Retirement Savings Calculator
What this retirement savings calculator does: it projects your savings to retirement age, works out how much your income goal would need, and compares the two. It has two modes:
1. Project My Retirement: your estimated nest egg, the corpus your income goal needs, the surplus or gap, your first-year withdrawal rate, and the age your money lasts until
2. Reach My Goal: the monthly contribution that would reach your income goal
3. Your 2026 IRS contribution room for a 401(k) and an IRA, based on your age
4. A lifetime chart through saving and spending, and a year-by-year schedule
Free, no sign-up. Your numbers stay in your browser. Results are educational projections, not financial advice: real returns vary from year to year, and taxes and fees aren’t included.
Project your nest egg, compare it with what your income goal needs, and see your IRS contribution room
U.S. tax-advantaged limits set by the IRS. For 2026 the 401(k)/403(b)/457 employee limit is $24,500, plus a $8,000 catch-up at 50+, or a $11,250 SECURE 2.0 super catch-up at ages 60–63; the IRA limit is $7,500 ($8,600 with catch-up). Employer match does not count toward your employee limit. Source: IRS.gov.
How to use the retirement savings calculator
1. Pick your currency and the Project My Retirement tab.
2. About You: enter Current Age, Retire At Age, Life Expectancy (the age the plan should last to), and Current Savings across your retirement accounts.
3. Income & Contributions: enter Monthly Income, your Monthly Contribution, an Annual Salary Increase (your contribution rises by this much each year), and Employer Match as a percentage of your contribution.
4. Returns & Retirement Income: enter an Expected Return before retirement, an Inflation Rate, your Desired Monthly Income in today’s dollars, expected Social Security / Pension per month (the SSA Retirement Estimator gives a personal figure), and a Post-Retirement Return.
5. Results update as you type. Switch to Reach My Goal to solve for the contribution instead. Save with Copy Summary, Export CSV, Export PDF, or Copy Shareable Link.
How to read your results
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Estimated Nest Egg | Projected savings on the day you retire, in future dollars. |
| Real Value (Today) | That nest egg shrunk back by inflation, so you can judge it in today’s money. |
| Corpus Needed | The amount that would pay your desired income, minus Social Security or pension, rising with inflation every year until your life expectancy. |
| Surplus / Gap | Nest egg minus corpus needed. A gap shows the monthly contribution that would close it. |
| Withdrawal Rate | Your first year’s withdrawal ÷ the nest egg, compared with the 4% guideline from retirement research. |
| Money Lasts Until | The last age with money left, checked up to your life expectancy. |
| IRS Contribution Room | Your 2026 401(k) limit for your age, your current yearly contribution, and how much room is left. |
Worked example: age 35, retiring at 67
Here’s one example run through the calculator: age 35, retiring at 67, life expectancy 90; $50,000 saved; $600 a month contributed ($7,200 a year) on a $6,000 monthly income, rising 2% a year, with a 50% employer match; 6% return before retirement, 4% after, 2.5% inflation; $5,000 a month desired income with $2,000 from Social Security (both in today’s dollars).
| Result | Figure |
|---|---|
| Estimated nest egg at 67 | $1,593,265 (worth $722,977 in today’s dollars) |
| Where it comes from | $50,000 starting savings + $318,435 your contributions + $159,217 employer match + $1,065,614 growth |
| Corpus needed | $1,502,350 |
| Surplus | +$90,915 |
| First-year withdrawal rate | 5.0% (above the 4% guideline) |
| Money lasts until | Age 90, with about $224,080 left |
🧮 How this was calculated
- Year 1: match = $7,200 × 50% = $3,600. Growth = $50,000 × 6% + ($7,200 + $3,600) × 6% ÷ 2 = $3,000 + $324 = $3,324
- End of year 1: $50,000 + $7,200 + $3,600 + $3,324 = $64,124. Each later year repeats, with the contribution 2% higher; after 32 years, the balance is $1,593,265
- Income the savings must cover: $5,000 − $2,000 = $3,000 a month, or $36,000 a year in today’s dollars
- Inflated to age 67: $36,000 × 1.02532 = $79,335 for the first year, rising 2.5% a year after that
- Corpus needed: each of the 23 years’ withdrawals (67 to 90) discounted back at 4% and added up = $1,502,350. Surplus: $1,593,265 − $1,502,350 = $90,915
- ithdrawal rate: $79,335 ÷ $1,593,265 = 4.98%, shown as 5.0%
Assumptions: the same return every year · contributions spread evenly through each year · Social Security entered in today’s dollars and rising with inflation · no taxes or fees.
The surplus and the 5.0% withdrawal rate aren’t a contradiction. The corpus figure assumes a steady 4% return for 23 years, while the 4% guideline comes from research on 30-year retirements through real market ups and downs. The difference is worth knowing about.
Example figures are illustrative, not averages or statistics.
Methodology and sources
1. Saving years: each year, growth = opening balance × return + that year’s contributions and match × return ÷ 2 (contributions are treated as arriving evenly through the year). Your contribution rises by the salary increase each year.
2. Employer match: calculated as a percentage of your whole contribution. Most plans cap the match at a share of salary, so if you contribute more than your plan matches, enter a lower effective match percentage.
3. Corpus needed: desired income minus Social Security or pension, inflated to your retirement year, then each year’s withdrawal (rising with inflation) discounted at the post-retirement return and summed.
4. IRS limits for 2026: per the IRS, $24,500 for 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans; an $8,000 catch-up at 50 or older, or $11,250 at ages 60–63; $7,500 for IRAs, or $8,600 at 50 or older. Employer contributions don’t count toward the employee limit.
5. The 4% guideline comes from William Bengen’s 1994 study of historical US stock and bond returns over 30-year retirements. It is a research finding, not a government rule.
6. Not included: taxes, investment fees, required minimum distributions, and changing returns.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much money do I actually need to retire?
Ans: A common guideline is the 4% rule, suggesting you need about 25 times your annual expenses saved. Most advisors estimate you need 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income.
2. How much do I need to retire?
Ans: It depends on the income you want, how much Social Security or a pension covers, how long retirement lasts, and returns and inflation. The calculator turns those inputs into a corpus figure. Try a few retirement ages and life expectancies to see how much the answer moves.
3. What are the 401(k) and IRA limits for 2026?
Ans: The IRS set the 2026 employee limit for 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans at $24,500, with an $8,000 catch-up at age 50 or older, or $11,250 at ages 60 to 63. The IRA limit is $7,500, or $8,600 at 50 or older. The IRS contribution room card shows your figure.
4. What is the 4% rule?
Ans: It’s a guideline from 1990s research by William Bengen: withdrawing 4% of savings in the first year, then raising it with inflation, lasted at least 30 years across historical US market periods he studied. It’s a research finding, not a guarantee or an official rule.
5. Should I include Social Security?
Ans: Including it gives a more realistic corpus, because the calculator only asks your savings to cover the rest. The SSA’s Retirement Estimator gives a personal estimate from your earnings record. Enter it in today’s dollars.
6. What return and inflation rates should I enter?
Ans: There’s no correct answer, since future returns are unknown. A common approach is to run a cautious case and a hopeful case and compare them. The calculator holds each rate constant every year, which real markets don’t.
7. Does the calculator account for taxes?
Ans: No. Withdrawals from traditional 401(k)s and IRAs are usually taxed as income, while qualified Roth withdrawals aren’t. With mostly pre-tax savings, one way to allow for this is to enter a higher desired income that leaves room for taxes.
Kevin Brown researches personal finance topics using official sources; he is not a licensed financial advisor or mortgage lender. Last reviewed: October 2026.
