How much do you need to retire at 60?
To retire at age 60 and spend about $60,000/year after tax ($5,000/month) without running out over a ~35-year retirement, you'd need roughly $1,450,000 invested — about 24× your annual spending. The exact figure depends on how much you spend; here's the full breakdown.
The nest egg you need at 60, by spending level
How much you need scales with how much you spend. Retiring at 60 (a ~35-year horizon), 6% nominal return, 3% inflation, no Social Security:
| Spend / yr | Spend / mo | You need about |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $3,333 | $1,000,000 |
| $50,000 | $4,167 | $1,230,000 |
| $60,000 | $5,000 | $1,450,000 |
| $80,000 | $6,667 | $1,910,000 |
| $100,000 | $8,333 | $2,380,000 |
Why it's about 24× your spending
The classic "multiply your spending by 25" rule is a rough rule of thumb tied to a flat 4% withdrawal. Run the actual projection for a 35-year retirement at 60 — with a 6% nominal return, 3% inflation, and the taxes owed on traditional-account withdrawals — and the figure comes out near 24× your spending, a little below a flat 25×. A longer retirement or heavier reliance on taxable accounts would push it higher.
Two levers cut the number substantially: Social Security (inflation-adjusted lifetime income that shrinks what you draw from the portfolio) and a paid-off home (lower fixed spending). Neither is in the baseline above — add them in the calculator and the required nest egg often drops sharply.
How delaying Social Security shrinks the portfolio's job
At 60 you sit five years from Medicare and roughly two from the earliest Social Security claim at 62. Two forces tug the required nest egg in opposite directions. Health coverage before 65 — bought through the ACA marketplace, where subsidies track MAGI, or bridged briefly with COBRA — is a recurring cost the portfolio must carry, which pushes the number up.
Pulling the other way is guaranteed income. Every future dollar Social Security pays is a dollar the portfolio no longer has to supply. Delaying the claim toward 70 raises that lifetime, inflation-adjusted benefit by roughly eight percent for each year past full retirement age, permanently lowering required withdrawals — though you must fund a longer, larger bridge from savings until you claim.
Over a horizon that can run 30 years or more, sequence-of-returns risk in the first decade and inflation later argue for a more conservative withdrawal rate, and therefore a larger multiple of spending, than the classic 25× rule assumes.
Common questions
How much do I need to retire at 60?
To spend about $60,000/year after tax and not run out over a 35-year retirement, roughly $1,450,000. For $40,000/year you'd need about $1,000,000; for $100,000/year, about $2,380,000.
Is 25× my expenses enough to retire at 60?
In this projection, yes — retiring at 60 the figure comes out around 24×, a bit under 25×, so a flat 25× would leave a comfortable cushion. Social Security and lower fixed costs lower the number further.
Does this include taxes and inflation?
Yes. The nest-egg figures are the amount needed after the federal (and where relevant, state) tax on withdrawals, with spending rising each year for inflation.