Worked example
What does a first €2,000 monthly withdrawal cost?
Thirty years of saving followed by thirty years of withdrawals. The target is an inflation-adjusted first withdrawal of €2,000 net of estimated tax. Later withdrawals remain a percentage of the current portfolio, so they can rise or fall.
The answer
Monthly saving needed
€1,284 / month
For 30 years, to make the first withdrawal €2,000 a month inflation-adjusted.
- Portfolio when withdrawals begin · inflation-adjusted · before a final sale
- €672,719
- First available portfolio withdrawal · inflation-adjusted · after estimated tax
- €2,000 / month
- 10th-percentile portfolio left after 30 years · inflation-adjusted · before a final sale
- €214,135
- 10th-percentile income, on average a month over 30 years · inflation-adjusted
- €896 / month
- Assumed yearly return
- 7 %
- Assumed inflation
- 2.5 %
- Assumed tax rate
- 18.4625 %
Tax basis: 18.4625 % on realised gains, which is the German 26.375 % less the 30 percent Teilfreistellung an equity fund receives. The standard rate applies to individual shares and bonds; a fund holding at least 51 percent equities receives the exemption. The yearly Sparer-Pauschbetrag of €1,000 is applied as well.
Stress basis: percentile 10 of 1,000 simulated paths whose median compounds at the same long-run return of 7 %, with 15 % annual volatility.
Open this plan and change the assumptions
Opens with these numbers, ready to change. Nothing you enter there is saved.
Why the income target is inflation-adjusted
A retirement income is only meaningful against the prices you will pay. €2,000 a month thirty years from now buys noticeably less than €2,000 buys today, so this page solves for the harder version of the question: the saving that reaches an inflation-adjusted €2,000. That is why the required amount looks higher than other calculators report.
Why this uses a percentage rate
The goal translates the first €2,000 withdrawal into the portfolio needed at a 4 % annual rate. It does not promise a fixed €2,000 for every later month: percentage withdrawals adapt to the balance and can fall after losses.
What the retirement duration changes
The thirty retirement years do not change the saving answer. They extend the projection so you can inspect how the portfolio and its percentage payout behave; switch retirement off to stop at the first available withdrawal.
What this page is not
It is an illustration under stated assumptions, not advice and not a forecast. The return is an assumption you can disagree with, the tax is an estimate of one common German case, and no page on this site knows anything about your circumstances. How it works sets out the arithmetic and the full list of what the model leaves out.