401k Calculator
Free 401k calculator to project your balance at retirement with employer match, salary growth, and contribution limits. See the cost of missing the match and your paycheck impact.
Example Scenarios
Career Starter
Age 30 • 8% • 100% to 4%
Full Match
4% to capture match
Missing Match
2% vs 4% cap • $80k
Catch-Up Years
Age 52 • 50% to 6%
401k Details View Results
401k Projection
Contribution Rate Comparison
Contributions, Match & Growth
Year-by-Year Projection
| Age | Salary | Employee | Match | Growth | Balance (headline) | Balance (other) |
|---|
How This Is Calculated
Each year your salary grows, employee contributions are capped at the IRS limit (with catch-up from age 50), employer match applies to contributions up to the match cap, and the balance compounds at your expected return. Inflation adjustment divides nominal balances by (1 + inflation)years.
Everything behind the 401k Calculator
Formulas, reference charts, and detailed answers — expand any section you need.
401k Match Calculator: The Cost of Missing the Full Match
The 401k match calculator answers the most expensive question employees never run: what does contributing below the match cap actually forfeit? Every dollar of unclaimed match is a 100% or 50% instant return declined, and it compounds for decades after.
| Salary | Match Formula | Contributing 2% Forfeits (per year) | Compounded Over 30 Years at 7% |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | 100% up to 4% | $1,200 | ~$113,000 |
| $80,000 | 100% up to 4% | $1,600 | ~$151,000 |
| $100,000 | 50% up to 6% | $2,000 | ~$189,000 |
401k Calculator: What Will My Balance Be at Retirement?
This 401k calculator projects your balance to retirement the way the account actually accrues: contributions as a percentage of a salary that grows each year, your employer's real match formula with its cap, and IRS contribution limits applied automatically. Enter your age, salary, balance, and contribution rate, and the 401k calculator shows the retirement balance split into your money, employer money, and growth, in today's purchasing power by default.
Example: A 30-year-old with $20,000 saved, an $80,000 salary, 8% contribution, and a 100%-up-to-4% match projects to roughly $2.1 million by 65 at 7% returns, about $747,000 in today's dollars.
401k Calculator With Employer Match
A 401k calculator with employer match has to model the formula, not a flat bonus: 100% of contributions up to 4% of salary and 50% up to 6% are the common structures, and the cap is the number that matters. The match applies to each year's salary as raises compound it, and this calculator totals the employer money separately so the free-money layer is visible on its own. Over a career, the match routinely accounts for a quarter of the final balance.
401k Contribution Calculator: What Percentage Should I Contribute?
The 401k contribution calculator frames the rate decision as outcomes: your projected balance at the current percentage, at the full-match percentage, and 2 points above, side by side. The floor is always the full match, and the common guideline of 10 to 15% of salary including match exists because that range reliably funds a typical retirement over a full career. The paycheck impact row shows what each rate costs in take-home after the pre-tax effect, which is always less than the contribution itself.
401k Growth Calculator: Salary Raises and Compounding
A 401k growth calculator that assumes a flat salary understates a career projection badly, since a percentage contribution rides every raise. At 3% annual salary growth, an 8% contribution on $80,000 today is an 8% contribution on $194,000 in 30 years, and the match grows with it. The year-by-year table shows salary, contribution, match, and growth for every year, so the compounding of the contribution itself is visible alongside the market growth.
401k Calculator With Catch-Up Contributions After 50
From age 50, the IRS allows catch-up contributions above the standard employee limit, and this 401k calculator applies the higher ceiling automatically from that birthday in the projection. For late starters the catch-up years carry real weight: fifteen years of maximum contributions with match and growth can still build a substantial balance starting from little, and the projection shows exactly what that path produces.