Calculator Tools
Retirement Calculator
Project savings to retirement and through retirement. Models contributions, returns, Social Security, inflation, and tells you if your money lasts.
Your retirement inputs
Every field stays in your browser. No income, balance, or contribution figure is sent to a server.
Plan a horizon, not a guess of your end of life. Many planners use 90 to 95 for a conservative cushion.
Total across 401(k), IRA, brokerage, and any other retirement earmarked account.
Most people raise contributions roughly with wages over time. Set to 0 to hold the dollar amount steady.
A common long-term planning figure for a growth-tilted portfolio is 6 to 8% nominal. Lower it if you invest more conservatively.
Retirees usually shift to a more conservative mix, so the post-retirement number is typically 1 to 2 points lower than the accumulation return.
Used to grow the income need every retirement year and to show the balance in today's dollars.
Retirement income need and Social Security
Enter the annual spending you want at retirement in today's dollars. The simulation inflates it to your retirement year so the spending power is preserved, then grows it every year.
A common rule of thumb is 70 to 80% of pre-retirement income. Adjust for a paid-off home, lower commuting cost, and higher healthcare cost.
Set to 0 to stress test without it. The figure is grown by inflation to the year it is paid.
Typical US Full Retirement Age is 66 to 67. UK State Pension age is 66 to 68 by birth year.
Projection
30 years of accumulation, then 27 years of retirement.
On track
Ending balance at age 92: $679,007
At 5.0% post-retirement return and 2.5% inflation, the plan covers every year through age 92.
Balance at retirement (age 65)
$1,085,017
Spending power in today's dollars after inflation.
Year-one withdrawal
$60,000
Same as your input. This is what year one buys in today's terms.
Total contributions
$570,905
Sum of every monthly contribution during accumulation.
Total growth (accumulation)
$1,629,992
Returns earned on contributions and the starting balance.
Total withdrawals (retirement)
$2,964,769
Cumulative draw from savings across the retirement years.
Total Social Security or pension
$1,806,610
Cumulative outside income during retirement.
Year-by-year breakdown
Showing every 5th year plus first, last, and the retirement transition. Toggle for the full schedule.
| Year | Age | Phase | Contributed | Income | Withdrawn | Growth | Ending balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | Working | $12,000 | - | - | $5,814 | $90,551 |
| 5 | 40 | Working | $13,506 | - | - | $11,773 | $160,887 |
| 10 | 45 | Working | $15,657 | - | - | $22,736 | $270,149 |
| 15 | 50 | Working | $18,151 | - | - | $39,239 | $408,739 |
| 20 | 55 | Working | $21,042 | - | - | $63,751 | $584,120 |
| 25 | 60 | Working | $24,394 | - | - | $99,794 | $805,641 |
| 30 | 65 | Working | $28,279 | - | - | $152,389 | $1,085,017 |
| 31 | 66 | Retired | - | - | $125,854 | $113,515 | $1,052,814 |
| 35 | 70 | Retired | - | $55,568 | $83,352 | $116,486 | $989,296 |
| 40 | 75 | Retired | - | $62,870 | $94,305 | $124,444 | $933,060 |
| 45 | 80 | Retired | - | $71,131 | $106,697 | $131,365 | $869,272 |
| 50 | 85 | Retired | - | $80,479 | $120,718 | $136,523 | $796,917 |
| 55 | 90 | Retired | - | $91,054 | $136,581 | $138,929 | $714,844 |
| 57 | 92 | Retired | - | $95,664 | $143,496 | $138,836 | $679,007 |
Common scenarios
Tap any scenario to load it into the calculator. Tweak from there to match your situation.
How the math works
- Monthly compounding. Balance grows by r/12 each month, then your contribution is added during accumulation, or the gap between need and Social Security is withdrawn during retirement.
- Inflated income need. The annual income need you enter is in today's dollars. It is inflated forward to your retirement year, then grown by inflation each year after, so the spending power stays constant.
- Outside income. Social Security or pension reduces what must come from savings. The today-dollars figure is grown by inflation to the year it is paid. Set it to 0 for a stress test.
- Today's dollars. Real balances divide the nominal figure by (1 + inflation) raised to the years elapsed from today. This is the figure that tracks spending power.
- When funds run out. The calculator flags the age the balance hits zero with an uncovered income gap. After that, the year rows show how much income would be short.
What this calculator does not model
- Taxes. Pre-tax 401(k) and Traditional IRA withdrawals are taxed as income; Roth withdrawals are tax-free; brokerage gains are taxed as capital gains. Use a tax-specific planner for that detail.
- Investment fees, RMDs, healthcare costs, long-term care costs, or annuities. These can each shift the answer materially.
- Sequence-of-returns risk. The simulation uses a flat return, while real markets vary year to year. A bad first decade of retirement is harder to recover from than a bad late decade.
- Spousal Social Security strategy, survivor benefits, or partial-year retirement. The Social Security field is a single monthly figure that starts in full at the start age.
- Government rules, contribution limits, and tax brackets that change over time. For account-specific projections use the 401(k) Calculator or the Roth IRA Calculator.
How to use
- Enter your current age, planned retirement age, and the age you want the plan to fund through (90 to 95 is a common conservative cushion).
- Fill in your current retirement savings across all accounts, your monthly contribution, and an annual contribution growth that tracks wages over time.
- Set your pre-retirement and post-retirement annual returns. Most planners use a slightly lower return after retirement to reflect a more conservative mix.
- Enter the annual income you want in retirement in today's dollars. The calculator inflates it to the retirement year and grows it each year after.
- Add monthly Social Security or pension income in today's dollars and the age it starts. Set it to zero to stress test without it. Read the verdict, scan the year-by-year breakdown, and tweak inputs until the plan is funded through your plan-to age.
About this tool
Retirement Calculator models the full retirement lifecycle as a single, account-agnostic projection, so the answer is not just what your balance might be at age 65 but whether your savings actually last through the years you plan to spend them. The simulation runs in two stitched phases. During accumulation it compounds your current balance monthly at the pre-retirement return rate, adds your monthly contribution every month, and optionally grows that contribution each year to track wage inflation. During decumulation it switches to your post-retirement return rate (usually a notch lower because retirees typically shift to a more conservative mix), reads your desired annual income need in today's dollars, inflates it forward to the retirement year so spending power is preserved at the moment you stop working, and grows the need by inflation every year after. Social Security or pension income enters at the start age you specify, is also grown by inflation from today to the year it is paid, and reduces what must come from savings each year. The result panel reports the balance at retirement in both nominal and today's dollars, the year-one withdrawal in both terms, total contributions, total accumulation growth, total withdrawals, total outside income, and the verdict: either an ending legacy balance at your plan-to age, or the age at which the balance would run out and the cumulative income shortfall. A full year-by-year table colors working years and retired years separately so you can scan the transition, and a composition bar shows how much of the retirement-day balance came from your starting balance, your contributions, and investment growth. Five presets cover early career, mid-career, pre-retiree, aggressive early-retirement, and a no-Social-Security stress test. Everything runs locally in your browser; no income figure, contribution amount, or balance is sent to a server or stored.
Free to use. Works in your browser. No signup, no login.
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