How much do you need to retire in the Philippines?

Don’t know your SSS pension yet? Work it out with our SSS pension calculator, then enter it above.

How it is worked out

The calculator follows these steps, shown line by line on the receipt:

1. Years until you retire = retirement age minus your age now.
2. Monthly spend in your first year of retirement = today’s monthly spend x (1 + inflation) ^ years until you retire.
3. Monthly gap = that spend minus your SSS pension.
4. Fund needed at retirement: for each year of retirement, the year’s spending minus twelve SSS pension payments (never below zero), discounted back to the day you retire at the return rate. Spending keeps rising with inflation each year; the SSS pension stays the same, and if you retire before 60 it only counts from age 60, when SSS starts paying.
5. Your savings at retirement = savings now x (1 + return) ^ years, plus your monthly saving added at the end of each month and grown at the same return rate.
6. Short by (or more than you need by) = fund needed minus your savings at retirement.
7. Extra to save each month = the monthly amount that, grown at the return rate, reaches the shortfall by your retirement age.
8. In your work currency = each peso amount divided by the BSP reference rate for that currency.

The assumptions, and where they come from

Every default below can be changed in the boxes.

Scroll the table sideways for more

Inflation over twenty years or more will not match any one year’s figure. Try a lower and a higher rate to see how much it moves your target.

The BSP bulletin of 19 October 2026 did not list the Qatari riyal and showed no rate for the Kuwaiti dinar, so the calculator does not offer those two. If you are paid in either, convert your amounts at the rate your remittance company gives you and read the peso figures.

Using a place preset

If you do not know your monthly spend yet, pick one of 20 places. The preset starts from the PSA’s 2025 poverty threshold for that province: the yearly income PSA says one person needs for food and basic needs (preliminary figures, released 26 August 2026). It multiplies that by the number of people in your household, divides by 12, and multiplies by the lifestyle level you choose.

For example, the 2025 threshold for Cebu is PHP 35,545 per person a year. For two people at twice the threshold: 35,545 x 2 / 12 x 2 = PHP 11,848 a month.

The poverty threshold covers food and basic needs only, so pick the multiple that fits the life you want. PSA reports each province with its cities included, so a city’s preset uses its province’s figure. Compare the 20 places on hospitals, airports, climate and costs in where to retire in the Philippines, and see the cost of living in the Philippines for what families actually spend.

Worked example

Inputs chosen for illustration:

• Age 40 now, retiring at 60, working in the UAE (paid in dirhams)
• PHP 30,000 a month to spend in retirement, in today’s pesos
• SSS pension of PHP 9,300 a month (the formula amount for an average salary credit of PHP 20,000 and 20 credited years, before any across-the-board increase)
• PHP 500,000 saved for retirement, PHP 10,000 saved each month
• The starting assumptions: 5.4% inflation, 4% return, 20 years

Years until you retire

20

Monthly spend, today's pesos

PHP 30,000.00

Same spend in 20 years, at 5.4%

PHP 85,888.19

Minus SSS pension

-PHP 9,300.00

Monthly gap in the first year

PHP 76,588.19

Fund needed for 20 years

PHP 21,897,566.35

Savings now, grown at 4%

PHP 1,095,561.57

Monthly saving, grown at 4%

PHP 3,638,417.29

Savings at retirement

PHP 4,733,978.86

Short by

PHP 17,163,587.49

Extra to save each month

PHP 47,173.22

Fund needed, in AED (at 17.1726)

AED 1,275,145.66

The figures are large because 5.4% inflation more than doubles prices in 20 years, and the SSS pension in this example does not rise with them. With 3% inflation instead, the fund needed and the shortfall both fall a lot. That is why the assumptions are worth testing.

What the estimate leaves out

• Large health costs beyond what PhilHealth pays.
• One-off costs: house repairs, a car, a new roof after a typhoon.
• Support for family members: children’s schooling, parents’ care.
• Taxes on investment income, such as the final tax on bank interest.
• Exchange-rate swings between now and when you send money home.
• SSS across-the-board increases announced after the date checked. SSS Circular 2026-002 sets increases of 10% a year up to 2027 for current pensioners, but the calculator holds the pension you enter flat.

Official tools and related guides

• Work out your SSS pension with our SSS pension calculator, or with SSS’s own My.SSS retirement calculator. Read how the SSS pension works.
• Planning your retirement in the Philippines as an OFW and all our calculators.