Retirement Savings Calculator
The retirement savings calculator projects your nest egg at retirement by combining your existing savings with regular monthly contributions, compounded at your expected annual return. It also shows the inflation-adjusted value so you know what that figure is worth in today's dollars.
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Formula
FV = PV(1+r)^t + C×[(1+r)^t − 1]/r
FV is the future value at retirement. PV is your current savings. r is the annual return rate as a decimal. t is the number of years until retirement. C is your annual contribution (monthly × 12). The first term grows your existing savings; the second term is the future value of an annuity — your regular contributions compounding over time. The inflation-adjusted value divides the nominal result by (1 + inflation rate)^t.
How to use the Retirement Savings Calculator
- 1
Enter your current age
Value should be in years.
- 2
Enter your retirement age
Value should be in years.
- 3
Enter your current savings
Value should be in $.
- 4
Enter your monthly contribution
Value should be in $.
- 5
Enter your expected annual return
Value should be in %.
- 6
Enter your inflation rate
Value should be in %.
- 7
Read your results instantly
Results update in real time as you type.
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Why retirement projections matter
Most people significantly underestimate how much they need to retire comfortably. A common benchmark is the 4% rule: at retirement, you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio each year without running out of money over a 30-year retirement. That means a $1 million portfolio supports roughly $40,000 per year in withdrawals. If your desired annual retirement income is $80,000, you need $2 million.
Starting this calculation early — even with rough numbers — gives you a target and the time to adjust. A 25-year-old who starts saving $400 per month at 7% annual returns will have roughly $1 million by 65. A 35-year-old needs to save about $830 per month to reach the same outcome. Each decade of delay roughly doubles the required monthly savings.
This calculator gives you a baseline projection. Use it to set a savings goal, then stress-test that goal by adjusting the return rate downward or inflation upward to see how resilient your plan is under less favorable conditions.
The inflation-adjusted figure is what you actually spend
A retirement balance of $1.5 million sounds impressive today, but if you're 30 years away from retirement and inflation averages 3%, that $1.5 million will have the purchasing power of roughly $620,000 in today's dollars. That's less than half what the nominal figure suggests.
This is why the inflation-adjusted result in this calculator is often the more important number. When planning your retirement lifestyle — housing, healthcare, travel, daily expenses — you need to think in today's dollars. Use the nominal figure to track your savings progress, but use the real (inflation-adjusted) figure to evaluate whether your projected balance will actually support the life you want.
Healthcare costs in retirement deserve special attention: they have historically inflated faster than general CPI, sometimes 5-6% annually. Many retirement planners use a slightly higher effective inflation rate — around 3.5% — to account for this.
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Choosing a realistic return rate
The annual return you enter has an enormous effect on your projected balance — far more than any other variable. Over the last century, the U.S. stock market (S&P 500) has returned roughly 10% annually in nominal terms, or about 7% after inflation. However, sequence-of-returns risk means that the order of those returns matters: two people with identical average returns but different timing can retire with dramatically different balances.
For planning purposes, most financial advisors recommend using 6-7% for a stock-heavy portfolio, 4-5% for a balanced stock/bond mix, and 3-4% for a conservative bond-heavy portfolio. If you're 30+ years from retirement, a higher equity allocation is generally appropriate. As you approach retirement, shifting toward more stable assets helps protect against a bad sequence of early withdrawal returns.
A conservative approach: run the calculator at 2-3 percentage points below your expected return. If you're still on track at 5% when you expected 7%, your plan has a meaningful margin of safety.
Social Security and other income sources
This calculator focuses on personal savings, but your actual retirement income will likely include Social Security benefits and potentially a pension, rental income, or part-time work. As of 2025, the average Social Security benefit is around $1,900 per month, but your actual benefit depends on your earnings history and the age at which you claim (62 to 70).
Delaying Social Security from 62 to 70 increases your monthly benefit by roughly 76%. If you can fund your early retirement years from savings and delay claiming, you lock in a higher inflation-adjusted income stream for life — essentially a longevity hedge. Factor this into your planning: your personal savings don't need to cover 100% of your income if Social Security will cover a meaningful share.
Use this calculator to model your savings target, then subtract your projected Social Security income (available via the SSA's my Social Security portal) to see how much your portfolio truly needs to provide.
Tips & Insights
Increase contributions by 1% each year
Many 401(k) plans offer auto-escalation — automatically increasing your contribution rate by 1% annually. If yours doesn't, set a calendar reminder to do it manually each year. Over a 30-year career, moving from 6% to 15% of salary can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your final balance, largely without feeling the income reduction because raises offset the increases.
Maximize employer matching first
An employer match is an immediate 50-100% return on your contribution — no investment comes close. Always contribute at least enough to capture the full match before investing elsewhere. If your employer matches 50% up to 6% of salary, contributing 6% gives you an effective 9% savings rate at no additional cost to you.
Use tax-advantaged accounts in the right order
The optimal contribution order is generally: 401(k) to capture the full employer match → HSA (triple tax advantage) → max Roth IRA → max 401(k) → taxable brokerage. A Roth IRA is especially powerful for younger savers in lower tax brackets, since tax-free growth over decades amplifies its value more than for someone closer to retirement.
Worked Examples
30-year-old starting from scratch
Contributing $600/month from age 30 to 65 at a 7% annual return yields approximately $994,000 at retirement — worth roughly $354,000 in today's purchasing power after 3% annual inflation.
40-year-old with existing savings
Starting with $150,000 and adding $1,500/month at 6.5% for 27 years produces approximately $2.1 million at retirement — about $960,000 in today's dollars, supporting around $38,000 per year under the 4% rule.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much do I need to retire?
A widely used benchmark is 25 times your expected annual retirement spending (derived from the 4% rule). If you expect to spend $60,000 per year, you need $1.5 million. However, this is a starting point — healthcare costs, Social Security income, pension income, and your desired lifestyle all affect the actual number.
What annual return should I assume?
For long-term planning, many advisors suggest 6-7% for a diversified stock portfolio after fees. If you're 20+ years from retirement, 7% is a reasonable baseline. Adjust downward to 5-6% if you're closer to retirement and holding a more conservative mix. Always run a conservative scenario to stress-test your plan.
Why does the inflation-adjusted value look so much lower?
Inflation compounds just like investment returns. At 3% annual inflation, prices double roughly every 24 years. A nominal balance of $1.5 million in 30 years has the purchasing power of only about $618,000 today. The inflation-adjusted figure is what matters for planning actual retirement expenses.
Should I count Social Security in this calculation?
This calculator models personal savings only. Social Security benefits should be factored in separately — they reduce how much your portfolio needs to provide. You can estimate your future benefit at ssa.gov/myaccount. For planning purposes, some people discount their projected Social Security benefit by 20-25% to account for potential future benefit adjustments.
What happens if I retire a few years earlier or later?
Each additional year of saving makes a significant difference due to compounding. Retiring at 62 versus 67 not only removes 5 years of contributions — it adds 5 more years of withdrawals, potentially requiring 30-40% more savings. Use this calculator to model both scenarios and understand the trade-off before making an early retirement decision.
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