Retiring ten years early requires roughly €544,000 at €40,000 of annual spending.
No scheme helps here. The Dutch early-exit arrangement reaches three years at most, and your pension doesn't become available sooner. This is entirely your own wealth, and that changes the question: it's no longer whether it's possible, but when you start.
Why ten years differs from three
At three years early there are two routes: through your employer, or through your own wealth. At ten years the first disappears entirely.
That has three consequences which make the problem fundamentally different.
There's no safety net. At three years, an early-exit payment covers roughly half the cost, provided you fall under your sector's heavy-work definition. At ten years that option doesn't exist, whatever your occupation.
The pension gap becomes substantial. Ten years without accrual costs real money in your payment, and it carries through for the rest of your life.
You withdraw for ten years. That's long enough to sit through a poor market period in full, with no income to offset it.
The calculation
Someone stopping at fifty-seven, spending €40,000 a year, reaching state pension age at 67, and accruing €12,000 of occupational pension across forty years.
The ten-year bridge
Between fifty-seven and your state pension date nothing arrives. What you need is the present value of ten years of spending:
€40,000 × 8.1109 = €324,436
That factor of 8.1109 is the ten-year annuity factor at 4% real. Ten years of spending therefore costs slightly more than eight years' worth.
The pension gap that's larger than you think
Stopping ten years early means ten years less accrual. At forty accrual years producing €12,000, that costs you €3,000 a year.
Your pension therefore falls from €12,000 to €9,000 a year, for life.
That widens your gap after your state pension date. Your spending is €40,000, and €18,000 state pension plus €9,000 occupational pension arrives. The gap is therefore €13,000 a year rather than €10,000.
To close it permanently you need €325,000 at 67. Discounted back to fifty-seven:
€219,558
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Ten-year bridge | €324,436 |
| Top-up after your state pension date | €219,558 |
| Wealth required at 57 | €543,994 |
What you have to set aside monthly
This is the question that actually matters, and the answer depends almost entirely on your age.
Annual contribution required to hold €543,994 at fifty-seven, at 4% real:
| Your age | Years to go | Now €50,000 | Now €100,000 | Now €200,000 | Now €300,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 27 | €8,492 | €5,430 | €0 | €0 |
| 35 | 22 | €12,424 | €8,964 | €2,044 | €0 |
| 40 | 17 | €18,846 | €14,736 | €6,516 | €0 |
| 45 | 12 | €30,876 | €25,549 | €14,894 | €4,238 |
| 50 | 7 | €60,544 | €52,214 | €35,553 | €18,892 |
Per month, for someone aged forty:
| Current wealth | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| €50,000 | €18,846 | €1,570 |
| €100,000 | €14,736 | €1,228 |
| €150,000 | €10,626 | €885 |
| €200,000 | €6,516 | €543 |
| €300,000 | €0 | €0 |
At €300,000 by forty you need contribute nothing further. That amount grows to the target on its own across seventeen years, provided the real return holds. That's Coast FIRE applied to an early stop date rather than a pension date.
Why this is a decision you make in your forties
Look again at the bottom two rows of the first table.
At forty with €100,000: €14,736 a year. Demanding, but achievable on a good income.
At fifty with exactly the same wealth: €52,214 a year. That's impossible for virtually everyone, because it exceeds what most people take home.
That difference isn't because the target grew. The target is identical. It's because you have seventeen years rather than seven, and in those ten extra years compound growth does the work you'd otherwise have to do yourself.
Retiring ten years early is therefore mainly a timing problem. Anyone starting to think about it at fifty is in practice already choosing between five years early and working on.
What stopping five years later saves
Stopping at sixty-two rather than fifty-seven:
| Stopping at | Wealth required | Pension afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| 57 (ten years early) | €543,994 | €9,000/year |
| 62 (five years early) | €414,377 | €10,500/year |
| 64 (three years early) | €353,255 | €11,100/year |
Working five years longer lowers your target by €129,617, and your pension comes out €1,500 a year higher.
