Single or couple, both are shown. Pick your situation.
The short answer
£1m is treated as your total net worth, including any property you own.
Your pot covers the UK-average annual living cost of £32,700 after a pension-age retirement at 67 (State Pension of £12,548/year included). That works out to roughly £40,000/year before State Pension kicks in. Enough for an average lifestyle, and you could retire in 360 of the 360 places we track.
See what to do with the surplus →Annual income from pot
£40,000
4% withdrawal before 67
+ State Pension
£12,548/year
from age 67
Combined from 67
£52,548/year
pot + State Pension
The short answer
£1m is treated as your total net worth, including any property you own.
Your pot covers the UK-average annual living cost of £45,400 after a pension-age retirement at 67 (State Pension of £25,096/year included). That works out to roughly £40,000/year before State Pension kicks in. Enough for an average lifestyle, and you could retire in 360 of the 360 places we track.
See what to do with the surplus →Annual income from pot
£40,000
4% withdrawal before 67
+ State Pension
£25,096/year
from age 67
Combined from 67
£65,096/year
pot + State Pension
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.
State Pension is already in payment at this age.
The verdict
Likely yes
£1m at 70 as a single covers 360 of 360 UK places we track. That is above what an average UK cost of living needs.
That is £40,000 a year drawn from the pot, rising to £52,548 once the State Pension starts at 70.
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 70 means 0 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 70.
Cheapest place
£373,825
County Durham · your pot covers this
UK-average lifestyle
£503,800
£32,700/year living costs · your pot covers this
Three pages give this verdict its full context: the pension size you are aiming for, the benchmark by your age, and what to do when the number on the page above is not the number in your head.
The calculator
How much pension do I need
Start from desired retirement income and work back to the pot size. The reverse direction from this page.
The benchmark
UK pension statistics by age
The median UK pension pot at 30, 40 and 50, with the explanation most people miss in their statement.
If the number is the problem
Financial anxiety
For the moment the number is the cause of the worry, not the answer to it. The feelings and the fix.
The verdict above assumes your pot stays at £1m. Drag the sliders to see what changes. Same calculation, no account.
At zero, this is the same as the verdict above.
Same age as the verdict above.
The verdict if you did this
Likely yes
That covers a UK-average lifestyle. Your pot of £1m clears the £503,800 target with room to spare.
At age 70, the pot draws down £40,000/year before State Pension starts at 70.
Want to see it with your real numbers?
The slider uses a flat 5% growth assumption. Connect your actual pensions and ISAs and Delphina models the real trajectory.
See it with my actual contributionsFree. No card required.
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