Retirement Savings Calculator

How much will I have saved at retirement?

What you have now, plus every contribution you make before you retire, each growing at your expected return until your retirement age. If you are 34 with $48,000 saved and put in $700 a month, rising 2% a year, a steady 6.5% return brings you to $1,549,487.06 at 67. That is a future-dollar amount. With 2.5% inflation a year it buys what about $685,962.53 buys today, so the calculator shows both numbers side by side.

It also answers the two questions that usually come next: whether that is enough for a goal you set in today’s dollars, and roughly how much yearly income the balance could provide.

How to use the calculator

• Current age and retirement age: whole years. The projection runs from one to the other, one year per birthday.
• Current savings: everything already in your retirement accounts, such as a 401(k), 403(b) or IRA, in dollars. 48k works. Enter 0 if you are starting out.
• Contribution: what goes in each time, including any employer match, with how often: every 2 weeks, twice a month, monthly or yearly.
• Yearly increase: how much more you contribute each year, in percent, for example when you raise your contribution with each pay raise. Enter 0 to keep it level.
• Contribution timing: the end of each period or the start. A deposit at the start earns one more period of growth.
• Expected annual return: your average yearly return after fees, in percent (see below).
• Inflation rate: the average yearly rise in prices you expect, used only for the today’s-dollar figures.
• Goal in today’s dollars (optional): the balance you want at retirement, in today’s money.
• Withdrawal rate (optional): a percentage of the balance to estimate the first year’s income.

Results update as you type. The Try buttons change the example to common situations: retiring at 70, starting at 25 with nothing saved and $400 a month, catching up from 50 with $150,000 saved and $2,000 a month, and one $6,000 deposit at the start of each year. To compare plans, press Save for comparison, change an input and save again. Each saved plan shows how its balance differs from the first. With a withdrawal rate entered, Continue in the Retirement Withdrawal Calculator takes the balance, age, rate and return over, to see how long that income could last.

How the projection is calculated

Each year, the balance at the start grows by the return, and that year’s contributions are added with the growth they earn before the year ends. Summed over every year to retirement:

$$B_n = B_0\,(1+r)^n + \sum_{k=1}^{n} c\,(1+g)^{k-1}\,s\,(1+r)^{\,n-k} \qquad s = \frac{(1+i)^p - 1}{i}$$

• $B_n$ is the balance at retirement, $n$ years from now (retirement age − current age).
• $B_0$ is your current savings.
• $r$ is the expected annual return as a decimal (6.5% is 0.065).
• $c$ is each contribution in the first year, $p$ the number of contributions a year (26, 24, 12 or 1) and $g$ the yearly increase as a decimal.
• $i = (1+r)^{1/p} - 1$ is the rate per contribution period. It compounds to exactly $r$ over a year, so the return you enter is the yearly growth whatever the contribution frequency.
• $s$ is the value, at the end of a year, of that year’s $p$ contributions of 1 each. With contributions at the start of each period, multiply $s$ by $1 + i$: each one earns one more period.

The sum has a closed form, $c\,s\,\dfrac{(1+r)^n - (1+g)^n}{r - g}$, which becomes $c\,s\,\dfrac{(1+r)^n - 1}{r}$ with no yearly increase. The calculator adds the years one at a time instead, which also fills the table and works when $r = g$ or $r = 0$.

To state a future amount in today’s dollars, divide it by $(1 + \pi)^n$, where $\pi$ is the inflation rate as a decimal.

Worked example: $48,000 at 34, $700 a month until 67

The inputs: current age 34, retirement age 67, $48,000 saved, $700 at the end of each month (employer match included) rising 2% a year, a 6.5% return and 2.5% inflation.

1. Years to retirement: n = 67 − 34 = 33.
2. Monthly rate: i = 1.065^(1/12) − 1 = 0.0052617, which is 0.5262% a month.
3. Current savings grow: $48,000 × 1.065^33 = $48,000 × 7.989821 = $383,511.41.
4. One year of contributions, valued at the end of that year: $700 × (1.0052617^12 − 1) ÷ 0.0052617 = $700 × 12.353435 = $8,647.40.
5. Thirty-three years of them, rising 2% a year: $8,647.40 × (1.065^33 − 1.02^33) ÷ (0.065 − 0.02) = $8,647.40 × 134.835327 = $1,165,975.65.
6. Savings at 67: $383,511.41 + $1,165,975.65 = $1,549,487.06.
7. In today’s dollars: $1,549,487.06 ÷ 1.025^33 = $1,549,487.06 ÷ 2.258851 = $685,962.53.

You put in $387,337.19 over the 33 years: $8,400.00 in the first year, rising to $15,830.14 in the last. Growth supplies the other $1,114,149.87, or 71.9% of the balance. The table shows each year:

What “today’s dollars” means and why it matters

A today’s-dollar figure is a future amount restated at today’s prices, so you can judge it against what things cost now. At 2.5% inflation a year, prices in 33 years are 1.025^33 = 2.258851 times today’s, so each future dollar buys what about 44 cents buys today. That is why $1,549,487.06 at 67 is worth about $685,962.53 now.

The same adjustment gives the real return, the growth in buying power: 1.065 ÷ 1.025 − 1 = 3.902% a year. Subtracting inflation from the return (6.5% − 2.5% = 4%) is a common shortcut, but for yearly rates it overstates the real return slightly, and the gap compounds over decades. Both figures are in the calculator’s steps.

