Retirement Savings Calculator

This retirement savings calculator grows your current balance and monthly contributions at a fixed annual return until your retirement age. It then applies the 4% rule to estimate your first-year monthly income. The return and withdrawal rate are assumptions, so the result is a planning estimate.

The 4% rule is a guideline that you can withdraw about 4% of your savings in your first year of retirement. The calculator uses it to estimate monthly income. It is a planning assumption, not a guarantee, because market returns and spending vary.

Compounding does the heavy lifting over long periods. In the example above, a $100,000 starting balance plus $324,000 in contributions grows into $1,515,193, with $1,091,193 of that coming from growth alone. The longer your money stays invested, the more this gap widens.

Age 73 for traditional IRAs and 401(k)s, under the IRS required minimum distribution rules. Roth IRAs are exempt for the owner. Estimate your first required withdrawal with our RMD calculator.

Then your actual balance will be smaller than the projection. The calculator uses one fixed return, but real markets rise and fall. Poor returns early in retirement, called sequence-of-returns risk, can hurt most. Revisit your plan and contributions often.

The calculator uses a nominal return rate that you supply, so it does not automatically strip out inflation. To think in today's dollars, subtract the inflation rate from your expected return. For example, if you expect a 7% nominal return and 3% inflation, enter 4% as your rate. The calculator will then show your projected balance in today's purchasing power. Alternatively, use the nominal rate and remember the final balance will be worth less in real terms — the Federal Reserve targets 2% annual inflation as a long-run benchmark.

Yes. Model an employer match by adding it directly into the monthly contribution field, since the calculator treats your monthly contribution as one combined deposit rather than separating your dollars from your employer's. For a one-time lump-sum contribution — a bonus, an inheritance, a rollover — add it to the current savings field rather than spreading it across future months, since the calculator compounds your starting balance from day one. If you're combining multiple accounts, such as a 401(k), an IRA, and a taxable brokerage account, add all their current balances together for 'current savings' and all their combined monthly contributions together for the most accurate total projection.

Not for the balance itself — a dollar contributed compounds the same way whether it sits in a Roth or a traditional account, since both grow at the same assumed return. What differs is when you pay tax: traditional contributions go in pre-tax and are taxed as ordinary income on withdrawal, while Roth contributions are taxed now and grow tax-free, including on qualified withdrawals. That tax-timing difference can change your real spendable income in retirement even with an identical projected balance. See our Roth IRA vs. Roth 401(k) comparison for how the two Roth account types differ from each other.

A widely cited benchmark from Fidelity Investments is to have saved 1x your annual salary by age 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, and 10x by age 67 — aimed at supporting your pre-retirement lifestyle if you save consistently and stay invested in a mix of stocks and bonds. These are aspirational milestones, not a guarantee, and your actual number depends on your planned retirement age, desired lifestyle, and other income like Social Security or a pension. Run your own current savings, contributions, and target age through the calculator above to see whether you're tracking ahead of or behind that kind of benchmark.