# How much is enough
Author: Anita Desai
Author URL: https://demoatlas.superblog.click/author/anita-desai/
Published: 2026-07-18
Category: Retirement
Category URL: https://demoatlas.superblog.click/category/retirement/
Meta Title: How much is enough · Atlas
Meta Description: A retirement number is not a target. It is a spending rate, and the spending rate is easier to think about.
Tags: retirement, pensions, planning
Tag URLs: retirement (https://demoatlas.superblog.click/tag/retirement/), pensions (https://demoatlas.superblog.click/tag/pensions/), planning (https://demoatlas.superblog.click/tag/planning/)
URL: https://demoatlas.superblog.click/how-much-is-enough/

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"How much do I need to retire" is the wrong question, because the answer is a large number with no meaning. The right question is how much you will spend, and how long the pot has to last.

## Start from spending

Not your salary. What you actually spend in a year, minus the costs that stop at retirement: the commute, the pension contributions, the mortgage if it is paid off. For most people that is between half and two thirds of their working income.

## The rule of twenty-five

A pot twenty-five times your annual spending, invested in a mix of shares and bonds, has historically lasted thirty years while paying out four percent of its starting value each year, adjusted for inflation. It is a rule of thumb rather than a law, and it comes from one country's history, but it is a good place to stand.

## A worked example

Spending of 24,000 a year, of which 9,000 is covered by a state pension. The pot has to supply 15,000. Twenty-five times that is 375,000. That is the number, and it is a good deal smaller than the one in the advertisements.

## What moves it

- Retiring earlier lengthens the period, so the rate should fall to three or three and a half percent.
- A defined-benefit pension reduces the pot needed, pound for pound of income.
- Downsizing releases capital, and is the subject of a later post.


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