When can I retire and will I have enough money?

What are you doing tomorrow?

How about this time next week?

You probably have a pretty good idea. But what about five or ten years from now?

The further into the future we look, the harder it becomes to see things clearly. Questions like “When can I retire?” and “Will I have enough money?” are difficult to make sense of. And that uncertainty can feel uncomfortable, especially if retirement is getting closer.

The good news is that if you are already saving and thinking about these questions, you are in stronger position than you might think.  And with a bit of planning, it is possible to turn uncertainty into something much clearer.

Whether you are five, ten or even fifteen years from retirement, this blog will help you to:

• work out what enough money to retire looks like
• get a handle on what income you might receive in retirement
• picture your retirement window
• explore ways to make a difference to your retirement pot

When will you have enough money to retire?

If your answer to this question is ‘I don’t know’, you are not alone; there is a lot to get your head around. And this is where the anxiety can creep in. It may be a reason why 53% of the UK population¹ are worried they are not saving enough for their future. 

So, let’s come at this from a slightly different angle. Before thinking about a retirement date you can afford, it helps to answer a simpler question:

How much money will you actually need each year in retirement?

A good retirement usually means having enough money to:

• cover the essentials comfortably
• enjoy the things you have more time for
• Deal with unexpected costs without stress

To get a rough idea of how much money you will need each year to achieve this, it often helps to think about three different pots:

1. Core spending: housing costs, bills, food, insurance, day-to-day travel and any healthcare costs.
2. Lifestyle spending: holidays, hobbies, nights out, family support and bigger purchases.
3. Emergency spending: money set aside for unexpected costs such as repairs or replacing a car or boiler.

Now, you have a ballpark annual figure to answer the question, how much money do I need to retire. And there is other useful guidance out there to help you arrive at a rough figure:

• The 50-70% rule² is a common UK retirement planning guideline suggesting you need an annual income of 50-70% of your final gross salary to maintain your lifestyle in retirement.
• Based on extensive research, The Retirement Living Standards³ estimate how much someone might spend in retirement across three different living standards.

How much income will you receive in retirement?

So, you now have a rough idea of how much money you will need each year in retirement. The next step is to look at when you might achieve this level of income; you will then know when you can retire with enough money to live on. To begin with, keep things simple by thinking about relatively predictable sources of income in the future.

The State Pension

If you are looking to retire in the next 15 years, it’s likely you will start receiving your State Pension at 67. Based on today’s figures, this will be just under £12,000 per year if you qualify for the full amount.

Any final salary pensions

If you have any old or current final salary pensions, you will receive a guaranteed income from a set age, which is usually lower than the State Pension age. Check your latest pension statement to find out how much this should be.

The next step is to consider other potential sources of future income:

• Defined contribution pensions (private or workplace): where the size of your pot and therefore potential income depends on how much you have invested and how your investments have performed.
• Other savings: this could include general bank savings and ISAs.
• Work and other income: many people do part-time or ad hoc work well into their sixties and beyond, or you may have income from other sources such as property.
• One-off lump sums: this could include an inheritance or sale of an asset such as a property.

Working out what income these savings could produce in the future can quickly become complicated.

This is where professional advice can help. A financial adviser can look at your pensions, savings and plans for the future and show you the income they might produce throughout your retirement.

At Pension Sense, we have already helped over 16,000 people with their finances. And we currently manage over £500 million in pension savings for more than 10,000 clients.

Picturing your retirement window

Retirement is not always a single date.

Instead, many people have what we call a retirement window – a range of times when stopping work becomes realistic.

For example, let’s say you want to stop work completely four years before your State Pension age. But that means you won’t have enough money coming in each year to live the life you want. So, you have options.

You could adjust your plans in the four years leading up to your State Pension age. Maybe you could afford to compromise by stopping work two years prior. Or you could choose to work part time to top up your annual income.

Planning ahead for retirement helps you to visualise different potential scenarios, so you can start to get a feel for what is achievable and what you would like to do.  

Giving your retirement pot a boost

If you have identified a shortfall in the income you will need versus the income you will potentially receive, you have an opportunity to try to close the gap, especially when it comes to your pensions. Things you could do include:

• making sure you are getting the most out of your workplace pension
• looking to reduce administration costs
• aiming for better investment performance
• contributing more in a manageable way

You can find out more about ways to boost your pension here.

Taking control of your retirement

Retirement planning can feel like a jigsaw puzzle.

At first the pieces seem scattered, but once you put them on the table and start fitting them together, the picture becomes clearer.

And it’s not too late to improve that picture. Even if retirement is only a few years away, small changes can still make a meaningful difference.

If retirement still feels like a puzzle, we will help you to take control with a clear and flexible plan that is tailored to you.

¹Standard Life research, October 2025

²How much should I pay into my pension? – Unbiased

³The Retirement Living Standards are the property of and are provided by Pensions UK and Loughborough University