How Much Should I Save for Retirement Per Month?

For most people, saving 10 to 15 percent of what they earn, counting any employer match, builds a solid retirement over a full career. If you start late, the number may be higher. If you have a pension coming, it may be lower. There is no single right number for everyone, but there is a simple way to find yours.

This post gives you the percent rule, some worked examples with plain numbers, and a way to flip the math so a dollar goal becomes a monthly amount.

Start With the Common Benchmark

Many retirement guides, including ours on how much you need to retire, use 10 to 15 percent of pay as a starting point. Here is what that means:

• Save 10 percent if you are starting young, you expect government benefits, and you will work until your mid 60s.
• Save 15 percent if you started later, want to retire early, or have gaps in your saving history.
• Count the match. If your employer puts money into your plan when you do, that counts toward the total. Put in 6 percent and the match adds 4 percent, and you are at 10 percent without feeling all of it yourself.

These percentages come from long-run math about replacing part of your paycheck in retirement. They are a yardstick, not a law. Your own number can sit above or below them depending on your life.

Here is the percentage turned into dollars. For example, say you earn $60,000 a year, which is $5,000 a month:

Monthly pay	Saving 10%	Saving 15%
$3,000	$300	$450
$5,000	$500	$750
$8,000	$800	$1,200

If the full percentage feels out of reach today, that is okay. Start somewhere you can sustain, even 3 or 5 percent. Then raise it each time you get a raise. Getting to the target slowly still gets you there, and shaming yourself rarely helps anyone save.

Why Starting Earlier Costs Less Per Month

Money you invest earns returns, which are gains on the money itself. Then those gains earn gains too. That compounding effect means the same ending balance costs very different monthly amounts depending on when you begin.

The next table assumes $500 saved every month until age 67, earning 7 percent a year, compounded monthly, before taxes. Those numbers are for example only. Real returns vary, and past results never promise future ones.

The math behind row two, starting at age 35, looks like this:

• Months of investing: 32 years times 12 = 384 months
• Monthly rate: 7% divided by 12 = 0.5833%
• Growth factor: 1.005833 raised to the 384th power (one per month), minus 1, then divided by 0.5833%. Written as a formula: (1.005833^384 − 1) ÷ 0.5833% = about 1,428.5
• Future value: $500 x 1,428.5 = about $714,000

Age you start	Years invested	Balance at 67
25	42	about $1,523,000
35	32	about $714,000
45	22	about $312,000
55	12	about $112,000
60	7	about $54,000

Look at the jump between starting at 35 and starting at 55. Same $500 a month. More than six times the final balance. Time in the market does most of the heavy lifting early on.

If you live in Canada, the same compounding logic applies inside an RRSP, a registered retirement savings plan that grows sheltered from tax until withdrawal. Our guide to the 4% rule in Canada shows how those balances turn into income.

Flip It Around: From a Goal to a Monthly Amount

Maybe you would rather work backward. You estimate what you need to retire, then ask what monthly saving gets you there. One popular shortcut says a balanced portfolio can support withdrawals of about 4 percent a year, so a nest egg divided by 25 approximates one year of spending.

Suppose you decide you need $500,000 of savings by age 67, beyond your Social Security or CPP and OAS. Using the same 7 percent monthly-compounded assumptions:

Age you start	Factor (per $1/month)	Needed per month
25	3,045.0	about $165
35	1,428.5	about $350
45	624.8	about $800
55	224.7	about $2,225
60	108.0	about $4,630

The middle row again, checked step by step: $500,000 divided by 1,428.5 equals $350.02, so about $350 a month.

Notice how steep the cost climbs in the last rows. Someone starting at 55 needs more than six times the monthly amount of someone starting at 25. That is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to run your own numbers soon, whatever your age.

To size the goal itself, our guide on the 4% rule walks through turning a spending wish into a savings target, including why many people adjust that 4 percent figure up or down.

Where to Put the Money

In the United States, the usual order people think through looks like this:

1. Your workplace plan, such as a 401(k), if your employer offers one, especially at least up to the match. Matched dollars are an immediate raise.
2. An IRA, an individual retirement account you open yourself, if that suits your taxes better.
3. Extra room in the workplace plan beyond the match.

Contribution caps change every year, so check the current limits on the IRS retirement plans page rather than trusting old articles. People aged 50 and older also get to add an extra catch-up amount each year, which can help late starters close a gap.

In Canada, the parallel accounts are the RRSP and TFSA, a tax-free savings account, with yearly limits listed on Canada Revenue Agency pages. Group pension plans through an employer work the same basic way: contribute, get any match, let it grow.

Which account fits you best depends on your tax picture today versus in retirement. That is a situational call, not a universal one, and our guide on how taxes work in retirement lays out the tradeoffs.

Test Your Number, Not Someone Else's

Percentages and tables are useful checkpoints, but your actual number depends on facts only you know: your age, your savings so far, your pension, when you stop work, and when your benefits begin. Two neighbors the same age can face very different monthly targets.

That is exactly the gap When Can I Retire fills. Type in your numbers or upload a statement, and it works out the age you can retire, how ready you are today, and the monthly saving needed to close the gap, showing every step of the math, including Social Security or CPP and OAS, taxes, inflation, and the years before benefits start. The first check is free.