What rate of return should I enter?

Enter your own long-run estimate for the mix of investments you hold, as an average yearly return after fees. No one knows future returns, and they swing from year to year: Investor.gov notes that large-company stocks as a group have lost money in about one year out of three on average. A cautious approach is to use a return below the one you expect and read the Savings at other returns table, which reruns your plan at 1 and 2 percentage points either side. In the example, one point lower (5.5%) gives $1,247,692.11 at 67, or $552,357.01 in today’s dollars, instead of $685,962.53.

Take out every fee you pay, such as fund expense ratios and any advisory or account fee. To remove a yearly fee from a return, multiply: (1 + return) × (1 − fee) − 1. A 6.5% return with a 0.5% fee is 1.065 × 0.995 − 1 = 5.9675%.

How contribution increases and timing change the result

• The yearly increase. Without the 2% raises, the example ends at $1,313,416.22 ($581,453.27 in today’s dollars) instead of $1,549,487.06. The increase matters most when it runs for decades.
• Start or end of the period. Deposits at the start of each month earn one more month of growth: $1,555,622.07 instead of $1,549,487.06, or $6,135.01 more over 33 years.
• How often. The same $8,400 in the first year gives $1,516,128.16 when paid once at the end of each year, $1,551,018.80 as $350 twice a month, and $1,550,858.68 as $323 every 2 weeks ($8,398 a year). Paying in sooner and more often helps a little; the amount matters far more than the schedule.

Am I on track for my retirement goal?

Enter a goal in today’s dollars and the calculator converts it to dollars at your retirement age and compares. A goal of $800,000 in today’s dollars is $800,000 × 1.025^33 = $1,807,080.69 at 67. The example plan reaches $685,962.53 in today’s dollars, which is $114,037.47 short ($257,593.63 in dollars at 67).

It then gives two ways to close the gap:

• Save more. Each extra dollar a month, rising 2% a year like the rest, grows to $1,665.68 by 67. So the gap takes $257,593.63 ÷ 1,665.68 = $154.65 a month more, $1,855.77 in the first year.
• Keep going. Continuing the same plan past 67, the balance first reaches $800,000 in today’s dollars at age 71.

Retiring at 70 instead (a Try button) leaves the plan only $8,271.96 short, closed by $9.63 more a month. If the plan never gets there, for example when the return is below inflation and nothing more goes in, the goal check says “Not by 100” instead of giving an age.

How much income could my savings provide?

Multiply the balance by a withdrawal rate. At 4%, $1,549,487.06 gives $61,979.48 in the first year, about $5,164.96 a month, or $27,438.50 a year in today’s dollars. The rate is your assumption, not a safe amount: how long that income lasts depends on the returns, inflation and spending after you retire, which is what the Retirement Withdrawal Calculator works out year by year.

Reading the result

• The headline is your balance at the retirement age in future dollars, with today’s dollars beside it.
• Total contributions and investment growth split the balance into what you put in and what it earned. Income appears when you enter a withdrawal rate; without one, the tile shows the real return.
• Am I on track? appears when you enter a goal: the gap in today’s dollars, the extra contribution that closes it by your retirement age, and the age your current plan reaches it.
• Savings at other returns and Savings at other retirement ages rerun your plan with one input changed. Retiring at 65 gives $621,742.25 in today’s dollars and retiring at 69 gives $755,149.40, against $685,962.53 at 67. Compare ages in today’s dollars, since later ages are divided by more years of inflation.
• The year-by-year table lists each year’s start balance, contributions, growth and end balance, in future and today’s dollars, and downloads as a CSV file. The chart stacks current savings, contributions to date and growth to date for every age.

Assumptions and limitations

• One steady return every year. Real returns vary, so the actual balance can end well above or below the projection, and the order of good and bad years matters.
• One steady inflation rate. The today’s-dollar figures are only as good as that guess.
• Whole years only. Ages are whole numbers, contributions stop at the retirement age, and the yearly increase applies once a year.
• No taxes, contribution limits or early-withdrawal penalties. The IRS adjusts contribution limits for the cost of living, and an employer match counts toward the overall limit on your account, so check the current figures if you contribute near them.
• Social Security, pensions and other income are left out.
• The goal age assumes you keep contributing on the same plan after your retirement age.

These are educational estimates, not financial, tax or investment advice.

Common mistakes

• Reading the future-dollar figure as today’s buying power. The example’s $1,549,487.06 includes 33 years of price rises; judge it by the $685,962.53 it is worth today.
• Entering the return before fees. A yearly fee compounds against you the same way the return compounds for you. Enter the return after fees.
• Dividing the yearly return by 12 for a monthly rate. 6.5% ÷ 12 = 0.5417% a month compounds to 6.7% a year, not 6.5%. This calculator uses 0.5262% a month, so the balance grows exactly 6.5% a year. A spreadsheet’s FV function needs the same care.
• Mixing up every 2 weeks and twice a month. Paid every 2 weeks, you get 26 paychecks a year; twice a month is 24.
• Counting the employer match twice, or leaving it out. Include it once in the contribution, and only the part you expect to vest.
• Subtracting inflation from the return. 6.5% − 2.5% = 4% overstates the real return, which is 3.902%.