Retirement Calculator

The most common retirement guideline is the 4% rule: you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio in the first year of retirement, adjusting for inflation each year, with a high probability of your money lasting 30 years. This means you need 25 times your annual expenses saved. If you spend $50,000 per year, your target is $1.25 million. If you spend $80,000, you need $2 million. Social Security replaces some of this — the average benefit is about $1,900 per month ($22,800 per year) — so your portfolio only needs to cover the gap. Someone spending $60,000 per year with $22,800 from Social Security needs their portfolio to generate $37,200, requiring approximately $930,000. This calculator models all these variables: current savings, monthly contributions, expected returns before and after retirement, Social Security income, desired retirement age, and life expectancy. It shows whether you are on track and what adjustments — saving more, working longer, or reducing planned expenses — would close any gap.

Compound interest makes early contributions dramatically more valuable than later ones. A 25-year-old saving $500 per month at 7% average return will have approximately $1.2 million by age 65. A 35-year-old saving the same amount at the same return reaches only $567,000 — less than half. To match the 25-year-old, the 35-year-old would need to save $1,060 per month. Each decade of delay roughly doubles the required savings rate. Tax-advantaged accounts amplify this effect: maxing out a 401(k) at $23,000 per year (2024 limit) from age 25 to 65 at 7% return produces about $4.6 million. The same contributions from 35 to 65 yield $2.3 million. Employer matches are free money — a 50% match on 6% of a $75,000 salary adds $2,250 per year. Over 30 years at 7%, that match alone grows to $214,000. Use this calculator to model your specific situation: your age, current savings, contribution rate, and expected returns. Since retirement planning involves your most sensitive financial data, everything stays in your browser with zero server transmission.