How much money should I have saved for retirement?

Answer:

Unfortunately, there is no reliable rule of thumb when it comes to the amount of money that should be saved for retirement.

It all depends.

Every situation is unique, so this number is different for every person, and it depends on your individual circumstances.

The following are things to take into consideration:

🔷 How much do you need? What are your living expenses, or what do you want to be able to spend in retirement? In my experience, most expats want to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement, and many actually spend more in the early years of retirement than they do in their working years.

🔷 Where will you retire? The cost of living varies from place to place. You will need more to retire in Amsterdam than you would if you wanted to retire to Zakynthos.

🔷 What sources of income do you have? For example, if you have an entitlement to state pension or a final salary pension, you will need less in additional savings than someone without that ongoing income stream.

🔷 How much longer do you plan to work? The earlier you plan to retire, the larger the sum of money you will need to have saved.

🔷 Do you plan to work a part-time job in retirement? If you do, that will reduce the amount you need to have saved.

Hopefully, you can see that there are many factors that go into this calculation and that there is not one answer to fit everyone.

If you are looking to get insight into what your number is, I would recommend speaking to a financial planner who can discuss these items with you.