pension separately when working out your total retirement income.
Add up the current value of every pot you hold — including old workplace schemes you may have forgotten about — before running the calculation, so your starting figure is accurate.
Yes, increasing contributions, working a little longer, or adjusting your investment strategy can all help close a gap, and even modest increases can make a meaningful difference given enough years to compound.
Want a fuller framework for deciding how much to save? Read our guide: How much should you save for retirement?
Please remember: these figures are illustrative projections for general guidance only, not personalised financial advice. For an individual assessment, speak to a regulated financial adviser or use the guidance available from MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk) or GOV.UK.
Any projection is only as good as its assumptions, so it's worth deliberately testing what happens if growth disappoints. Let's revisit Priya from our worked example, but this time assume a more cautious 3% annual growth rate instead of 5%, reflecting a run of weaker market years or a more conservative investment mix.
Under the more cautious 3% assumption, the same starting pot of £45,000 and the same £3,600 annual contribution over 27 years grows to roughly £250,000-£260,000 rather than £370,000 — a meaningful gap of well over £100,000. This doesn't mean the higher estimate was wrong or dishonest; it simply illustrates how sensitive long-term projections are to the growth rate used, especially over a 27-year horizon where small percentage differences compound into large pound differences.
This is exactly why it's worth asking any projection you're given — whether from a workplace pension provider, a comparison tool, or your own planning — what growth rate it assumes, and checking the answer under at least two scenarios: a central case and a more cautious one. If your retirement plan only works under an optimistic growth assumption, it's worth building in some flexibility, whether that's an ability to work a little longer, increase contributions if early results run behind plan, or adjust your spending expectations in retirement.
It's also worth remembering that growth rates aren't steady in the real world — markets rise and fall unevenly, and a run of poor returns shortly before you retire can matter more than the same poor returns spread evenly across your working life, because there's less time left to recover. This is sometimes called "sequencing risk", and it's one of the reasons many people gradually shift towards lower-risk investments as they approach retirement.
It's sensible to review your pension at least once a year, alongside any big life changes such as a new job, a pay rise, or a change in your retirement date, since these can all significantly shift whether you're on track.
Matched contributions are effectively free money, so increasing your own contribution up to the maximum your employer will match is usually one of the most efficient ways to boost your retirement savings.