3-Step Wealth & Retirement Roadmap

A quick reference guide to working out how much you need, collecting the free money on offer, and building assets that pay you without your time.

By Bola Sol.

Step 1: Know Your Number

Your number is the size of pot you need so your investments can cover your lifestyle for good.

Monthly spend x 12 x 25 = your target pot

The 25 comes from the 4% rule of thumb: if you withdraw around 4% of your pot each year, it has historically lasted a long retirement. Work out what you spend in a normal month (rent or mortgage, bills, food, transport, fun, and any saving you'll keep doing), then check the table.

Monthly spend

Yearly spend

Target pot

£2,000

£24,000

£600,000

£2,500

£30,000

£750,000

£3,000

£36,000

£900,000

£4,000

£48,000

£1,200,000

£5,000

£60,000

£1,500,000

£7,500

£90,000

£2,250,000

£10,000

£120,000

£3,000,000

Your own number: £________ a month x 12 x 25 = £______________

Workplace pension

  • Log in to your pension and find out what your employer pays in.
  • Ask HR whether your employer matches contributions above the minimum. If they do, pay in at least enough to get the full match.
  • Confirm you haven't opted out. Auto-enrolment minimums are 8% of qualifying earnings in total, including your employer's share.
  • Check where the pension is invested. The default fund isn't always the best fit for your timeline or fees.
  • Pension money is locked until minimum pension age (currently 55, rising to 57 in April 2028).

Stocks & Shares ISA

  • You can put up to £20,000 into ISAs each tax year (6 April to 5 April). Growth and withdrawals are tax free.
  • Open one with a regulated investment platform and compare fees first.
  • Choose a low-cost, globally diversified index fund.
  • Set up a monthly direct debit so investing happens automatically.
  • Unlike a pension, you can access ISA money at any age, which makes it useful for goals before retirement.

Step 3: Income vs. Assets

Income stops when you stop working. Assets keep paying whether you're working or not. Retirement is built by moving money from the first column into the second.

Regular income

Cash flow assets

Salary, freelance work, side business

Index funds, rental property, money held in ISAs and pensions

Needs your time every month

Works in the background once built

Stops if you stop

Can keep paying for decades

Funds your life and buys your assets

Replaces your income over time

  • Index funds: a basket of hundreds or thousands of companies in one purchase. Returns come from dividends and price growth. Low cost, low effort, and easy to start with small amounts.
  • Property: returns come from rent and rising values. It needs a large deposit, ongoing costs and tenant management, and it's harder to sell quickly.
  • ISAs: a tax-free wrapper, not an investment in itself. Holding index funds inside one keeps the growth, and the income you draw later, free of tax.

Your Next Three Actions

  1. Calculate your number using the table above.
  2. Check your employer's pension match and top up to get all of it.
  3. Open a Stocks & Shares ISA and set up a monthly investment, even a small one.

This guide is for education only and is not regulated financial advice. Tax rules and allowances can change and depend on your circumstances, so check gov.uk or speak to a regulated adviser before making decisions. Investments can fall as well as rise.