How much do I need to retire? Here are your assumptions. You are 30. You will retire when you are 65. You want $40,000 a year when you retire. You will be an aggressive investor today and have an average market return of 9%. When you retire, you will be conservative in your investing and get into bonds that have a market return of 4.5%. You expect that inflation will be 3%. You currently have $20,000 you put into the market this morning. You are expecting to live until 85. How much do you need to have saved when you turn 65? (Hint: if you want to work out how much you need to save every year, under PMT, it will be 36 years)