Retirement Calculator

Retirement planning starts with one question: at your current savings rate, will you have enough? This calculator projects your balance forward year by year, then adjusts the result for inflation so you can see it in today's purchasing power, not just an inflated future number that sounds bigger than it is.

An optional goal-based mode lets you enter a target retirement income to see whether you're on pace, and if not, exactly how much more you'd need to contribute each month to close the gap.

How does this calculator work?

Enter your current age, target retirement age, current savings, and regular contribution. Add an employer match percentage if your plan offers one: a 50% match means every dollar you contribute is joined by an extra 50 cents from your employer.

The calculator projects your balance forward, then shows it two ways: the nominal (raw future) number, and the same figure in today's dollars after adjusting for inflation.

Open goal-based mode to enter a desired annual retirement income and how many years your savings need to last. The calculator checks your projected balance against the common 25 times annual income rule of thumb, and if you are behind pace, shows the monthly contribution increase that would close the gap. If you are on pace, it also checks whether your balance would last through your full retirement at that withdrawal rate.

How much do you actually need to retire?

Two common rules of thumb: replace 70 to 80% of income, or save roughly 25 times your desired annual spending, the inverse of a 4% annual withdrawal rate. Applied together, someone earning $80,000 today might target $56,000 to $64,000 a year in retirement income under the replacement-ratio approach, which works out to roughly $1,400,000 to $1,600,000 saved under the 25x rule. Neither is precise for every situation, since spending needs, health costs, and other income sources like Social Security all vary, but both are useful reference points for judging whether a projected balance is in the right neighborhood.

The power of starting early

This calculator runs on the same compounding math as our Compound Interest Calculator, applied to a retirement timeline, so the same lesson applies: time in the market matters more than almost any other factor you control.

Two savers contributing $300 a month at a 7% return make the point concretely. One starts at 25 and contributes for 40 years; the other starts at 35 and contributes for 30 years. The early saver puts in $144,000 total and reaches $787,444.02 by 65. The later saver puts in $108,000, only $36,000 less, and reaches just $365,991.30, a gap of $421,452.72 despite a nearly identical amount contributed.

The ten-year head start does almost all of the work. Contributions matter, but the years those contributions have to compound matter more.

401(k) vs. IRA vs. taxable accounts, and where employer match fits

A 401(k) often comes with an employer match, worth capturing before contributing elsewhere since it's an immediate, guaranteed return on your own contribution that no other account can match. 401(k) plans also carry the highest annual contribution limits of the three account types, which matters most for savers who are already maxing out an IRA and have more to put away.

IRAs add flexibility: you can compare a Roth IRA to a traditional IRA to decide whether paying tax now or in retirement works better for your situation, independent of what your employer offers. Taxable brokerage accounts have no contribution limits or withdrawal restrictions but carry no tax advantage either.

Outside of employer plans, a fixed annuity is another way to fund guaranteed retirement income; it trades some flexibility for a predictable payout.

One caution: borrowing from your own 401(k) can feel painless since you repay yourself, but it still pulls money out of the market while the loan is outstanding. See how a 401(k) loan affects your balance before treating retirement savings as a source of short-term cash.

What changes if you retire early or late

Retiring earlier shortens the accumulation phase and lengthens the drawdown phase at the same time: less time to grow the balance, and more years it needs to last. Retiring later does the opposite on both counts. Using the worked example below as a base ($20,000 saved, $750 invested monthly with the match, 7% return): retiring at 62 instead of 65 reaches $1,257,956.22, while pushing to 70 reaches $2,294,838.28, a swing of over $1 million driven by just eight years of difference in the retirement date. Try adjusting the target retirement age above to see how sensitive your own numbers are to this choice.

Checking your progress against a goal

A 40-year-old with $150,000 already saved, contributing $1,200 a month with a 100% employer match (an extra $1,200 from the employer, doubling every dollar contributed), retiring at 67, wants $70,000 a year in retirement income for 28 years, at the same 7% return and 3% inflation used above.

Current savings

$150,000

Monthly contribution (with match)

$2,400

Needed balance (25x rule, today's $)

$1,750,000

Projected balance (today's $)

$1,478,656.42

On track?

No

Suggested increase

$629.74/mo

The 25x rule flags this saver as behind pace: $1,750,000 is needed to comfortably support $70,000 a year, and the projected $1,478,656.42 in today's dollars falls about $271,000 short. Closing that gap takes an extra $629.74 a month on top of the $2,400 already being contributed.

Running the full year-by-year withdrawal simulation instead of the quick rule of thumb tells a slightly different story here: because the balance keeps earning a return during retirement, not just sitting still, the projected funds actually last the entire 28-year retirement without running out, despite falling short of the 25x target. The rule of thumb is a fast, conservative gut check; the year-by-year simulation is the more precise answer, and the gap between the two is a reminder that rules of thumb round in the safe direction on purpose.

Worked example

Age 30 today, retiring at 65, with $20,000 saved and $500 contributed monthly, a 50% employer match, a 7% expected return, and 3% inflation.

Current savings

$20,000

Monthly contribution (with match)

$750

Years to retirement

35

Balance at 65 (nominal)

$1,580,913.99

Balance at 65 (today's dollars)

$561,830.58

How the numbers work

With the 50% employer match, $500 from the saver becomes $750 invested every month. Compounding monthly at 7% for 35 years grows the $20,000 starting balance plus those contributions to $1,580,913.99 by age 65.

That nominal number is large partly because of 35 years of inflation. Dividing by 1.03 raised to the 35th power converts it back to today's purchasing power: $561,830.58, a more useful figure for judging whether it's actually enough against the 25x-income rule of thumb above.

Get your whole financial picture in order

Retirement savings are one piece of a larger picture. Track your full financial picture alongside this projection, and if you are planning to take on any debt before retiring, check your debt-to-income ratio first, since a new payment now competes with the same income you are trying to save from.

Retirement savings rarely happen in isolation from the rest of a budget. Money that goes toward a new loan payment, a larger mortgage, or an unpaid credit card balance is money that is not compounding toward retirement, which is exactly why the contribution amount above is worth revisiting any time a major financial decision changes it.