Retirement Calculator
Plan your golden years with confidence. Calculate how much you'll have saved for retirement.
Your retirement plan
Enter your current situation and goals
Your age today.
The age you plan to stop working.
Total across all retirement accounts (401k, IRA, Roth, etc.).
Include employer match. The 2024 401(k) limit is $23,000/yr (~$1,917/mo).
A diversified stock portfolio has historically returned 7–10% annually.
Your retirement nest egg
Projected savings at retirement
Total at Retirement
$1,475,835
Your contributions
$260,000
Investment growth
$1,215,835
Years until retirement
35 years
Planning for retirement
How this retirement calculator works
This calculator grows your current savings and contributions forward to your retirement date, then checks how long that balance would last once you start drawing it down. The earlier you start, the more time your money has to grow through compound interest, which is why the same monthly contribution produces wildly different results depending on the age you begin.
A common starting point is saving 10 to 15% of income for retirement, though the right number depends on when you started and what income you want later. Employer matching in a 401(k) is worth capturing in full before anything else, since it is money added to your account for free the moment you contribute enough to claim it.
Why the drawdown side matters as much as the saving side
Most people spend years thinking about how much to save and almost no time thinking about how to spend it once they get there. This calculator also checks your target income against the classic 4% withdrawal guideline, a rough sense-check for how much a portfolio can support annually without running out too soon. Getting the saving number right and ignoring the drawdown number is a common way retirement planning goes wrong.
Tax-advantaged accounts do real work here
A 401(k) and an IRA are the containers your retirement savings should live in whenever possible, since they reduce or defer the tax you pay on the same dollars. People sometimes treat them as a separate goal sitting alongside their retirement number, which double-counts the same money. Contributing to a 401(k) up to the employer match, then filling a Roth or traditional IRA, then going back to the 401(k) for anything extra is a common order of operations, though the right order can shift depending on your tax situation.
How this is calculated
It grows your savings to your retirement date, then checks how long they'd last in retirement.
Your balance and contributions compound at your expected return up to retirement. From there it draws down your target income, often sense-checked against the 4%-a-year guideline.
What it assumes
- Returns are a steady average across decades.
- Contributions and withdrawal needs are as you enter them.
- It doesn't model taxes, Social Security, or market crashes.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I actually have saved by my age?
A common rule of thumb is roughly 1x your salary saved by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, and 8x by 60, though this varies widely by income, when you started, and what lifestyle you expect in retirement. Use this calculator with your own numbers rather than treating any single benchmark as a hard target.
What withdrawal rate does this assume in retirement?
Many retirement plans use a 4% initial withdrawal rate as a starting reference point, a rate historically associated with a portfolio lasting roughly 30 years, though it's not a guarantee and depends heavily on market conditions and your actual spending.
Does this include Social Security?
No, this calculator projects your own savings and investment growth only. Social Security is a separate, additional income source in retirement for most people, so your actual required nest egg may be smaller than the raw number shown once expected benefits are factored in.
What return rate should I assume for retirement savings?
A diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds has historically averaged somewhere in the 6-8% range annually before inflation over long multi-decade periods, though the mix should shift toward more conservative as retirement approaches, which would lower the realistic average.
Results are estimates for educational purposes only, based on the values you enter and a constant rate of return. Real markets rise and fall, so your actual results will differ. This is not financial advice.