Project your retirement balance based on your current savings, monthly contributions, expected return, and target retirement age.
Retirement planning feels abstract until you see the numbers. This calculator projects your retirement balance based on what you've already saved, what you're putting in each month, and a realistic rate of return. It also shows how much annual income your savings could generate — so you can compare your projected nest egg against what you'll actually need to live comfortably.
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Time is the single most powerful factor in retirement savings — more powerful than how much you earn or how aggressively you invest. The reason is compound growth: your returns generate their own returns, and the effect accelerates dramatically over decades.
A 25-year-old saving $300/month at 7% will have roughly $900,000 by age 65. A 35-year-old doing the same will have about $450,000 — half as much, despite only starting 10 years later. Those 10 years of compounding are worth $450,000.
A widely used benchmark is the 4% rule: in retirement, you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio annually without running out of money over a 30-year retirement. So if you want $50,000/year in retirement income, you'd need roughly $1.25 million saved. If you want $80,000/year, you'd need $2 million.
This calculator applies the 4% rule to your projected balance so you can see whether your savings trajectory will meet your income needs.
The S&P 500 has historically returned around 10% annually before inflation, or about 7% after inflation. For conservative projections, use 5–6%. For moderate projections, 7% is a reasonable after-inflation assumption. Avoid assuming more than 8–9% unless you have a specific high-risk strategy in mind.
A common benchmark from financial planners: by age 30, aim to have 1x your annual salary saved. By 40, 3x. By 50, 6x. By 60, 8x. By retirement, 10–12x. These are guidelines, not hard rules — your specific needs depend on your planned lifestyle, healthcare costs, and Social Security income.
A 401(k) is an employer-sponsored retirement account with higher contribution limits ($23,000/year in 2025 for most people). An IRA (Individual Retirement Account) is opened independently with a lower limit ($7,000/year). Both offer traditional (pre-tax) and Roth (after-tax) versions. Ideally, you use both — 401(k) up to the match, then Roth IRA, then back to 401(k).