Informed Decisions Financial Planning & Money Podcast

In this week's episode, Paddy tackles the question he gets asked more than any other: how much do I actually need to retire in Ireland? Well, for an answer to that question, one should make a proper calculation beforehand, and Paddy is here to help you out by covering the key benchmarks from the Pensions Council report, what they mean in practice, and where they fall short. Some of the specific points covered in this episode: Why the state pension — currently €299.30 per week in 2026 — changes the calculation significantly, and what it means for couples where both partners qualify The simple framework for working out your own number: current spending, minus what disappears, plus what increases, minus state pension, divided by 0.04 Why many couples targeting a comfortable retirement need a private pension pot closer to €300,000–€400,000 than the €1 million figure people often assume The healthcare wildcard — private health insurance costs that the benchmarks don't fully capture Why the question changes comple