Retirement Calculator
Free retirement calculator to see how much you need to retire, whether your current savings are on track, and what monthly amount closes the gap. Full year-by-year projection, no signup.
Example Scenarios
Early Saver
Age 30 • $50k/yr goal
Mid-Career
Age 45 • $60k/yr goal
Near Retirement
Age 58 • $72k + SS
Lean FIRE
Retire 60 • 3.5% rule
Retirement Plan View Results
Retirement Summary
Balance Over Time
Three Ways to Close the Gap
Retirement Age Sensitivity
| Retire At | Projected Savings | Needed | Gap |
|---|
Year-by-Year Projection
| Age | Contributions | Growth | Withdrawals | Balance |
|---|
How This Is Calculated
Retirement number uses Spending ÷ Withdrawal Rate after inflating spending to retirement year; savings grow with FV = PV(1+r)n + PMT · [((1+r)n − 1) / r]:
Everything behind the Retirement Calculator
Formulas, reference charts, and detailed answers — expand any section you need.
How Much Should I Have Saved for Retirement by Age?
Benchmarks help answer whether you're on pace before running a full projection. A widely used guideline suggests saving 1x your salary by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, and 10x by 67. These are rough markers, not verdicts, and the on-track mode replaces them with a projection built on your actual numbers.
| Age | Savings Benchmark (× annual salary) |
|---|---|
| 30 | 1x |
| 40 | 3x |
| 50 | 6x |
| 60 | 8x |
| 67 | 10x |
Retirement Savings Calculator: The Cost of Waiting
Compound growth makes starting age the most expensive variable in retirement saving. A 25-year-old saving $500 monthly at 7% reaches about $1.2 million by 65. Starting the same plan at 35 reaches about $567,000, and at 45 about $246,000. Each decade of delay roughly halves the outcome, which is why the calculator shows the required monthly savings rising sharply the later the start.
| Starting Age | $500/Month at 7% Until 65 |
|---|---|
| 25 | ~$1,200,000 |
| 35 | ~$567,000 |
| 45 | ~$246,000 |
| 55 | ~$85,000 |
Retirement Calculator: How Much Do I Need to Retire?
This retirement calculator turns your desired retirement lifestyle into a specific savings target, then checks whether your current path reaches it. Enter your age, savings, monthly contribution, and the annual spending you want in retirement, and the calculator shows your retirement number, your projected balance, and the gap between them in plain dollars. Every assumption, return rate, inflation, and withdrawal rate is visible and editable, not hidden behind the result.
Example: $60,000 of annual retirement spending at a 4% withdrawal rate requires about $1.5 million at retirement, before adjusting for pensions or social security income.
Am I on Track for Retirement?
On-track mode grows your current savings and monthly contributions at your expected return until retirement age, then compares the projected balance against your retirement number. The answer is a specific dollar surplus or shortfall, not a vague score. If you're short, the calculator immediately shows three ways out: save a specific amount more per month, retire a specific number of years later, or plan for a specific lower spending level.
The 4% Rule: Turning Savings Into Retirement Income
The 4% rule is a common planning guideline: withdraw 4% of your balance in the first retirement year, adjust for inflation each year after, and the money has historically lasted 30 or more years in most market conditions. It also works in reverse, which is how the retirement number is built: annual spending divided by 4% (or multiplied by 25) equals the balance needed. The withdrawal rate is editable, since some planners prefer 3.5% for longer retirements or 5% for shorter ones.
Why Inflation Changes Your Retirement Number
A projection in future dollars always looks bigger than it is. At 3% inflation, $1 million in 30 years buys what about $412,000 buys today, and $60,000 of spending today costs about $145,000 per year by then. This retirement calculator inflates your spending target to retirement-year dollars and reports results in today's purchasing power by default, so the plan is built on what the money will actually buy.
Retiring Earlier or Later: What Two Years Is Worth
Retirement age moves three numbers at once: years of contributions, years of growth, and years of withdrawals. Working two more years typically adds contributions and growth while removing two years of spending, a triple effect that often swings the plan by six figures. The sensitivity table shows your projected balance at retirement ages two years earlier and two to five years later, making the trade-off concrete before you commit to a date.