Project your pension pot to the day you stop working — including what your employer puts in and the State Pension on top. Shows the figure in today’s money, because a number forty years away in future pounds tells you very little.
| Retire at | Years | Pot | Today’s money |
|---|
Paying in £3,200 a year for 27 years, your pot is projected to reach £361,614 — about £185,653 in today’s money, with the State Pension of £12,548 a year on top.
Show your working
Breakdown
- Your contributions
- £2,000 a year
- Employer contributions
- £1,200 a year
- Contributions are on full salary
- £40,000
- Paid in over 27 years
- £136,400
- Growth earned
- £225,214
- 25% tax-free lump sum
- £90,404
Assumptions
- Contributions are a percentage of your full salary.
- Growth is a level 5% a year. Real returns vary and can be negative; a single average rate is a simplification.
- Contributions are held level in cash terms — no salary growth is assumed.
- Scheme and fund charges are not deducted, and they come out of growth.
- The State Pension figure is the full new rate of £241.30 a week, which needs 35 qualifying National Insurance years.
- A projection, not advice. Income tax in retirement is not modelled.
Pension facts
- How much is the State Pension?
- The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week — about £12,548 a year. You need 35 qualifying National Insurance years for the full rate.
- What is the minimum my employer must pay?
- 3% of your qualifying earnings, with 8% going in altogether once your share and tax relief are counted.
- What are qualifying earnings?
- The band between £6,240 and £50,270 a year. On a £40,000 salary the minimum is 8% of £33,760, not of the full £40,000.
- When can I take my pension?
- State Pension age is 66, rising to 67 between May 2026 and April 2028. A private pension can usually be taken from 55, rising to 57 in 2028.
How the projection works
Two things grow at once. The pot you already have compounds on its own, and every year’s contributions join it and compound for however many years are left. Written out, the pot at retirement is your starting pot multiplied by (1 + growth) for each year, plus the contributions compounded the same way.
The figure that matters, though, is the one in today’s money. A pot of several hundred thousand pounds in thirty years’ time does not buy what several hundred thousand buys now, so the projection is deflated by your inflation assumption to show what it would be worth if you had it today.
The qualifying earnings trap
Automatic enrolment minimums are not a percentage of your salary. They are a percentage of your qualifying earnings — the slice between £6,240 and £50,270 a year.
On a £40,000 salary that is a real difference. Eight per cent of the band is £2,700.80 a year; eight per cent of the full salary is £3,200. Around £499 a year, which over a working life is tens of thousands of pounds of difference in the pot. This calculator asks which basis your scheme uses rather than assuming, because most do not say plainly and the two answers are not close.
What this does not include
Tax in retirement
Pension income above your personal allowance is taxed as income. The pot shown here is before any of that.
Salary growth
Contributions are held level in cash terms. A rising salary would mean rising contributions and a bigger pot.
Charges
Scheme and fund charges come out of growth. A 5% return with a 0.75% charge behaves like 4.25%.
Other pensions
Old workplace pots from previous jobs are not counted unless you add them to the starting figure.
Worked example
Age 40, retiring at 67, with £50,000 saved and a £40,000 salary. You pay 5% and your employer 3%, on full salary, so £3,200 goes in each year. At 5% growth over 27 years the pot reaches £361,614 — £185,653 in today’s money at 2.5% inflation. Of that, £90,404 could be taken tax free. On the qualifying earnings basis instead, the same percentages give £334,323 — £27,291 less.
Important notes
This is a projection, not advice or a promise. Investment returns vary and can be negative; a single average rate is a simplification of something that is never smooth. Figures assume the full new State Pension, which requires 35 qualifying National Insurance years — check your own record on GOV.UK. For decisions about your retirement, speak to a regulated adviser or the government’s free Pension Wise service.
Evidence & Methodology
How This Page Is Grounded
Method
Compounds the existing pot and each year’s contributions at a level growth rate to the chosen retirement age, then deflates the result by the inflation assumption to show it in today’s money. Contributions are a percentage of full salary or of qualifying earnings, and the full new State Pension is added as separate annual income.
Important limitation: A projection, not advice. Growth is a level rate where real returns vary and can be negative; contributions are held level in cash terms with no salary growth; scheme charges are not deducted; and income tax in retirement is not modelled. The State Pension figure assumes 35 qualifying National Insurance years.
Primary Sources
Quality Checks
Compound growth with contributions, the qualifying earnings band, the 25% tax-free share and the today’s-money deflation are checked against worked examples derived from the published rates.
See how sources are selected and corrections are handled in our Editorial & Calculation Methodology, and which automated checks this page has to pass in How We Test.