With €500,000 you can spend roughly €42,798 a year in the Netherlands if you stop at sixty. That's €3,566 a month.
That's considerably more than the standard calculation suggests. As perpetual capital, half a million at a 4% withdrawal rate produces €20,000 a year. The difference arises because in the Netherlands you only carry a limited number of years fully yourself: from state pension age, both pensions join in.
What half a million supports
Supportable spending depends on two things: when you stop, and what real return you assume.
| Stopping at | Bridge years | At 3% real | At 4% real | At 5% real |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 17 | €33,150 | €35,401 | €38,089 |
| 55 | 12 | €36,041 | €38,738 | €41,705 |
| 60 | 7 | €39,393 | €42,798 | €46,320 |
| 62 | 5 | €40,878 | €44,658 | €48,506 |
| 65 | 2 | €43,278 | €47,737 | €52,211 |
| 67 | 0 | €45,000 | €50,000 | €55,000 |
These figures assume €18,000 of state pension and €12,000 of occupational pension from sixty-seven. Both vary considerably by person, so replace them with your own figures.
Note this: between stopping at fifty and at sixty-five sits only €12,336 of supportable annual spending. Stopping fifteen years earlier therefore costs you less in living standard than you'd expect, precisely because the pensions arrive regardless.
Your income is flat, your source changes
This is the part that surprises people. Stopping at sixty with €42,798 of spending looks like this:
| Period | From your wealth | Pensions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 through 66 | €42,798 | €0 | €42,798 |
| From 67 | €12,798 | €30,000 | €42,798 |
Your spending stays constant, but what you draw from your own wealth falls by over thirty thousand a year as soon as your state pension begins.
That means the seven years before your state pension date are the heavy part. Everything comes from your wealth there. Afterwards your wealth does only a third of the work.
What happens to your capital
Here sits the most reassuring picture, and it's counterintuitive.
| Age | Capital | Withdrawal that year |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | €500,000 | €42,798 |
| 63 | €423,491 | €42,798 |
| 66 | €337,430 | €42,798 |
| 67 | €306,417 | €12,798 |
| 70 | €303,131 | €12,798 |
| 72 | €300,715 | €12,798 |
Your wealth falls during the bridge years from half a million to just over three hundred thousand. That feels alarming while you're in it.
And then it stops falling. From your state pension date your withdrawal has become small enough that returns largely absorb it. The capital stabilises around three hundred thousand and stays there.
That's the shape of every Dutch calculation of this kind: a declining line until your state pension date, and a flat one afterwards. Anyone looking only at the early years wrongly concludes the plan isn't sustainable.
Is that half a million in the right form?
The most important caveat in this article.
The calculation assumes you can access €500,000. If part sits in your home, you can't, because equity produces no income while you live there.
Stopping at sixty, at different splits:
| In the property | Liquid | Supportable spending |
|---|---|---|
| €0 | €500,000 | €42,798 |
| €150,000 | €350,000 | €36,798 |
| €250,000 | €250,000 | €32,798 |
| €350,000 | €150,000 | €24,991 |
With half in bricks, your spending room drops by ten thousand a year.
Against that sits one thing the table doesn't show: if your mortgage is repaid, your spending is lower too. That payment disappears, saving many people several hundred a month. How to calculate your equity and outstanding balance precisely is in the article on home equity.
What if returns disappoint?
The sensitivity is large. Back to the first table, for stopping at sixty:
| Real return | Supportable spending |
|---|---|
| 3% | €39,393 |
| 4% | €42,798 |
| 5% | €46,320 |
Between 3% and 5% sits nearly seven thousand a year. And that's the favourable picture, because this calculation uses an average.
In reality returns arrive in good and bad years, and once you withdraw the order matters. A sharp fall in your early bridge years does considerably more damage than the same fall ten years later, because you must sell more units to reach the same amount. That's set out in the article on the 4% rule.
Two things help. Keep part of your bridge amount liquid so you needn't sell in a bad year. And keep room to spend less temporarily; that's the cheapest protection available.
What the calculation excludes
Tax on your wealth. Above an exemption you pay annually on your wealth. That reduces your net return and belongs inside your real percentage.
Your spending changes. For most people it falls after seventy while healthcare costs rise. The calculation holds it flat, which errs on the cautious side.
Your state pension accrual may be incomplete. Each year outside the Netherlands costs 2% of your state pension. Anyone who worked abroad must use a lower figure. That's in the article on how much state pension you receive.
Your state pension age may not be fixed. For anyone born on or after 1 October 1964 the date isn't final, and any shift lengthens your bridge.
How Gylder fits in
This calculation lives or dies on two figures: how much you genuinely have, and how much of it you can access.
Gylder totals your wealth daily across bank, broker, crypto, precious metals and your property with the mortgage underneath, and shows the breakdown. That gives you exactly what the table above requires: which part is liquid and which sits in bricks.
Your spending is categorised automatically, so your annual figure rests on measurement rather than a monthly budget with the irregular items missing.
With the bridge calculator you enter your own state pension amount, occupational pension and stopping age, and see the figure that fits your situation. You can save that as a wealth target, after which your progress is measured against it daily.
What this doesn't tell you
The pension amounts are examples. €18,000 and €12,000 are placeholders. Your figures are with the SVB and on mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl, and differences between people are large.
The real return is an assumption. Between 3% and 5% sits nearly seven thousand a year of spending room.
The model knows no bad years. It uses an average, while the order of returns matters greatly when withdrawing.
This isn't advice. Stopping work on the basis of half a million is a decision with lifelong consequences. Have it calculated.
Frequently asked questions
Can I live off €500,000? In the Netherlands yes, provided your spending fits the amount matching your stopping age. Stopping at sixty that's roughly €42,798 a year; stopping at fifty, €35,401.
How much interest do I get on €500,000? With a savings rate below inflation your real return is negative and your capital shrinks. This calculation assumes investing at a real return of 3 to 5%.
Why is the amount higher than 4% of €500,000? Because in the Netherlands you don't have to fund your full spending from wealth forever. From state pension age both pensions join in and take over a large part.
What if part of that €500,000 is in my house? You can't access it without selling. With €250,000 in your property, your spending room falls from €42,798 to €32,798. Against that, a repaid mortgage lowers your spending.
Will my capital run out? Not in this example. It falls during your bridge years from half a million to just over three hundred thousand, then stabilises because your withdrawal after your state pension date becomes much smaller.