Camille Van Vyve

28 Nov 2025

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How much do you need to live comfortably in retirement?

Retirement is one of the main concerns for Belgian investors. With uncertainty around the public system and rising inflation, figuring out how much you need to maintain your lifestyle is crucial. According to some projections, by 2050, you will receive only 40% of your last salary once you retire. This reality calls for careful financial planning, including supplementary investment strategies like a retirement portfolio built with ETFs.

How do you build your retirement budget and anticipate your financial needs?

Identify essential expense categories

Building a realistic retirement budget requires a detailed look at your future expenses. Financial experts usually distinguish three main categories of spending in retirement.

Fixed costs form the non-negotiable base of your budget. These include housing-related costs, mandatory insurance, service subscriptions, and transportation expenses. These typically account for 50–60% of a retiree’s total budget.

Healthcare costs rise significantly with age. Beyond basic medical costs, you should anticipate outlays for specialized care, medical equipment, and possibly in-home assistance. Statistics show these expenses can represent 15–20% of your retirement budget.

Leisure and travel help maintain your quality of life in retirement. Many retirees spend more in this category during their first years of retirement, finally having the free time they’ve always looked forward to.

Calculate your target monthly amount

To determine your monthly needs, you could apply the 70–80% rule to your current income. This estimate, widely used by wealth advisors, factors in the disappearance of some work-related costs and tax advantages associated with retired status. That said, official Belgian statistics report that pensioners often spend more, likely due to new needs and inflation. The Easyvest app's pension planner allows you to set a retirement income target and compare your spending to the actual percentiles of Belgian pensioners.

How can you fill the gap left by the legal pension with a retirement portfolio?

Replacement rate

The replacement rate, the share of a worker’s last salary that the statutory pension provides, varies greatly in Belgium depending on professional status. It is generally low because the pension system is pay-as-you-go and uses income ceilings, which cap the pension amount, especially for long careers or higher salaries.

The impact of inflation on purchasing power

Inflation gradually erodes retirees’ purchasing power. With an average inflation rate of 2% a year, one euro today will only be worth 67 cents in twenty years. This loss of value makes the pension gap even bigger and makes the case for dynamic investment strategies.

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) provide effective protection against inflation thanks to their exposure to global equity markets. These index funds, tracking the performance of stock market indices, have historically outperformed inflation over the long term.

Want to know more about ETFs? Check out our blog post on the topic.

How do you build a high-performing income portfolio with ETFs?

What’s an income portfolio?

An income portfolio is a collection of financial assets designed to generate regular income in retirement. Unlike classic accumulation strategies, this approach focuses on generating payouts while preserving the initial capital.

The optimal mix usually combines 60% global equities and 40% bonds. This depends on your personal risk tolerance nothing stops you from increasing the equity share in your strategy to target higher potential returns.

Bond ETFs and equity ETFs make building this strategy much simpler. These financial instruments allow instant diversification while keeping asset management fees very low, generally under 0,3% per year.

Withdrawal strategies and the 4% rule

The 4% rule is the international benchmark for determining how much you can withdraw from your income portfolio every year. Developed by financial expert William Bengen, it suggests you only withdraw 4% of the portfolio’s initial value per year, adjusted for inflation.

For example, a 500.000€ portfolio would allow annual withdrawals of 20.000€, or 1.667€ per month. This method, tested over 30-year periods, statistically preserves your capital in 95% of historical scenarios.

In practice, you’ll want to adjust for market conditions. In strong years, it’s wise to replenish your reserves, while tough years may require temporarily lowering your withdrawals. Your Easyvest advisor will guide you in making these decisions and adjust your income based on your needs, available options, and the applicable tax situation.

How much capital do you need for different income goals?

Methodology

Based on multiple simulations with the Easyvest tool, we calculated possible monthly incomes based on different initial investments. The calculations assume an average annual inflation of 2%. The portfolio used fits a balanced risk profile of level 6, made up of 60% equities and 40% bonds, offering a good balance between growth and stability. The example is based on an investor who opens an account at age 67 and receives income until age 85, drawing down their entire capital.

Required capital table

Adjustment factors to consider

These amounts are a baseline; adjust them to your situation. The age at which you begin drawing retirement income significantly impacts the calculation: starting earlier requires larger capital but gives you more flexibility on risk. Market volatility can also impact real returns, so it’s crucial to have an adaptive wealth management strategy and a financial safety margin.

The Easyvest retirement tool

Easyvest offers a comprehensive tool to help you simulate in detail how your portfolio can fund your retirement. Along with projecting your investments, the platform lets you centralize all your retirement information: legal pension, group insurance or employee pension scheme, private retirement savings, and any other future sources of income. This global view makes it easier to estimate your retirement lifestyle and plan your long-term financial strategy with peace of mind.

Conclusion

Figuring out how much you need for a comfortable retirement takes a methodical approach—assessing your needs, understanding the funding gap, and putting in place the right investment strategies. ETFs and income portfolios provide real solutions to bridge the divide between your retirement goals and the reality of the Belgian system. The key is starting early and staying consistent with your contributions, so compound interest can work its magic over time. Try out our custom retirement planning tool today and start taking control of your financial future.

FAQ: Your essential questions, answered

When should I start saving for retirement?

Ideally, retirement savings should start with your very first job. Someone who begins at 25 gets 40 years of growth, cutting the monthly saving effort in half compared to someone starting at 35. Compound interest strongly rewards early savers, turning modest amounts into substantial capital thanks to time.

Are ETFs suitable for building a retirement income?

ETFs are the perfect tool for creating an efficient, diversified income portfolio. Their index-based structure gives you broad market exposure while keeping fees low.

Should you focus on tax-advantaged retirement savings?

Tax-advantaged retirement savings offer great tax benefits but come with liquidity restrictions and are capped at just above 1.000€ per year per person for the tax break. This cap limits how much you can accumulate with this vehicle alone. It’s a key complement, but shouldn’t be your only retirement strategy. A balanced approach combines tax-advantaged retirement savings and flexible ETF investments to maximize tax efficiency, flexibility, and higher potential returns.

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