Single or couple, both are shown. Pick your situation.
The short answer
£900k at 43 sits roughly £133,849 short of the cheapest place we track (County Durham), and about £388,600 short of a UK-average lifestyle. The gap comes from bridging the 24 years before State Pension at 67 plus the years after.
Annual income from pot
£36,000
4% withdrawal before 67
+ State Pension
£12,548/year
from age 67
Combined from 67
£48,548/year
pot + State Pension, after 24 bridge years
To retire at 43 you need about £1,033,849 for the cheapest place (County Durham) and £1,288,600 for a UK-average lifestyle. You are about £133,849 short of the cheapest option. That is the number to focus on.
We use UK-average living costs (£32,700/year for a single person). Your rent or mortgage, kids, debts, existing pensions, and the lifestyle you actually want aren't in this calculation. The only way to know your real gap is to model it.
Build my retirement plan →The short answer
£900k at 43 sits roughly £343,509 short of the cheapest place we track (County Durham), and about £697,200 short of a UK-average lifestyle. The gap comes from bridging the 24 years before State Pension at 67 plus the years after.
Annual income from pot
£36,000
4% withdrawal before 67
+ State Pension
£25,096/year
from age 67
Combined from 67
£61,096/year
pot + State Pension, after 24 bridge years
To retire at 43 you need about £1,243,509 for the cheapest place (County Durham) and £1,597,200 for a UK-average lifestyle. You are about £343,509 short of the cheapest option. That is the number to focus on.
We use UK-average living costs (£32,700/year for a single person). Your rent or mortgage, kids, debts, existing pensions, and the lifestyle you actually want aren't in this calculation. The only way to know your real gap is to model it.
Build my retirement plan →Change the pot and the age to yours. The verdict updates as you go. No account, nothing to fill in.
Pensions, ISAs and investments combined.
24 years to bridge before the State Pension starts.
The verdict
Not yet
£900k at 43 as a single covers 0 of 360 UK places we track. The cheapest place we track needs £133,849 more than you have.
That is £36,000 a year drawn from the pot, rising to £48,548 once the State Pension starts at 67.
This assumes you stop paying in today.
Most people reading this are still contributing, with years left to run. Those contributions are missing from the number above, and they are usually what decides whether the date works.
See it with my contributions inFree. No card required.
1 · Bridge the years
Until State Pension at 67, your pot pays for everything. Retiring at 43 means 24 full years of living costs before the pension starts.
2 · Then the pension
From 67 the State Pension (£12,548/year) covers part of living costs, and the remaining gap comes from the pot at a 4% withdrawal rate.
3 · Compare places
We repeat this for all 360 places using each area's annual living costs, then rank them cheapest to priciest. The verdict follows how far your pot goes.
Compare the cheapest and the UK-average retirement targets for a single person at 43.
Cheapest place
£1,033,849
County Durham · your pot falls short by £133,849
UK-average lifestyle
£1,288,600
£32,700/year living costs · your pot falls short by £388,600
We estimate the pot you need as the cost of bridging the years until State Pension age (67), plus the years after, when State Pension income covers part of your living costs. A 4% annual withdrawal rate is assumed from your pot. All figures are pre-tax and exclude housing costs you still owe.
Three outcomes: "yes" means your pot covers a UK-average lifestyle (about £38,000/year for a single person) and most places we track; "it depends" means your pot covers some places but not the UK average; "not yet" means your pot is short of even the cheapest place we track. Figures are deliberately conservative.
Yes. The calculation includes the full new State Pension (about £12,548/year for a single person) from age 67. Between your retirement age and 67, your pot is drawn down on its own, which is why retiring earlier needs a larger pot.
Use the couple toggle. A couple receives up to two State Pensions and we assume living costs of about 1.35x a single person (shared housing and bills). This is an illustrative assumption, so treat the couple figures as a guide rather than exact.
Every age and pot combination has its own page. See how the verdict changes nearby.
Adjusted for state pension, ISA bridging, and 25% pension tax-free lump sum. Not a US spreadsheet.
Calculate my FI number