A Practical Retirement Planning Guide
How much you need, what withdrawal rate is safe, and the three levers that actually move the outcome.
2026-06-28 · 8 min read
Start from spending, not salary
Retirement need is a function of what you spend, not what you earn. Estimate annual spending in retirement, then multiply by 25 as a first approximation of the pot required.
The three levers
Contribution rate, investment return and years invested. You control the first and the third almost completely, and the second barely at all — which is where most attention wrongly goes.
Capture the free money first
An employer match is an immediate, guaranteed return. Contributing below the match threshold is the single most expensive mistake in workplace pensions.