Finance
Retirement Calculator
Project your retirement savings and see if you're on track. Adjust contributions, returns, and retirement age to find your target.
Guide
How to use the Retirement Calculator
The Retirement Calculator helps you make a quick estimate, compare scenarios, and understand the numbers behind the result. It is designed for fast planning, with enough context to make the answer useful instead of just a number.
- Enter the amounts, rates, and time period that match the scenario you want to model.
- Review the main result first, then scan the supporting totals to understand what drives it.
- Change one input at a time to compare payments, interest, growth, savings, or break-even points.
Method
How this calculator works
It projects current savings and future contributions forward with compound growth until the target retirement age.
This calculator is useful for checking whether your savings pace is broadly aligned with your retirement timeline.
Because assumptions matter, try a few values that represent optimistic, typical, and conservative cases.
Financial results are estimates. Actual loan terms, taxes, fees, rates, and market returns can change the final outcome.
Example
Worked example
A 30-year-old with $20,000 saved who contributes $500 a month at a 7% average return reaches roughly $1.13 million by age 65 — about $230,000 from the existing savings compounding and $900,000 from the ongoing contributions. Waiting until 40 to start with the same inputs cuts the result to roughly half, which is the cost of losing ten years of compounding.
FAQ
Common questions
How much money do I need to retire?
A common starting point is the 4% rule: multiply your desired annual spending by 25. If you want $40,000 a year from savings, that suggests a $1 million target. It is a rough planning anchor, not a guarantee — sequence of returns and retirement length matter.
Is saving 15% of my income enough for retirement?
Saving 15% of gross income (including any employer match) from your early 30s onward is a widely used benchmark that roughly maintains your standard of living in retirement. Starting later means the percentage needs to rise — often sharply.
Should I count Social Security in my retirement plan?
Yes, but conservatively. Social Security replaces a meaningful share of income for most US retirees, so model it as a baseline and let your savings cover the gap between that and your target spending.
What information do I need for the Retirement?
You usually need current age, retirement age, current savings, monthly contributions, and expected return. You can change the inputs and recalculate as many times as needed.
How does the Retirement calculate the result?
It projects current savings and future contributions forward with compound growth until the target retirement age.
Are the results exact?
Financial results are estimates. Actual loan terms, taxes, fees, rates, and market returns can change the final outcome.
Related
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Sources