The honest answer: there's no official "should"
Nobody in the UK sets an official target for how much you should have saved by a given age. HMRC doesn't publish one, and neither does the government. So when a headline tells you the average 40-year-old "should" have £X, it's using one of two rules of thumb — and it's worth knowing both, because they answer slightly different questions.
The first works forwards from your salary: save a growing multiple of what you earn. The second works backwards from the life you want in retirement: decide the income you'd like, then figure out the pot that funds it. Neither is a rule you've failed if you miss. They're maps, not verdicts — and the number that actually matters is the one at the bottom of this page.
Framework 1: the salary-multiples rule of thumb
The most-quoted version says your retirement savings — pensions plus long-term investments — should reach a growing multiple of your salary as you age:
| By age | Rule-of-thumb target | On a £35,000 salary |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 1× salary | £35,000 |
| 40 | 3× salary | £105,000 |
| 50 | 6× salary | £210,000 |
| 60 | 8× salary | £280,000 |
| 67 (retirement) | 10× salary | £350,000 |
These multiples come from a widely-cited framework popularised by US fund manager Fidelity. They're a rough guide, not a UK standard: they assume your pension and investments together, they don't count the State Pension, and they quietly assume steady contributions and market growth over decades. Treat them as a sense-check, not a scoreboard.
The useful thing about the multiples isn't the exact figure — it's the shape. Very little is expected in your twenties, because you've barely started and compounding hasn't had time to work. Then the targets climb steeply, because each decade of contributions plus growth stacks on the last. Falling behind at 30 matters far less than most people fear; falling behind at 55 is much harder to claw back. Time is the ingredient the multiples are really measuring.
Framework 2: work back from the life you want
The multiples tell you a number but not what it buys. This second approach is more grounded, and more UK-specific. The Retirement Living Standards, published by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), price out three retirement lifestyles as an annual income (2025 figures, excluding housing costs, assuming you own your home):
| Lifestyle | Single person | Couple |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum — covers the basics, little slack | £13,400/yr | £21,600/yr |
| Moderate — more security and some treats | £31,700/yr | £43,900/yr |
| Comfortable — more freedom and luxuries | £43,900/yr | £60,600/yr |
Here's the part that changes the whole picture: the full new State Pension is about £12,548 a year (£241.30 a week in 2026/27), and it's paid to each qualifying person. That does a lot of the heavy lifting — it covers most of a single person's "minimum", and for a couple, two full State Pensions (roughly £25,000 between them) already clear the minimum couple's budget on their own. Your own pot only has to fund the gap above the State Pension.
Turning that gap into a pot needs one more rough rule: the "4% guideline", which suggests a pot can sustainably provide about 4% of its value as income each year — the same as saying you need roughly 25× the annual income you want your pot to cover. For a single person, before tax and holding everything else equal:
| Target lifestyle | Gap above State Pension | Illustrative pot (25×) |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | ~£850/yr | ~£21,000 |
| Moderate | ~£19,150/yr | ~£480,000 |
| Comfortable | ~£31,350/yr | ~£780,000 |
Illustrative only. The 4% guideline is a rough planning rule, not a guarantee — real sustainable withdrawal rates depend on your age at retirement, how your money is invested, inflation, and how markets behave. These figures are for a single homeowner, before tax, and ignore any final-salary (defined benefit) pension, which changes the maths entirely. They're here to show the shape of the target, not to tell you your number.
Before the pension: the cash cushion
Most of "how much should I have saved" is really about the pension, because that's where the big numbers live. But the first rung of the ladder isn't retirement at all — it's an emergency fund: enough easy-access cash to cover roughly three to six months of essential spending, so a boiler or a redundancy doesn't become a debt spiral. If you're building at once, that cash buffer usually comes before extra pension contributions, because it protects everything else. We keep a free tracker for exactly this — watching the buffer and the pot side by side.
How much to put in from here: the "half your age" rule
If the targets above feel daunting, this last rule of thumb is the most useful, because it's about action rather than a finish line. It says: the percentage of your salary going into your pension each year should be roughly half your age when you start. Start at 20 and that's 10%; start at 30 and it's 15%; start at 40 and it's 20%.
The number sounds high until you remember what's inside it. Your employer's contribution counts, and under auto-enrolment they're already adding at least 3%. Tax relief counts too — a basic-rate taxpayer's £100 of pension costs them £80 out of pocket, and a higher-rate taxpayer £60. So the slice that actually leaves your own pay is a good deal smaller than the headline percentage. The rule is really saying: start as early as you can, because the half-your-age figure is far gentler at 25 than the catch-up rate you'd need at 45.
What's the rule-of-thumb target for your age?
Enter your age and salary to see the salary-multiple target for where you are now, and the next milestone ahead. Add your current retirement savings (pensions + long-term investments) to see where you stand. It's a rough guide, not a target you've failed to hit.
The number matters less than the direction
Every framework on this page ends in the same place. A target for your age can tell you whether you're roughly on the national track. It can tell you nothing about you: what you earn, what you owe, whether you started late with real momentum or early and drifting, whether a final-salary pension quietly changes your whole picture. Someone "behind" at 40 who then saves hard can sail past someone who was "ahead" and coasted.
The comparison that actually moves your life isn't you versus a rule of thumb — it's your own number this month versus last. Work out where you are once, then watch it. The targets become a backdrop; the trajectory becomes the thing you steer. That's the whole reason WealthR exists: not to rank you against a chart, but to turn your pot and your net worth into a line you can actually watch climb.
See whether you're on track — and watch it change.
Put your pensions, savings and investments in once, and WealthR keeps your pot and net worth in one place, with retirement and drawdown forecasts and the free UK tax tools alongside. The point isn't hitting a number by a birthday. It's watching the line move the right way, year after year.
Track your savings free →If you'd rather map a finish line than a target for your age, the FIRE number calculator works out the pot that would let you stop working, and the Coast FIRE calculator shows when you could ease off saving and still get there. Both are free and take a couple of minutes.
Frequently asked
How much should I have saved by 30?
How much should I have saved by 40?
How much do I need to retire comfortably in the UK?
Does the State Pension count towards this?
What percentage of my salary should I save?
I'm behind for my age — is it too late?
This is general information and illustrative rules of thumb, not financial advice or a personal recommendation. WealthR is a planning and tracking tool and is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Figures are illustrative and use published sources (PLSA Retirement Living Standards 2025 and the 2026/27 State Pension); the salary-multiple and 4% guidelines are rough planning rules, not guarantees. For advice about your own retirement, speak to a qualified, FCA-authorised adviser.