Retirement Savings Calculator
Project your retirement savings and see if you are on track to meet your retirement income goal.
Retirement Details
Enter your age, savings, and contributions to see your retirement projection.
About the Retirement Savings Calculator
A retirement savings calculator tells you the number most people most want to know but rarely calculate: will what I am saving actually be enough? This one projects your savings from today to your retirement age using your current balance, monthly contributions, expected return, and target retirement income — and tells you clearly whether you are on track or have a gap to close.
The projection combines two compounding streams: the growth on what you have already saved, and the accumulating growth on what you continue to add. Both compound for the years until retirement, which is why starting early matters so much. The same monthly contribution started at 25 can produce double the retirement balance of one started at 35, even with identical contributions, purely because of the extra decade of compounding.
Once you see the projection, the calculator also shows how much you would need based on the 4% withdrawal rule — the retirement finance benchmark — so you can see whether your projected balance covers your income goal or requires an adjustment to contributions, timeline, or return assumptions.
Looking for more options? Open the full Retirement Calculator — it’s the same tool with every feature.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I have saved for retirement by my age?
A common benchmark from Fidelity: by age 30, have 1× your annual salary saved; by 40, 3×; by 50, 6×; by 60, 8×; by 67, 10×. These are rough guides, not precise rules — the right amount depends on your desired retirement lifestyle, Social Security income, and retirement duration. Use this calculator with your actual income and goals for a personalized target.
What is the 4% rule for retirement withdrawals?
The 4% rule suggests you can withdraw 4% of your starting retirement portfolio per year (adjusted annually for inflation) with historically high probability of not running out of money over a 30-year retirement. This means the target portfolio = desired annual income ÷ 0.04. For $60,000/year, you need $1.5M. It is a planning benchmark, not a guarantee.
Should I use a pre-tax or post-tax return assumption?
Use nominal (pre-inflation) returns with nominal income targets for consistency. The standard assumption is 7% nominal for a diversified stock-heavy portfolio. If you want to think in today's dollars, use a real (inflation-adjusted) return of about 4–5% and enter your income target in today's dollars without inflation adjustment. Be consistent — mixing nominal returns with today's-dollar income, or vice versa, will skew the result.
Understanding Retirement Savings
Time is the most powerful variable
In retirement saving, time dominates every other factor. The same monthly contribution grows roughly twice as large if started 10 years earlier, because compounding means early years produce disproportionately large contributions to the final balance. Starting at 25 instead of 35 can mean retiring 5 years earlier, contributing less total, and having more money — purely because of compounding time. Every year of delay costs more than the last.
The three-legged retirement stool
Traditional retirement planning described income as a three-legged stool: Social Security, employer pension, and personal savings. For most people today, the pension leg is weak or missing, making personal savings — especially in 401(k)s, IRAs, and taxable accounts — more critical than ever. This calculator models the personal savings leg specifically; Social Security and any pension income should be added separately to see the full picture.
Adjusting when behind
If the calculator shows a gap between projected savings and what you need, the levers are: increase contributions, delay retirement, accept a lower income target, or assume a higher return (with the corresponding higher risk). Increasing contributions is the most reliable lever because it does not depend on market performance. Even modest contribution increases, especially when made early, dramatically improve outcomes because they compound for years.