Pension gap calculator — what AOW and your work pension leave over

AOW is applied at the net monthly rate for your living situation — it depends on whether you live alone or with a partner, and on nothing else, since it is a residence-based flat benefit rather than an earnings-related one. Your work pension estimate is added on top, the two are subtracted from your desired income, and the remaining monthly gap is capitalised by multiplying by twelve and dividing by the withdrawal rate. The sensitivity table repeats that division at three, three and a half, four and four and a half percent, and the timeline projects your current portfolio and contributions forward month by month until they reach the target.

The AOW figures are net amounts including the general tax credit, which means they are already close to what lands in a bank account, while a second-pillar estimate taken from your annual pension statement is usually a gross figure — mixing the two overstates the covered layer. Nothing here models tax on the withdrawals themselves, or the annual charge on the portfolio, and a full AOW entitlement assumes fifty years of Dutch residence, with two percent deducted for each year abroad.

Where do I find my second-pillar pension figure?

From your annual Uniform Pensioenoverzicht, or from mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl, which aggregates every scheme you have accrued in across employers. Use the projected figure at your intended retirement age rather than the amount accrued so far, and check whether it is stated before or after tax, because that single distinction moves the gap on this page more than any of the sliders do.

Why does the withdrawal rate change the target so much?

Because capitalising an income is a division, and dividing by a smaller number is a much bigger move than it looks. Going from four percent to three does not make the target a quarter larger, it makes it a third larger, because the target is twelve times the gap divided by the rate. That is why the sensitivity table is there: the choice of rate is a judgement, and it deserves to be seen as the large lever it is rather than a default.

Does living with a partner really halve the AOW?

Not halve, but reduce it materially per person — the partnered rate is set on the assumption that two people sharing a household have lower costs each than one person alone. Two partnered entitlements together exceed a single one, so a couple is better off in total and worse off per head. Switch the toggle and the stacked bar shows what it does to the gap you have to fund.

• Retirement phase planner — the gap before AOW starts
• Safe withdrawal rate calculator — how long the portfolio lasts
• FIRE calculator with real broker costs