And that isn't the whole benefit. Those five years are also five years of continued saving and continued growth. The double effect makes working longer more powerful than the table alone shows.
Cost or wealth required?
Two figures that get confused, and the difference is large.
The cost of stopping early is what it adds compared with working to state pension age. For ten years that's €375,103, as calculated in the article on the cost of retiring early.
The wealth required is what you must hold at your stop date. That's €543,994, because it also includes the amount you'd have needed anyway to get by after your state pension date.
For planning, use the second figure. The first is useful for understanding what the decision costs; the second is what has to be in your account.
The risk that genuinely matters at ten years
Bridging three years through a poor market is unpleasant. Bridging ten is a real danger, and the reason is set out in the article on the 4% rule.
In short: once you withdraw rather than contribute, the order of your returns starts to count. Sell units during a fall and those units are gone, taking no part in the recovery. Withdrawing for ten years with no income to adjust with means a poor early stretch can structurally damage your plan.
Two things that help.
Keep the early years liquid. Holding part of your bridge amount in savings or short-dated bonds means you needn't sell anything in a bad year. It costs return and buys calm.
Keep an earning option open. Being able to work in a disappointing year is the cheapest insurance available. That's what Barista FIRE is about, and every €1,000 earned during your bridge years lowers your required wealth by roughly €8,100 on a ten-year bridge.
What to do if you start late
If the table produces a figure that isn't achievable, there are four levers, in order of effect.
Your spending. Every €1,000 less a year lowers your target by €25,000. That's the strongest lever, and the only one that keeps working after your state pension date.
Your stop date. Five years later saves €129,617 of target plus five extra years of saving.
Earning during the bridge. Lowers your target by roughly €8,100 per €1,000 a year.
Your mortgage. Repaid by your stop date, your spending drops sharply, and since your target is a multiple of your spending that carries through twice over.
How Gylder fits in
A target ten years out demands two things you struggle to track yourself: a current total figure, and a view of whether you're still on schedule.
Gylder totals your wealth daily across all your accounts: bank, broker, crypto, precious metals and your property with the mortgage underneath. The bridge calculator then works out your figure and stop date and saves them as a wealth target, after which your progress is measured against it.
The projection runs on your own measured growth rather than an assumed percentage. Across ten or twenty years that's the difference between a chart that promises something and a chart that measures something.
Your accrued pension can't go in. It doesn't belong here as wealth anyway, but as the future income stream that narrows your gap after your state pension date.
What this doesn't tell you
The real return is an assumption. At 3% rather than 4% the required amount comes out considerably higher. Run both before fixing a stop date.
Pension accrual is simplified. The calculation spreads your expected pension evenly across forty years. Schemes rarely accrue precisely linearly, and your provider gives the exact figure.
Your spending won't stay flat. It usually falls when you stop working, and again after seventy, while healthcare costs rise. The calculation holds it constant, which errs on the cautious side.
Ten years is a long time. Job loss, health, a divorce, an inheritance. A plan on this horizon is a direction rather than a forecast, and belongs under annual review.
Frequently asked questions
How much do I need to retire ten years early? At €40,000 of spending, roughly €544,000 at fifty-seven: €324,436 for the bridge and €219,558 for the top-up after your state pension date.
Is there a scheme for retiring ten years early? No. The early-exit arrangement reaches three years at most and applies only to heavy work. Ten years comes entirely from your own wealth.
How much pension do I miss? Ten years less accrual costs €3,000 a year in this example, for life. Your payment falls from €12,000 to €9,000.
What do I need to save monthly? At forty with €100,000, roughly €1,228 a month. At fifty with the same wealth, over €4,350 a month, which isn't achievable for most people.
Can I draw my pension early to cover the bridge? Under most schemes not ten years early. The earliest start date is usually not far ahead of state pension age, and drawing early permanently reduces your payment.