How much money do you need to have saved for your pension now

When starting out in working life, retirement is still an abstract and distant prospect. Nevertheless, it is important to have a clear overview of your own finances. But how much should you have saved and at what age? We have taken a close look!

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What do I need in old age?

Before we can clarify how much savings we should have at what age, we first need to define how much we will actually need at retirement age. Of course, this figure depends on your own personality and the standard of living you have become accustomed to.

In general, however, pensioners often benefit from reduced expenses. By this time, the children have usually already left home and no longer need financial support. And the house in question is often owned by the pensioner, so no rent is due.

Around 30 per cent can therefore be safely deducted from the pre-retirement living costs. Due to newly added expenses, such as co-payments and special costs for health insurance, this deduction is unfortunately not usually higher.

And how much do I get from the state?

The statutory pension is also a decisive factor in calculating the necessary savings. As most readers are statistically between 25 and 35 years old, we naturally have to look to the future accordingly.

According to a study by Prognos AG, not only will the pension contributions to be paid continue to rise in the coming years, but the amount of the state pension, measured against the average gross salary in the country, will also fall: from 48 per cent at present to just 42 per cent in 2050.

This means a shortfall of around 58% of our income if we have not made private provisions when we retire. As we can only deduct 30 per cent of our expenses with a clear conscience, we are left with a deficit of 28 per cent per month. And this is where our savings come into play.

Let’s take a look at some examples of this and what you need to do to start your retirement with peace of mind:

Example 1: 40 years old, €1,900 net, no private pension provision yet

In our first example, we look at a man aged 40 who currently earns €1,900 net. In 30 years’ time, i.e. 2050, he would like to retire and still keep 80% of his current income.

This currently corresponds to €1,500 per month, but in 2050, €2,700 will be needed to have the same purchasing power. If, as forecast, he receives around 40 % of his salary or € 750 from the state pension, another € 1,350 will have to come from private sources.

In view of these figures, it will be very difficult to achieve the target. With an average return of 6 % over 30 years, 850 euros per month would have to be paid in.

And here’s the kicker: if our example person was only 30 years old, only just under half, i.e. around €450 per month, would be needed to achieve the same value. Of course, it gets even better at the age of 20, because then just €240 per month would be enough!

Example 2: 40 years old, € 2800 net, also no private pension provision

Let’s look at a very similar case in the second example: 40 years old, no savings for retirement yet. However, this candidate is blessed with a high salary of €2,800 net. He would also like to receive 80% of his income when he retires.

With the assumed 40 per cent statutory pension, there is already €2,000 in the fund – but the target is €4,000 due to inflation, so another €2,000 has to be raised.

To achieve this goal, €1,300 per month must be saved, assuming an interest rate of 6%. A proud sum, but one that can be managed with the high income.

In this case, too, the amount to be saved would be halved for an entry of 10 years earlier. In concrete terms, this means that only €650 would be needed at 30 years, and only €350 at 20 years.

Example 3: 40 years old, €3,300 net, also no private pension provision

Finally, the same calculation, but with an even higher net income of €3,300. For the 80 % pension, 2,400 euros must be raised privately – the same amount is added by the state.

This means a monthly savings instalment of 1,500 euros, and here too the costs are halved for each decade that our example candidate starts earlier.

Our recommendation

If you are discouraged by these figures, don’t worry too much. Instead, try to save at least 4% of your net income and invest it well. Then you should have plugged the biggest gaps in your state pension and be able to look forward to old age with a clear conscience.

However, there is no getting around the basic fact that starting early is always the best option. The earlier you start saving, the more intensively the compound interest effect can work and increase your wealth. It is therefore not uncommon for parents to take out savings plans for their children.

Of course, it also depends on a correspondingly high-interest investment strategy that is not so risky that your savings are jeopardised. We recommend ETF savings plans for this purpose, as they are particularly suitable for longer-term investments. We have explained in detail how to choose the right one for you in our article ‘How to find the right ETF for you’.

Once you have decided on a savings plan, there are many high-calibre brokers to choose from to start building up your assets.

The Scalable Capital broker, for example, offers a special trading flat rate and thus plays a special role. This can be very attractive for you. You can get started right away with this link.