Pension Contribution Calculator: How Much to Pay In?
Work out how much to pay into your pension each month. See your projected pot, retirement income at 4% withdrawal, and the contribution needed to hit your target income.
8 min readUpdated April 2026
How much should you actually be paying into your pension? The answer depends on your age, current pot, target retirement age, and the income you want in retirement. The calculator below projects forwards from your inputs and also reverses the maths to tell you exactly what monthly contribution you need to hit a target.
A common rule of thumb: contribute half your age as a percentage of salary (e.g. 12.5% if you're 25, 20% if you're 40). The calculator gives a more precise answer for your situation.
Pension Contribution Calculator
How much should you pay into your pension each month?
Your details
1870
5575
£0£1m
£0£3,000
0%8%
£10k£100k
Your projection
Projected pot at retirement
£0
in today's money
Income at 4% rule + State Pension
£0
per year
Real return is after inflation. Adds full new State Pension £11,973/yr at 4% safe withdrawal rate.
How much is enough?
The PLSA Retirement Living Standards (2026) suggest:
Minimum: £14,400/year single (covers essentials, basic UK holidays)
Moderate: £31,300/year single (European holidays, car, more flexibility)
Comfortable: £43,100/year single (regular holidays, new car, home improvements)
To hit a moderate retirement of £31,300/year using the 4% rule, you need a pot of roughly £490,000 on top of full State Pension (£11,973). That's a target pot of around £485,000.
Magic of compounding: Starting at 25 with £200/month at 5% real return gives a pot of around £305,000 by 67. Starting at 40 needs £515/month for the same result — over 2.5x as much.
Frequently Asked Questions
A common rule is half your age as a percentage of salary (12.5% at 25, 20% at 40). Auto-enrolment minimums (8% combined) are usually too low for a comfortable retirement.
5% (with a 3% employer match) is the auto-enrolment minimum but typically too low. Most experts recommend 12-15% combined for a comfortable retirement.
Rough rule: 1.5-2x your annual salary by 40. So a £40,000 salary should have around £60,000-80,000 in pension by age 40 to be on track.
By 50, aim for 4-6x salary in pension. This is when contributions usually need to step up if you're behind track.
Pension contributions get tax relief and employer match, often beating mortgage payoff returns. But peace of mind matters — advice here is highly individual.
You can contribute up to 100% of your UK relevant earnings (or £3,600 gross if you have no earnings), capped at your annual allowance (£60,000 standard).
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