Can I Retire Right Now?
Drop in a lump sum, your age, and a country. We will tell you whether the money lasts forever, or the exact age it runs out.
Secure living: a 1 bed rental, dining out, some travel.
Cost of living
Comfortable in United States
$62,500
per year, incl. buffer
Your money runs out at age 67 in United States.
Annual investment income
$40,000
your money earns this at 4% per year
Yearly shortfall
$-22,500
income vs cost of living
Your money over time
The same $1,000,000 in other countries
A reality check. All figures are in today's money, so inflation is already accounted for in the verdict. The yearly cost adds an approximate 25% safety buffer on top of base living costs to roughly cover taxes on your withdrawals and unexpected expenses. Even so, this is a simplified model based on the 4% rule and rounded estimates for a single person. It cannot fully capture long-term or end-of-life care (such as a nursing home, which can cost a fortune in later years), large one-off medical bills, supporting a partner or family, or major one-time purchases. Real retirement almost always costs more than a back-of-the-envelope number suggests, so treat this as a fun starting point for a conversation, not financial advice.
How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?
The honest answer to "how much do I need to retire?" is that it depends on where you live. Retirement is not really about hitting one magic number. It is about whether the income your savings generate can cover your cost of living, year after year, without ever touching the principal.
This calculator uses the widely cited 4% safe withdrawal rule. If your annual spending is less than about 4% of your nest egg, your money can theoretically last forever. If it is more, your savings deplete over time, and we show you the exact age that happens.
The 4% Rule, Explained
The 4% rule comes from research on historical market returns. It found that a retiree who withdrew 4% of their portfolio in year one, then adjusted that amount for inflation, almost never ran out of money over a 30 year retirement.
Flipped around, it gives you a target: you need roughly 25 times your annual expenses. Spend $30,000 a year? You need about $750,000. Spend $80,000? You need $2,000,000. The calculator above does this math instantly for any country.
Why Country Changes Everything
The cost of a comfortable retirement varies more than 5 times across the world. The exact same nest egg can run dry in a decade in Zurich yet fund a relaxed beachside life indefinitely in Da Nang or the Algarve.
That is why geographic arbitrage, earning or saving in a strong currency and retiring somewhere cheaper, is one of the most powerful levers in early retirement. A modest portfolio goes much, much further abroad.
Can You Retire on $1 Million? (By Country)
At a conservative 4% annual return, $1,000,000 generates about $40,000 per year. Here is whether that is enough to retire forever on a comfortable single person lifestyle, using all-in yearly costs that add a 25% buffer for taxes and unexpected expenses. It works in 26 of the 42 countries below.
| Country | All-In Cost / Year | Retire on $1M Forever? |
|---|---|---|
 India | $15,000 | Yes |
 Egypt | $15,000 | Yes |
 Turkey | $17,500 | Yes |
 Morocco | $17,500 | Yes |
 Vietnam | $18,750 | Yes |
 Philippines | $18,750 | Yes |
 Argentina | $18,750 | Yes |
 Indonesia | $20,000 | Yes |
 Colombia | $20,000 | Yes |
 Thailand | $22,500 | Yes |
 Malaysia | $22,500 | Yes |
 Brazil | $22,500 | Yes |
 South Africa | $22,500 | Yes |
 Mexico | $25,000 | Yes |
 Hungary | $25,000 | Yes |
 Poland | $27,500 | Yes |
 China | $27,500 | Yes |
 Costa Rica | $30,000 | Yes |
 Panama | $30,000 | Yes |
 Czechia | $30,000 | Yes |
 Greece | $32,500 | Yes |
 Portugal | $35,000 | Yes |
 Spain | $37,500 | Yes |
 South Korea | $37,500 | Yes |
 Italy | $40,000 | Yes |
 Japan | $40,000 | Yes |
 France | $47,500 | No |
 Germany | $47,500 | No |
 New Zealand | $50,000 | No |
 Netherlands | $52,500 | No |
 United Kingdom | $52,500 | No |
 Sweden | $52,500 | No |
 Canada | $52,500 | No |
 United Arab Emirates | $52,500 | No |
 Ireland | $55,000 | No |
 Australia | $56,250 | No |
 Denmark | $60,000 | No |
 Singapore | $60,000 | No |
| United States | $62,500 | No |
 Hong Kong | $62,500 | No |
 Norway | $68,750 | No |
 Switzerland | $93,750 | No |
Cost of living figures are rounded estimates for a single person and are for illustration only, not financial advice.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much money do I need to retire?
A common rule of thumb is that you can safely withdraw about 4% of your savings each year. That means you need roughly 25 times your annual cost of living. If you spend $40,000 a year, you would need about $1,000,000, but the number swings dramatically depending on which country you retire in.
Can I retire on 1 million dollars?
At 4%, $1,000,000 gives you about $40,000 a year. That is enough to retire forever in many lower cost countries like Portugal, Mexico, or Thailand, but falls short in expensive places like Switzerland. Where you live is the deciding factor.
What is the 4% rule?
The 4% rule suggests that if you withdraw 4% of your portfolio in your first year of retirement and adjust for inflation afterward, your savings should last at least 30 years. It implies you need about 25 times your annual expenses saved.
Does where I live affect how much I need to retire?
Enormously. The cost of living varies by 5 times or more between countries. The same nest egg that runs out in a decade in Switzerland could fund a comfortable lifestyle forever in Vietnam, Mexico, or Portugal.