Is $1 million enough to retire?

By the 25x rule, $1M supports roughly $40,000/year from your portfolio before other income. Whether that's enough depends entirely on your spending, other income (pension/CPP/Social Security), and horizon — test your own plan.

What is the 25x rule?

Save about 25 times the annual amount you'll need to withdraw from your portfolio. It's the inverse of the 4% rule and a useful starting estimate, not a guarantee.

How much should I save for retirement?

Start from your expected annual spending, subtract guaranteed income, and multiply the rest by ~25 — then refine with a simulation that accounts for your horizon, contributions, and market risk.

How Much Do I Need to Retire? A Simple Way to Find Your Number

6 min read · Updated 2026-06-15

“How much do I need to retire?” has no single answer — but there's a simple starting estimate, and a clear way to refine it for your own life.

The quick version: estimate your annual spending in retirement, subtract any guaranteed income, and multiply what's left by about 25. Here's why that works, where it falls short, and how to test your real number.

Find your retirement number →

The 25x rule of thumb

The 25x rule is the mirror image of the 4% rule: if you can safely withdraw about 4% of a portfolio per year, then you need roughly 25 times your annual withdrawal saved. Need $40,000/year from your portfolio? That's about $1,000,000. Need $60,000? About $1,500,000.

It's a back-of-the-envelope figure, not a promise — but it's a genuinely useful anchor to start from.

Your spending drives the number, not your income

What you earn today is almost irrelevant; what matters is what you'll spend in retirement. Two people earning the same salary can have wildly different numbers depending on their lifestyle, housing, and habits. Start by estimating annual retirement spending, not by copying a generic target.

What changes your number

Several things shift the 25x estimate up or down:

•Guaranteed income — pensions, CPP/OAS (Canada) or Social Security (US) reduce how much your portfolio needs to cover, often substantially.
•Time horizon — retiring early means a longer drawdown and a bigger number (or a lower withdrawal rate).
•Inflation — your number must grow with the cost of living over decades.
•Healthcare and one-off costs — easy to underestimate, especially later in life.

Why one number isn't enough

A single target hides the risk in getting there. Two portfolios that both “hit the number” on average can have very different odds of lasting, because the order of returns matters (sequence risk). That's why it's worth simulating the range of outcomes, not just checking a multiplier.

Find your real number

Use a goals planner to enter your target, current savings, and monthly contributions and see whether you're on track — then run a Monte Carlo to see how likely your plan is to succeed across thousands of market scenarios, not just one average.

Try it yourself

Financial Goals PlannerSee if your savings and contributions are on track.Open tool →Retirement Withdrawal LabTest how long your money lasts in retirement.Open tool →Monte Carlo SimulationSee the odds your plan succeeds across many scenarios.Open tool →

FAQ

Is $1 million enough to retire?: By the 25x rule, $1M supports roughly $40,000/year from your portfolio before other income. Whether that's enough depends entirely on your spending, other income (pension/CPP/Social Security), and horizon — test your own plan.
What is the 25x rule?: Save about 25 times the annual amount you'll need to withdraw from your portfolio. It's the inverse of the 4% rule and a useful starting estimate, not a guarantee.
How much should I save for retirement?: Start from your expected annual spending, subtract guaranteed income, and multiply the rest by ~25 — then refine with a simulation that accounts for your horizon, contributions, and market risk.

Key terms in this guide

Plain-English definitions in the Learning Hub.

Safe withdrawal rate →Monte Carlo simulation →Probability of success →Sequence-of-returns risk →

Stop guessing — run the numbers on your own portfolio, free.